Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1434261
WINTER 2021 23 TALK IT OUT "We work in an industry where subjectivity is baked into the fabric of almost everything we do," says Girmann, "so I love when we can get a few different opinions on a particular subject and talk it through on the podcast." He feels that this approach offers listeners a glimpse into the day-to-day nature of working in the industry. BE REALISTIC Lewis warns against over-promising a release schedule that you can't deliver. "Don't make it a second job," adds Low. "When we started we were really intense about posting twice a week on every single social media platform." It was too much work, and now they focus on keeping the process as fun as possible. As Soliday notes, "There are a handful of animation podcasts out there, and I'm grateful for those that post regularly as well as every once in a while. Give what you can, when you can. It's [about] quality, not quantity." KNOW YOUR WORTH "Don't be too hard on yourself," Haney says. "You either started this as something you thought would be fun, something you wanted to be a (free) resource for people, or both—so just keep that as your focus." Soliday adds, "Whether you have one or 100K+ listeners, soethin say or ae can iproe soeone's day or level up their knowledge to help them get through their current or upcoming hurdles on their creative journey." AVOID PERFECTION For the editing process, Haney feels that it's okay to leave in some "ums" and awkward chatter because it helps the podcast feel real. She says she was too precious with early episodes, and now that she doesn't worry about perfection, it saves her time, not to mention the pain of always overthinking things. SPREAD THE WORD ne ay aney prootes her podcast is to ae one minute snippets of each episode to share on social media the day before the episode airs, "to give people a taste of that episode [and] guest so they become interested in listening to the full thing." She recommends the website Headliner, which she says will do a lot of the work for you. T E C H TA L K inkandpaintfolk.podbean.com Cassie Soliday, Writer In college Cassie Soliday loved her History of Animation class, but lamented the lack of women in the curriculum. When she broke into the animation industry in 2014, she started interviewing woman animators, and the next year she officially launched her podcast to serve as "a living archive of contemporary women and non-binary folks working in animation," ensuring these artists won't be lost to future generations. typintoons.com Kendall Michele Haney, Writer A fan of podcasts about writing, Haney noticed how rarely (if ever) they touched on animation. She also received numerous emails asking about her job, so she decided to create a space "to answer some of those questions on a larger scale." Each episode focuses on a writer and their journey, along with a deep dive into a single topic such as writing a first freelance episode or serialized storytelling. animationhappyhour.com Garrett Lewis, Character Animator Katie Low, Character Animator Ben Girmann, Character Animator Like Haney, this trio received emails from students at a volume exceeding their ability to answer individually. As a result, they created their podcast about how to break into all aspects of the animation industry. In the spirit of happy hour, they enjoy drinks during their friendly, conversational interviews, while also pursuing their more formal goal to "both democratize and distribute information more efficiently." POD PEOPLE