Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1475854
16 KEYFRAME T H E L O C A L GETTING ORGANIZED Kathryn Wheaton was on her first day as a Production Assistant on Rick and Morty when the person training her told her the show was unionizing: "We're coming out publicly. Are you okay being a part of this?" Wheaton's response: "Hell, yeah." Why? "You get the protections," she says. Historically, animation production in Los Angeles County has been non-union in a mostly unionized industry, resulting in multiple inequities. It's a sector that includes assistants, managers, and other "boots on the ground" workers, and there has been a long-held stigma that production doesn't require the same level of expertise as the art and craft side of the business. "But we're the connective tissue of all of the departments in animation," says Katerina Agretelis, a Production Coordinator for ShadowMachine. "When people ask me what my job is, I always like to say, I'm one of the people who makes sure the show actually gets made." "Production people have to have creative solutions to creative problems, even if it's not necessarily in the way people think of creativity in this industry," says Cel La Flaca, a Production Coordinator at Titmouse L.A. Lack of union representation had been simmering on the back burner for decades. When TAG held a Town Hall for animation production workers in October 2021, the pot began to boil. Led by TAG's new Organizer Ben Speight, it was open to production workers at all studios. Kallan Zimmerman, a Production Manager on Solar Opposites, was at that meeting. "There were over a hundred people there, which was really exciting," she says. While talk about unionizing at various studios and productions had been gaining traction before the pandemic, Covid derailed some of these efforts. Now, the Town Hall jump-started serious conversation. At ShadowMachine, "there were a couple people who had a pretty robust spreadsheet of who was working at [the studio]," Agretelis says. "It felt a lot more concrete this time. The real deal, rather than murmurs." La Flaca welcomed this change. "For quite some time, I've had the sentiment that production should be part of The Animation Guild," he says, but because people weren't talking openly about the issue, "I felt I was a lone wolf." Such conversations can feel uncomfortable, but Wheaton strongly encourages workers to discuss wages. "Having pay transparency is so essential because then you know who's getting underpaid," she says. Zimmerman emphasizes that it's important to "keep in mind, it's business, not personal. This is about [your] livelihood." this page, from top: TAG Recording Secretary Paula Spence united Titmouse NY Organizing Committee and TAG logos; Glaser has worked in production on The Simpsons for more than half a decade. following page, from top: Jack Cusumano designed a Production Strong graphic based on the Epic Handshake meme; Cel La Flaca speaks at the #NewDeal4Animation Rally. WITH THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY EXPERIENCING A SEA CHANGE IN PRODUCTION ORGANIZING, FIVE SOON- TO-BE TAG MEMBERS SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES ON THE ORGANIZING TRAIL.