Pros
I enjoy the work I am doing, its creative. I love it. The downside is having to do this work in the environment I describe below.
Cons
Artists are observers, they notice detail, they possess an acute emotional sensibility. During my time at Laika I have seen many of my fellow artists become discouraged, anxious and depressed by the environment here. They feel under appreciated and are ground down by a system that only serves a few. Many department leads and supervisors lack the necessary management skills, there is a lack of communication and no time for growing or evolving. They want maximum output so they look good on paper. This means you will work in a job well below your skill level for less pay than you can get elsewhere producing widgets as fast as you can with little to no thanks Many take credit for their departments achievements when they contributed very little. The only things that are celebrated are ridiculous markers like number of shots done that week. A shot can be extremely simple or extremely complex but that is lost on them, its all about the bottom line, impressing the people they answer to and having a good looking spreadsheet I couldn’t agree more with the reviewer who discussed the lack of open communication and transparency. This comes from a place of fear and control, it is such a toxic unproductive chest tightening way of running an organization. It can also be very cliquey. Certain people are in positions only via their friendship and/or networking abilities while other more talented individuals are overlooked. Adding fuel to the fire is that Laika being the only gig in town, there are no other options so people are too nervous to rock the boat and there is a pervasive low hum of discontent that is soul draining Another issue is the pervasive recruiting of overseas talent. There are clearly American citizens that are equally or better equipped to do the work which makes this activity a criminal offense. It is often whispered about but of course people are too scared to say anything for fear of loosing their job or being blacklisted. I know every place has its issues but this place could be so much better, its so close and yet so far away from there
