Mark Simon receiving a fiery email. Courtesy of Mark Simon.

I recently experienced e-crazy. It's a great example of how some people are their own worst enemy in their job search. And I'm not alone. I found examples of e-anger from other studio owners, even on Pixar's job website.

Many artists wonder why they find it so hard to find a job via the internet or email. I've said before, people hire who they know and trust. This brief story helps illustrate the value in working with people you know and trust.

Like many studio owners, I get samples emailed to me all the time. Some are incredible, most are average and some are incredibly bad.

I just received one in the incredibly bad list, but luckily the guy also had an unusually over-blown and unearned ego.

Another quick note, when studios receive emails, like the one below, filled with misspellings and lacking all knowledge of punctuation, we expect the demo to be just as bad.

His opening note (copied exactly as it was received):

Mark Simon,

can you give me somework, pretty please, test me!
i can edit videosI can animate using blender 3d.
i almost have blender3d masterd,
I can UV map like a pro, i just need to master rigging.
im learning the new blender 2.5 beta right now.

come help your california staving artist.  
enjoy the shows,. what you will see, i taught myself!

Willie Nelson And  Toby Keith
(link to his demo on youtube)

Let me explain what I then saw on this 'staving artists' demo reel. Obvious use of existing models in a 3D program. No animation, just jerky movements with no obvious story. Weird twitching of various elements. Parts of bodies moving is opposing directions. No ease in or out, just A to B, start and stop. Non-existent lip sync. Over-blown lighting. Cutting between shots with no timing, no reason for any shot, etc. It's obvious this guy has no training. Basically, his demo was a total piece of shit. My 11-year-old boys edit better.

I shared his demo with Curtis Sponsler, who owns AniMill, for an independent review: "I've never received a piece-of-shit like that before (I just ate my lunch, and now I've got to eat it all over again!)"

I share this with you to give you the background to my response. When someone is so utterly clueless in their letter, espousing how great they are, and they have no talent what-so-ever, someone needs to be honest with them. However, I did it nicely and I always try to offer advice. He admitted he's self-taught, so he needs to get proper training.

I, like most studio owners, am very busy. I didn't have to respond at all, but felt it's better to be honest and try to give him guidance.

My response:

Name,

Thanks for your note.

I took a quick look at your sample. You need to learn how to edit and how to animate. While you say you can edit, your sample shows that you do not understand the principles of editing. Your animation also is just elements moving. There seems to be no reason for the movements or any character imbued in it.

You need to start with some classes and learn the basics before you will land a job in animation.

This is not meant to be harsh. I want you to understand that you do not have the fundamentals yet to be an editor or animator. You don't know what you don't know.

I wish you luck.

Let's take a look at how quickly this conversation goes to hell. (Warning: this is not for children to read.) Note, I never responded to his outrageous emails.

His first response:

Wait till i animate your nasty dirty ass,
who the fuck do u think your insulting
u dont got shit coming
tell your homosexual friends to leave the holiness of maariage alone
or i will make war!

YOu insulted the rong man fruit cake!