copying and pasting the comments i added to the disney tva prod unionization efforts post because this time, IT'S US, BABY!
if you're not in this job, you would never know how intense, involved, and straight up complex animation production is, but because it's mainly administrative, behind the scenes, and most skills are taught, production staff are often viewed as highly replaceable and unimportant. not everyone is nice to us, and more and more studios are stripping production personnel of our "corporate" status, meaning if the show ends or gets cancelled, studios aren't required to relocate us to another one. when this happens to artists, the guild protects them, but production will lose all benefits and will need to file for unemployment until they can find a new job (which isn't easy in the animation industry these days!). remember, a season of a show takes only about a year and a half to make. losing all benefits and having to file for unemployment every year and a half is NOT a way to build a career nor is it a stable and sustainable way to live!
because our roles in animation are rarely talked about, here's some of what production staff does:
STORYBOARD AND ANIMATIC
- managing the master project file, which sometimes means scanning, cropping, camera adjusting, and typing hundreds or even thousands of panels, dialogue, and action notes by hand into storyboard pro if the artist drew them in photoshop or traditionally
- pinning up and taking down boards for pitches and reviews (yes, manually, with push pins on walls). every note drawn on those pieces of paper needs to be scanned and sent to the artists.
- inputting new and revised panels into the board project file and then exporting them to the animatic editor, which necessitates memorizing the board front to back because artists don't always track their panels or tell you which ones have been updated and you have to know instinctively.
- conforming, which means going panel by panel and comparing it to every frame of the animatic to make sure they're a complete match, which happens multiple times and usually requires quick turnarounds.
RECORD
- reaching out to recording studios, voice directors, and talent agencies to coordinate record times and availabilities.
- creating the schedules, typing up scripts, adding line numbers, updating line counts, exporting boards, collecting audition tapes, arranging catering, watermarking literally everything, and making sure everyone involved gets the right stuff and the most updated versions of that stuff ahead of time.
- circle takes.
- sending the raw selects to the dialogue editor, arranging radio plays, and sending the clean selects to the animatic or post editors.
DESIGN AND SHIPPING
- creating all the templates artists need to design a show's assets (hundreds of them!), which includes pulling board references so they know exactly what to draw, compiling brush libraries, mood boards, and vis dev pieces.
- tracking the progress of hundreds of designs across multiple episodes in every stage they're in and making sure the artists turn them in on time.
- creating a reference list (a GIANT spreadsheet breaking down every single use of every single design in every single scene of the episode--takes DAYS to create for just one episode!)
- preparing shipments of everything the animation production facility (usually international) needs to make the cartoon, which involves a lot of exporting, layer adjustments, cropping, re-exporting, and cataloguing.
POST
- acting as the main point of contact for those overseas animation facilities. CNS uses mostly korean studios, which often means trying to field questions from a non-native english speaker every day.
- making sure the showrunner and exec producer review weeklies/dailies quickly and thoroughly and the notes get to the overseas studio on time.
- configuring the retake list so the production can stay under budget (determining retake categories and footage count, which are connected to prices--involves a surprising amount of math!)
- assembling retake materials, including creating lists of tasks for artists to do, getting them the shots or designs they need to fix, and making sure all fixes are completed in time.
CONTRACTS
- negotiating rates with every non-corporate player involved in the making of a cartoon and making sure all NDAs and legal contracts are signed and correct.
LEGAL, TRACK READ, TIMING, CHECKING, EXECS, ACCOUNTING
- sending boards, designs, animatics, and time cards to dozens of people with highly specified jobs who require very specific items to do those jobs, making sure they get them at the right times, and making sure whatever they send back (be it notes, sheets, or lists) makes it to the appropriate party so the right action is taken.
and this is all in addition to very stereotypical secretarial work like taking notes at meetings, managing the showrunner and producer's calendars, and maintaining a pleasant atmosphere for the crew (coordinating game nights, decorating the office, organizing parties or lunches, etc.). production is expected to know everything, what's going on at all times, and how to fix it, which is a lot of work and often, a lot of pressure!
tl;dr:
we're going to fight the good fight, so
SUPPORT PRODUCTION UNIONIZATION EFFORTS!
