|
I live in Canada and work in animation. Currently experiencing a layoff after 4 years of consistent work since the studio didn't have a new project lined up. The industry is contract and project based and pay hovers around $20 an hour for a more experienced CG animator. Some less respectable studios only pay when a shot has been approved or, if its a 2D studio, pay by drawing. But most pay hourly. Many do not pay overtime unless a project forces people to work 48+ hours per week, and even then most studios will try to avoid paying overtime. I've been lucky to have only experienced overtime on 2 of the 8 projects I've worked on, but even then coming in on weekends and not getting paid for it kinda sucked. Contracts are usually between 4 and 8 months depending on project length. It's very feast or famine and sometimes studios will be stuffed to the gills with 3 ongoing projects and desks jammed in whatever space is available. Other times there will only be 1 project which is finishing and the compositors will be huddled in a small corner rendering out the last shots in the middle of an empty office. Most studios don't offer any kind of employee-matching plan or benefits. Thankfully Canada has universal health care so it's not as bad as it would be in the States. The US has an animation guild though which means animators there make much higher pay and get benefits and matching plans. But that's also why a lot of work has migrated to Canada. The other reason for all the work is the tax credits. Well, they're called tax credits but they're actually subsidies. Depending on province the production can get between 35-65% of their labor costs paid for by the government. They maneuvered this deal through lobbying and by saying its a form of support for the arts. Support for the arts that also juices job numbers is better than support for the arts in the form of art classes. So while art classes in schools are being cut to make room in the budget, the vfx/animation industry is given more money to import foreign workers to make productions for Netflix and Amazon. Unfortunately these tax credits could also be cut at any time if politicians turn sour on them, which would mean the end of the industry. It's just not economically viable at this scale any other way. That said it was a really relaxing job most of the time. Sit at a desk and listen to podcasts and music while addressing supervisor notes on acting choices and composition. Currently I'm using this time off to try to break into VFX animation which has more of a future (higher pay on the higher end.) If that doesn't work out I'll try and go back to TV animation, but I feel I have to break through to either feature or VFX by the time I'm 35 (7 years from now) or this career will be a on a severe downward slope.
|
#
¿
Aug 28, 2018 16:13
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 03:39 |
|
|
Darko posted:I'm not, haha, I've made games with the help of people on here, and you can reverse figure out who I am from that history because I have interviews and stuff still online around those games. My name is pretty easy to find if someone actually tried. Invest as much as you can for now in Vanguard index funds. Once you hit 1 million you won't have to worry about scraping.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 5, 2018 15:40
|
|
|
For people who are in the trades, is 50k the starting salary and then it rises to like 70k after a few years or is that basically the wage throughout the career? Cause friends who are teachers usually make between 45-50k and still need second jobs to make ends meet. Maybe that's all from University debt, but it still seems like 50k is not enough for them to live well.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 5, 2018 17:32
|
|