Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1203639
SPRING 2020 31 them ask me about testing and I go, "The first thing you should know about testing is you don't have to test." And they always look surprised. EI: There's ways to do stuff that isn't just testing or not testing. That's one of the things that we were talking about on my show because I needed to test people but there was discussion at the studio about testing in general. People were [saying] "Well, what if we just give freelance instead?" And then I think the in-between was paid tests. You're paying them for their time. Whether or not they're going to get the job, they're still getting paid. For me, I found that to feel better than just asking somebody to test for free, especially if they're somebody that's never worked before. BJ: What I found out is that [at] some studios the producer [doesn't] actually have control over the budget completely because the studio controls the budget. So if you go to your producer and say, "Hey, can we set aside some money for paid testing?" as supervising director, I don't actually have that power. This has to be something that is talked about and discussed before the budget's even finalized. Once the budget's finalized, there's no more room to [say], "Can we set aside $10,000 to test X number of people?" The last two episodes of the first season [of Big Hero 6: The Series], I actually kept one board artist spot on my team completely open. I never hired anyone. For the last two episodes, I would freelance them to people that I want to [hire for the next season]. Each of them gets five pages. Within 12 weeks, I got to test four people and they all get paid. PM: You also get the work done. BJ: I also get the work done. Well, no, some of it I have to redo. But that's the risk that you take. But from that I found one person that actually worked out and I don't feel bad about making the other people work because I paid them. And that circumvents that whole idea of, "Oh, sorry, we just don't have the budget for that." But that does require the director taking that risk. HOW DO YOU THINK WE AS A COMMUNITY FACE THE LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY WHEN IT COMES TO TESTING? PS: First of all, we're talking about it now—that's great. And I'm really excited to hear that everybody has such similar ideas that are based in being good to other people, being fair and just talking to your co-workers. I've worked on a lot of shows that had very young creators. Just easing the tension by sometimes calling myself grandma [and saying] "Hey, grandma has some advice for you." Giving them some education and saying, "You remember what it was to take a test, right?" "Everybody here got their first jobs with testing, so you just automatically assume that's how it works, everybody takes a test to get a job. Now, we're looking back at it and going, "Wait a minute. Do we need to do that?" Kris Mukai