Cartoon Brew Investigates: $400 a week in NY, $1055 a week in LA

Cartoon Brew uncovers some unsettling news about wage disparity at Titmouse LA and Titmouse NYC. An excerpt:

The question remains, however, about why there is a nearly $700 weekly gap between starting wages for Los Angeles and New York artists working on the same show. New York has the highest cost of living in the United States (Los Angeles, by comparison, is ranked ninth), yet the studio’s starting salary for workers in New York is only $20,800. That figure ranks below New York’s average starting wages for unskilled laborers like doormen ($25,680) and sanitation workers ($27,842).

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Big Lazy Robot on the Keloid trailer

We recently Quickied Keloid, a stunning trailer for an as-yet-unrealized film that the wizards at Barcelona-based Big Lazy Robot hope to produce someday. BLR’s director, J.J. Palomo, was kind enough to shed some light on the project and share some behind-the-scenes goodies.

Where did the idea for this film come from?

We’re very few in our team, so we’re very close and always hear what each other have to say in terms of ideas for possible future projects. Some 12 months ago, one of the animators came up with this idea of mechanical SWAT forces rushing into a clandestine drug lab also operated by robots.

We all agreed on two things: The idea was very, very appealing, but it still needed something else beyond just satisfying a visual appetite. We spent some months reading, surfing the web, looking here and there to build up a solid story.

In my opinion, what we’ve got today is something bigger that the art itself. We are very fond of following our appetites instead of our ideas, and our biggest appetite for this project was to showcase a real fresh perspective on sci-fi panorama.

Is there only the trailer?

The story we want to tell is nothing of an easy one, so we don’t know if a short movie can cover it all. Hopefully, it can.

We have all the characters, script and art ready. I mean, the trailer displays some of them, but there’s much more behind it. We would like, of course, to go for a feature film, but the biggest thing we’ve done so far are commercials, so we need to move slowly here.

We do advertising, mostly: Projects are never too big, the pay is good and it’s a field that’s evolving so much. This allows us to “buy” time to devote to more artistic goals, those we really love. We’re in the middle of a commercial project right now that will keep us busy until next March, so it’s a good while to sit and think.

 

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Work/Life: Royale attempts the impossible

LA-based Royale launched their new site last week, tearing the wrapping off a stack of new work, including a charming holiday short, Impossible Present.

In other words, they’ve been very busy.

But Royale’s approach to busy-ness — and business — is a little different than what you might expect from a studio of their caliber. As part of our work/life series, we’ll dig into Royale’s work philosophy after getting a little behind-the-scenes dirt on Impossible Present.

We chatted with Royale Partner and Creative Director Jayson Whitmore via e-mail.

Why did you guys decide to do a short?

Every year we like to invest back into our company and try to push the team creatively with an internal project. [Partner/Creative Director] Brien Holman, [Partner/Executive Producer] Jen Lucero and I have always loved character animation and decided this year it would be fun to do a company holiday piece as a gift for our clients, friends and family. We wanted to take the piece from start to finish and have complete control, including the option of exploring a darker storyline.

Where did the idea for the short came from?

The idea came one day when I was trying to open a plastic package that was sealed shut … you know the ones. They usually house a cool, little electronic device in an impenetrable plastic casing that, more often than not, draws blood before you are able to enjoy the product inside.

Brien and I have a dark sense of humor and are huge fans of great animation — often a fun combination. Over coffee one morning, we were reminiscing about how awesome older animated shorts used to be when they were willing to blow up the main character. Daffy always lived despite having his face shot off.

Sadly, kids are now subjected to uber-safe programming due to fears that they might do something dangerous themselves. Funny enough, no one I’ve ever known who loved Looney Toons has ever done anything remotely as dangerous as setting off a pile of dynamite and/or shooting their friend in the face. Thus, Impossible Present was born.

How many ideas/revisions did the story go through before you knew it was ready for production?

We wanted to keep the story simple. There were a few minor revisions along the way; however, it pretty much stayed intact from the beginning. We presented to the internal team to see if there was interest in the story and everyone responded positively to our treatment.

What was the most challenging aspect of making the film?

The challenging part about the short was trying to maintain normal working hours while staying on schedule. As a company, we strive very hard to find efficient ways of working together as a team with the common goal of meeting and exceeding client expectations while giving artists the space to live their lives.

We believe that by letting artists have sane working hours, they will come back more rested and therefore more energized and inspired the following day. Inspiration happens off the clock. Too many late nights in a row depletes an artist’s creativity and attention to detail, leaving more room for error.

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