Don’t be a jerk

bobbypodesta:

During my first year at CalArts (way back in the 20th century), my animation teacher, Kevin Johnson, sat our class down and proceeded to give us what would become my first bit of professional advice.  He had us look around the room at each other.  Don’t be a jerk, he told us. The people in that room, he assured us, would be people we would know in some capacity for the rest of our lives. 

We all snickered at this.  Really?  We had just met each other!  I was eighteen years old.  Did he really think I would be working with someone in that class in another eighteen years?  

Of course the answer was yes.  In fact I have worked with and continue to work with many people I met in college.  The Don’t be a jerk speech,  while it seemed like such a simple lecture when I was eighteen, became more meaningful as the years went by. Whether you work in animation, or some other industry, the truth of the matter is that you will probably run into many of the same people over and over again.  Sometimes you’ll work with them, sometimes for them, or sometimes they’ll work for you.  You may need to get hired by one of these people, or work together on some important project.  The point is your paths will probably cross many times.  

If you want to take the Don’t be a jerk speech as something to do for your own self interests, as in you shouldn’t be a jerk because you don’t want to make someone not want to work with you in the future, that’s great.  That is a good lesson, and will probably help you to navigate the waters of your professional career much more smoothly.  But more importantly, if you try not to be a jerk, I bet people won’t be a jerk towards you either.  We’re all out here trying to do our best.  Sometimes tasks (and people) are harder and more frustrating than others.  But if everyone tried to at least not be a jerk about it, I’ll bet it would make for a much more pleasant work, and life, experience.

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The above is sooo true. I’m still a baby in the indusitry but already I’ve had people from my class on my crew. luckily we had the same speech when we were in school and I had no bad experiances - but I see fimilar faces pop up all the time. Whenever someones contract ends and they say goodbye I always say ’ oh we’ll see eachother soon im sure ’ because when you work in animation its kind of inevitable. To be honest it has, once and awhile, been awkward to work with someone who I went to school with…especally if im the supervisor - but I could go to work at a different studio that they left for and they could be MY supervisor. Who knows.

If someone is a jerk or an egotist it can get around and when you live in a city with several different studios there are many different connections. Being a good person is just a good way to secure your job and well…its good to be good. Animation is the best job ever so why even be a jerk in the first place.