Most animators are driven to get into the business by their love of great animation, whether it’s a Walt Disney classic or the latest smash hit from DreamWorks. But it’s rare for new animators to start working for the prestigious studios that make those movies right out of school. Thankfully, the animation landscape is expanding quickly, with the number of studios doing high quality work that needs top talent growing even more quickly.
Here’s a look at four studios on the rise — Blur Studio, House of Cool, Laika and Reel FX/Radium — as we ask executives at each about their hiring needs and how new animators might fill them.
Blur Studio
Located near the beach in Venice, California, Blur Studio has been in the VFX and animation game since 1995. Hiring manager Tom Dillon says the majority of Blur’s business has been producing cinematics for video games, but as the company gears up to work on a new “Heavy Metal” movie, it plans to establish itself as a top-quality animation studio. “We’re moving towards a Blue Sky level,” he says. “We’re not going to be like a DreamWorks or Disney in terms of size of the studios, but we’re looking to do the same quality.”
The studio has established itself as a place that does realistic animation and a lot of motion capture, which means it will be looking for animators skilled in those areas when hiring, Dillon says. Most of Blur’s hires have two to three years of experience, but the rising quality of animation schools has made it a little easier for talented new graduates to get hired. As always, the key for any animator seeking work is to be able to get the job done. Dillon says he particularly looks for a good sense of physics and environment —the animator’s work has to, well, work. “I can look at basic rigs and I can tell if they have a good understanding of animation.”
Temp positions are rare, though when they do pop up the animators hired for them often are brought on full time. Dillon’s best advice is to find a niche and fill it well. “Focus in on what you want to do and get very good at doing that, so you can say specifically, ‘I’m a character animator,’ and show a bunch of stuff.”
House of Cool
It’s important to be creative and multitalented when seeking work at House of Cool. That’s because this studio is all about developing and selling ideas and concepts, more than executing them, says president and founder Ricardo Curtis. “Have the ability to do lots of different things, specifically if you can do designs and boards really well, along with animation,” Curtis says.
Because of the studio’s focus on developing properties, the amount of animation done in-house tends to be limited to materials used to sell the pitch. But that’s not a hard and fast rule, says Curtis, adding that the Toronto-area studio did a sequence for the recent Blue Sky/Fox feature “Horton Hears A Who.” The studio also has done short films for Disney and its upcoming projects include TV series “Digata” and “Grossology,” as well as the upcoming McKenzie Bros. show and a toon for adults called “Dating Guy,” he says.
When looking to fill positions, House of Cool looks for team players who can get the job done reliably. “They’re being asked to manage their work,” Curtis says. “We have a time where they have to be here in the office, but we’re much more interested in them fulfilling the requirements of the job.” It also helps to be a Canadian citizen, as homegrown workers allow the company to take advantage of generous government tax credits, Curtis says. As such, competition for the small number of qualified Canadian animators is very intense.
Laika
Laika does a little bit of everything, especially on the commercial side, where it’s turned out animated spots for the likes of M&Ms, Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats and Spam. On the feature side, the company also is growing, currently working on director Henry Selick’s 3-D feature film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline.”
Preparing to move in 2010 into a new animated campus it’s building south of its current home of Portland, Oregon, Laika is always looking for new animators and puts special emphasis on acting chops, says senior recruiter Tom Knott. “We don’t need to see a lot, but we need to see quality,” he says.
The feature operation currently working on “Coraline” is new, and Knott says he expects some staffing fluctuations as the company transitions to its next feature, the original CG property “Ben & Jack.” “We’re hoping to have some continuity between films, so the crew can flow from one to the other,” he says.
Knott says there always is a need for animators, especially CG. The company recruits for its entry-level positions at schools such as Ringling College of Art and Design, Sheridan College and CalArts. They also post openings on their own site.
As for what Laika is looking for, Knott says strong acting chops are at the top of the list and, since the company has a history with short films, it helps to have made one of your own. “We probably take a little closer look at films,” Knott says. The company also is looking for continuity, which means they are looking for people interested in having a career and living in the Portland area. “We’re trying to build a studio here,” he says. “What we want to do is find people who want to be here. We want people who aren’t just here for a movie.”
Reel FX/Radium
Reel FX/Radium is hardly a small shop. In 2007, the company pushed through 350 minutes of all-CG content for every corner of the business from video game cinematics and commercial work to working on such feature films as Sony’s “Open Season 2.”
“We’re looking for people who are passionate about what they do,” says Chuck Peil, VP of business development. “They may not have it on their reels yet, but we’re looking for the talent of tomorrow.” Peil says they’re finding that talent in programs like Animation Mentor as well as from small colleges and universities. “Fast animators are always a valuable asset,” says Tim Lannon, who helps head up RFXU, the company’s training and apprenticeship program. “We also want artists that are eager to learn and share their knowledge, work well with a team, and are passionate about animation.”
With its entertainment operation based in Dallas and plans for a new studio in Santa Monica, Reel FX/Radium employs about 270 people and hires carefully to avoid overextending itself. Beyond RFXU, the company accepts demo reels, visits select animation schools and attends SIGGRAPH.
Lannon says employees enjoy the studio’s collegial environment and Peil says its origins in Texas also have become a big attraction for animators. “Being sequestered in Dallas, it was hard to be taken seriously as a contender in the industry,” Peil says. “But it allowed us to think about everything differently in our process and our approach.”
About Tom McLean
Tom McLean is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles who writes about the entertainment industry, focusing in visual effects, animation and comic books. His work has appeared in Variety, Emmy Magazine, Animation Magazine, Metromix, Los Angeles Times and VFX World.com. His first book, "Mutant Cinema: The X-Men Trilogy from Page to Screen," will be published by Sequart.com Books in 2008.