Sunday, June 01, 2008

What I've Learned ...

about being in the 'toon business (and like to repeat from time to time).

No gig is forever. In the mid nineties, I heard Disney staffers say: The jobs here are as solid as working at the post office."

Uh, no. Employment might last a month, a year, maybe a decade. But certainly not until the end of time. The people who told me their jobs were permanent have been laid off. (And there isn't a studio in town that can't disappear. When TAG was invented in 1952, it repped a host of studios. Disney is the only one that was there at the beginning that is still there now. All the rest? Kaput.)

Everybody is fungible. No exceptions. I've seen lead directors tossed overboard, experienced board artists laid off, production supervisors dismissed. In the time I've been around, I've observed two Disney CEOs tossed under the bus, both by the same unhappy Disney stockholder with a potent last name. And a little less than three years ago there was this:

"Frankly, it's best if you two leave the studio now. We've just been a ball and chain around your ankles."

-- Former Disney Feature Animation topkick David Stainton to Ron Clements and John Musker, July 2005

(You'll note, with the passage of years, the various ironies now embedded in the above.)

Frank, Ollie, Woolie, Ward and the rest of the Disney Nine Old Men? Their forty-plus year careers at one company were anomalies. For ninety-five percent of the people who've worked in animation, a fifteen-year run at one place is a gift from heaven. As a ten-year veteran who's on the third month of a layoff told me last week:

"This business is tough, isn't it? I don't know how much longer I can hang in there. There's just so many variables you can't control ..."

Politics is always a part of the job. Over the years, studio artists have trooped into my office and proclaimed "I don't play politics." I always have the same reply:

"Sure you do. If you're breathing, you're playing. The only question is, are you playing good? Are you playing bad? Are you playing average?"

Every studio has politics. If you're a superstar, most of it bounces off you (as long as you stay a superstar). For everybody else, they need a modicum of competence (because if they're incompetent, no amount of apple polishing will save them) and the ability to Play Well With Others.

The other unhappy part of politics in the studios? The strike zone is always changing. What's perfectly okay under one management team is verboten under the next. Often you don't find this out until you're standing in line at the unemployment office muttering "What the f*ck?"

Those new breath-of-fresh-air topkicks who seem so open? So above board? The ones who have those "employee forums" where they welcome questions? Remember the words of Joe Heller:

"I want someone to tell me," Lieutenant Scheisskopf beseeched them all prayerfully. "If any of it is my fault, I want to be told."

"He wants someone to tell him," Clevinger said.

"He wants everyone to keep still, idiot," Yossarian answered.

"Didn't you hear him?" Clevinger argued.

"I heard him," Yossarian replied. "I heard him say very loudly and very distinctly that he wants every one of us to keep our mouths shut if we know what's good for us."

"I won't punish you," Lieutenant Scheisskopf swore.

"He says he won't punish me," said Clevinger.

"He'll castrate you," said Yossarian ...

-- Catch 22

Never stop developing your talent. In the decades I've been hanging around here, studios have come and gone, technologies have changed, and infighting has gotten more ferocious. The one thing that hasn't altered is the need for top-tier talent. If you've got that, you're probably going to be in good shape, career wise. Always continue to improve.

Don't take all the ego battles (or a lot of the other crap) too seriously. When I look back over the things I worried about ten, twenty, and thirty years ago, I roll my eyes and shake my head. Could I have been that stupid and short-sighted? Sure I could, because I was young, and lots of the fights I thought at the time were "really big deals" were actually ripples in a teacup.

So if possible, put the sewage that flows your way in persepctive. You'll be the healthier for it.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beware the exec that tells you: "My door is always open" and "I want you to tell me if you ever have any problems". What he really means is: "Go through the proper channels and never come to my office uninvited" and "Fix any problems yourself (or ignore them - the execs do) and don't ever tell me another exec is a problem"
Either way if you follow their 'open door policy' chances are you will soon be on your way out the back door.

Anonymous said...

"When TAG was invented in 1952, it repped a host of studios. Disney is the only one that was there at the beginning that is still there now. All the rest? Kaput.)"

Next time you put out a brochure about what TAG does... bury that one near the bottom.

Kevin Koch said...

To the last poster, why hide the truth about the business? Do you think this somehow implies that TAG is responsible for all those studios going away?

Let's see, how many non-union studios that were around in 1952 are still around today? How many from 1962? 1972? Get my drift?

The ironic thing is, since the animation industry became substantially unionized, it's the union studios that have tended to have the greatest longevity.

Anonymous said...

My point is... you're there to promote the benefits of the union presence.

Linking it, however inadvertantly and unintendedly, to the demise of numerous studios is something I'd put in the "not helping" category.

Sorry to ruffle you.

Floyd Norman said...

"Not helping" category? You gotta be kidding?! This is real world advice to the unsuspecting in this crazy business.

There are far too many kids with pixie dust in their eyes, totally taken with the BS dished out by company management. If telling the plain simple truth boils down to "not helping," what's the point of passing on any advice?

Steve Hulett said...

My point is... you're there to promote the benefits of the union presence.

Linking it, however inadvertantly and unintendedly, to the demise of numerous studios is something I'd put in the "not helping" category.


Promote? I thought I was.

The point, in case you missed it, is that studios come and go, but workers' interests go on forever. But just to be clear, there are zero non-union studios around from that time.

OTOH, there is Disney and (arguably) Warner Bros., although Warners shut down for a decade, so whether it should be included in the count is at least debatable.

We're interested in facts here.

Anonymous said...

Good advice, with strong parallels to the VFX industry. I'm forwarding this post to friends and family.

Thanks. :^)

Anonymous said...

When does Mark Kirkland's gig end?

Steve Hulett said...

He finishes up on his 60th episode of The Simpsons this month, I believe.

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