Future of Animation

Article: Future of Animation

Writer: Graceana Hardy

Artificial intelligence, massive layoffs, and poor working conditions have left the future of animation uncertain, something The Animation Guild is fighting to change. Will it be enough, or are the days of Saturday morning cartoons over?

Watching animated shows like Spongebob and Scooby-Doo is a core memory for many of us. Whether you were a Nickelodeon kid, a PBS kid, or a Disney kid, chances are you’ve had a positive experience with animation. And the industry has only grown since, with movies like The Wild Robot and Inside Out 2 being heralded as massive successes. Behind the scenes, however, workers are struggling. "Our children will not be able to be animators in the future. It will cease to be a viable career path” says showrunner Joana Lewis, a member of The Animation Guild. The Animation Guild is currently negotiating with AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) to change that. AMPTP is the entertainment industry's official bargaining representative, and they negotiate with unions on behalf of hundreds of producers.

But first, what is The Animation Guild? The Animation Guild is a union representing animation artists, writers, and technicians. Unions are groups of workers specific to an industry or trade. Those who join unions work together through collective bargaining to negotiate pay, working conditions, and other stipulations. If an agreement is not met, the union may choose to go on strike, meaning the workers belonging to it do not work. 

This puts pressure on the employer to meet the union's demands. In the past, strikes have led to things like the abolition of child workers, the creation of the weekend, the 40-hour workweek, and the middle class as a whole. Strikes are often what divides people when it comes to unions, especially when it comes to more essential workers like nurses or teachers. The choice to go on strike is not taken lightly by union leaders, and the balancing act that comes after that decision can lead to many outcomes. 

The Animation Guild has been around since 1952, but many of the issues they want addressed are new. One of those issues is generative AI. Generative AI are artificial intelligence models capable of producing things like voices, art, videos, and writing. Currently, voiceover actors for video games are striking over generative AI, hoping to put barriers in place for how it can be used. One fear surrounding generative AI is the jobs it could eliminate, particularly entry-level ones that allow artists to get into the industry. In an interview with Deadline, an Animation Guild member said about AI, “Even these softwares, they can’t do it on their own…maybe it’ll work for a couple of years, but then you’ll just have a beige bag of mush, because it’ll all just be regurgitating the same exact thing. That’s all they have. They don’t have any creativity.”

Another issue the guild is negotiating is working conditions and job security. Pixar's Inside Out 2 made 1.673 billion dollars at the worldwide box office and is the highest-grossing animated film of all time, but has that come at the expense of the workers who made it? IGN interviewed 10 former Pixar employees, who reported they underwent the largest crunch time in company history ( a claim disputed by a Pixar executive who reached out to IGN, who said the crunch time was the same as usual.) The pressure to have the studio succeed felt like “life or death” to some artists, who report working 7 days a week for months to finish on time. 

Furthermore, a few weeks before the movie was released, Pixar laid off 14% of its workforce, the largest layoff the company has ever had. “The day that the layoffs happened was like a funeral. There was weeping and crying in the atrium.” said one animator IGN interviewed. This decision prevented many artists from receiving the bonus they would get from the film’s success. These bonuses, which range from one week to ten weeks of extra pay depending on how well the project does, act as a carrot on a stick to compensate for Pixar's lower pay.  “We work all year for that bonus...” another source commented. “we depend on that.”

Pixar is not unionized, so it will not be directly affected by the results of the negotiations, but the guild hopes that the changes they are fighting for will ripple out to the animation industry as a whole. According to El Pais, Ann Le Cam, the former senior vice president for studio planning at Disney, said she views the animation industry as “in turmoil” but is hopeful that good can come out of it. “These are turbulent times, but I am optimistic, and perhaps we can reach a more democratized industry that pushes forward new content from voices that until now were kept out.” Guild president Jeanette Moreno shares that ambition.“As we continue these negotiations, it's crucial that we keep our focus on what matters most: protecting the livelihoods of our members and ensuring the animation industry thrives,” says Jeanette. “...We are not only standing up for our present needs but also safeguarding the future of animation for generations to come.”