Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1203639
SPRING 2020 29 ANIMATION IS A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE SCENE, AND WITH THE "STREAMING WARS" IN FULL SWING, STUDIOS ARE LOOKING TO CHURN OUT A LOT OF CONTENT QUICKLY. THE PATHS OF ENTRY FOR NEWCOMERS ARE MORE NUMEROUS AND VARIED THAN EVER BEFORE—POSTING SAILOR MOON FANART ON TWITTER ONE DAY CAN LAND YOU A STUDIO GIG THE NEXT. But the increase in available work and the globalization of the industry have drawbacks, too. With all this content to be made, how do you find the right person to make it? Skills evaluations or "tests" have become common practice when trying to fill a creative position within a production. If you've never taken one, here's the gist: if a show is interested in you but not sure that you can deliver exactly what they need, they may send a test for you to complete (e.g. a segment of a script to board out, a list of props/characters to design, a piece of dialog to animate using one of the show's characters, etc.) These tests are almost always unpaid, are not guaranteed to lead to a job, and frequently end in the test-taker being ghosted by receiving no response at all. According to The Animation Guild Master Collective Bargaining Agreement (under Sideletter J, pg. 98 of the 2015-2018 CBA) "such evaluations should require only a reasonable amount of work to complete and should be related to the hiring, promotion, and/or assignment decision." But when the stakes are high and schedules are tight, ethics aren't always a studio's priority. Time consuming, excessive, and downright exploitative tests are a major problem in the industry. I sat down with a group of Animation Guild members in supervisory and directing positions of various crafts and experience levels to discuss the issue, and the role that supervisors play in it. BEN JUWONO Supervising Director on Big Hero 6: The Series, Disney TV KIMBERLY KNOLL Art Director on Centaurworld, Netflix DANNY DUCKER Storyboard Artist on Amphibia at Disney TV; Chair of the Testing Committee; TAG Executive Board member PETE MICHELS Supervising Producer/Director on Inside Job, Netflix Photos by Tim Sullens