Interested in being in the entertainment industry? Getting a degree in something like computer animation is only the first step in a veeery long process. This article details issues I have discovered within the animation and visual effects industry, however, similar issues plague other segments of the entertainment industry. In this article the focus of criticism is mainly on the entertainment industry, not Fullsail. However, were Fullsail more forthcoming with information about the entertainment industry job market, many prospective students would not have attended their school.

Domestic vs. Foreign Job Market:

Outsourcing or exporting jobs overseas has been the subject of much political debate. The phenomenon exists due to a simple principal of capitalism: cutting costs. Several models of American cars are built in Mexico or Canada, Nike shoes are made in Indonesia, Dell's customer support call centers are moving to India, etc. Why has this practice become so popular? Because an Indian, Mexican, Indonesian or Canadian is willing and capable of doing the same job, but for only a fraction of what an American would expect to be paid.

As it applies to the field of animation; China, Japan and India (among others) have all had jobs relocated their way. A call center employee whose job went to India can easily find other work as a customer support representative, because it is a larger field. As small as the animation and visual effects industry is, every job lost overseas has a far greater impact on the domestic workforce than more widespread disciplines.

The domestic market is actually being pulled from two directions. First is the outsourcing issue causing a decline in industry growth, the next is the saturation of the domestic job market, described below.

Workforce Saturation:

I referred to this phenomenon in my article "The Fullsail Scam: Exposed" Fullsail is not the only school out there teaching animation and game design. There are scores of them nationwide. Fullsail turns out hundreds of animation graduates annually, and combined with these other institutions the output of new "talent" is far in excess of the growth and attrition rates of the gaming, animation and visual effects industries. Not only are students competing against each other for work, but they are also competing against industry veterans for the same jobs.

A big side effect to this is in the pay. Although many positions still pay well, the numbers of desperate people looking for work anywhere they can get it have caused a sharp decline in the salaries of many professional artists. Bear that in mind if you are ever on an interview, because you will more than likely have little if any bargaining power over salary. If you won't work for what they're offering, the next guy probably will.

Your Resumé Looked at First: The "Demo Demo Demo" Argument:

A demo reel is the video equivalent of a portfolio; used to demonstrate one's ability to create models, animation, and other related art assets. Ask any Fullsail instructor about what is most important element for job seeking, and they'll tell you "Demo, Demo, Demo!" This message is drilled into the heads of all Fullsail students and most of them buy it, myself included, because we will parrot the assertion simply from repetition. After sending out my 50th demo reel packet, however, I began to suspect that it wasn't my demo that was the cause of my lack of success.

There are several compelling reasons to believe your demo reel is not the first thing looked at when you send your application packet in. The general accepted length of a demo reel can be 2-5 minutes, and the general practice for a resumé is one page. Some studios receive hundreds or thousands of demo reels a month.

Tim Naylor, a Fullsail graduate who now works at Industrial Light + Magic on the Star Wars films, described their company's method of reviewing demo reels. Essentially, that demo you spent months creating gets shoved into a VCR and the person reviewing it will play it in fast-forward mode. If he/she doesn't see anything interesting within a couple of seconds, the demo is ejected and thrown over their shoulder into the trashcan.

If faced with all those video cassettes, each requiring at least a minute or two to view, versus a stack of resumés which take only a few seconds to scan, it's highly likely that you will look at the resumés first if you want to do things quickly. Say for instance, you're a company looking for a 3D animator that already knows the 3D Studio Max application and can hit the ground running. You do not have time to hire someone who only knows the Maya application and needs a couple weeks to familiarize himself with new software. Looking at it from a purely logistical point of view, examining resumés before viewing demos is an effective timesaver. If you don't see any good demos from the Max group then you start working with people who know another application. Why watch all those demos when by looking at resumés you can look at the candidates that list the needed experience, live locally, have the highest educational backgrounds, etc.?

There are also many people, including some Fullsail instructors, who believe that the mention of Fullsail on your resumé will eliminate you from consideration for employment. Much of this is thought to be attributed to a negative reputation that the school and its graduates have been forming over the years. As mentioned in "The Fullsail Scam: Exposed" there is also the well-known "button-pushing" style of teaching Fullsail employs, just one more reason companies may steer clear and consider applicants from alternate educational backgrounds. Finally, there is the issue that a trade school degree (even a Bachelors) just isn't enough in today's intensely competitive job market. Some Fullsail graduates simply exclude any mention of Fullsail from their resumé, for fear that its inclusion will disqualify them from consideration for employment.

Subjective Screening:

Assuming your demo reel is reviewed; let's consider the subjective quality of this process. Depending on the genre of the subject matter on your reel (either fantasy, anime, sci-fi etc.) someone down the road is going to say to themselves, "Oh, God. Not another ________!" No matter if your work was just as good as the other guys, that little turnoff just tilted the scales in your competitor's favor, and he gets the job instead of you. Some might say that can't happen because demo reels are analyzed objectively, but that simply is not possible to do. The person who initially screens your demo may not even be one of the production staff, but may simply be a run-of-the-mill human resources worker who can't tell good animation from a hole in the ground.

Costs of Postage and Materials:

Let's not forget, video tapes and presentation materials don't get across the country by themselves, and it's doubtful you want to move to California just to hand deliver your demo reel to Pixar. All of these things cost money; the average cost of a 5-minute video cassette, jacket, printed resumé, contact card, labels, envelope, and postage can add up to $7-10, and that's just for one application. It is likely you will have to distribute dozens of packages to very specific job leads even just to get one call.

Don't Expect to Have Your Calls or Emails Returned:

I encountered a hot job lead with a company on the west coast. I felt I was a shoe-in for the job because I had done just the kind of work they were looking for on my demo reel. I paid $15 in postage alone to get it there overnight. No call. No email. After several attempts at contact via email I received no reply. This is not the first time something like this has happened, but it was the most expensive. A package with a large "$15.00" postage label on it should at least warrant a phone call. This sort of ignorant treatment is common among the industry as a whole.

In many instances portfolio submissions over the web (a more acceptable practice among game developers) also receive little if any response. Emails directed at human resources departments, and even to specific contacts can take several days or weeks for a reply (assuming a reply is ever made).

Some would say that many companies are so overwhelmed with submissions that they lack the resources to respond to each applicant individually. Companies can still take measures to insure that each applicant has been given the courtesy of a timely response, without resorting to costly measures such as increasing staff (although you can outsource human resources services to Mexico for a fraction of the cost, you bastards). I could mention specific things that can be done to boost efficiency, but that's what these HR people are paid for and I have no intention of giving them free advice (the industry gets enough free labor as it is).

If You're Not Local Don't Bother:

As I stated above in my "Demo demo demo," argument, it is clear to see why a company gives preferential consideration to applicants local to the area. Logically this is because of the time involved with relocating and settling of applicants from out of town is inconvenient to an employer. So in turn they will look to local candidates first, even if they don't specify "Local applicants only," in their job advertisements.

I've heard the idea presented while at Fullsail, that you could rent out post office boxes in the cities local to your target employers. The logic behind it is that it will make you appear as if you are local even though you are not. While this idea sounds promising I am certain that experienced HR people are well aware of this ploy. The time and money expended on such an endeavor is better directed elsewhere.

Internships:

Considering an employer actually decides to talk to you, you may only be offered an internship. These are either unpaid, or range from minimum wage to, say $10 an hour, and generally last around 90 days. This is an aspect of the outright exploitation that the entertainment industry is well known for. There are links at the bottom of this page to the accounts of people who have been exploited as professionals in the industry. Employers know how desperately many of their applicants want to be in the business, and it gives them all the power to do as they please with their employees. The kind of money they pay or don't pay for these internships is often inadequate for one to sustain himself, especially in expensive cities like Los Angeles, New York, etc. The only way to make it work is to lease a 1 bedroom apartment with 4 or 5 other people like yourself and hope that together you can pay the rent and keep the pantry stocked with ramen noodles. Domestically, large cities such as these are where most of the jobs are, so be prepared for the transition to city life.