Animation : AMA (Ask Me Anything) 11/16-11/17 by Brian Smith

Thanks for the great blog, being on IG yesterday, and doing another AMA, Brian. Do you have any experience with clay animation?

Maurice Vaughan I worked with it a little bit when I was in school, but I don't have any professional experience with clay or any stop motion. I do have a couple of friends who work at Laika, but I personally haven't worked with it.

Ok, cool, Brian Smith. Thanks for the answer. I'm thinking about writing a Clay Animation script. I saw CHICKEN RUN in theaters. It's my favorite Clay Animation.

Hey Brian Smith - absolutely love having you in the community! I'm curious how the VFX teams work together for Avatar. It's my understanding that there are different teams all over (New Zealand, US, etc.) - how does that workflow work to be able to organize different teams from across the globe?

Hi Brian, I'm looking to speak with a studio producer, mostly from Paramount, Lionsgate or Disney, to see if they can distribute my film with VawWorld Studios. Do you know of any?

Great Blog Brian Smith I am looking forward to learning from you as I am an animator and writer myself looking to improve. I also run a volunteer run association for animators in my country and I would love to have you on one day to share some of your experience on Avatar with the members. Who knows maybe it could be a collaboration with Stage32.

Brian Smith I really want to create my own animations (Series and features). Currently I teach animation and do it commercially for small companies in the Caribbean and the occasional independent in other countries. I am using Cut Out animation to produce a children's series.

1. On one hand I keep hearing don't try to do an animated series as a small studio, try selling it to a production company instead. Would this be your advice as well?

2. Another question is, what's the best way to scale up your production team when you are an independent producer?

Thank you, Amanda Toney ! Yes, we have a VFX crew here in LA, and the Weta Digital team is in New Zealand. Fortunately, there is some overlap in time. Their day starts when it's around 2 pm here, but their Tuesday would be our Monday. I always say, they're 5 hours behind us, but it's tomorrow. There is some interaction between the LA team and the NZ team, but not a ton. Most of the assets we work with are built by Weta, which can be a challenge because their pipeline is slightly different than ours. A very general view of the overall pipeline has the LA team building the scenes after motion capture is complete. Then James Cameron puts his cameras on those scenes to create the actual shots. Then we do a clean up pass on those shots here in LA. Once those are approved by our VFX supervisor, they're sent to Weta for final cleanup. Once it's at Weta, it's very rare, but not unheard of, for it to be kicked back to us,.

Hi Brian! Thank you very much for this opportunity. Hope I don't look too greedy but I have 2 questions:

1. Do you consider that someone that wants to write for Animation, also needs to have experience with drawing or be able to professionally illustrate?

2. If I wanted to pursue a career in animation, what other abilities or skills do you think could help me join the industry, besides screenwriting?

Welcome back to the AMA Brian! Thanks for engaging so much with the community. I'm wondering if you are able to talk a bit about the differences in production management between animation and live-action. What are some challenges you face that live-action projects don't?

Julio Torres Thanks for those questions. I don't think it's necessary for someone who wants to write for animation to need to know how to draw. In fact, in this day and age of CGI, many animators don't know how to draw. It's helpful if you want an artistic role, but not necessary if you want to write. As far as question number 2 goes, if you want to write for animation, that's how you should present yourself. You could try to get in somewhere as a PA or in some other production role just to get a foot in the door. The risk you run there is getting pigeon-holed into production roles. In a lot of studios, once you're looked at a certain way, it's hard to be looked at in another capacity. It's not impossible, but it is difficult. So if you want to be a writer, be a writer.

Kevin Jackson I think it's totally doable to produce your own animation at an independent studio. The problem you're going to run into is distribution. What network will it be on? You could probably make it work by creating a Youtube channel if you don't want to work with Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network or Disney Channel or Netflix. As far as question number 2, the best way to scale up your company is to have the budget to do it. There are plenty of avenues to hire talented artists, especially if they can work remotely. The question is, can you pay them?

Niki, that's a great question. I don't have a ton of experience managing live-action projects. Avatar is technically live-action, but we're running like a hybrid VFX/feature animation shop. I know in feature animation we work a lot with quotas. Departments like character animation and EFX work in weekly quotas. The team needs to get a certain amount of footage out each week, as does each individual artists. Teams like Layout and Lighting need to get through a certain number of shots each week. Television is a bit of a different animal, at least on this continent, because the production team is mainly packaging up storyboards and xsheets and animation check notes and sending it overseas on a per-episode basis, and they generally need to ship an episode per week. TV is like running a constant sprint that might last 6-9 months, whereas a feature is a slow burn that speeds up incrementally until you get to crunch, when it's like a 6-month sprint. Believe me, animation, especially in TV, can be incredibly fast-paced.

Hi Cee, I think your best bet would be to find an agent or a manager who can bring your project to one of those studios.

Hi Brian, thank you for taking the time to answer questions! With all the upheaval with the streamers and broadcasters, how do you see that affecting the animation industry?

Hi Brian! With all that you've learned about the gender equality issues in animation, what do you think the biggest steps are that the animation needs to take? And, do you see a way where that could be prioritized as the animation industry is at a bit of cross-roads with so many recent changes?

Hi Rosemond, I wrote a blog a couple of months ago for Stage 32 on this very topic and it can be found here:

https://www.stage32.com/blog/the-truth-about-the-animation-industrys-rec...

I think so far, the streamers have been a mixed blessing. Netflix, for example. loaded up on staff and had tons of projects going, and then ended up laying off a whole bunch of people over the summer. I think they'll find their sweet spot eventually, but there will be growing pains. My humble opinion is the more studios that are producing animation, the better. A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say, More studios producing animation means more opportunities and more jobs for everyone. The other thing about the streamers is that they're not doing it all on their own. Mitchells Vs. The Machines, for example, was a huge hit for Netflix, but it was produced at Sony. Skydance Animation will be doing a bunch of projects for streamers as well. During my short stint at Netflix earlier this year, the project I was on was a co-production with Blind Wink. As I said in my blog, I think the industry overall is very healthy.

Hi Emily, I think the people running animation and the people running the broader entertainment industry also need to show more courage. I think nepotism is as to blame as sexism for the inequality that women are facing. These projects cost a lot of money, and there is tremendous pressure to bring them in on time and on budget. The people in charge of these projects don't want to mess around with social experimentation. They want to hire people they trust and know will get the job done well. They don't want to have to lay awake at night wondering if this new woman they hired will be able to step up to the plate. We need to get beyond that way of thinking. As Jinko Gotoh said in the blog, we need to look at hiring women as an opportunity rather than as a risk.

As Jinko pointed out, there are more women coming out of art and animation schools now than men. Now is the time to evaluate their portfolios and their reels with a blind eye toward their gender. If a woman has the best portfolio, give her the job. If she has the best idea for a feature, even if the analytics don't suggest that it will be a sure-fire hit, take a chance.

It sounds simple, but nothing is going to change until people make the change.

Hello Brian Smith thank you so much for this! `with all the merging, budget cuts, and projects being scrapped or unfinished how do you think the future of animation industry would lead forwards the near future

Hi Brian Smith , thank you so much for this. I wanted to know how can I network better? I’m trying to network with other writers and the writers here I talk to and I’m grateful, but I want to make it as a successful writer. How can I make it?

Hi Brian! Thank you for taking the time to join us here! Avatar is epic, and I can only imagine the amount of people and work that goes into making a film of this caliber. Curious, what part of the process do you look forward to the most, or where do you find your creative impact felt the most?

Spectacular info as per, Brian. Couldn't be more grateful.

OB Nwani, I wrote a blog on that topic a couple of months ago. The short answer is, I think that despite the issues you mentioned, the animation industry is in a good place that the future looks bright. For the long answer, you can check that blog out here:

https://www.stage32.com/blog/the-truth-about-the-animation-industrys-rec...

Josiah, that's a great question. Networking and finding where to network can be a challenging thing. Stage 32 is a great resource for that, as there are tons of writers using this network. If you're looking to network with writers for animation, and if you're in the LA area, the Creative Talent Network conference is this weekend in Burbank, and that is a great networking opportunity.

Gigi, I think my favorite part of the process is the very beginning. There is a blank slate in front of you and the possibilities are endless. But I love the whole process, TBH. I love solving problems. I love figuring out how to get by obstacles. I love the end when I can feel satisfied with a job well done.

Thank you, RB!!!!

Hello Brian! Again great AMA and again great questions already asked. I'm multi talented, I draw, animate, edit,. generally produced everything for my short films and intend to obviously produce the best. How do I fit in to those big projects, for rendering of my services and of course whilest presently in process of making my own feature.

Eon, it sounds like you are a jack of all trades! It really depends on what type of role you're looking for. If you want to be an animator, you should put a reel together (no longer than 3 minutes, and even better if it's closer to a minute and a half) of your best work. If you want to get into vis dev or story, you should submit a portfolio with your art samples.

In process of doing so, but trying to joggle to much at one time. Thanks Brian.

Hi Brian, Nice to be connected to you, I am thankful to Shellie Schmals for recommending to ask you anything. What a perfect timing. Just to give you an overview, I took formal classes in animation but transferred to MPT Department, had fun learning about the Stop Motion with claymation, Puppetry making, from scratch, and also using real live actors. Now that I got myself into Screenwriting, I am seriously considering my first Screenplay THE MUSIC BOX to be animated, I even mentioned my plans with My Creative Partner Mike Hall, he thinks it a a brilliant idea as well. I already have Voice actors in mind who will play the roles. Now that I got the Screenplay Part 1 done and have been evaluated by a Pro, I had my dialogue re edited to meet the American Standard, but need to rewrite the script with the correct format, I am working on the Script of the Part 1 which was just submitted. Should I make my Screenplay in Claymation or Use Maya Program sort of Disney type or Pixar?