Joseph Gilland.

Anyone who has walked through an animation studio has seen what an eclectic group of people it takes to make an animated film project come to life. Whether it is a big budget or small budget, 2D, 2.5D, 3D, feature film, independent film, animated television commercial, rock video, videogame, cartoon series — you name it — animation is a labor intensive, collaborative team effort that entails a great deal of communication with a wide variety of artistic characters. The job of integrating and creatively managing a group like this is a unique challenge that takes a great deal of skill, dedication and human insight. Simply knowing how to balance a checkbook, or to make an animated film, is not nearly enough if you want your team to work together with efficiency, synchronicity and creative integrity.

There is magic in what a truly skilled animation manager/director/supervisor needs to do to keep the level of productivity high, while keeping the level of creativity high as well. Many horror stories have come out of animation studios around the world, describing the long grueling hours, the thankless, tedious, repetitive, and dehumanizing tasks that it takes to make animated films, and the brutal, high strung slave drivers that make it happen. The artist/management relationships are often described as troublesome and wrought with melodrama and painful miscommunications.

We have all heard these stories, but let’s think about it like this: If we are part of the animation industry, and we love it, and we want to stay in it, then we are all responsible for nurturing these relationships, and instilling our workplace and each other with positive energy. Let’s not forget, we are making cartoons! It should be fun, and it should be fulfilling somehow. If it isn’t, then we are getting away from the reason we got into the animation business in the first place.

Oh, I know, I know. Some people actually just get interested in animation because, “There’s money to be made in them there car-toons!” Well, even if that’s the case with you, read on. There is a lot to be said for delicately nurturing a positive environment for creative people to thrive in, and techniques for doing just that aren’t necessarily found in the corporate HR handbook.

Those of us who have been in the animation business for a decade or three, have surely worked with wonderful bosses and horrible bosses. And we have seen how greatly the product suffers when the boss is horrible. Well, which one will it be? What is the legacy we want to leave behind in the animation industry? Let’s think about that, shall we?

Often in an animation studio, there are men and women, young and old, from all over the world, of varied ethnic backgrounds, speaking different languages, practicing different religions and, often, embodying very different cultural values as well. Straight, gay, male, female, young, old, liberal, conservative, eastern, western, etc., you name it, you can find it in a modern day animation studio whether it is in America, Canada, Europe, Australia, Asia or anywhere else.

Of course this can be said of many businesses in the world today, but few as much as in an animation studio, and making such a studio work efficiently and hit its production goals, poses some truly unique challenges to producers, managers and creative leads of all kinds in an animation environment. Even if everyone on your crew is of the same race, or nationality or culture, you still have a wide variety of personality types, with vastly different needs when it comes to casting work to them and keeping them busy, productive and happy.

I personally have had very mixed successes in my experiences managing large groups of animation artists. We sure as hell can’t make everybody happy all the time. Even keeping some people happy some of the time is quite an accomplishment. And being a manager often makes you a target. When people are under a lot of stress and pressure, the “boss” (even if you consider yourself a sensitive artist type) is usually the most convenient point toward which to vent off steam. But through the years that I have supervised and directed, or been supervised or directed by someone else, I have discovered ways to keep folks smiling and productive most of the time.

I will do my best here not to sound like a New Age, self-help book on how to influence people and make friends, but there is a certain amount of touchy-feely stuff that I think really needs to be addressed if we want to effectively appeal to our crew’s sensibilities, and get the best work possible out of them. The very best film projects I have ever worked on, you know, the ones with heart that really rise above the average animated film, (and I’ve had the honor to work on a few) have something in common. A fantastic work environment with managers, directors and supervisors who nurture and empower their crew to rise to the very pinnacle of their craft. Greatness does not emerge from a dysfunctional studio plagued by egomaniacs, miscommunication, and corporate greed. No siree! Greatness is nurtured and carefully cultivated with love, humility and respect!

So let us consider some of the way we can encourage and empower our animation crew to greatness, shall we?