I dedicate this post to all of my colleagues who are out of work and/or have been out of work for almost a year now. I remember 2007 being the first year studios did not pay me on time and it was devastating. Little did I know this was just the beginning.
Barbara Ehrenreich's take of positive thinking in the above video, resonated with me. I experienced this very thing over and over in the workplace over the years. If you pipe up that a project might not meet a deadline or that there is something wrong with the rigs, more times than not you would get a wrist slap or worse. So, I learned to carefully picked my battles. The "yes" man philosophy has infiltrated the animation halls which is so surprising since being a "yes man" goes against the very nature of being an artist.. Sooooooo many seasoned animators are out of work because they are deemed difficult to work with or expensive. Here is what I say...
Forget "the Secret" and the philosophy of trying to bring the things that you want to you through positive thinking. Use reality and logic and determine what path is best for you at this time in your life. Some of you may see animation as your final path no matter what, even in light of runaway production and the loss of jobs to overseas studios. Great! Now decide if animation in the context of working for a studio is the only way you can make a living.
I believe we attract what we ARE, not what we think. If we wallow and say we ARE unemployable, then our actions will follow that reality and we will not look for work... or we become increasingly frustrated as we do look for work and run into obstacles. Instead, I offer this.
Maybe you ARE employable, but in a different way? Animation doesn't have to just be movies. There are commercials, games, R & D at virtual labs, software, consulting, teaching, etc. And, that is just a list of things you could participate in that are squarely using animation skills. Who are you? Are you an Artist? A Designer? A Technical Madman with a mouse? A programmer? There are many ways to see a new path using all of these skills outside of working in animation too!
I hope this posting helps some people who have been feeling really down about the future of animation. I don't think it will ever return to what it was in the mid '90's, but once one of these overseas studios miss a deadline... I am pretty sure some work will return to the talent pool in Los Angeles. For now, keep on trucking.