Search form

Starting business. Your advice greatly appreciated

19 posts / 0 new
Last post
Starting business. Your advice greatly appreciated

Hello, everyone

I am thinking about starting a small business in animation. I can currently finance 500-1000 man-hours, which - I think - should be enough to create 2-5 minutes of animation with 3-4 characters. (?) So my idea is to have all the results of this production (characters, backgrounds, linetests, storyboard, etc.) as samples of services the business is going to be offering.

Do you think this may be the way to go?

Please don't hesitate to leave the smallest comment, all input will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Den

EDITED I removed the "aspiring artist" paragraph, as it is no way central to my issue. I am not planning that anyone will work for free. Although X years ago this is what I did if I wanted to get experience in a completely new field. /EDITED

Laurence,

Thanks for your reply! I still think that almost any business opportunity is better than betting :)

I think you'd be better off using the money to put together a pitch book, but see below.

The people I have in mind do have credits/references. But it takes a team to produce result, this is why I need something that is done by us as a team. Pitching a concept to a studio should be the right thing if I wanted our ideas to be published (I'm probably using the wrong term here, but this is what it's called in the video game industry). But this is not the concept. Rather, I would like to set up a company that is doing part of production process for others, see my previous post. Comments?

In effect, you'd be asking someone to work for free. Not a nice thing to do. The word "exposure" will not make you popular among artists.

This part of my initial post generated too much of negative attitude, I edited it. It's not important at all.

Just my two cents.

Thanks a lot!

As said above, the animation industry is not easy to break into as a company. Dont just do it to do it b/c once you have a business you have overhead and that means bills you have to pay on time. It is possible to keep that manageable, but dont dive into it unless you have a financed project you can build you company around. Just setting up shop and then trying to find work will mean you are burning money...

Plus, bear in mind that job shop animation is not necessarily a lucrative business. That is not to say studios cant turn a nice profit, but if you arent getting license royalties or revenue sharing or other back end consideration and incentives, you are going to at best make a margin on the markup of your actual costs... Not the big bucks that most entrepenuers are looking for.

Working for yourself has its benefits, but the grass is always greener on the otherside. With your own company comes serious responsibility and you will never really leave work.

best of luck!

Hi Den,

I presume you are self-funding this pilot/demo reel? I did a similar thing for my first project to ultimatly launch my company. I found that some people (good people who have been in the industry for years, not students) were willing to work for free or at a discounted rate. This was because they believed in what we were doing and they saw the potential in it to go far. Don't under estimate your own enthussiasum in a project to convince people. However these are the people you need to stay loyal to. I think a script writer, for instance, would appreciate you using them regularly once you can pay, as oposed to just crediting them this once.

Good luck!

http://www.shubrookbros.com/

Den,

i think you have the basics correct, if you want to get work you will need to offer some proof of ability and spending some time in creating a demo reel would be one way of doing it.

dont expect people to work for free but at the same time dont let people turn you off either. bang away and itll workout. trust me, i did the same thing and my studio is growing.

Discard "work for free"

Ok, I think "working for free" thing conveyed the wrong idea. Let me explain. It's not huge problem to pay for a script, but the demo in my case is not supposed to show great scriptwriting skills, on the contrary, solid art skills. So please discard the part where I was writing about a "free" script. The reason why I mentioned this is because I am almost sure I can't find the right person in the area I'm currently residing in. Will have to use Internet :)

In the field where I'm currently working (IT/entertainment) it's a very common thing where parts of a project would be given out to one/several sub-contractors. Does this also happen in animation? For example, a studio would create script/music/characters and then perhaps have others develop storyline/inbetweens. This is in fact what I'd like to specialize in. Is this something unheard of in the industry?

Ok, I think "working for free" thing conveyed the wrong idea. Let me explain. It's not huge problem to pay for a script, but the demo in my case is not supposed to show great scriptwriting skills, on the contrary, solid art skills. So please discard the part where I was writing about a "free" script. The reason why I mentioned this is because I am almost sure I can't find the right person in the area I'm currently residing in. Will have to use Internet :)

In the field where I'm currently working (IT/entertainment) it's a very common thing where parts of a project would be given out to one/several sub-contractors. Does this also happen in animation? For example, a studio would create script/music/characters and then perhaps have others develop storyline/inbetweens. This is in fact what I'd like to specialize in. Is this something unheard of in the industry?

it depends on the studios / producers financing the project. usually i would expect a production house to put pre-prod together in house and send shows overseas for animation.

what you could do is just create vignettes, shorts instead of having just one concept. so say 30 sec x 2 , 5 secs x 1, something longer maybe and then when you mix em up you could show off your skill and variety.

or am i completely off base here?

Skinnylizard, I think your comments are very much to the point, your replies are really helpful.

I was thinking about taking a single concept, then playing with it in terms of different styles and approaches, showing the skills we have. Glad to see that this idea is not completely irrelevant :)

Den,

if you are selling the concept to a network it will be a diff approach. if you are selling animation services to clients then i would recommend you go with diff concepts and diff styles.

you wont need more than a 3 min reel if that. Our studio reel is 2.40 all together and covers most of the work. we also have what we call a one minute reel which is even shorter.

but you will need to build a body of work as well. a demo reel comes from a body of work. 2 min demo itself isnt a demo exactly.

take a few months and go with it. its the best way of doing this i think,

good luck.

Hi Den,

I guess skinny Lizard (Hi! SL) and Finston are both right in their own ways, but you have gotta do what you've gotta do.

Indeed animation is an expensive affair and you do recquire to pump in lots of money before you get your show greenlit or get that first contract. But do keep at it, you never know.

Another way could be to create a kickass short movie which gathers attention at festivals, but at the same time can also serve as a showreel.

HS

Thanks!

Thanks everyone for your opinions. We'll see :)

With great pleasure I will

With great pleasure I will give you advice. Let's look at this with the example of opening a service agency, which is a type of commercial activity where an agency invoices the number of hours spent on a client's project. Everyone knows that starting a business is only a small part, but most of the time is spent on maintaining documentation. I would like to advise you service businesses financial model tempaltes it is very convenient and saves a lot of your time. You may have heard of https://finmodelslab.com/templates/financial-models/service-businesses/, which will develop these templates. These guys love financial modeling and can create financial model templates for the most sought after business niches around the world. For people who have money, but do not know how to use it, this is ideal.

Hello guys i also have

Hello guys i also have experience with production of animations and spots for more than 10 years i would like to get your advice since as a studio our portfolio not showcase any work so far since the projects i did mostly scandinavian doest fit grid https://www.bagstudios.co most of my design is advertising, brand management, brand strategy, corporate brand identity, creative, creative concepts, design systems, design thinking, digital design. I shooting some old animation please let me know your honest comments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fTRAsavjUI

It is very important to

It is very important to establish the business process in a timely manner. Each business process in a company consists of a set of separate operations with the order of execution determined by technology or instructions. Routes and rules, as well as inputs, outputs, resources consumed like https://www.airslate.com/product/electronic-signature, participants, and owners are considered necessary characteristics of a business process.

Today, for the successful

Today, for the successful start of any business, in any area of ​​economic activity, it is important to define for yourself the so-called "market niche", once your new company finds itself in it, it can become profitable enough for its further existence in business. Market niche: "A situation or activity specifically tailored to someone's individual abilities and character." The process of searching for and entering a market niche could be defined as a choice of a limited-scale economic activity with a sharply delineated circle of consumers, which corresponds to the comparative advantages of a given entrepreneur. As trite as it may sound, finding your place in the market — a market niche — is one of the main problems for start-up entrepreneurs. If the sphere of business corresponds to the qualifications, inclinations, psychological characteristics of the entrepreneur's personality, then the business will begin to grow.

Check more at 
https://www.cio.com/article/3433946/what-is-process-improvement-a-business-methodology-for-efficiency-and-productivity.html 
https://fluix.io/help/business-process-improvement

The design of the studio

The design of the studio space and its technical equipment is half the success. Provide the space with good lighting of different types, as well as comfortable furniture. Post examples of your studio's work on social media, and a YouTube channel will be the most effective. Post videos regularly. I am also very interested in this, I plan to do it, but because of the many assignments in the subjects, I do not always have time. For this reason, I decided to order an essay. I took the time to do what was really important to me, and successfully wrote an essay on a topic I hated.

If you use essaypay.com, it

If you use essaypay.com, it means that finding a reputable essay writing service will be easy for you. As a result, you can be sure that you will get a service that is able to provide you with the high-quality essay in a very short time that you require.

Hi Den, I am currently on

Hi Den, I am currently on this journey as well. I have all the other aspects down, the only thing needed is funding and man power. How are you doing on your journey so far? If you would like to chat further please don't hesitate to reach out, glitchedinc@outlook.com. :)

In my opinion, the greatest

In my opinion, the greatest way to start a business is to persuade customers that you are superior to your rivals and that the quality of your goods will not let them down. You need another strong, focused advertisement that will showcase your product and briefly describe it in order to draw in more customers. If you order advertising from a celebrity, what would she say? Would you be paying for the product's quality rather than the brand.