Forum - View topicINTEREST: American Animator in Japan Offers His Take on the Industry's Wages and Work Environment
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gloverrandal
Posts: 406 Location: Oita |
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Aren't they just commissioned workers and not salary workers? |
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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^ figured it was something like that.
Now, hearing other people's experiences (like Cindy Yamauchi and Scott MacDonald) has me concluding that the money being that bad isn't universal. Still, I think things could stand to improve quite a lot. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14758 |
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Japanese animators are paid per drawing, instead of base pay + per drawing. (AFAIK, American animators are paid by wage.) Studios have to ask a bigger piece of the production committee budget pie to pay their animators better, but unfortunately other studios would then undercut them by underbidding them.
There are hundreds of studios, and since it's wild wild west industry, some of them with unscrupulous bosses who get away with slaving their animators for peanuts, while bosses pocket the money. Labor unions are weak in Japan, and animators don't speak out to rock the boat. And it'll become worse for them since J-PM's Abenomics policy supposed to increase the prices of goods for inflation, so if the income rate doesn't follow up...........
Enforcement and punishment, on the other hand........... Like unpaid overtime work |
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Parse Error
 Posts: 592 |
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This is someone who already had work and went to another country of their own accord to do something that would give them greater personal satisfaction. Even for native Japanese though, at $300 per month they'd be paying for the privilege of working, so doing "home security" would actually be the more financially attractive option. |
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Yause
Posts: 97 |
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Some of them get a fixed pay. Typically, these are the more senior, higher paid animators, such as animation directors.
Many studios are in bad financial shape, so I doubt the skimming would drastically change the situation. Furthermore, the industry seems to have little interest in ensuring the survival of any one studio because they know that there is no long-term consequence. The company goes under, there's a short-term shakeup, people scatter and regroup, the middleman (studio boss) changes, and everyone repeats the same cycle again. While it's good that there's little long-term job loss, such conditions ensure that studios are always pushed to the brink and pressured to pay as low as possible. The problem is systemic. |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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It's a mix of options. It's definitely not all paid per drawing. Check out Aya Suzuki's interview as I mentioned previously. Newbies are almost always like that to minimize risk for the studio and must have supplemental income but other more established people are contracted per project. You can be contracted by cut too (scene i.e. sequences of drawings in a shot). Again, Aya goes into all the details. You can be paid on demand, whenever the cuts get done, and/or be paid according to a certain amount within a time frame. The way to survive is time management and being smart of about which frames to do first--you don't have to do most of them in order--and being smart of about mixing difficult and easy drawings. Most people also work for multiple studios. Of course, most workers are freelance/contractors but higher end senior people are staffed, Ironically, there can be less pressure due to being able to take your time if you are willing to opt for the by-drawing or by-cut on-demand pay, than scheduled pay. The rough starting conditions are tolerated as a way to build up your resume, portforlio and network. There's huge turnover, but that's a good thing as it allows people to move on up and out of rough conditions. |
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Wandering Samurai
 Posts: 875 Location: USA |
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configspace you have had some very insightful and detailed posts, which I have loved reading. Everything you have been saying has been exactly what I have been thinking. Sometimes you have to take a low paying job in a certain industry to get your foot in the door, as you have said, and build up your resume. Especially when reading from other users' posts that the animator section of the industry seems to be saturated, you have to take what you can get sometimes. Get some experience, and when you feel the time is right, move on. At the same time, I feel that while these individuals are subjected to the poor working conditions as described in the articles and by other people, this is their choice to work in the industry and wanting to be able to be a part of that creation. It is truly unfortunate that working conditions as they are makes the animators susceptible to ending up in the hospital among other situations. The pay is definitely something that I would want to work for, but when you want to be in the industry and remain in the industry, you have to take what you can get as mentioned above. |
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the-antihero
 Posts: 726 |
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We could start by trying to ease the problem by actually buying anime and more of that money may go into paying them a much higher wage and not throw bullsh*t excuses not to.
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Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2796 |
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Why is it whenever something concerning American animation comes up on this website,there are those who waste no time making cheap shots at it? It drives me crazy as someone who likes both. Both American and Japanese animation have had their shares of junk and gems. So why is it that the animation snobs who gleefully attack American animation never criticize the bad animation that comes out of Japan or praise any good animation that comes out of America?
There are a lot of really good American animation out there if you're willing to look for them or watch out for them. It drives me crazy. I once heard of a Japanese animator who came to America to work in American animation and now he's working as an animation professor at a university in California. It makes me angry that stuff like this goes on. To me,it's alright to like anime. There are anime I like a lot. But,there are American cartoons I like as well. I'm not ashamed to admit it. There's nothing wrong with liking both Japanese and American animation. I wish that this silly snobbery towards American cartoons among some anime fans would stop. It's stupid and unnecessary. |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5315 |
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I was going to ask why he just didn't go back to America to work. But that line at the end tells me he probably worked on some really boring projects. Do they have any animation made in America? A lot of places only do pre and post production and send the rest off to Korea.
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StfuSleepySteve
Posts: 6 |
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You already pointed out that they are animals snobs then why are you still asking why they never criticize bad Anime? That's besides the point though, what I want say is that American Animation has always been the same. Comedy for kids or comedy for adults. No murder mystery, no psychological thriller, no Shonen types or even romance. They are hopelessly in a box repeating the same themes over and over. No one ever tries anything other than to make people laugh. Is there an American animation equivalent of Death Note? Or Code Geass? No. Because animation is either crude or childish in America and will never be given a chance to induce catharsis or any other form. |
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13552 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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While I don't really know of any big hits animated here since I pay more attention to Japanese animation, some web series might be made here. |
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Velocial
Posts: 4 Location: Utah |
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H.R. Giger t-shirt and a Skies of Arcadia Desktop, this guy is awesome.
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Wrangler
 Posts: 1346 |
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I wonder how long anime industry in Japan is going to survive.
if majority of the industries workers / artists are being driven to this point in exhaustion, how is it going to survive. People have big appetite for anime, but it takes time and cost balancing to make it happen. Underpaying those artists, so a struggling industry can stay in Japan seems like road leading to damnation and huge brick wall. There sad reason why America barely has any animation studios from golden years still around. They started out sourcing them, quality of animation on television went down the toilet. Heck, you don't have Saturday cartoons anymore,not saying that only reason. I wonder if a minimum wage law was passed if it would help or kill the industry there. |
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D no Amerika
Posts: 26 |
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If it's the same reason animation in America became slightly void, the could happen to Japan. America and Japan both have their gems and faults in animation. Films like Wall-E, Spirited Away, Fantasia, and even Paprika were (if not, are) very unique amongst animation, not only from their countries, but even animation overall. It can't be denied, we barely see gems like these and others so much. I agree that American animation seems more focused on the comedy level than anything else, but that doesn't mean it was always like and that it's impossible for it to change. Anime is more diverse in it's content, touching subjects of psychology, history, and even as much as the occult and life as we know it now. Though, at the cost of extensive labor of it's animators. With it's budget problems, it's uncertain how long the industry can last like this. So basically, animation is in a mess, despite the quality we see in shows like Attack on Titan, The Amazing World of Gumball, or even Kill La Kill. But, who knows, maybe one day someone will rise against this truth and try to change things, in anime or rather animation in general. Wither change comes soon or later. Just putting it out there.
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