Life Update. · 12:32am Jun 25th, 2022
So…. Yeah.
Long story short, quite a few things happened. SMoTE is still not getting regular updates, at most I can try to squeeze a chapter out a month. This isn’t because I’m too busy with my new job or anything, because I apparently don’t have one.
So yeah, if you read my last blog post then you know I was planning to delay SMoTE updates because of some amazing job opportunities.
Well, good news, bad news, and worse news. The good news is that the stop motion film has a lot of potential. The Colorful cast of cart themed characters is fun, the story feels fun, and the guy in charge is really nice. Most of the film takes place outdoors, so the stop motion scenes have to be done late at night so the lighting stays consistent. I managed to work out a deal where I work with him Thursday nights (Weather permitting) at a steady pay and the film should be done by 2023-2024. I feel confident about this project and I’m really excited for it.
Bad news. EVERY THURSDAY HAS RAINED. WITHOUT FAIL. So yeah. Fingers crossed that I can actually work with him again for the first time in six weeks.
Worse news. My other internship.
Ohhhh boy. Ooooooh fucking BOY!
This was about two and a half weeks ago and I’m still seething over it. Didn’t want to post it then, but fuck it. Might as well tell the story to anyone who’ll listen.
It started about three or so weeks ago when I was looking for work on indeed. There was a part-time internship position that allegedly paid $25 an hour and was accepting anyone from high school graduates to current or graduated college students. I knew the $25 part of it was bs, but hey, even if it was no money then at least it’d be experience in animation and something I could put on a resume or slap into my demo reels. Plus it was apparently on Market street, just a few blocks away from Uarts. Seemed pretty good on the surface.
So I put in my resume, answered a few online questions and waited. A few days pass and apparently they want to set up a face-cam interview over Indeed’s knockoff version of Zoom from 2:15-2:30 the next day. Seems great, I thought.
Oh boy… Oh boy, was I wrong.
So, interview is an hour away, I’m wearing a nice dress shirt, suit jacket, cleaned up everything behind me to have a good background, the works. I log in a little early, wait for them to start the meeting and… I wait.
They’re 5 minutes late and I’m fine, then 10 minutes and I start to worry. At about 30 minutes I’m feeling down and I try calling them. Guess who answers? The Founder of this place. Apparently he was going to personally interview me. He said there were technical issues with Indeed and he’d call my personal phone in about 30 minutes.
At that point it was 2:50 so I decided to wait for a call to come around 3:20-3:30. A point I want to make is that this guy claims to have offices in California, New York, and even London, and that Philadelphia has the newest office. Point is, this is apparently a really successful guy who should probably have people who take calls from aspiring interns or receptionists who can direct them to him.
Anyway, I didn’t ask anymore questions and I sit down and wait until 3:30. He doesn’t call. 4:00. No call. It’s only at 4:30 that I finally get a call. Long story short, they need an animation intern who knows stop motion. He makes a big deal that “ten thousand” (his words) people apply and I was fast tracked because I had stop motion on my resume. I should have been more skeptical, especially since I never heard of their company and he didn’t name any of their work.
Apparently they make pilots for shows and stuff, but he didn’t name any of them. I looked them up on google, they had two very different websites, along with a Vimeo and a youtube channel but nothing for their animation work on any of their sites or social medias. Heck, what little animation I could find actually belonged to other YouTubers or was deleted from their playlists. Also it was obvious that most of their instagram followers were bots. But hey, they have a Market street address, they must be legit. Except they don’t. Once again the Founder calls after I text a few questions asking the basics like what time to be in the office, what hours to expect, what supplies to bring, etc. He gives me another address saying the other one was wrong. The address he gave was ALSO wrong. I got the right address after about 15 minutes.
But hey, that’s fine. I’m sure this is all just a few technical issues and bad communication. So, I attend an online orientation meeting with the Founder, a high schooler who bragged about their follower count, and some other guy who apparently already worked at the place I was applying to. Of course, keeping with the pattern, the meeting was late by about 5-10 minutes, the mic quality and audio was horrible, and all I learned is that I was DEFINITELY going to start Monday.
I didn’t need to go to their office, I just needed to wait at home for some paper work and I’d officially start working there. I was supposed to get some paper work laying out what I’m expected to do at their new animation department, which they apparently haven’t made ANY animation for yet.
Can you guess what happened next? HAVE YOU LEARNED THE PATTERN YET? A whole lotta nothing, that’s what.
No follow up papers, no texts, emails, messages through their damn app that they made me download. Nothing. Instead I got a voice mail message at Midnight telling me that, essentially, the animators should be prepared to animate soon and the Graphic Designers should be ready to design graphics soon. Not what we’d be working on, or when, or how long it’d take. Just a minute long voicemail that I could have recorded myself while sitting in the bathroom.
Fuck them. I was officially done. If this is what I can expect before I’ve even been hired, then I wasn’t giving them so much as a doodle.
And now we’re back to the present. I didn’t take this news… Well. I was pissed, and I used that anger to bang out a chapter of SMOTE because FUCK THEM! I put Smote on hiatus for these assholes.
After that, I decided to focus on myself and started watching tutorials for After Effects and other Adobe products. Turns out most animation jobs just need a VFX person, and I know shockingly little of that, so I’ve been focused on improving myself in that regard.
I wanted to write up another chapter or two of SMoTE but I’ve been so focused on learning AE and then Adobe Animate that it kind of fell on the back burner.
So, SMoTE still on hiatus but I may try to write a few quick one shots here and there and chip away at the next chapter or so.
Thanks for Following me and for enjoying my work!
That company makes me think of those flash NFT project rugpulls. Pump a bunch of money into marketing, hire some quick talent for the bare minimum of work needed to seem legit and use fomo to profit off the backs of hapless would-be investors.
At least you'll know what red flags to look for in the future. I hope you're doing well.
With regard to potential employers, one tip (if it's a company you've never heard of before) is to check with your state's Secretary of State to see if they're registered as a business entity. That's something that all businesses are required to do, including registering out-of-state branches with the state they're located in, and most states have that information available online for free. For instance, here's the Pennsylvania Secretary of State search business entity page.
That won't necessarily tell you if the business is a good one to work for or not, but it'll at least rule out the fictitious places.
Hopefully it stops raining on Thursdays for you!
Damn... Hope you find relatable and decent planning people soon. Alsothat the weather woll be more stable. We currently in Germany have very hot days and nights. With in between short but powerful rainstorms, chased by sunshine. Don't really understand how weather works
Nice to read every time you update
Good on you for making a positive outcome out of a shit situation.
...........I feel horrible for you.......
Good... Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you!
Fuck those guys, and I hope you get some dry Thursdays!
I pray for your success and give the middle finger to whatever rain god that’s been bothering you.
don't sit on the name of that guy's company that stood you up, let people know who to look out for!
Wow. Yeah. Sounds like you got taken for a ride. I doubt this guy even has a business. Probably trying to lie his way into creating one off
legalized slaveryinterns.I am really sorry you had to deal with that nonsense, but good on you for finding a constructive way to channel that anger. But yeah at least you know what to look out for in the future, good luck and take care.