Posted in: Movies, streaming, TV | Tagged: amptp, dreamworks, the animation guild

Animation Guild Delivers Petition to DreamWorks, Message to AMPTP

Ahead of talks resuming next week, The Animation Guild (TAG) delivered a petition to DreamWorks - and a clear message to AMPTP - on Tuesday.

A little less than two weeks after The Animation Guild (TAG – IATSE Local 839) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) announced that the current Master Agreement contract had been extended from November 1st to December 2nd and that talks would resume on November 18th, the union made its presence known once again on Tuesday. Following up on the petition that the union presented to Netflix last month, members of The Animation Guild made their way to DreamWorks' office in Glendale, California. Their mission? To present the studios with a petition signed by 58,000+ working TAG members and public supporters pushing for the AMPTP to do right by the animation industry.

The union made its feelings clear, noting in a statement that was released that "while animation workers kept content alive during the COVID lockdown, and animation is outperforming on screens big and small, animation workers are facing unprecedented levels of unemployment, losing their healthcare, homes, and livelihoods." Noting that AMPTP has "not responded in a realistic way to our biggest asks," TAG member Michelle Drennan understands the need to remind them of animation's importance.

"We need to show them that we are not going to back down without the things that we need to make sure our industry survives," Drennan urged those attending today's event. "We're facing unprecedented and existential threats, and we are taking it seriously. There have been numerous news articles where they're talking about replacing us and cutting our workforce by huge numbers. We're not just going to sit back and take it."

The negotiations are considered to be even more pivotal to the members of the union than ever – coming at a time when the animation industry continues to pay the price for studios and streamers making some really bad decisions in the midst of "The Great Streaming Wars" – all in the name of wanting to be (and beat) Netflix. What makes this situation even worse is that the same animation industry that's currently fighting for its very survival is the same animation industry that stepped up to help out the studios and streamers when the industry ground to a halt from a global pandemic.

Then there is the all-too-real danger posed by Generative Artificial Intelligence (or Gen AI), which not only eliminates the human creative aspect of the art but could also prove devastating to the number of current creative jobs. On their website, TAG notes that an impact study conducted in conjunction with CAA and CVL Economics showed that without proper checks & balances and guardrails in place, 29% of animation industry jobs could potentially be disrupted over the course of the next three years.

In terms of job loss/unemployment rates within the animation industry, show cancellations/write-offs have, "Through anecdotal research and internal surveys" done by TAG, resulted in an estimated "one-third of TAG's animation workforce" having been laid off over the past year. In addition to show cancellations/write-offs, union members are also facing the threat of outsourcing. What ends up happening is that LA County animation studios send out work to studios in Asia and Europe, and then those studios reach out to animation industry members in the U.S. to offer job opportunities – at a lower rate and without the benefits and protections that union members receive.

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