What Do You Want To Know?

[Ward Jenkins]

Obviously, there are a good mix of people here from the animation industry, both young and old(er), newbie to seasoned. For those who are dying to know anything and everything about working in animation, ask away on this thread. Myself (11 years experience), along with many others in the industry will try to take a crack at your answers.

For the record, I work in the commercial/broadcast side of the biz. Others have worked on TV shows and internet. Do we have any feature peeps? If not, let's try and get 'em here.

Ask away.....(or not)...

[Joanna Davidovich]

I thought it was just a movie- is it a terrible TV show now as well??? Gack.

[Jennifer Adkins]

I never saw the movie but oddly enough this show is on as I am catching up on this thread, and what the heck IS that ugly orange character. Is it a cat, kangaroo, weasel, or what?

[Cory Morrison]

I completly agree Denny, animation isn't dying it's story thats dying, It drives my mental that these big studios focas so much on the animation and making it look pretty and the story always lacks luster, People are not stupid they want more then anything to be entertained, and a good story is always entertaining regardless of the medium, at least Pixar gets it.

[Ann-Marie Denham]

There's certainly a dearth of consistent work in Australia, and the impression that I'm getting from a lot of other sources is that it has a lot to do with broadcasters paying peanuts for content - not sure if that's true, but it certainly seems believable.

[Vincent Veidt]

That happens everywhere, but it's not the only problem.

[Joanna Davidovich]

Cool, thanks for your answers guys. It does make sense that the nature of the animation business fluctuates. So I have another question: how do you cope during the downtime? What other arenas do you suggest exploring in order to deal with these lean times? A friend of mine said I should learn how to do Flash scripting, but the thought of that...really depresses me. Thanks!

[Patrick Mallek]

Downtime? I'd suggest learning how to play the accordian. I double dare you to be depressed while playing the accordian. It's impossible.

You don't need scripting, but a general understanding is very helpful in communicating with techies. It will come up eventually.

[Joanna Davidovich]

Actually, I started playing the ukulele. I just can't hold a frown when I play "Five Foot Two Eyes of Blue"!

[Jennifer Adkins]

You know what I think? And of course I'm still a newbie to animation, but I think the real key during this downtime is to collaborate and make our own exciting works. Now of course whole 88min long movies might be a bit difficult without some funding, but I think the new frontier is the internet and there is money to be had for people with a following. So, I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and see if I'm right, just as soon as I have that magical original concept. :P

[Chris Battle]

Good idea, Ward. I've got 15 years exp. in TV animation here in L.A., and since I was once a young kid who benefited from the advice of some very generous people, I figure I'll continue that chain of generosity. Hopefully we can all extend a helping hand to the new and/or hopeful out there.

...and they can give us jobs when their kick-ass idea becomes a big hit show.

[Eric Wiese]

Ward,

I like potatoes and pie. Do you know of anyone with a potato pie? Or perhaps a tuber pie that grows underground like a potato?

[Vincent Veidt]

I know of a deli that serves latke stuffed with meat...