WDFA to lay off 160

[Ben]

Hey, he mentioned Animated News!

You mean Animated-?????

[ShyViolet]

Here's one blogger's commentary on this situation (from the Business of Animation Blog)

Disney is set to start dropping more people as Wilbur wraps and the other CG films in development or pre-production are getting negative feedback from the Pixar boys. Plenty are upset about the layoffs, but unfortunately, this is the way it goes in animation these days. That doesn’t stop some staffers from having a few choices words about the Pixar guys coming in and shaking things up. My personal take is that they are going to strip WDFA to its core and make sure that Pixar remains king of CG, while Disney goes back to a hand drawn film every 4 or more years and a CG film at about the same pace (i.e. some of these CG films in development are going to get the axe). It sounds like the honeymoon is over for some of the people down here.

[GeorgeC]

Here's one blogger's commentary on this situation (from the Business of Animation Blog)

Disney is set to start dropping more people as Wilbur wraps and the other CG films in development or pre-production are getting negative feedback from the Pixar boys. Plenty are upset about the layoffs, but unfortunately, this is the way it goes in animation these days. That doesn’t stop some staffers from having a few choices words about the Pixar guys coming in and shaking things up. My personal take is that they are going to strip WDFA to its core and make sure that Pixar remains king of CG, while Disney goes back to a hand drawn film every 4 or more years and a CG film at about the same pace (i.e. some of these CG films in development are going to get the axe). It sounds like the honeymoon is over for some of the people down here.

I'm not ripping on you, Violet... I'm just commenting on the animation business in general.

The animation business IS FOR THE HOPELESSLY NAIVE! You're not guaranteed any kind of decent living income to start off with and you're treated like dirt unless you're a major director (Brad Bird, Lasseter), producer, or the head of the animation department at Disney. Everybody else is expendable and replaceable by cheaper people.

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO JOB SECURITY FOR THE LOWER RANKS IN THE ANIMATION BUSINESS WORLD-WIDE. ACCEPT IT, OR GET A JOB IN ANOTHER FIELD!

I've read blogs from artists and the posts at Animation Nation. These people are crazy if they think things are going to change and animation is going to STOP being a business and that they'll be treated any differently from contractors in other fields. Again, NEWSFLASH -- you get treated like garbage UNLESS you're a major mover-and-shaker. Less than 1% of the people in MOST fields get that kind of treatment!

Seriously, your changes of making it big in animation are as good as being a professional athlete or becoming a major movie star. The odds are really about as good as hitting it big on the lottery... and we all know suckers who waste AT LEAST $5, $10, $15 a week on the lottery when they could be putting that money to much better use and actually getting a guaranteed return on it!

Why SHOULD the Disney people expect a change in management NOT to result in more job losses AND more restructuring? Seriously, this is the way it works at most companies!

Now not every animation artist or artist PERIOD is that hopelessly idealistic and naive, but sheesh even many of the cynics in the field (re: 95% of the Animation Nation regulars and half the critics on CartoonBrew) just don't get it! They seem to think that the general rules that govern everybody else in other fields (outside of the strangeness of academia and certain government unionized jobs) just don't apply.

I say B.S. to that. Grow up, guys!

[Ben]

I hear ya George.

[Jens]

But let them have hope...

It's not only in the animation sector you get treated like dirt. Every huge sector that employs a whole lot of people treats their people like dirt (ok, there are exceptions!). Companies like that don't know their people and therefore it makes it easier to sack them when needed...

If Disney wouldn't have the huge animation studio reputation it now has, they would out-source a whole lot more of their animation work. It's cheaper, and nowadays, if you knock on the right door, you get the same quality.

[ShyViolet]

The animation business IS FOR THE HOPELESSLY NAIVE! You're not guaranteed any kind of decent living income to start off with and you're treated like dirt unless you're a major director (Brad Bird, Lasseter), producer, or the head of the animation department at Disney. Everybody else is expendable and replaceable by cheaper people.

I'm just honestly curious though, are there layoffs at Pixar, or does Pixar ever outsource? How many layoffs have they had for the past few years? Was it as many as Disney? Are Pixar people's jobs as unstable? Did they become more insecure after the merger?

I just like to know, and I know there are layoffs at DW too.

Hey George, it's always good to get your comments! You should chime in more the way you used to.

Why SHOULD the Disney people expect a change in management NOT to result in more job losses AND more restructuring? Seriously, this is the way it works at most companies!

I guess they thought Pixar coming would fix things.

But like ten or fifteen or twenty years ago wasn't there more security in animation? Weren't some of those Disney people in 1984 there for like years and years? What changed? Is it the economy, the increasing reliance on outsourcing? Do they not sign people onto contracts the way they used to? Or are the contracts much shorter? I read somewhere that Pixar people have no contracts, but they still get longer-term employment.

I think the same is true for other fields as well, not just animation--it used to be that you would graduate college, "get a job", have kids, etc...now you might get a job for a year or two, then get another one, etc...the work force is so unpredictable now. And there's outsourcing in a BUNCH of other fields too, not just animation.