, represents more than 5,800 animation artists, writers, character designers, art directors, storyboard artists, visual effects supervisors and other technicians. Guild business representative Steve Kaplan says that animation has not suffered the same levels of employment losses that have hit live-action production over the past few months.
At 20th Century Fox TV, “The Simpsons” was the first production to start operating remotely, with writers working from home the week before California issued its shelter-in-place mandate.That’s not to say that animation artists and technicians haven’t faced challenges, or that the transition to working from home in March was easy.
The biggest hurdles to the animation industry’s workflow thus far are twofold: making sure that its artists have enough internet bandwidth and computing power — it can take far longer to send and download large files from home — and maintaining the quality of voiceover recording sessions. But the current environment hasn’t yet translated into a concrete increase in demand for animated scripted series or movies, which require years to bring to life.
Scott Kreamer, the co-showrunner of DreamWorks Animation’s “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous,” says his team has been doing what it can to keep everyone connected. That has included a surprise videoconference baby shower for an animation director and the occasional Friday-night quarantine bingo — with cocktails.