Mind Your Business: Job Killing Attitudes
"Every show on your network sucks…
…and I'm going to save it."
That's not a great start for a pitch or a job interview. But, it's exactly what Linda Simensky heard when she was head of development for Cartoon Network. This terrible attitude with legs did not get a deal or a job at the studio. But, he did get chased out of the building.
Was he super talented? Who cares?
Talent is not enough. In film and TV, we work long, hard hours with a close group of people. One rotten apple in the bunch can make a project miserable.
While we can, and often do, have to work with quirky personalities, a terrible attitude will kill any possibility of a job.
Long-time producer/director/animator Scott Shaw! looks for artists who can help solve his problem -- the problem of creating a successful animated project on time, on budget and of a high quality. "It really doesn't matter how talented an artist is, if he's also a chronic complainer, an art-snob, an alcoholic, a chronic masturbator, a manic-depressive, a bigot or any number of other negative traits. It's probably not worth hiring him, no matter how good he is. Troublemakers never solve a problem, they compound problems."
Shaw! continues with some great examples, "After producing many projects, I now wish I'd taken some psychology courses. That would have come in handy when dealing with some uniquely bizarre personnel experiences such as:
- The legendary background painter who showed up for his job interview with a gorgeous non-English-speaking female 'protégé,' who he assured me was 'really good' (she didn't have a single sample) and that I should hire her because he wasn't remotely interested in working on my show.
- A Cal Arts student hired to design characters for the second season of an Emmy-winning series who informed me that the world-famous creator of the property was severely misguided because the characters would obviously look so much better if they were designed differently.
- A background supervisor who I nearly had to physically restrain from demolishing the shows' new character designer, a person who was midway through the process of a sex-change operation.
- It's tough enough to make a cartoon, but trying to do it with a staff filled with variable bad attitudes is nearly impossible!" says Shaw.
I've found ways to deal with artists who are chronically late for work, lost his license or even lost his green card. But a bad attitude gets no leeway.
One of my lead animators was so mean and condescending to our crew that the entire crew under him quit. I also caught him trying to steal my clients, while he was still working for me. I got rid of him as fast as I could.
It works both ways. That same ass-of-an-animator (his name sounds exactly like Jeff Varab) once called me to run ink and paint for his sequences on the animated feature 8 Crazy Nights. As close as I can remember, my exact words to him were, "There's no way in hell I will ever work with you again." I won't hire or work with anyone who has such a terrible attitude.
I work very simply with my storyboard artists. No contracts, just the understanding that any client I book them with is my client and if they go around me to try and take that client, it will be the last time they ever work for me.
Years ago I placed one of my storyboard artists (I'll call him Ungrateful Smith, name changed to protect the guilty) on a project with a well-known producer. During the production my artist decided that he didn't need me or my company to run the job and went around both me and the producer and struck a new deal with the creator of the project.
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As Chairle Sheen says, this article is WINNING!
It's about time semoone wrote about this.
Yep. Both those shows are pretty much SHIT. Some of the worst animation I've seen on TV.
and saying they're the "best shows on Cartoon Network today" doesn't really say much.
Woah! Are you seriously saying that Emmy-nominated shows such as Regular Show and Adventure Time are bad? I have yet to meet a single person who doesn't say that at least either of them are the best shows on Cartoon Network today, or even the best animated shows made for children today.
Boo freaking hoo. Sounds like you have some issues with equal opportunities employment as well as your staff's behaviour. RE: "if he's also a chronic complainer, an art-snob, an alcoholic, a chronic masturbator, a manic-depressive, a bigot or any number of other negative traits."
Scott Shaw is a very talented guy, But he constantly has a bad attitude about new technology. Even when I met him some twenty years ago he still had a chip on his shoulder. Scott has had a hard time adapting the new studio system. I'm not a big fan of how hollywood is run, but keep it among close friends.
Before you get up on your soap box and preach about what great animation and art is, take into consideration the reality of the business.
Granted, in a certain age, animation was more "masterful" and innovative with the beginning of a golden age for cartoons.
However, cartoons are, and always will be, a business, in the respect of television. Many cookie-cutter cartoons are approved because investors want a sure-thing. And not everything that is green-lighted is even truly revered by the CN team as worthy. But, jobs are made, and families are fed.
There is a quota, to some respect, of shows needed to run on the prime time block that cannot be fulfilled by repeats of canceled series, due to say, administrative demands. Hence, pitches are made, and when push comes to shove, one must be chosen.
The more money studios make, the more likely a risky but fresh cartoon will grace the small screen and capture our hearts. A similar pattern exists with movies. The ever-hated sequels feed newer more original projects with ticket sales.
Cartoons are more than art. They are a job. And while I won't defend titles like "Problem Solvers" as great entertainment, I will say that it is definitely employing artists and providing for them. While I do hope to see greater cartoons rise to fame, I realize that these things happen in patterns, and as sure as Disney will produce another classic, a good cartoon will come.
Art and quality are debatable, and perceived differently upon the viewer, but a job is a job. And I'd rather have a show that is in no way threatening our youth, and easily avoidable with a simple channel switch, promote my thirst for creating something greater than it, while still employing hopeful newcomers in my field, as opposed to having few great cartoons, with many unemployed artists.
Thanks for providing the insight. I wonder what happened to the days where people acutally had fun in animation and also took their job as a job. SImon thank you for giving real advice on what to look out for in terms of animatiors with really horrible attitudes, or one is egotistical I can not stand condescending people.
Really, Simon? You're going to make the claim that Anonymous has a "bad attitude". Why? Because he/she doesn't give his/her name? Because he/she agrees with the tacky twit that the shows on CN suck? Or is it because he dared questioned Shaw's use of the exclamation point after his last name?
Anonymous is right about CN. Most of the shows do suck. I mean, REALLY suck. For example, Adventure Time, Gumball, Regular Show, Gym Partner, The Problem Solverz, and Flapjack to name a few. I shake my head in disgust at the so called art and animation.
This is what we went to animation school for? To produce tasteless and tacky animation? I imagine Avery, Jones, Freleng, Lantz and all of the Disney Nine looking down and shaking their heads in dismay at the crap that is now produced and passed off as "quality" animation.
And then we have Adult Swim--now there's some REAL quality art and animation folks.
Oops, I'm sorry...I must have a bad attitude, too.
David
I have been working at a cgi studio doing automotive visualization and we had one of these kats. He is the hero of all of his stories. He has the answer to everything and even tried taking a client while our boss was having a presentation of our facilities.
I understand artists have a hard time abiding by rules and yet know that their are rules and lines you should never cross. Even Banksy in his "Exit Through the Gift Shop" documentary said that MBW "broke all the rules... But there aren't supposed to be any rules. So I am not sure what the moral of the story is."
Same in professional work environments. Our boss (owner of 1 of top 10 agencies in US to work at) was looking for some new artists and looked at a reel of one guy who has serious skills but heard he was seriously difficult to work with so he didn't hire him.
Moral of the story, you may have tremendous skills but don't be an asshole. You will regret it one day when you start receiving what you dish out.
A+ article. Thank you for posting!
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