ABSTRACT
As an animation producer, building the crew is an opportunity to put together the ideal combination of people to create something spectacular. Hiring a team for an animated project does not happen all at once because not everyone is needed at the same time. As a result, start dates and end dates are staggered in concert with the production plan. Unlike live action filmmaking, there is no one moment at which cast and crew work on the same scene simultaneously. The staff’s work is typically segmented, as each asset and/or shot proceeds from one department to the next. (See Chapter 6, “The Production Plan,” for more information on putting together a crew plan.) The producer paces the production in terms of the number of artists and production staff needed based on the budget, schedule, and creative requirements of the project, which is more easily said than done because projects are always in a state of flux. Initially, he or she has to handpick a core creative team to develop and launch the project. At the same time, a production crew is needed to support the artistic vision and to keep the show on track. As important as it is to provide ample resources for exploratory conceptual work, the producer must balance the budget so that the project’s production quality is never compromised because of overages in the development stage.
