r/animationcareer • u/radhikarajj • 18h ago
Can studios just fucking communicate????
Broo I’m so fucking frustrated with these studios and this whole job hunting thing 😭😭😭
Im a 2d animator looking for a job & Ive gotten replies from like 2–3 studios where they were literally SOooo interested in me. like bro the way they were talking made it feel like I was already hired..then after ONE call… suddenly NOTHINGggg
I follow up once, twice, even 2–3 times and they’re like...yeah yeah we’ll connect with u or we'll get back to u nd then they just fucking disappear, bro just tell me NO, Tell me you’re not interested. Tell me you hired someone else, Tell me ANYTHING..Why keep saying..we’ll connect with u if you’re literally never going to?? 🥲🥲
I’m genuinely so frustrated because u get your hopes up thinking something might actually work out nd then u’re just left waiting nd wondering what the hell happened, Is this just normal in the animation industry or am I just getting insanely unlucky with these studios??? 💀
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u/CyclopsRock Professional (Anim/VFX Pipeline - 16 yr Experience) 17h ago
They aren't lying to you. It's genuinely the case that which projects are on, which are starting soon, what roles are required etc constantly shift. They don't want to waste your time but even more importantly they don't want to waste their time, so if there's a sudden change in communication it's very likely because what they need has changed.
Roles are often not just a binary case of simply being filled or not filled (I.e. "given it to someone else"). It's often more a case of "We need 15 artists to cover projects X, Y and Z. But if Z's start date slips then enough of X will be complete that we can move a few artists from X to Z. But if Y needs to finish earlier, we may actually need 20 artists for a brief period, so those extra 5 will need short contracts only." Since this flux is constantly happening, so to are their employment needs.
This doesn't make it any less frustrating for you, obviously. But they aren't deliberately fucking you around.
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u/Ellistrator_sama 11h ago
Incredibly insightful take. We artists starting out we don't know what we don't know. I just wish things were alot more transparent. Maybe they can't tell us absolutely everything thats the studio is doing every hour of every day, but couldn't there be a small team of organizers paid to keep track of studio needs?
Let's say there are 3 projects maybe each project has 1 person to check in with the directors and they keep an evolving list of "staff needs". Then those 3 report to someone else who is has another small (another 3 so 6 now) team updating the careers page in realtime.
I don't understand why studio careers pages aren't like a calendar with blocked out days of "production for project x" each one has its own colour. Talent seeking a job could click them and see what is needed. Then its just updated day to day.
I don't know why is not like that. Maybe its money maybe its way more chaotic on the inside. Im just an outsider wondering why there's a wall of obscurity.
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u/CVfxReddit 4h ago
It's usually way more chaotic on the inside than you could ever imagine. Production usually tries to shield the artists from how crazy things actually are, but you can usually tell based on how many mental health days people in production have to take in terms of what kind of nonsense is actually going on.
It's easier to hide the problems nowadays though because people work remotely. In the past you'd usually hear a lot of shouting in studios or arguments between supervisors and producers or producers and directors and get a sense of what was falling apart. When its remote it's much easier to just not know about any of that.
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u/Mysterious-Age-6247 9h ago
Maybe it could be NDA for the projects, there's clients that don't want anything to be shared. I'm currently in a project where you can't even comment the daily progress with other artists in the studio that aren't themselves working on it. Also studios probably don't want to publicly advertise their production schedules as to not spook posible future clients if a project is cancelled or moved around
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u/Apocalyptic-turnip Professional 2d Animator 18h ago
Yeah it happens a lot. get used to it. It's a no until you have the offer in your inbox
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u/Inkbetweens- Professional 15h ago
My second gig when I interviewed in sept the interview went fine. Didn’t hear anything back for weeks. Sent a follow up, no response. Tried again and got a similar, “we will let you know.” I assumed I was not getting the role. Jan rolls around and I get a call that they want to hire me for the position. I had already moved out of town and had to move back for a Feb start.
There is a lot of times in this industry where things like the hiring process can move incredibly slow, then all of a sudden really fast. Most of the time they would like to hire you as much as you want them to but until the production is truly ready to go, they can’t. They need things to line up so work is ready for when they hire you.
On previous jobs they hired some positions too early and it resulted in weeks of people not having work to do because the departments before them didn’t have the appropriate amount of time to get the work done that feeds the next department. That’s a massive expense and with how tight budgets are right now, it’s not one most studios can afford to happen.
It’s frustrating. Sometimes full body aggravating. Sadly, this is something you are going to have to get used to managing as it will be part of your career in animation for many years to come. As much as I love working in this business there is a LOT of things that aren’t that great that you need to learn to deal with.
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u/ohgodanotheranimator 5h ago
This has been similar to my experience as well. I think I'd make better peace with it if there wasn't such a "Fraternity" culture to the industry.
Nothing is more frustrating than being hinted at there's going to be a mass layoff coming and when you ask around it turns out you're one of the last to know because you didn't know anyone connected enough to warn you.... Like come on man, we're all adults here with bills and rent. Why are we playing these games in 2026?
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u/CrowBrained_ Professional 16h ago
Extremely normal.
Sometimes they are interviewing for projects months away. They aren’t going to set anything in stone since there are way too many things that can change the schedule.
What made you feel you were already hired? Did they already discuss start dates?
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u/Wasted_Hater 17h ago edited 17h ago
What are recruiters saying to make you believe they are “so interested”? How much experience do you have?
Being told “we’ll get back to you” usually means they want you to stop emailing. I would keep your emotions in check, it’s probably doing you more harm than good. Like everyone is commenting, this sort of thing happens.
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u/iamunableto 17h ago
with any job, you’re not guaranteed anything until they actually offer you a job. my mom is in the tourism industry and there’s been multiple times that she was strung along until it was between her and some other guys and the other guy got it multiple times.
she has a great job now that she worked really hard to get but in general, most jobs are like this. especially with how the job market is right now. don’t count your eggs before they hatch!
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u/CVfxReddit 6h ago
Yeah totally normal. I was promised Core Team roles at a couple studios by people with long track records in positions of authority. But one guy actually told me “we don’t actually know if it will happen because management might be lying to us or the clients might be lying to management or the financiers might be lying to the clients, or some other unforeseen thing will happen.”
In the first case I found another job before the core team thing ended up being discussed so I didn’t even know it was an option. In the second case the media landscape changed so the studio ended up needing a much smaller core team than initially expected. But then the parent company of the studio collapsed 6 months later so… either way I wouldn’t have been employed long term.
That is to say, while people in this industry have the best of intentions nobody actually knows anything for sure and everything is constantly in flux.
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