A veteran storyboard artist (who's half out of the biz doing something else) stopped me today and said:
You aware that storyboarders are doing long animatics now? And having to put in lots of extra drawings? There's way more work and the schedules haven't changed! ...
I replied that I was aware of these things.
And that I'm up-to-date on artists taking work home on thumb drives to complete assignments gratis. And staying late at the studio to hit the schedule. And doing lots more drawings than storyboard artists did, say, twenty years ago. (We'll call this "The tyranny of the digital story reel.")
I said that lots of people complain about it, and I always offer to leap in and file a grievance. And most everybody says "Uh, no. I don't want to risk my job."
I explained that non-paid o.t. has been a problem since the day I walked into the business representative's position and saw it percolating at Tiny Tunes, back in 1990. (Then, it was layouts on paper that weren't being compensated.) But I also said that I know a studio department today that sticks together and never does uncompensated o.t. (and the studio goes along), while others at the same facility work uncomped overtime all the freaking time. (Everyone makes their choices.)
He nodded ... and moved down the hall.
This story is similar to anecdotes rolled out here previously, but sometimes it's good to repeat.
And repeat.
And repeat.
And repeat.
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36 comments:
This is the way the artist ends!
This is the way the artist ends!
This is the way the artist ends!
Not with a bang but with a whimper.
Another month, another post on uncomped O.T. on the union blog. Im a huge believer in unions and the rights of workers to organize, but God, what a defeatist, feckless organization this is. I mean, can you really blame any individual- in this economy- to be scared shitless of sticking their neck out to complain about this illegal offense? When the union rep isnt even willing to name specific offending (and thriving) shows?! So, the strength of O.T. enforcement is only as strong as the weakest artist on a single show? It seems the strength of an entire union's membership sure would do a lot more to help out a victimized crew than a few 'disposable' artists who are understandably just concerned with feeding their family.
The "It was this way on Tiny Toons, it will always be this way" attitude pisses me off to no end. No. The studios are getting away with a lot more today, and will continue to move the goal posts as we continue to use our sizable membership for nothing but Christmas parties.
"Give us names" yells the anonymous poster...;)
I've worked on several shows within the last five years and as they start off there's usually noise about going further, but that gets squelched pretty quickly when the directors and the storyboard artists say there's not enough time in the schedule for that. So the producers have to figure something else out and guess what? They always do.
I keep hearing stories about how Nick and CN are asking for these ridiculous goals, but I guess I've been lucky never to be able to pass their tests - then again I refuse to take a storyboard test.
We are now basically creating animatics now, how about we get compensated for it.
Since we are doing multiple jobs (boards, layout, and timing), is there a way to create a new TV board artist classification where the minimum weekly pay is closer to $3000 a week, as apposed to what board artists get now?
I understand not all productions are having people time their own boards with tons of poses, but the ones that are should have to pay out of pocket.
Is that something the union can start looking into??!?!
You may get better results from this, instead of forcing individuals to file a grievance where a light is shown directly at that individual, risking their reputation as that studio. Let's not have a scared individual deal with this problem alone, but let's have all of us, as the UNION. deal with it and create a new classification of artist for the new technological age. Update of fade away seems to be the monta of the technological age. And we need to update.
I believe filing a grievance works in certain situation, but this is starting to seem like an industry wide trend that the union seriously needs to look at and it should be taking a harder stance on. We are not paid to as layout artists and timers, but we are told to do their jobs, so lets get our moneys worth. We deserve more than we are paid.
Studios may balk and not want to pay the extra money, but then we may have leverage of a real "animatic artist" title to say, "I'm not paid as this type of artist so I REFUSE TO DO IT or pay me for what you want me to do. I believe without this leverage we have nothing.
I've always heard leverage is power. So, how about the union think about geting us some leverage.
And Repeat.
And Repeat.
And Repeat.
Amen to Anonymous @ 11:03pm.
There's one reason the board expectations have changed- the Cintiq. Some people above are talking about TV but it's the same in features: whether the board guy is the de facto timer or actually expected to time, it all comes down to a susbtantially large increase in minimum panels with no commensurate increase in pay. Considering that boards are the one thing that cannot and will not be shipped offshore, the union should push HARD for this. The schedules aren't going to change.
If the artist isn't individually willing to file a formal complaint, there is nothing the union can do, end of story. What makes it much easier for the individual artist to stand up and file a complaint is for his entire team stands up around him to file the same complaint as this abuse sounds systemic. That is called leverage, and that is all you have at the end of the day. Sorry, that's just how any union works, or any action in life works. People with money use cash, people without use people. These complaints about the "union" here are so typical of the complaints from people these days - all talk, no action. It's easy to talk a big game, judge organizations and institutions from afar about how they need to do more, they are corrupt, or they don't listen, but when push comes to shove and you yourself are called on to sacrifice something - your reputation to your boss, your job security - for principal, it's suddenly inconvenient, an exception to the rule. I'm not buying it. Make a complaint, stand up, and make it happen. Otherwise, you deserve what you get. Sorry.
Most often what happens in story work is that to offset the colossal errors made in writing the story, the fixes are shifted downstream to directors and artists, who have to polish the terds with poses to save the producers from complete embarrassment. Animating boards is the insurance policy against having anything coming back from overseas absolutely unwatchable.
If the show contains bad writing AND bad art, producers get fired. They cannot risk having bad art coming back from overseas, so they crush board artists with perfectly animated boards that can be laid out and inbetweened to such a degree that there is little room for error.
That, in a nutshell, is why they keep you happy with a big, shiny, warm, brand new Cintiq every year.
There is a very good reason companies like Apple and others in Silicon Valley are sitting on bigger piles of cash than the US government. It is not for being 'job creators', that's for sure. The Cintiq is the PERFECT example of how a company can easily get an employee to perform the labor of three.
Anon @ 9:53
You mean "turds" not "terds". SHEESH.
Working you in such a way is the managements desire to have one person do all the work. Kinda like the Craigslist mentality. And as for the impotence of the business manager, the studios let him exsist simply because he doesnt initiate the change you are all crying for.
I quietly walked around the studio yesterday making sure to peek on the screens of people sitting at their desks. Easily 8 out of 10 were not working, but browsing the Internet or chatting or eating cereal. Let's be honest here, before we go on a tyraid about unpaid overtime, let's ask if the 8 or 9 hours you clocked was actual, uninterrupted work.
For me, I work an hour or so of "unpaid OT" a day because I easily screwed around for an hour. Or two. Or three. But you better believe my work gets done, and frankly, part of the reason I love my job is because I have the flexibility to screw around for an hour here and there.
^
What does that have to do with the issue raised in this thread?
From what I can see, absolutely nothing.
Is that something the union can start looking into??!?!
Absolutely.
And I trust there will be artists at the next General Membership Meeting, raising hell about these issues.
In unity, there is strength.
So some of you think it's IMPOSSIBLE for the union to say, "with Cintiqs, story artists in feaure AND TV are drawing much longer, more complex scenes, so their pay minimums must increase"? It' s a FACT-studios know it, all artists know it, and of course the employers will pretend otherwise. They will kick & scream. So?
As for the ahole walking around observing all the non-work--I call BS. The fact is, to stay employed EVERY bias artist has to make their deadlines. However they can. In my studio there are always times when artists are chatting or not staring into the bright screen tapping away. But those times are vastly outnumbered by hours of totally silent work. Everyone knows this reality. To claim otherwise? Well, I don't believe a real artist would make such a douchebag claim against his coworkers, A non artist supervisor might, though.
What does that have to do with the issue raised in this thread?
From what I can see, absolutely nothing.
You're right. I was just mentioning it. Seemed slightly relevant since Steve mentioned that working free overtime has been a problem since he started the job. Otherwise, yeah, it's not really relevant.
Fact is, there's always been pressure from studios to hit deadlines and quotas in the biz.
Stating that some people work extra hours for free isn't defeatism. It's called acknowledging reality.
"Easily 8 out of 10 were not working, but browsing the Internet or chatting or eating cereal."
Perhaps they were waiting for renders to finish on the farm, or cloth sims to finish...simming, or animators to update their latest versions, or the Art Director to send down some notes.
Man oh man, go spy on your colleagues around midnight on a mandatory Saturday, and give us another update then on what the are NOT doing.
@ Anon 6:31-
As a coworker I'm well-aware that you're that person who hovers over my cubicle and is so quiet in your own cubicle busy butting into other people's business. Classy one!
FYI I never waste my time in the studio. I always get my work done fast and when there is downtime, that's when I browse the internet and eat my cereal. Maybe your colleagues are inbetween scenes,or episodes? Ever thought of that?
God forbid I answer my phone; I know you'll be listening in, too.
Please mind your own business next time. See you tomorrow! =)
Methinks thou doth protest too much
[i]Stating that some people work extra hours for free isn't defeatism. It's called acknowledging reality.[/i]
This is true, but the lack of ideas or passion for change that these types of posts usually reflect-- the, "I'm just waiting for you guys to do something first, and then I'll totally be right behind you" tone is discouraging, as well as the "It's always been this way...que sera sera" attitude seems defeatist. Maybe that's not the way it's intended, but that's how some would interpret it.
When you're working these kinds of hours, and your personal life is strained, it's nearly impossible to take on these bigger issues without the backing of something bigger, like a union.
L.A. animation is just a shitty industry, plain and simple. Congrats to your hallway friend, who is half out of the biz.
The last time I recall artists going together as a group to complain about something like this, the production manager decided to meet each person one by one (to break apart the solidarity, I suppose). Needless to say the issue wasn't resolved, it was quieted down. And it was business as usual. Sadly I no longer have faith in my fellow artists, and my trust in the company is nonexistent at this point.
BRAVO to Anonymous poster 8:23!
Bravo.
Steve, when is the next general membership meeting. I'm new to the union, and I'm usually one to have an aversion to crowds(and assemblies) and my time is taxed from al of the extra hours I put in making animatics as a storyboard artist....
But really the only sensible solution here is to raise the rates of storyboard artists. They HAVE to be raised. I'll bang that drum and encorage everyone around me to bang it just as loud because it simply makes sense. And I'll take to task anyone who differs with me.
Studios are saving money by not having to hire timers. Our new responsibilities as storyboard artists are lessening the load of editors and eliminating previously required positions. There is NO reason not to raise the rates for what we do. Its self evident.
Now, if other studios don't have the same requirements its safe to assume they are simply behind the software and hardware curve and thats tough luck. Storyboard artist means more now and should warrant more return for how hard we work.
Designers are still doing the same amount of work. Animators are doing the same.
Editors are doing the same.
Board artists are carrying twice the load and the union seems oblivious to their situation.
LA animation is a shitty industry
Is it better elsewhere? I've worked at other studios (non union) and while there was some stability, the pay was crap. I think corporate greed is shitty which is the root of most evils
Okay how does this sound.
In my opinion the best way to get the most people to the next meeting and start a conversation about this is to let people know about when the next meeting is and that the conversation will be brought up about board artist doing too many jobs and what we, as a union, can do about it.
I say the union sends out an E-MAIL saying that at the next union meeting will have a conversation about board artist being overloaded with multiple jobs, while being paid for only one. Is a NEW CLASSIFICATION needed to help make this more of a black and white issue and less of a gray area or would better pay be the answer? I believe these things should be stated.
Now, not everyone reads the union mail so I would also suggest Steve's mentioning this to as many board artists at EVERY studio during his roundabouts. It would be nice to do a roundabout to every studio right before the meeting. That way it's fresh in everyone's mind.
I would mention both via e-mail and in-person that the more people at the meeting the better. It shows solidarity, and it will give the union a wider variety of ideas on how to deal with the problem. Which means a better chance for a change.
Steve, would this be a good way to start this conversation?
Not being one of these dumb schmucks that are getting stuck with doing animatics I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around what the real issue is.
You've been hired (probably over-scale)to do storyboards within a 40 hour (or more likely a 45 or 50 hour week if you check your agreement) and that often includes - and always has - sometimes doing character models, prop designs and other misc items that are handed out to artists as needed during their 40+ hour workweek.
If you're doing the faux animatic (which I can't believe any director would ask a storyboard artist to do without any timing experience) within your normal 40+ hour week I don't see why you should get more money.
If you can't get this faux animatic done as well as you storyboarding done within your workweek and find yourself working unpaid overtime then that is what the issue seems to be about.
Or am I missing something?
Yes, Anon 9:23, you're missing quite a lot.
I've been storyboarding for 20 years in both TV and features, and my agreement has never included doing "character models, prop designs and other misc items" in addition to boarding my sequence or pages of script. YES of course often enough I have to make up "misc" characters that are not designed-rough them in or have some placeholder design. Yes, obviously that includes props and layouts of the locations and whatever is in the scene. BUT that is a FAR cry from "doing" characters models, props, bgs etc--in fact, amazingly, there are other artists who are NOT storyboard who do ONLY those exact tasks, and they'd be pretty insulted to have it stated that their FT jobs are unneeded. There are people doing these unique jobs at every TV and feature place I know of. So WTF are you on about with that assertion?
In the second place, as far as TV is concerned, believe it or not there are places where board artists are expected, using certain software, to time out their boards. Why exactly, btw, do you "have a hard time believing" a director wouldn't expect a board artist to do it? It's a board. An "animatic"-not rocket science. Frankly, it's not terribly, horribly hard. In fact, I'll bet many board people enjoy controlling the timing of their stuff-but it's also a director's or editor's job, or used to be. For a story artist it IS extra work, that DOES take extra time, that WAS done by others than the story artist before, that IS happening because of new technology, and for no other reason than it's squeezing employees doing one job(story) for more without spending more.
IMHO this issue is all about the cintiq. It used to be very rare to have a boarded seq that had as many hundreds upon hundreds of panels as they commonly do now. The expectations of directors and producers have changed profoundly. Wages haven't at all. Neither have deadlines.
Anon 9:05:00 AM:
YES. Great idea. Possibly Facebook blasts, too. The Union should have a better FB presence. Just going to Steve Kaplan's page is a little weak.
Also, I think there should be talk about story artists' overtime, even if not timing and doing animatics. It's gotten unreasonable just with that on it's own, too. Especially at Nick.
I fully agree with the post that mentions a new classification for story artists who are asked to board out all A/B/C/D boards for a first pass. If an animatic is wanted- then name and pay the artist for what they are really doing.
Storyboarding is one panel at a time showing the needed changes of emotion and camera work allowing the crew to get a good general idea of the story. If these same images are inbetweened and being timed on a screen, this is an animatic.
Artists compete to have the best boards because this has always been seen as an expression of how talented they are. However, with the new digital standards for what makes a good storyboard (you can make a short film if you have the gumption) these same artists now are not going to tell how many more hours at home were spent to keep up the illusion of a digital week's work -and so the issue at hand.
"If these same images are inbetweened and being timed on a screen, this is an animatic."
No. That is ANIMATION
I find this type of thing akin to the industry shifting to a 48fps format.
If animators suddenly had to start producing 48fps animation and the quota remained the same (5 seconds a week or so), there'd be an uproar I'd imagine.
No. I have to agree with the posters about this being about unpaid and undocumented overtime.
You come into the office and do what you were hired to do for the 40 or 45 or 50 hours a week and you go home regardless of whether you were asked to do storyboards, animatics or sweep the floors.
If you can't finish the work in the time allotted (assuming you're being diligent and really working) per their schedule then that's their problem for creating an unrealistic schedule.
If it's a good crew (and one would assume it is since they hired you and not other artists - especially if they tested you ahead of time) then they should pay attention to what the crew can and can't do in the given amount of time.
If everyone tells the truth and won't work undocumented OT then they will be unable to fire the entire crew for failing.
All you guys asking for a new pay minimum are kidding yourselves if you think that they're going to suddenly say "sure, we're asking you to do two jobs so we'll pay you for two jobs". They're just going to laugh at you.
Get your fellow workers together and implore them to stop working for free and then things might change. I'm sure Steve would even be willing to meet with them as a group. But don't expect a new category of SUPER Story Boarder to be created because you guys are staying extra hours for free
"A lot of sound and fury signifying nothing"
The majority of those who posted above will be at home watching TV at the time of the next Union meeting. It's far easier to piss and moan than actually take a stand and do something. As a long time member of 839 I've seen this type of tide rise and fall over the years and its always the same thing - those who do, do. Those who bitch, usually do nothing. Steve you have my pity. How you are able to do the job you do in the face of such obtuse postings is beyond me - I'd have retired long ago to warmer climes.
It is undocumented time because it is becoming standard to make the best boards EVER- and if you want to keep up you'd better keep up and if you can make it animate- all the better. It is becoming deadly silent among the story artists because no one wants to admit that while going digital in the past 7 years (Incredibles boards) has been fun it has also asked a lot of questions about the parameters of storyboarding. Thanks Steve.
To jerko the clown, above, quoting Shakespeare:
There's a very valid discussion going on here about the parameters of the storyboarding job classification. But you choose to tamp it down and put it down with sneering about attendance at membership meetings.
If you don't think it's worth being discussed here(which Steve made a post about), fine, But just carping about your plain disdain/hatred of your fellow IATSE members--assuming you're even IN the union--adds absolutely zero. So, DO you have anything to add about the topic at hand, here. on this blog? Have any constructive thoughts? Any relevant experiences? Ever used a Cintiq?
If not, how about taking your gripes about meeting attendance to a post on that topic, or any other post. Or conversely, just sit down and shut the hell up.
Jesus!
There are quite a few very good and constructive ideas percolating here. Not just pissing and moaning. But yes, implementation and strong leadership is key.
to the anon @ 9:29 AM who said "boards are the one thing that cannot and will not be shipped offshore," I've got news for you:
The show I'm on now (which is union) outsources around 1/3 of the boards. Granted last season it was to Canada & the board revisionists' jobs are safe. But there are a few this season that are from the Philippines.
As long as the board artist can speak English they can & will outsource... Thanks to programs like Skype & CineSync the director doesn't need to be there to act out anything or to explain his/her drawing & thumbnails as they draw it!
Board artists are carrying twice the load and the union seems oblivious to their situation.
Uh, notice what the post ... and resulting thread ... is about?
The next General Membership Meeting is Tuesday, November 29th. We will be sending out e-mails, blogging about it, sending out mailers.
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