Here in Canada, and around the world, as broadcast advertising revenues have dried up and the masses have shifted towards other methods of media consumption, animation broadcasters are being forced to scale back. Playback reported a $54 million dollar drop in animation production volumes in 2008 – wow that sucks for all of us!!
For those of us working in animation, this means we are facing some tough, competitive times and I thought I would share some of my thoughts on how you can survive the Animation Recession in style and hopefully come out of it with a smile on your face and better poised for a successful career in this industry than ever before.
- Have more sex with that special person in your life*
It is true that not only is sex great fun, it is inexpensive! Getting good value for your dollar in tight times is really important. Not only will you feel better about yourself, invigorated, creatively stimulated, and so forth , your partner will too and with all that free time on your hands….
Hopefully those good vibes will translate into support in these challenging times, because, let’s face the facts, it is impossibly hard to make it in this industry in good times without the support, and sometimes sacrifice, of the people closest to you in your life. These days, this support is more important than ever before.
*A word of caution - make sure that you protect yourself from unwanted pregnancy. All the cost savings from lots and lots of inexpensive high quality sex will be eradicated by one trip to Baby GAP.
- Be Optimistic
Lots of sex will help with this, but the truth is that the entertainers fair well in tough times. There is an audience for you out there, people are watching more television and consuming more media than ever before. When everyone is broke, it is cool to be broke, go with it, don’t wallow in it. Use these times as an opportunity to be innovative and creative in finding your audience. A lot of great artists cut their teeth during the depression, Orson Wells pushed the boundaries of storytelling in traditional media formats theater and the new media of the day – Radio. The same opportunities exist today but they are magnified by the potential of the internet.
- Explore the art of story
Buy Blake Snyder’s Save The Cat and write that screenplay you have been thinking about for the last few years. Really. You should do it.
- Make something low budget, high quality that is financed with sweat equity.
Check out www.deadheaven.net – it is an online comic book financed through online advertising, donations, and sweat equity. Wow. If that doesn’t inspire you how about this – The Fox Aniboom Holiday Animation Challenge – invest some sweat equity into this competition and you could end up with a development deal with FOX.
- BEG for a job at the new PIXAR studio they are opening in Vancouver.
That’s right BEG – I am using my BLOG to do this – PLEASE HIRE ME AMIR NASRABIDI – Bring me into the fold, I would love to work with you to make the Vancouver’s PIXAR studio a great success.
- Pitch a film to the National Film Board
Are you an auteur with passion and vision?? Then perhaps the National Film Board of Canada is the film making partner you have been looking for all along.
These are my tips for the times. If you are having issues trying to get motivated just start at the top of the list. Spend as much time on the first point as you need.
