No wonder Vaudevillians made so much progress in such a short time; they believed in holding crisis meetings. When an act failed to get a "wow" response, the troupe held a crisis meeting the moment the curtain came down. The agenda: "What did we do wrong!?"
These were serious meetings. Everyone knew that some other act was backstage with the theater owner at that very moment saying, "Did you see how nobody laughed at that last act? They obviously don't know what they're doing, and it's costing YOU money. Now, if you had put US in there..." The troupe felt it's very survival was at stake. They tried to isolate what the problem was and fix it then and there. That's a formula for progress.
That's what modern animation needs...crisis meetings. We need a producer who is personally offended when another studio or another unit seems to be doing something better than his own.
I'm often amazed when companies don't take competition seriously. They're always ready with an excuse if the TV show or movie doesn't grab the public. Not enough people face the fact that shows fail because they're just not entertaining.
Bosses should get mad more often. The boss gave us all work in the belief that he would get a decent return on his investment. He's entitled to a righteous rant. Seriously, we should be ashamed if we don't deliver the goods.
3 comments:
Right on, Uncle Eddie, but the standards have generally gotten lower throughout much of the animation industry, unless you're talking about independent animators like Bill Plympton or Nina Paley.
First, those standards need to be raised right back up and then crisis meetings will be needed the most. Cartoon producers should be kicking themselves in the foot and look at why the more independent based networks like FX and AMC have been doing so well with their programming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mehU6bkQbY4
Vince Gilligan has virtually never gotten an executive note for his show and I'm pretty sure others who have shows for AMC are in a similar position. As long as the show is bringing in revenue and they don't go overbudget, they can literally do whatever they want!
If these meetings are needed for good animation, then it's definitely an industry for the young. Older guys like Wolfgang Reitherman and Bill Scott croaked because they got angry (Woolie crashed his Corvette, etc.).
Most companies I've worked for as of early 2000's absolutely, positively hate employees who show any sign of anger. Your __manager__ can get angry, but if __you__ show any, a boot out the door's the reward. Side note: simply complementing an employee's appearance can lead to a sexual harassment charge!
How well did Ralph B. and John K. handle employee anger?
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