Hey everyone — Virginie here!
I’m still buzzing from my conversation with the insanely talented Dale Hayward, co-founder of the stop-motion studio See Creature and See Learn. If you love breathtaking storytelling and real talk about the creative process, you're going to want to hear this one.
We g...
What if a few small shifts in the way you plan, communicate, and lead could completely transform your experience in animation production?
In the latest episode of The Happy Producers Podcast, I chat with Yerani Kingston, Project Manager at Demente Studio and an early graduate of the Animation Proje...
Our scope of work is not a jail where we put our client's idea and lock the door.
It's the roadmap that leads to creative freedom, while keeping your production profitable.
Changes to the scope of work are 100% inevitable in animation production.
''The clients always want more!''
Yeah. That's their job ...
The crisis in the animation and VFX industry is a personal affair.
As children, we are asked:
"What do you want to do when you grow up?
Our answer usually starts with: "I want to BE...
- ...a nurse
- ... a lawyer
- ... an animator"
It is funny to see how we were asked what we wanted to...
In their fight to dominate our attention, the networks, major studios, and streamers have used money as a weapon.
However, now, they are running out of ammo.
With so much (too much?) content available, having a pair of eyes and ears doesn't make consuming the stuff 4X faster and easier.
The networks a...
This week, I was asked to bid on a $20 Million and a $2 million animated film. Bidding two projects with very different budgets opened my understanding of what a bigger budget can afford and how a smaller budget project must adapt to be successful. What I realized surprised me.
The "big" budget: Hi...
At The Happy Producers, our mission is to make well-being the #1 priority in animation and VFX.
To this end, we provide examples of behaviors we consider unconducive to well-being. We practice learning and reflecting on our individual and collective situations so we can transform our struggl...
Introducing:🎧✨The Happy Producers Podcast✨🎧
We are excited and grateful to share our once-secret podcast with our wider community! We share uncensored discussions about sometimes taboo subjects to elevate our production experience for more well-being and less toxicity at work.
We are kicking off the ...
This was the year 2010.
After a decade as an artist, I switched to a management position. As a project manager, I realized that we often had production issues due to misunderstandings with the client.
Either they had changed their mind, or we had misinterpreted the work to be done.
“T...
"How can I force my client to stick to the scope of work?"
-the easy answer is →you don't.
A few months ago, I held my 1st Q&A session for my students of Bidding Winning Animation Projects.
The #1 topic on their mind was the scope of work.
Sticking to the agreed scope of work is a huge challenge!
Animat...
''Figure it out, or you will get fired."
That's the answer I received from my producer when I asked to be trained and mentored around scheduling and project planning on my first CG job.
I had never used Shotgrid.
I was new to the CG workflow.
I had never heard the words ''scope of work''.
I was working o...
We have been lied to.
We were told we could never say 'NO' to a client request or a director's note.
We were led to think, "That's how it is in the industry; it will never change."
And where did it get us? Feeling stressed out, working crazy overtime, leading unprofitable productions, and chipping away...
It's pretty clear: no one likes working overtime.
And yet, it's been widely accepted that ''that's how it is in the industry; it will never change.''.
I beg to differ!
There is a different way to schedule for animation production, one that does not include working overtime.
✨ To virtually elimin...
This post relates the origin story of my bidding strategy. Cross-dissolve to over 12 years ago....
I had been a project manager for a few years, and my strategy was 'To go with the flow'.
It kinda worked...
Until it blew in my face. 😱
A client from the gaming industry gave us a project wit...
It was a Wednesday morning in February. I was lying on a hospital gurney, naked under a little surgery gown. I was about to undergo a partial mastectomy to prevent breast cancer.
I remember thinking: I should be feeling scared. But I wasn't scared. Truth be told, I felt like I was at the spa.
💥 Whi...
The easiest way to bid an animated project, in minutes!
Bidding on animated projects is complex.
I’ll be frank: It is terrifying!
Why?
Because so many things can go wrong.
- Will the client change their mind?
- Will the team deliver?
- What about what I don’t know?
So much can go wrong...
Our new project scoping, bidding, and budgeting course is now available!
We're thrilled to announce that the online course you've been waiting for, 'Bidding Winning Animation Projects,' is now live!
Imagine being able to confidently bid on animation projects, knowing you have the skills and knowle...
I used to be scared of other Producers... Until I met LP.
The first interaction I had with LP was in 2014 when he was producing a cinematic for a AAA video game I was working on. I had to call him to ask for a costly, time-sensitive, complicated retake that we needed ‘’like, yesterday’’.
I was so sc...
Taking new resolutions (and keeping them) should be a constant habit. It's like tuning an instrument every time a string is offkey.
Throughout the year, I keep listening to the sound of my strings. When something sounds off, I tweak it. I don't judge myself for sounding off; I act on it.
...
So much of what we do in the production is managing relationships!
Relationships are built on trust, and trust is built on specific behaviors. And with remote work, we have to be more intentional than ever about promoting trust-building habits.
1. Embrace diversity: recognizing that some col...
The animation and visual effects industries were built on passion. The career you now have was once just a dream that you dared to dream.
And yet, this dream career isn't always a straight line, and the people in the industry are no strangers to uncertainty in project timelines and workflow disr...
Two weeks ago, we had the privilege to participate in a panel discussion about the rise of well-being in animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
It sparked many great conversations with festival attendees, animation professionals, and industry peers.
One of the things we ...
Today, our soul is on fire as we launch our brand-new course!
We have just opened registration for THE CREATIVE LEADER, our leadership course for artists on the rise, team leads, supervisors, and production crews. Click below for more information:
Can we brag? The Happy Producers community in...
In my last blog post, I shared my journey from being a grumpy and overwhelmed team leader to an empathetic and respected leader.
I was able to rely on a solid team, one that I could depend on. We created fantastic stuff, endured many hardships together, and were proud of our accomplishments. And wh...
