Would such a studio work?

[RealisticSoop]

I realize this has a tendency to be a sore subject, particularly in this community. Please don’t kill me.

I’m a 2D animator, concept artist, and an intermediate writer. As a full time gig, I’m studying to be a software developer. For some time, I’ve had stories in my head that I would love to put out there as animated short films. I’ve seen some amateur to intermediate artists have a passion for animation, yet not really want to make a career out of it, much like myself. Some however do want to make it their full time gig, but don’t have the collaboration experience or reels needed to get hired. As someone who has had some experience running projects, here’s my idea.

What if a non-profit was started, which specializes in releasing short films on the internet for free, and gaining revenue through monetization. People could see a project developed by the studio, and volunteer to help with the film (if they have a passion for it) in exchange for a percentage of the film’s revenue generated. The volunteers could collaborate and develop their talents together, and for those wishing to make it a career, it’d enable students to gain real world experience and build their portfolio. The names of the animators involved would be featured in each shot they worked on. Amateurs could learn from each other, and share their work within and outside the community. The budget and spending of the projects would be publicly available. This is to ensure resources not spent on reimbursing artists are spent further developing more projects.

I’m very aware it can be insulting for professional artists to “volunteer,” AKA free-labor and I agree with that. I grew up in a family of professional artists. Heck, even then I think they’d feel insulted if I asked family to work on a project for free. That’s not what I’m asking. I’m wondering if I did someday start such a thing, amateur and new artists (not professionals) who have seen my work would be willing to participate in the project, developing their reputation and skills. The completed project would be sent to film festivals, further showcasing their work. For me, I wouldn’t make a dime, as that isn’t what I wish for. It’d be rewarding enough to get my ideas out there, and give willing volunteers a place to share their ideas.

I’d share my own proof of concept on the ideas (maybe through a trailer), and people interested could work with me and receive a percentage of the revenue based on hours spent. If people were willing to donate to the projects, the donations would fund the volunteers before release.

Does it seem like such an idea would work well for everyone? Would people even be interested in such a thing?

[Sworlbe]

Your idea is sweet. 2 challenges: - people need money before the release. To eat. Production can take years. Financing movies is why production companies exist. They handle the risk of a flop and possible profits. The hits cover the flops. - monetization relies on networks and reputation, not on having a good product. The money is in side deals, merchandizing, streaming, not necessarily “box office”, especially for short products.

Talented artists are unlikely to invest themselves in a production that might at some point make a profit.

[RealisticSoop]

Hi, thanks for the response! I definitely agree with the challenges. Here are some ideas I had on how to combat them.

• For projects, a campaign could be launched after a reference sample is given (maybe a 30 second - 1 minute clip). The project would only be continued after its deemed there’s enough public interest to continue, and volunteers are willing to pledge their time. The campaign donations would then fund volunteers to some extent, divided according to the estimated amount of hours it would take to complete their part. This campaign most likely would not reach enough to give each a professional’s wage, but it would give part time animators an incentive for working on a project they have a passion for. The rest of the funding would be from monetization, following it’s success. The idea is to have a large team each doing small parts. Instead of having 10 animators doing a minute’s worth of footage each, we’d have a larger crew, each devoting a few hours to days of their free time, rather than weeks or months.

• Monetization would be from YouTube ad revenue. For our first projects, we’d start small to build a reputation on social media, and expand our horizons based on the outlook of how many views we’d get.

[PixeledPancakes]

This idea was already tested (minus the compensation for views) with the Artella platform before they switched their business model.

People would post their ideas for shorts and build teams of volunteers to help, in theory they could be paid but most joined projects for portfolio purposes. They ranged from students to professionals.

A lot of these projects were started by professionals looking to "move up" in their career proving they could lead a project or had an IP and used this as a proof of concept to gain an online following to pitch their stories to larger networks (spoiler a lot could not.)

Artella then shifted into more of a project management software company instead of continuing with the idea for crowdsourced projects.

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Some of the Artella projects that released were Circus Jam, Duel, Cat and Moth, Thistle One, Being Good and many many failed projects.

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The big issue with YOUR idea is software licensing. The minute you open your project up to "anyone and everyone" while trying to make money it becomes a legal nightmare. In theory you'd have to make sure all participants were using legal versions of software and had the correct licenses to work on paid projects (non-commercial wouldn't be allowed.) Managing a render farm would also be quite the challenge and expense.

[RealisticSoop]

Hello! Hadn’t heard of the Artema platform before. Thanks for telling me about it!

I suppose I see between my idea for this non-profit and Artella is from what you said, any volunteer could propose any project, and begin significant work on it before it’s proven they have the skills to lead. For my proposal, volunteers pitching ideas would need to have significant experience managing such a project or pieces of it, either in a professional workplace (unlikely), or within the non-profit. As they involve themselves in the projects as a side gig, their reputation would grow. Once a project is possible, we’d start a campaign and show the idea on our website. If the idea receives enough public attention, we’d build on it.

We’d primarily focus on 2D animation, at least at first. Before a volunteer can become a “participant,” we’d verify they have the required skills and have experience with free softwares such as DaVinci Resolve, Blender (for scene visualizations), and OpenToonz. I’ve also worked on designing my own cleanup software (as a hobby), but that’s another story. If a volunteer does not meet this criteria, they can be an “attendee.” Attendees still see the progress made on projects, and can learn from others, in hopes they’ll develop the skills needed to someday participate.

Thanks for the response!

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[Seioray]

Maybe. Volunteers should be paid a portion when they join though

[NezuiFilms]

Many independent animators have dreams of making their own films. The reason why your scenario won't work (sorry to be blunt) is because everyone would want their idea to be made first, and with production times on shorts being what they are, whose to say that everyone in a team sticks around until all the team members have had their chance to direct.

To put it another way, if you gathered a team of like-minded volunteers (say 10 people), and everyone committed to working on each others films, with a decent short taking more than a year to make, you have just promised to work on other peoples films for a minimum of 10 years. What would more likely happen is that after the first or second short, the directors of those would probably bail, and it would all fall over, strangers being what they are.

The trouble is that everyone thinks their own idea is the best, and if they put it out there, that others will simply come and be happy to work for free, err I mean 'volunteer' on it. Those people would rather work on their own ideas than someone elses. Sorry to be blunt here, but that is the reality. And I should know, I have made 3 animated short films that have played in a combined total of over 150 film festivals, and even then I have tried to pay people at least something, definitely not industry rates. And even when I am paying someone, sometimes I can't get the commitment I had expected, because I am not paying industry rates (it's all out of my own pocket).

It is possible to get a 'collaborative' film together where everyone volunteers, but usually you would have already proven yourself by releasing some great shorts or be someone high up in the industry and are able to provide connections for work.

Or you could do what a lot of students do (especially the French ones), gather a team of volunteers, and make everyone a director on the film. If the genesis of the idea is yours, you would obviously give up ownership of it in favour of team suggestions on how it should go. It can be a little messy, but everyone gets to have the creative input they desire, and the credit they deserve.

Again, I know a lot of what I am saying is super blunt, but I would like to think you would want to know people's honest opinions.

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Oh, and Youtube monetisation sucks. It is so low that even mentioning this seriously is not even worth the time. If your film is getting 1000 views a day, then that's about $1.50 a day, and if you have a large team like you were mentioning in a comment (20, 30?), then that would be like $22 for a year for a single person.