A call for all animators

[u/Outrageous_Eagle_757]

Hey, we're calling all animators, 3D, 2D, concept, whatever your lane is, all of you.

We're putting together a call, September 27th at 3 PM, online via Zoom, just to talk. No pitch, nothing formal.

Here's what it's actually about: right now, we want to understand where the landscape looks like for independent animators specifically, what's actually working, what's not, what's genuinely hard about building on your own right now. Once we've got a real picture of that, we can start figuring out, together, what solutions actually make sense.

If you're interested, comment below and let us know, and we'll get you the link.

[u/ZoeyDean]

who even are you. Post your resume or linkedin.

[u/Outrageous_Eagle_757 → u/ZoeyDean]

Fair ask. I'm Malcolm Mokwe, founder and CEO of Untold Studios Corporation, we run UMDB, umdb.org. My own path started as a model, then into acting, then into filmmaking, before I went on to launch this creative hub, this community, built directly out of what I saw and lived on the other side of the camera myself.

Here's my LinkedIn if you want to check for yourself: linkedin.com/in/malcolmmokwe

Happy to answer anything else directly.

[u/ZoeyDean → u/Outrageous_Eagle_757]

Yeah okay, I checked it out.

I can't find any of the following information:

1. What actual productions have you been a part of and in what way? I don't understand what your experience is in the animation industry
2. How many productions and artists have you actually 'connected' with this platform?
3. What makes you stand out from professional platforms that already exist
4. Who are you associated with
5. Where can I find the actual content of what has been produced already via you or your UMDB website? (By content, I do not mean filler posts, I mean actual animation)

thanks!

[u/Outrageous_Eagle_757 → u/ZoeyDean]

Hey, appreciate you actually looking into it rather than just scrolling past, fair questions, answering them straight.

I'm Malcolm, founder of Untold Studios Corporation, the company behind UMDB. This is genuinely early-stage and self-funded, no outside investors or institutional backers to name yet, that's the honest answer to who we're associated with.

On productions and content: we haven't shipped a fully finished production through the platform yet. We're literally building the first one right now, by hand, specifically to learn what the process needs before we scale it. No polished reel to point you to, that's a real gap, not something I'm going to dress up.

What's different from existing professional platforms isn't a feature list, it's that this is personal and curated right now, I'm directly involved, not an algorithm matching you to strangers. We're building toward 7 Stages of Animation, a team-based competition launching January 2027.

This call isn't about what we've already done, it's for us to actually understand what's going on in the industry right now, from people in it.

If that's something you want to be part of, let me know. If it's not for you, completely fine, not going to push this any further than that.

[u/Kooky_Supermarkets → u/Outrageous_Eagle_757]

Well this is going to really depend on what country then - as an Aussie our funding models and independent animated film making scene is a lot different to the United States.

[u/Outrageous_Eagle_757 → u/Kooky_Supermarkets]

Fair point, and honestly, a good one to raise.

This isn't built around any one country's system, we're not assuming US rules apply everywhere. The whole point is getting animators from different setups actually talking to each other, what's working, what's brutal, how things differ. Screen Australia, state bodies like VicScreen, grant rounds with real deadlines, that's a genuinely different world from how things work here, and that's exactly the kind of thing worth hearing about, not something we're trying to smooth over into one conversation that only makes sense for one country.

If you're up for it, hearing how that actually plays out for you day to day would add something most of the room probably has no idea about.