Forum - View topicTales Of The Industry - Anime Colony
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
|
|||||||
|
Very unfortunate that Justin had to contend with an unruly boss at such an early era. I'm willing to bet his life would've been worse had he stayed at Anime Colony until its eventual shutdown. It seems that K's ego got the best of him.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
noblesse oblige
 Posts: 279 Location: Florida |
|
|||||||
|
Am I the only one who feels kinda bad for K in this story? To me the story paints the picture of K as someone who went out on a limb for his passion and then gradually felt the mounting pressure of having his job security attached to a failing project, (albeit wrongly taking it out on the people around him), but still. Can't help but feel sorry for the guy.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
|
|||||||
|
^
To the extent that "K" seemed in over his head, then, yes, I would agree with you. EDIT: Oh, and I'd just like to add that that I think that changing "Sci Fi " to "SyFy" was pretty goddamned stupid. With that sort of mentality, I'm not the least bit surprised that that "Ani-Monday" was later terminated. Last edited by nobahn on Wed Jun 03, 2015 10:47 am; edited 2 times in total |
||||||||
|
||||||||
EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
|
|||||||
I'm sure Sci-Fi wanted to be on the cutting edge of 90's anime, seeing as they were the only cable network showing Streamline and CPM at the beginning. But that was the reason I never really considered it "in the loop", and always went to Anime Turnpike instead. The fan net was more of a for-fans-by-fans thing. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
|
|||||||
That's true--but it was the fault of their sponsor, which would irritate K even further. We also see in the story that K personally removed a lot of writers for failing to turn things in on time, which I was referring to. Still, to have both of those together: Having a lot of incompetent writers for your website, then having your competent ones walk out because your source of funding is also flaking out on you, would grey anybody's hair. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
unready
 Posts: 399 Location: Illinois, USA |
|
|||||||
Sadly, it's about generating page views. But they are reveries. (500+ words for 21 minutes of content - 23+ words per minute - competes with the actual show scripts for length.) And they are weekly.
9 articles so far 6 from Justin 3 from not-Justin Don't get me wrong. I like the column, but if it's mostly going to be Justin telling his life's story, I'm not sure it can last. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No, it's a problem with the management, which would be K. If you've ever been involved with the financial side of a business, you get to see some weird stuff, even in well-run companies. This guy was obviously trying to lower his cost of capital by delaying his payables because he had no receivables. If he had paid the writers, his corporate oversight would have shut him down faster, and he knew that. {Merged serial posts. ~nobahn} |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Usagi-kun
 Posts: 877 Location: Nashville, TN |
|
|||||||
|
Justin, you were smart to walk away when you did. It sounds like your boss was growing more and more mentally unstable, and that is dangerous as pressure keeps mounting. I'm glad the experience did not poison you from pressing forward through college, writing, managing websites, loving anime, and later incorporating all of that into ANN.
It made for an interesting story, and at least you got to meet Zac. Keep all of those things and more interesting stories coming. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Ushio
Posts: 630 |
|
|||||||
|
"There was also this one guy, who I got along with, but really got under K's skin. This guy was named Zac Bertschy."
Boy do I understand that feeling, and that's just from reading some of his forum posts. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Seif
 Posts: 456 |
|
|||||||
|
I would totally be down with Zac popping in from time to time as a guest story.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
nobahn
Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
|
|||||||
|
Ushio--
You try directing the editorial content of this website for ten (10!) years and also try to keep things civil in the forums on the side. I guarantee you that that your goodwill towards your fellow man would evaporate to next to nothing. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Lord Geo
Posts: 2545 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
|
|||||||
Yes, but you seemed to skip the part where Justin then said, in that same post, that he'll be doing two "non-Justin" stories in a row next, which would make the total 6/5, which is much closer to 50%, |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Gasero
 Posts: 939 Location: USA |
|
|||||||
|
“Your problem is that you're very intense, and you intimidate people. It's good that you know what you're doing and you let people know that, but sometimes it's just too much.”
Sounds like a good manager to me. I hope that's verbatim and not someone stroking their ego tough. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
|
|||||||
So...is it K's fault, or is it K's superiors' fault? Now I'm confused. I thought that it was because his sponsor hadn't been paying him and thus he was stuck in a bad situation, having no money to give to his team. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
ZenAmako
Posts: 92 |
|
|||||||
|
I approached this story with some trepidation, as I was one of the writers Justin managed. I had forgotten many of the details, and some of them suddenly came back to me as I read this piece (including K's real name). I know I turned in some reviews late, but I tried my best to make them good. I was working full time as an assistant manager at Borders at the time, and writing reviews and encyclopedia entries at night or on days off. For a fan toiling during the day at Borders, a chance to work for Sci-Fi Channel was exciting.
As I recall, the writers could choose which titles they wanted to review out of what was still available, and because there were three review slots available for each title, I got to write capsule reviews of many of my favorite anime AND get paid for it. This was before the ship started to take in water - I believe the site hadn't even officially launched yet. I remember contributing reviews for things like the Macross movie, Windaria, and Zillion, but there were also a few oddball selections like Twilight Q (my recollection is that it the review database wasn't just limited to titles released in the U.S.). I believe the most recent anime I reviewed for Sci-Fi was the Utena movie, so that should give you some idea of the time frame. Anime DVDs were just starting to become a thing, and my anime collection at the time still mostly consisted of laserdiscs and VHS tapes. I was familiar with Justin from the fansub days, but this was the first time I encountered Zac's name. Zac must have been pretty new to anime at the time, but his reviews stood out - even the favorable ones. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
CandisWhite
Posts: 282 |
|
|||||||
The problem is that K handled his issues with the maturity of a 2-year-old who didn't get the kind of cookie that he wanted. Not properly vetting writers; Pushing sections that HE wanted, not what the site needed; Reaming out people for imagined problems; Yelling at staff in public; Calling people, who are not on call, at 2 a.m.; Every single other thing that this man did: These are not the actions of a mature, capable, adult, let alone someone who is suited to a managerial position. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group