London International Animation Festival Notes – Business and Creativity

So the LIAF 2022 just passed, and I thought I’d catch up on some of the livestreams and panels that took place, just to further my own personal understanding of industry, and begin to think about how I want to prep myself to try and break in. The panels were deeply fascinating, so I’ll document snippets rather than the full panels (this stuff would’ve been quite helpful for my previous unit’s research, but better late than never!).

I tuned into the panel about Animation as a business, and listened to Phil Dobree of Jellyfish Pictures discuss the financial side of building up an animation studio. How can we set up our own studio, and can animation become a business? There were some really interesting points he made, some of which I’ll outline below:

• He joined the animation industry as he found it a creatively fulfilling position, and has been apart of the industry for 30 odd years. His opening years were often drawing stills rather than movement, as he entered as an artist rather than as an animator.
• As someone who liked working with or for others, he always had an eye on the business side of the industry, an independent enterprise as he described it.
• When he opened Jellyfish Pictures, he mentioned how he didn’t have to pay rent as he worked out of a cupboard (or small room), and focused on steadily building up the business. By keeping costs down, you can offer more competitive bids for the first few projects you can take on, and as the business starts to grow, you’ll naturally find the company grows too. You’ll steadily become more responsible for others’ incomes and take on larger teams.
• If you start a studio, you’ll have to learn the basics of business, and there may be a point where you seek investment. This may involve leasing equipment, getting debt funding to improve premises, or making an equity release of giving away shares of the company (this is only when you feel really confident with the studio and are in a financially good place to do so).

I also listened to the talk about “Keeping it Reel”, which discussed what it means to separate commercial and personal work, and how can we strike a balance between making work which we find creatively fulfilling, and making work which will help us remain financially stable? Tony Comley (RCA grad) and Chris Ullens (MA CSM grad) discussed:

• Tony Comley mentioned that very early on, he made a distinction between his own personal work and the commercial work he made. As an RCA graduate, he was taught to envision animation from a more creative standpoint as opposed to learning technical skills for the industry. He wasn’t immediately noticed, but his graduation film was noticed by Channel 4, and he was allowed to direct short animated segments within live-action documentaries.
• In regards to decisions made by higher-ups, he has found these decisions are often financially driven rather than creatively driven, and that the guys who are in charge of the money aren’t as creative. Sometimes, he expects the changes made by these guys aren’t good but still has to follow them, sometimes he leaves a project because the vision he has in mind gets compromised which changes his core idea drastically.
• As a freelance director who sets his own rates, he finds that directing isn’t as financially lucrative as he thought – when you look at the hours you put in, you spend more hours directing than animating.
• Comley made a very interesting point about setting day rates. It’s not skill level that decides how much you charge, but rather the software you use. Character animators who use TVPaint, Toon Boom or Adobe Animate may have to charge lower because they’re perceived as cheaper by clients, whereas if you’re a motion graphics animator and use After Effects, its perceived as more expensive because After Effects is seen as technically more demanding and expensive. As such, he typically takes on motion graphics as his day-to-day projects as a way of remaining financially stable.

• Chris Ullen discussed how he started as an MA Photography student with a graphic design background, and how in a stop motion workshop, he discovered his “eureka” moment where he realised he could be paid for making this kind of work that he enjoyed.
• Like Comley, Ullens described what getting feedback from the higher-ups does to his projects. He found they often tone down his work to be “safer”, and as a result less creative. Sometimes they’re on the same wavelength, such as the Kirin Ichiban video above where they fully indulged in the handcrafted aspect, but most times they deviate greatly from what he imagines. But he’s accepted it, these projects often are taken on to sustain his personal practice.
• He finds his work can be unstable in terms of income: sometimes he’s completely free, other times he’s busy. Ullen mentions wishing to find something on the side that would help to stabilise these dry periods.

These panels helped to paint a clearer picture of what to expect from the industry, echoing what I’ve heard a lot of before – a sacrifice in terms of creative vision, a fluctuating income, but a role that has potential to be creatively fulfilling.