The 2D character animation veteran discusses the unionization of the New York-based animation studio, the history of animation studio unions, and resources for others interested in the unionization of their animation workplace.
Check out Terry Ibele’s Animation Industry Podcast, featuring a new podcast every week focusing on the stories of today’s animation professionals - how they got to where they are, and what they learned along the way. Now home to 147 episodes, the podcasts cover all areas of the industry, including storyboarding, writing, animating, directing, visual development, game design, and more.
Guests have included Aaron Augenblick, the notorious JJ Villard, Spike & Mike’s Spike Decker, Disney Director John Musker, Sony Lead Animator Humberto Rosa, Cuphead’s Tina Nowracki, Frederator’s Fred Seibert, Tumble Leaf’s Scarlet Nelson, and many others from major animation studios all over the world.
The most recent is Episode 147: Rachel Gitlevich Shares How Titmouse New York Unionized In 2022
This episode features 2D character animator, Rachel Gitlevich, who also headed up the unionization of Titmouse New York in January 2022. In this chat Gitlevich shares the history of animation studio unions, how Titmouse unionized, and resources and information for others interested in unionizing their animation workplace. In addition to all this, Gitlevich has over 10 years’ experience in character animation working on projects for Netflix, Disney, Cartoon Network, YouTube, and of course Titmouse.
Tune in to Ibele and Gitlevich to hear:
- 10 questions to ask your coworkers to gauge their interest in unionizing
- Exactly what it means to unionize an animation studio (the pros and cons)
- The two (out of three) skills animators need to master in order to get ahead in their careers
Social Links:
- Check out Gitlevich’s work on Vimeo
- Look up: “Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson,” by Tom Sito
- Check out the Animation Guild
- Check out Amaze.org
Ibele, himself a stop-motion animator (see AWN’s Fresh Takes piece on his whimsical short, The Silly Duck Wizard), deftly digs into all manner of topics, encouraging interviewees to share insights and opinions on a wide range of topics like pitching shows, marketing your work online, key skills studios look for when they bring on talent in storyboarding, vizdev, character design and animation.
In 2018, Ibele, who lives in Toronto, decided to quit his career as a Marketer and pursue his love for animation. Since then, he’s become well known for his viral animation productions, which include the previously mentioned Silly Duck Wizard, which is how AWN first came to know him and his work.
Learn more about Ibele’s work and podcast by visiting terryibele.com. You can find all The Animation Podcast episodes on his Soundcloud site https://soundcloud.com/animation-podcast.
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
