DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. Layoffs

Layoff's = Appraisals for everyone else. Sounds about right.

More Layoffs coming this week! Hold on to your hats and watch the poor management keep high cost Directors and Producers meanwhile letting go support staff.

I agree with W <T> (F). I was there in DDU for 2 years but was uncermoniously told to go suddently few months back and I am really happy about my exit as I am in a better place now. It is completely failed system with no checks and balance. Whatever be told the reality is that DDU is a cheap labour destination to US and managed by cheap people. Though the prod manager is a close friend of mine but I know how corrupt his mind is and what he thinks about the girls in the studio he will not spare the married also with his cheap ideas specailly to exploit them during parties. Adi is a dangerous man who can lure you to come to studio with false promises and at a salary less than what you get saying you will be working on world class movies. the creative person was going through personal crisis at that time and dont know his current status. The earlier HR did not know her work(classic case of face with no brain)but was in studio for long as a eye candy and the next HR was atleast doing something visible. I dont know how the setup is currently. The artists are excellent workforce mismanaged and underpaid. There is lot of disparity in the studio.There is no one the artist could think is working towards betterment. I pray almighty god to bless the poor artists in DDU.

"Angooooooor" MORON, no one is saying anything negative about INDIA per se. So take your proselytizing, and shove it up yours. A---ho-le.

"Angooooooor" MORON, no one is saying anything negative about INDIA per se. So take your proselytizing, and shove it up yours. A---ho-le.

"Angooooooor" MORON, no one is saying anything negative about INDIA per se. So take your proselytizing, and shove it up yours. A-hole.

India's Contribution to the World India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta. The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth. The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'. Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days. The value of "pi" was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12). According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called 'Sudarshana' was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time. Chess was invented in India. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts. When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley Indus Valley Civilization) The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC. QUOTES ABOUT INDIA Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made. Mark Twain said: India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only. French scholar Romain Rolland said: If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India. Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA said: India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border. Jayesh said: However great was our past and great was our treasure, a citizen of India who is alive today needs a job for himself and food for family. Great wealth and treasures that your forefathers had centuries ago don't buy you anything today..Like an ostrich, we have become a community who is living in the past and avoiding a hard look at the realities.

It was nice knowin' ya. Buh-bye, Dee Dee Yoo. Wait fo da layovs ta heet :) The next 'cheap' labor cuntry: "the DW will see you now"

DDU celebrates 5 years Yepee.....Completes 5 years of existence....

Can we all go away now??

Go back to your cabin BOY! wait till it comes.....

@Anonymous -- How can u say that India studio will be silently shut down? They have Penguins Of Madagascar, along with several other ongoing projects.

If the quality in China was equivalent to the US, Chinese wages would be equivalent to the US wages. That's not the case, so you pay less, you get less. One day they will get it. There are no shortcuts...

Like water, "Production" wants to flow downstream, to zero height/cost! After Chnia (when THEIR wages go up), it could be the Phillipines, South Africa, Fiji (why the f not?!).. Finally, no more places left. By then, no one will give a crap about over-hyped, run-of-the-mill products from outfits that (used to) run on hot air.

Latest Inside News INDIA DDU Will Be ShutDown with a Silent Transition ......HAAAAAA!..... Blame it On China ..... This is bound to happen isn't it ?

Lunch = carbs and fat, not great for productivity. Sloppy lazy worker costs more than a cheap meal. Not rocket science. Smart people taking decisions lol

Some departments are now hiring, but their policy is a bit weird, such as in HR, marketing and executive or high profile assistants. It seems that to be hired for these 3 last positions you need: To be around 20 and no more than 25, good looking, thin (preferably asian or blonde), use a skirt, high heels always (tight pants if cold). Do we really need to sell sex in our meeting rooms? What type of favors are given or taken for a 20 year old girl? Coordinators? Ok..I get it. Assitants for high profile people? Not so much. Why not get them some fat but productive secretaries that would be far more knowledegable and honor the salaries of those who where let go...Lets go green anyone? They can always subscribe to MAXIM or any other magazine of their preference if they want to see good looking women in high heels and tight clothing. It would be cheaper than bringing them into the workplace, where they are supposed to WORK. Efficiency first anyone? Maybe its not a bit deal, but it reads bad on a company that lets go decades of talent, and then hires no talent and just looks.

Too Late.... Dreamworks has been the laughing stock of the world for a long time now....

YOU realize that all this bickering is making us the laughing stock of the world? It is petty. C'mon, you can do better than that.

You realize that saying that they weren't needed means that management didn't know enough to bid and size their staff appropriately. Additionally, it implies that management can't judge competence or incompetence.... The streeet's going to love that...

You realize that saying that they weren't needed means that management didn't know enough to bid and size their staff appropriately. Additionally, it implies that management can't judge competence or incompetence.... The streeet's going to love that...

Repeat - GOOD RIDDANCE. Didn't need ya!

To Anonymous , Monday 4/01/13 1:18 AM: That's not a nice thing to say at all! You clearly have no idea that some of the amazing people who worked on The Croods had to leave as well..

To Anonymous , Monday 4/01/13 1:18 AM: That's not a nice thing to say at all! You clearly have no idea that some of the amazing people who worked on The Croods had to leave as well..

PS: F you all, naysayers. And those that got canned - didn't need you anyway, as the BO shows.

Hola, naysayers! Soooo...

Re. partee, hoo noze wadda sekind veekund vill brung.

Party at Jeffrey's house?

Sooooo....

Wherever you are in the world, If you want to work in animation, you will take the job you can get.

But 'Art' never said she/he is considering DW for immediate employment, you're simply assuming that. DW produces some of the best grotesque, arthritic, rubber-stamped animation in the world. You want an example of 'best' animation? Watch 'The Blue Umbrella' short (Pixar).

Art, it's one thing for experienced artists to understand when management is run by idiots but another for an inexperienced art student thinking this should "give pause" before applying to work at dw. Lets get the right perspective - dw is a world class company and it produces some of the best animation in the world. So it's a bit like hearing about the LA Lakers airing out some issues. If you get to be one of the few to earn the privilege of working there, you will get to participate and contribute to some amazing projects. I suggest you work at some Vfx studios first and cut your teeth in some real pressure environments - you'll appreciate places like dw more for it.

so who are these random people who run stuff at dw, they sound like total losers.. and why are there so many of them. i was considering dw for so many years (about to graduate with an awesome animation degree from a big-name school) but these posts give me pause. thank you all for telling it like it is.

At least there are no more 50 hour weeks. Lol. Govt "transitioned those out" and dw figured they should obbey the law.

OK, Kate Swinehole should have something shoved up her. the panting she does, the solicitious sucking of her.

J Aqualiar conned Indian CG artists into signing up, too bad we fell for it. Also, "Marketer (Marketing)", can we have some of that crack from the pipe you are smoking? "Tech Group at DWA has done some great work" - OH PLEASE. They should ALL be let go, then DWA can be profitable by using third-party programs that are developed by PROs, that are well-tested, widely used, admired and loved, taught in schools worldwide, written about, reviewed publicly, and available for home use. Exercise: list DWA software's stellar "features". Hint: it is the OPPOSITE of all the things in the 'third-party' line above. SUCKERS believe all the hype about how GREAT it all is. Pure BS.

By the way ... India DDU removed the whole matte painting department ..... and many senior artist from various departments..... only assholes will be left in those fancy cabins ..... where is our G.I . JOE..... who gave promises when he start DDU .....

Marketer... You're right. In another 6 months to a year, all your jobs will be in India and China.

I got laid off a few weeks ago, along with most my team. Miss them, the food, but not my bosses. Wondering what's the career opportunities now for someone with my skill sets here in SoCal. Business isn't that good for many of us who grew up in animation

There would be some great savings if they just stopped the contracts. Think of how much time and money is wasted.

Tech Group at DWA has done some great work - if it weren't for a few key leadership figures, the group would be rocking the house. And as things seem to be going, I'm guessing that Jeffrey and Lincoln are putting in place some changes that will transform the organization. Give it another 6 months to a year and that place will be different.

LOL @ "story development". How about rendering technology, production pipeline (both at DW of course).

I thought it was "story development".

"Anim Tech": biggest oxymoron ever.

No, I'm a CG artist.

Everyone on here from Technology?

AT= KS, SC, HK, SM, MT - all Animation Technology waste products. SC is probably the biggest, fattest c**t. Never friendly, total attitude, ugly and self-important. She has no skills. N.O. is hot... too bad he's married

Man oh man, we're in the wrong bid'ness (just checked out the Insider Transactions page).

If you ever want to cringe...take a look at the shares these guys collect: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=DWA+Insider+Transactions HR Dan is scoring. HR Dan?

Maybe they can "transition" all the middle management into sales people and start selling all the great technology products we have...hmmhmmhmmm...yeh...ummm....great technology...lol

Cannot help wonder __what__ might happen if Croods also __tanks__. Is it an OMFG moment for JK and the Board? What will be next? Hope y'all have a Plan B. I know I do.

Wow! Good for him!

He left middle of last year, way before all the craziness started to hit. God bless.

did they actually "transition" Saty!? .. Or did he leave by himself? .. He is an awesome awesome person. Much respect to him!

Saty is now at Autodesk. Heard he was exploring getting into academia? One of the finest people I have ever had the fortune to meet. He has an immense knowledge of CG, a boatload of degrees, and a mellow personality. I miss Saty.

For a change of pace, who are the unsung heroes of DWA that never seem to get the promotion, recognition or attention they deserve? I've heard Saty's name thrown out so I'm curious: anyone else?

The video of "Kate"... Puke. Oh wait, just the mere mention made me toss my cookies. AT: home to con artists, shuksters, spinmeisters, snake oil salespeople, wannabes, stowaways. Spring cleaning, anyone? About time.

Anyone think that Kate Swanborg, who is a "tech exec" at DWA is the twin sister of Dooneese, who is one (you'll figure it out) of the singing sisters on SNL's parody of the Lawerence Welk Show? See the video of Kate below. http://www.hulu.com/watch/73360

Lay off hardworking, talented artists. Then watch your stock RISE. Yes, it's called bid'ness, but how effed up is dat. http://www.cnbc.com/id/100550440

Sorry, couldn't help quoting Phil Collins there (http://www.lyrics007.com/Phil%20Collins%20Lyrics/You%20Can%27t%20Hurry%20Love%20Lyrics.html) Seriously, though, it's a game of 'Race to the Bottom', as in, find the group/company/country where you can get work done for next to nothing. Walmart does it, Apple does it. Doesn't mean DW should, but it does it too. It will all come back to bite them in the big a.., though. You (they) get what you (they) pay for. Cheap is cheap!

Its cheaper to keep a visa worker afraid, than to keeping a free American afraid. The easier you get afraid, the easier its for them to "manage" you. Sure, it costs legal to get a visa, but it costs less than to give an American a deserved raise. An American is in general less afraid of speaking up, so they are not as easy to manage. Its happening now with India, and its one of the main reasons they are going to China. Goverment there promotes explotation, so Chinese people don't have even an authority to go and complain. Its a game of fear and money.

How will DW justify renewing foreign work Visas for people when they are laying of American workers?

We are afraid of the culture spawning from DreamWorks at the moment. We do not want for it to influence our companies. We prefer candidates which have not worked there before, or had lesser roles in production. Hope you guys find a job. Its just difficult to weed out the good and the bad coming out of DreamWorks at the moment. Reference letters or stories from previous companies work. If a recruiter asks you to talk about your experiences before DreamWorks, focus on that. Much luck y'all!

There are 1000+ jobless people out there, and way less jobs. Its hard. Most of the companies are just beefing up their database of candidates. I help people get jobs, and it has been hard. There are more jobs at London and other parts of the globe, not so much here in California. Disney does make a lot of interviews, but are not really selecting any candidates. They are just fishing for candidates, and getting to know the territory. Best bet is to try www.creativeheads.net. They have a lot of jobs, but most are short term and will prefer a student over a trained seasoned professional.

Hey Jobless - are you serious in that you can't land another position here in SoCal working animation? I think there are plenty of jobs - if not at the studios, all those gaming companies located in and around Silicon Beach (Santa Monica, Venice, Marina del Ray, etc.). AND TO "dead" - lots of jobs out there for animators that have great tech skills. DWA will always hire back good animators, once they get all these new tv shows up and running and figure out how to exploit their recent purchase of Caspar and his snotty little friends

The problem with DreamWorks, is that people on top think that a great idea of a movie is 90% of the solution. They forget that it takes an incredible amount of talent, creativity and polishing to create the great products we do. Of course, it will take a couple of more years (or less) for them to run the company down to the ground. Whenever you have a monopoly in a product, such as animated movies, you keep repeating the same solution over and over again. The people that get promoted are those in marketing, and people involved in sales, management. They forget to innovate, and therefore people that are let go are those who are a pain to manage, but are creative. Eventually competition catches up, and their marketing and sales forces can't deal with a market in which they have no monopoly. This loop is common in companies involved with innovation. Managers at DreamWorks are expert in process, not in content. They follow the tip of the ship about to hit the iceberg. Not something you want to do in order to save a company.

When I interned at DreamWorks I had the privilege of meeting so many amazing, talented, helpful people. It was so incredibly inspiring to walk through those halls and see the art you guys have created (it definitely made it hard to feel like an "artist" anymore!) I remember discovering the "Asset Explorer" and being absolutely AMAZED and inspired by such cool stuff. It was a dream opportunity and I will forever appreciate the kind people I had the opportunity of meeting. It's so had to believe that DW could ever lay off any of these talented people...it doesn't make any sense. My heart goes out to all of you that are affected. Any company should be honored to be in the presence of such amazing and talented people.

When I interned at DreamWorks I had the privilege of meeting so many amazing, talented, helpful people. It was so incredibly inspiring to walk through those halls and see the art you guys have created (it definitely made it hard to feel like an "artist" anymore!) I remember discovering the "Asset Explorer" and being absolutely AMAZED and inspired by such cool stuff. It was a dream opportunity and I will forever appreciate the kind people I had the opportunity of meeting. It's so had to believe that DW could ever lay off any of these talented people...it doesn't make any sense. My heart goes out to all of you that are affected. Any company should be honored to be in the presence of such amazing and talented people.

When I interned at DreamWorks I had the privilege of meeting so many amazing, talented, helpful people. It was so incredibly inspiring to walk through those halls and see the art you guys have created (it definitely made it hard to feel like an "artist" anymore!) I remember discovering the "Asset Explorer" and being absolutely AMAZED and inspired by such cool stuff. It was a dream opportunity and I will forever appreciate the kind people I had the opportunity of meeting. It's so had to believe that DW could ever lay off any of these talented people...it doesn't make any sense. My heart goes out to all of you that are affected. Any company should be honored to be in the presence of such amazing and talented people.

Animation careers: DEAD VFX careers: DEAD What is left? Games? Those are now 99c on iPhones and Androids. This industry is... DEAD.

Anybody has found an alternative career? I got layoff, but I don't know what else to do. I've pushed pixels all my life. Suggestions needed! Its not like I can go again to school, I have no money, and bills to pay. I'm not in debt thanks God. I think I just need a job in which i don't feel I'm dealing with a bunch of greedy execs day in and out. Probably small biz. Thoughts?

Your level of ignorance scares me! and to think that you are still employed in DW.. is just wow! Who told you that jobs are "dime a dozen" in India!? They are NOT! There have been people who were laid off last year and still cannot find a good paying job..and these are talented artists. Jobs may be dime a dozen but you wont work for a monthly salary of $350 would you??! So please get your facts straight before saying that the ONLY people who are struggling to find jobs are the people in GLD.

What's sad about this forum is that there's hardly anybody here visiting or posting. So, "supposedly" there are 350 layoffs at DWA. Doesn't seem like there's much that really care. Probably most are in India or the bay area where jobs are a dime a dozen. The only ones struggling to find jobs (likely) are those in the Glendale office. And knowing a few of them, good riddance - not losing a lot of talent there! I do think that JK should shoot down a few more in a few departments, such as HR, AnimTech and Marketing. A lot of long-term folks that are frankly long in the tooth, and not all that creative, innovative or talent focused. Just sayin.

@'The Post is the Problem': umm, why are YOU here? Troll much?

Listen, moron - for the FIRST time, we people-who-do-the-actual-work have a VOICE, and that is REASON ENOUGH to "be here". Kapisch? Nice try, telling us to go away. Not happening. PS: I __am__ gainfully employed again, thanks to my own skills (not the DW 'killer' mention). Doesnt mean I don't want to share, empathize, commiserate.

The problem with every voice on here is that you are on here, as opposed to doing something about the situation you've been handed. Your back and forth bantering, bickering and bitching on some low level pathetic forum isn't going to make a bit of difference - it won't help you and it won't fix the problems you point out. So get off of this forum and make a difference. I'm pretty sure there are no answers or job postings on this forum. So what are you doing here? What are you doing with your life?

@TechArter They actually tried alternate pipelines with SharkTale and Flushed Away. The Shrek pipeline is what they went back to. Also, I thought they bought a Bay Area company because their efforts to build a pipeline from scratch didn't work out in the time they needed it to.

Yes, IT/AT is mind numbingly brain damaged and bleeds $$$$ for JK/DW. Their state of the art is anything but. Patting each other on the back, handing out 'awards' to each other and getting photo ops with JK does not great technology make. Want examples of great CG tech in Production? Go to http://graphics.pixar.com, http://graphics.pixar.com/library/ etc. Want 20+ year old recycled POS crap? Join DW and sniff the foul odours. At least the embarrassingly dirty laundry isn't hung out to dry in public. But that's not because the perpetrators are embarrassed (they should be), but because they want to "protect" their top secret "proprietary magic". The world is sneering. I am a tech artist that has passed through the portals of several studios big and small, in the US of A and abroad (Europe, Australia+NZ, Asia). Trust me, there is no magical secret sauce at DW. On the contrary, other places have smart people who make smart technical choices, conduct great research, all in order to create smart and lovely tech that is a pleasure to use, and is cheaper in multiple ways. The equivalent at DW? Crud. Yet the brain-washing and wool-pulling continues, thanks to good old Hollywood-style hyping.

It just makes me throw up to see how this company is wasting money in the IT area. Ed Leonard with his fiasco PTCH and their associated investments. That stupid app was a total fail and the amount of brain power that was wasted on that endeavor is boggling. And HansK. (aka Solo as someone called him below) is another waste product that just follows Ed around. All these executives who believe that they are the "creative, innovative" ones. When all they are doing is pulling down big, big salaries and trying to spin out new businesses that are absolute fails. PTCH is just one example. They just sit around, brainstorm other idiotic ideas, while the ones who really contribute (working on Croods, etc.) are the ones let go. I can't stand the smugness of Ed, SarahCoonhound, KateSwine, HansSolo and the other super smug and way overpaid IT execs. Oh, but now Ed is President of PTCH Investments. I forgot. What's the sinkhole costing JK?

And yes, the HP-DW "deal" is "hyper than hype", where HP gets to show off how HOT their workstations are because "they get to" render Shrek's wireframe!! In gorgeous green COLOR!!! Wow, how AWESOME for them!!!! SUCKERS. HP is yet another loser company..

Pseudonym (Mktng) - easy for you to say, while you still apparently have your job. Don't worry, "life" as you so eloquently and philosophically waxed, will catch up with you too. It is just a matter of time. And no, having DWA on your resume won't be a "killer" (again, as you put it so scholarly), rather, it will be a killer when it comes to landing your next job. Just wait, you will see. The Croods: DOA. Why even bother?

Is there any aggressive marketing and advertising happening in the US for Croods?

OZ will come and go. It's a dog. DW's problem will be how they get this one out there.

JK and team should be very worried about Oz. This movie will have incredible legs and will most likely knock Croods down a little. Wouldn't be surprised if Oz comes close to knocking Croods out of first place on opening weekend

Seems most of you posting here are just bitter that you've lost your jobs. And it always seems it is through no fault of your own. Maybe true, maybe not. But it's just a fact of life that if some things don't work out, that there needs to be a belt tightening. You folks just need to accept it, understand that it's just business and while you're not happy about losing your job - just know that there are lots of opportunities out there for you. Having DWA on your resume is killer - so be happy you had the free meals and the experience. In another year or so - you'll be very happy in a new place hopefully. And please don't rain down on the people that are still in their jobs at the studio. It's life.

I wonder if HP is going to continue to pay DWA the $8 to $10 million a year to hype how they innovate with the studio? All the hype that Swanborg and her lackluster crew spit out about this great "alliance" is bunk. I can't believe the MotleyFool was suckered into it - although I get that they were so enamored with JK.

Mad3 came out last yr. just sayin'

Met with Turbo team to discuss latest script which is very big step forward and is very promising project. Met with Mad3 team to review 60pgs of rewrite done by Noah Bombach that are exc!!! Met with Dragons2 team and Dean pitched out next chapter…. very smart /interesting /ambitious. Guardians showed some costume and character designs and some super animation tests (one of the tests Gabe showed of North was a first for me….. he was animated saying f___ you.) FUNNY. No it won’t be in movie. Saw a couple of seqs that had good work but out of context seemed long. Last mtg of the day was 2 hour Franchise mtg where prod/mktg/consumer products all come together to look at long term strategy for managing our 4 franchises and all of the zillion things going on with each of them. Off to dinner with the Family and seeing Scott Pilgrim movie.

3 flops = the end?

Its GI Joe the weekend following croods. How do you think Croods will perform?!

so we all know a studio can't afford to flop on a $140Million movie without real repercussions on operations and staffing. What happens if Croods, Turbo, and/or Shadows (1 or 2 or all 3) flop?

Crap is crap (is crap), whether DW renders it faster than Pixar, slower, or at about the same speed (or simply refuses to get into speed comparisons). Makes no diff! Render speed is NOT the issue here.

re: 35x time to render. Well, that's going to happen if the story is not baked out enough before it hits the animation pipeline. If the story is not at a certain level of stability, it will result in a lot of redos and rerenders. Stories need to spend more time in development and development needs people with a writer's mentality, not a devlopment execs'

@Slarty. You speak sense. But to you last point, the technology teams are actually in the middle of their resizing. Technology end dates are waiting on contract time outs and delivery dates, so the tech groups' resizing is just going to hit a bit later than production's

@Slarty. You speak sense. But to you last point, the technology teams are actually in the middle of their resizing. Technology end dates are waiting on contract time outs and delivery dates, so the tech groups' resizing is just going to hit a bit later than production's

Someone below said : "It takes DWA 35 times longer to render a movie than Pixar." First of all, how much fur did Cars and Wall-E generate on each patch? These stats are essentially worthless because the production process requires render passes to be viewed and directed by production design and art directors. Their time is the "limiting reagent" here, not render times. There is plenty of time for the artists to make adjustments and kick off renders and have them finish for the next set of dailies or rounds like in any studio. Some shots or objects are more processor heavy than others, but that's normal operating procedure anywhere. Overall, this whole "render speed" nonsense is a red herring. It's only if the render speed disables production that a movie cannot be made at an acceptable level. Otherwise, it's not a drag race. As long as the renders finish by the next meeting, the movie is going to move along at a planned and scheduled manner.

@Slarty. You speak sense. But to you last point, the technology teams are actually in the middle of their resizing. Technology end dates are waiting on contract time outs and delivery dates, so the tech groups' resizing is just going to hit a bit later than production's

DWA has a simple problem. JK has always valued loyalty above operational results, and there are rarely changes in departments or teams after a failure. As the company grew, the execs didn't have the skills to scale operations, and just added two additional layers of unempowered management. These layoffs should have eliminated those layers of management, and reinvigorated (shrunk) the story teams to just the high quality performers. They should also have reduced the technology teams significantly as you cant justify that level of overhead currently.

Kate S "rose through the ranks", at one point was Toilet Paper Manager (whatever the F THAT was about). The Anim Tech department is home to arrogant, mean, clueless (as in technology-wise, including graphics) people, and or total SUCKUPS such as Neil Oogamoodle and Hans Solo. They are all "execs" (WFT is THAT?), running around lugging laptops, mouthing off random factoids, and appearing to be smart. The media, public, Hollywood, all fell for this collective pile off crap for way too long. But now, finally a truer picture is emerging. New flash about the "technology": it is older than the Old Floods, rigid as arthritic joints, stinky as a pile of horse manure. Calling things 2.0 is merely marketing BS. Again, 2.0 is as ancient as 30 AD (compared to 1.0, which is Old Flood dated). The media laps it all up.. "They have state of the art (make it AHEAD of the state of the art!!) tech!!! It can READ YOUR MIND, do your laundry, bring you a beer AND find you a soulmate. All this while rendering billion frames each sec." Time to wake up and smell the fart.

@Anonymous who posted http://m.c.lnkd.licdn.com/media/p/1/000/201/18a/342813f.jpg - *creepy* @Anne who thinks that due to Croods the layoff situ will get better. YEAH RIGHT. After The Croods bombs big time, the layoffs will also ramp up big time. Reality is a mother.

This is how it works: fire the guys that do the work (prod) Keep the people that are not doing a good job (story). Dont make the renderer faster (Arnold), make it 7 times slower than the already slow LIGHT tech (TORCH). Don't fire Doug Cooper, and talk awesome about directors that mess up and lose millions. Don't fire the people from Me And My Shadow...keep those suckers, and "re-cast" people that worked and even save money (Turbo). Everything is backwards! I mean..WTF WTF?!

Maybe JK should make a show called.... "the biggest liar" where he can be a judge along Romney. The contestants would have to go up the chain of command with the least amount of innovation and the most amount of politics. LOLOLOL

Here's the problem with DWA. It takes DWA 35 times longer to render a movie than Pixar. Pixar takes 11.5 hours per frame on cars 2 or 1,987,000 hours. DWA takes 70,000,000!! that's 501 hours per frame using Rise of the Guardians for running time. Numbers for Pixar from here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20068109-52/new-technology... DWA also takes 2years longer to make the film. Either DWA is incredibly inefficient and behind or our technology executive Kate Swanborg needs to get her facts straight.

Its funny today JK blogged an "objective" article about DreamWorks ANimation. Objective after you treat that writer as royalty? Sure...It read something like this: "whats particularly nice about this story is that it comes from an objective third party". This is the article he talked about: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/03/05/dreamworks-animation-where-innovation-imagination.aspx Now, the funny bit: check omments below that article. It tells how unefficient DreamWorks is compared to Pixar. Its so easy to debunk JK, even by someone outside the company.

Snarky, are you the fine lad cleaning the toilets after the talent poops?

Technically no one was fired, or laid off, we were just "transitioned".

Reading comments with interest. As one of the Latinos working away at DW (and not in the kitchen), I find and am surprised on all the talk on cutting creative talent and yet my dept is not losing anyone (well, we're not hiring 2 people where we had open headcount....). So, the net-net for my group is that we are all good. bahahhhhhha

One place to start with fixing some of the disfunction here at DWA is the leadership in our technology organization. Lincoln is great, but some of the others need to get a new career - good that Ed has moved onto Ptch-the-sh*t (as that stuff isn't going anywhere). Too much groupthink in our organization. KateS is good at the little things, but certainly not strategic. And I'm not going to name more junior people in the org (since they aren't public facing), but there's a number of upper mid management that should be let go.

http://m.c.lnkd.licdn.com/media/p/1/000/201/18a/342813f.jpg

Not working at DWA....but are people getting layed off every week now at DWA? That would be really bad for morale Coz 350/6 months is almost 2 people/day.. Perhaps with The Croods, they would not need to lay off that many people...

That comment about "exec" sounds totally like Doug Cooper. The way the adjectives are arranged is so much like his way of talking. He is a great con-artist, and in his tradition, he will throws under the bus someone else, like the execs, so that the exces go mad, and crush the artists. Totally his style of working. I mean, we know you so well Doug, that we know you by the style you throw people under the bus! lol.

"Well, I'm an Exec. You are all small, bitter, mean-spirited, foul-mouthed, clueless. The REALITY is much more complex than you will EVER grasp. Get back to your whining, that's all you'll ever do.". I'm leaving before you transform me into that. Reality is as complex as you want it to be: you made it public, not me. I work 10-12 hrs a day, not you. You call the shots that make things expensive, not me. You make HR an inquisition department that does not help artists, but crushes them if they complain (Michele Davis, Dan S.). This thread is the first time we have to express what is really happening. If you just listened long time ago when there was a drop falling, and not now that the house is soaked in scum. You shut our mouths..and so what do you expect...to work to death and die in silence? Seriously, the solution to the big problems lie below your feet. Take this as an opportunity to do something for others, and not yourself. We are constantly doing that in production. Besides, you guys always say "its going to be fine". No wonder why this rolled up into a bit pile of problems that you guys can not even begin to understand how to handle. Tell me, what do you do with a crying baby? I think, that with your mentality, your lineage wouldn't survive. That is fine with us, at least we know now better.

Greed makes things complicated in a field where humble stories have to be told

The ailments of DWA in my opinion do not originate with managerial shortcomings - though there are shortcomings - but rather in the concept and story development process. You sometimes end up with properties that are geared for nobody - too intense for the youngest audiences but too simplistic to appeal to older audiences (see Guardians) yet too needlessly convoluted in the sub-plots (like a poorly executed JJ Abrams device) to capture audiences. If a movie consistently needs to hire and fire several successions of directors before release, there's something broken in the process period. It's just too bad the individual artists that have to be sacrificed for the good of the company probably knew all this all along. Imagine the poor character animator working on Jar Jar Binks... I wonder what that bloke was thinking to himself...

I honestly believe this explains the current situation at DWA way better then I can write up. The IPO is not a golden road to riches, it is a difficult transition as I have found out recently... Bringing a corporation to the market exerts a number of new pressures on the management team. As an initial matter, the members of management can expect to spend from three to six months deeply involved in the mechanics of the transaction. This precious time is added to that already spent attending to their other responsibilities with the company. Added to this additional time demand is the potential liability attendant to intentional or negligent misstatements contained in the company’s stock offering documents. Ongoing periodic disclosure of financial information, management’s compensation, insiders’ dealings with the company, and the equity ownership of directors and key management personnel is required by federal securities laws and the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). Information, both positive and negative, is subject to disclosure obligations throughout the life of the corporation. Compliance with these ongoing disclosure obligations and with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 necessarily means that expenses for legal and accounting advice and consultation, as well as other services of the type outlined above, are going to continue to accrue, oftentimes in significant amounts, year after year. For the first time, perhaps, insiders face bringing new players into what has been, in essence, a private party, diluting their ownership interest and losing at least a measure of control over the direction that the corporation ultimately takes. Public scrutiny resulting from disclosure of a company’s operations may be painful enough to a formerly private corporation, but actually letting a large number of "outsiders" have a voice in corporate governance is an entirely different matter to a management team not accustomed to shareholder oversight. In addition, as the officers of a newly-public company quickly learn, the company’s new owners will expect a certain return on their investment, subjecting management to performance pressures it may have never before experienced. Substantial time and effort, and thus dollars, must be expended in dealing with the investing community in order to ensure that investors and analysts remain satisfied with the company’s performance over the short term, while at all times keeping in mind, and working towards, management’s long term goals for the company. Finally, fiduciary obligations with respect to minority ownership interests have been expanded by the courts in recent years and cannot be taken lightly when planning to let others into a previously closed circle of ownership. DWA is no longer a private company, it is publicly traded, which means JK is no longer calling all the shots. He now has investors to answer to.... so what happened to the DWA you all know and love? Wall street happened. Wall Street “the place where businesses are taken apart and run by someone else”.

Wait...Doug C is an Exec now? lol

I am doing something about it, I'm leaving this ass backward company to pursue a career where I may actually have a chance to do something useful instead of work with caveman tools, and Crood execs. Thanks for the free lunch!

@Exec <in> "You are all small, bitter, mean-spirited, foul-mouthed, clueless." <-- And this is how the Execs at DW see their Artists!? The people who actually make these movies a reality, without whom this company would be nothing!..Wow sir! You just blew my mind! I think we all know after your comment which group of people is small and bitter!

Well, I'm an Exec. You are all small, bitter, mean-spirited, foul-mouthed, clueless. The REALITY is much more complex than you will EVER grasp. Get back to your whining, that's all you'll ever do.

BTW - I know for sure that JK is reading this list, so, let's send him a message...

JK - if you have to cut: Start with Marketing.. It used to be cool… even enviable. Now it’s just messy.

As harsh and direct as these last few posts have been. It is true. The loyalty JK has with his dev staff and high ranking executives - even his president who is really a marketing person, could potentially sink them. Even the new blood has been too scared to drive change. So it doesn't look good...

Well, don't know about other ships but this one is teetering and is entering iceberg territory. Fun while the journey lasted.

Whaaaat an executive doesn't know how to run a ship and when they run it aground they toss crew overboard to lighten the load? These people should be running financial institutions and automobile companies

Bill D is smarter than THAT? The Bill D that brain farted Shrek the Musical and Trucker Trolls? The moron who cost millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs but doesn't get canned? That crapper hasn't got a brain in his head.. He has a deal with the devil.

At DW, PRACTICALLY EVERY (but not all) "Producers", "Production Execs" (WTF is THAT??) and Studio Heads are **useless**. Sadly, JK and Bill D seems to have a knack or tolerance or acceptance for/of such worthless, unqualified, untrained, non-pedigreed off-the-street individuals that they seem to willingly bring into the fold, hand them the keys to the kingdom, put them up on a pedestal, talk them up, AND WATCH THEM BRING DOWN THE PLACE. This happens time after time at DW. All these years, the shock and instability was absorbed by the profits from movies that did do well in the BO (in SPITE of, not BECAUSE of, the sh*t stains referred to above). Well, this obviously couldn't go on forever, and finally the truth is slapping everyone in the face, hard. It is a wake-up call, but the body is already DEAD. ****WHY****, JK and BD? You are both MUCH smarter than that. It boggles my mind.

for those of you burned by DDU , DWA etc. join the grouwing number of VFX artists around the world together. search for vfx solidarity international on facebook and twitter. Lets make life for ALL visual effects and animation artists here and abroad a better working environment. Share your stories and support our growing solidarity!

You are correct Sir. Jill Hopper is amongst the USELESS Sods at Dreamworks that will never be let go....

One name: Jill Hopper Thats all

It seems that the "work culture" at India, has already "transitioned" into its final transformation phase. Here is the same. I already decided to leave the company. If I stay here, I'll die of depression, cancer, or something similar. This thread was an eye opener to see I was not going crazy. All those bad things actually exist. I would recommend sharing this thread to schools, and any other organization that is putting their trust in DreamWorks. Most of what it is said is true, I'm glad it is comming out. They shouldn't sell "dreams". Its a nightmare, and time of your life you'll be throwing to the air or the pockets of just a couple of greedy and irresponsible men. God will take care of them. God Bless, wish all of you hardworking people a better life. PS: Saty was awesome, I agree

Since it seems like a widely held opinion that the indian artists are taking away US DWA jobs, I would like to tell the other(Indian) side of the story. We might be doing DW work in India but its not exactly "exotic" here either. All of the work that comes from DW to DDU Bangalore is very much filtered. NO artist here gets to work on the good stuff. To all of us here, it seems that we are given only that work which is deemed as a waste of production time if done in Glendale/PDI by a US artist. DDU Bangalore is like a factory. During my entire time at DDU, I haven't seen a single production staff member or a management person being fired. As a result, these production people roam around like they own the land and they mistreat artists and bully them by threatening to report them if someone questions their way. They have ZERO accountability. If a movie doesn't do good or if a project is postponed, why are only the artists of that project fired?..Why not even the production staff? There is a lot of dead-weight in this studio. People who are high up in position but do not know a single thing about their role. Some get by using their pretty faces and others using their asskissing skills. Some use both! The asskissers get top positions and regular annual pay hikes here while people who stand their ground and call out whats wrong and try to do some good for their fellow artists get nothing. DDU likes to keep only those people who say all good things about their managers and HOD's , everyone else is told to shutup! We are regularly made to work long hours under the false pretense of crunchtime (which exists 24/7 364 days of the year here) so that the production managers can impress the US management by showing how much "extra" work they are getting out of us. And when its time for the annual pay hikes, a bunch of artists are gathered and fired randomly and we are then told to be thankful that we still have our jobs! By just providing some snacks in a fancy cafeteria and Internet at the artists machines, you cannot say that there is a good work culture in DDU. A good work culture comes from mutual respect between people in an organization. A place where an artist feels welcomed and happy and doesnt have to live under constant fear and anxiety. As I mentioned earlier, DDU currently is no more than a badly managed factory. Where the workers are threatened and bullied constantly and the management has zero accountability. Favouritism and being biased towards people who asskiss is rampant. The leadership has to understand that we deserve to be respected for what we do for the company and and expect not to be treated as cattle which are just kept in a barn until they are "transitioned outside the land to restructure the barn"

koomar from ddu here (not my real name, lol), hi guys. yes, training department here sux bigtime, lol. three years back, dr. saty (genius+godlike knowledge, humility, awesome teaching skills) came from glendale to train us early hires. the best training i had my whole life, no joke. man he was awesome. that is what i still remember and put to use, not what i'm learning now (next to nothing). training boss lady please go home, lol. om, peace.

koomar from ddu here (not my real name, lol), hi guys. yes, training department here sux bigtime, lol. three years back, dr. saty (genius+godlike knowledge, humility, awesome teaching skills) came from glendale to train us early hires. the best training i had my whole life, no joke. man he was awesome. that is what i still remember and put to use, not what i'm learning now (next to nothing). training boss lady please go home, lol. om, peace.

Speaking off "execs", many at DW were Production Assistants that were rapidly promoted, just for putting in the time. News flash - time spent does NOT equate to skills needed to RUN things. At DW however, those two are routinely conflated. Result? Worthless "Producers" and "Execs" that run around and eff things up, behave rudely, etc. It is a shame. In no other industry is this even remotely possible.

i have always found it valuable that animation artists should know who the trouble making execs are...I avoid studio when I know the producer has a horrible track record and lack of people skills. artists have skills, these execs offer nothing

" right sizing the company" because downsizing is not a powerful enough slighting for " we are ruining lives and undermining the economy" neat.

What about Producer Steinberg? She's screwed up a few now. 83 mill hit to the bottom line because of her movie should make her head of the studio soon.

One thing I think we all can agree on though.... DOUG COOPER, YVETTE MEMORY, BONNIE LEMON and BARB CIMITY are USELESS

SAY DOUGH IS PRODUCTIVE AND THEY WILL FIRE HIM, SINCE IN YEARS, TALKING BAD ABOUT HIM ONLY MAKES HIM 'FALL UP'. IF THEY FIRE GOOD PEOPLE, TELL MANAGEMENT HE IS A GOOD GUY AND THEYLL FIRE HIM AS MANY OTHER AWESOME ARTISTS LOLOL HE GETS EXTRA BROWNIE POINTS FOR EACH PERSON THAT SAYS HE IS USELESS LOLOLOL WAY TO GO DREADWORKS! NOW I KNOW WHY THAT MOONBOY NEVER GETS ANY FISH LOLOLOL

Himmatwala: Sorry to hear man. But, I think you nailed it and hard: We want dignity. Dignity is king at any job. Its the base of the pyramid. We in the US are in the same position man. It kind of feels better to know you guys there are in the same boat. Don't get me wrong, its a bad thing, but at least now things make sense. Bring more of your coworkers to express themselves here. While the situation is shitty, it feels good to know all this time I've not been just imagining things. The paranoia, the stress, the anxiety is real. The lies, the deception, it was not in my head. Its not something local to the US, Glendale, Redwood city. Its a master plan, a way of work that JK and associates want to continue. Its probably good for them, but not for artist's dignity, at least, not as it stands. I'm, perplexed, and now wondering into what other industry to move, since I put a lot of effort in trying to be a good person. I want to continue being one. I'm not sure I would be one after noticing they keep the dishonest people. They keep good ones, but keep all of the dishonest staff.

Re: Free food There is nothing free, anywhere. I heard today how the chef said "Do you know how much these burgers cost? X..do you know how many this cost? X. He said all this to many of the people in the huge BBQ line". It has been growing because DW lunch is getting to be strictly carbs (which are cheap). Which is all valid. However, do YOU MR CHEF know how much half an hour cost of each person from the line? If you are to give free food, that means that you don't have to leave the campus. That means as well, you might as well eat in 30 mins and return to your desk to work. That means, more "free work". That means, nobody is late, and the company does not loses money. That means, youd don't do it just because you're nice. Be my guest and cut off the free lunch, and SEE HOW MUCH MONEY DREAMWORKS WILL LOSE THEN. Free work > free food. It does not take much to figure this out. Don't come and tell me how good of a samaritan you are. Sorry folks, I just hated this speech today which took me by surprise while I cruised through.

One thing I think we all can agree on though.... DOUG COOPER and BARB CIMITY are USELESS

Himmatwala, you mean you folks haven't lost respect already? Look at how you all are being treated. Sorry state of affairs.

I am surprised why only artist become scapegoat during restructuring( a managment jargon for layoffs)...Is the management thinking through properly....I ask our beloved Joe, Tripp, Philippe who sell us false dream..........why only artist... Let me give more insight into this. This layoff was meant to be restructuring to bring down cost and improve efficiency. a. why is the support function not part of it? Support function such as production, studio managment, HR, admminstration, facility, security, training are living luxurious life getting increment year after year why not they get laid off. If you analise closely here are clear case of over fed department. a. Training: one by virtue of being wife of head of department is staying on in a department which has no presence and taking paycheck every month.(Cant the department run without her).you all are wondering which department i am taking about. yes you are correct "trainig" what is the role of her which none of the current admin people cannot take on. b. HR: I am sure the HR director would be getting a heafty pay and perks-is it reasonable to keep her during such crisis time. can dreamworks in its stategy afford to keep her when some lady in Us heads the India HR. Irony is that both have not made her presence felt till date. I am sure all the artist would have similar question like me, what is Manager HR doing then, what is her role???? do we also require a person just to manage and entertain foriegn national. with restructuring do we require recruitment person too....Cant the management be more thoughtful. c. Facility: i always get confused why and what they do, except feeding us with breakfast and snacks. They have recently hired a senior member in the team. Do we really require such pomp and show. the previous company i worked which had almost double the headcount had only one facilty representative managing everthing. d. Production: 30+ staff for 200+ people is it justified? these people are like Jallad's(hindi word for hangman) who dont know anything what we do except the time by when they want. In that also they have their cussion time. Do we really require 3 PM's((one of them being expat, we could buy 5 more PM with her pay), one who doesnt enjoy anyone's respect and dont have self respect), I dont know how many Prod Sup's we have.. e. Systems: Do we really require such humangus team. I wonder what they do. why not restructure them. I am sure these analysis of mine will stirr contraversies however what i have told is just tip of the iceberg. Dreamworks India has very nice policy if you come to India for job we will assure job to your spouce too..be rest assured. Why not the indians get the same treatment because we are a different skin. They can get job anywhere as they are not to any industry but what about us Mr. Joe....we came to your promise of good and exiting times ahead...we dont want US training, we dont want morning food, evening snacks what we want is some dignitiy and not having fear of working in Dreamworks. It is clear case of MIS MANAGEMENT by all you top bosses. Please put on a thinking hat, once we loose confidence in you, you will loose quality in us. remember always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end. If you are real thinking hats then retain artist and restructe the above departments...do you have the conviction to do that....

Sadly, " Anonymous , Monday 2/25/13 6:42 PM" is simply a 'suit' trying to do damage control.. We artists are not naive and stupid, so take your corporate PR crap and SHOVE it, because no one believes your carefully worded, sugar-coated BS. Karma is a bitch.. See that bloody foot where you shot yourself? It ain't gonna heal anytime soon. When China, India and other "cheap" labor dries up for multiple reasons over which you have NO control, you will return to 'insourcing' if you even survive that long. At that time, see if all the EXPERIENCED and TALENTED people you got rid of, will come back to work for you. Good luck starting from scratch with noobs (always PLENTY of those), and revisiting the same effed up path. Like I said, payback is a beeyotch. What a moron I was, believing that the studio was "home" and the free food and snacks and coffee, a gift from the heavens. Thankfully, I have wisened up since. There **is** NO free lunch. "DWers" can stop kidding themselves and believing the internal BS that there *is*.

Re: Wake up He is a man of no virtue. All those acts he does is just a scheme to get attention and power. Read Steve Jobs biography. His description matches his current attitude. A real leader will show his face in difficult times. I heard he has not shown his? Once all layoffs are done, he will come out to tell you how special you are (and how hard you got to work now). What a jerk...honestly. Why do you think there is an award, and then the "top workplace" thing? Why do you think HR sent so many emails for you to VOTE PLEASE AND GOOD for DW? Its like washing your hands twice because you know you're guilty. Oh wait....we got a panini machine, let me tell the whole world I gave the guys a panini machine, but I fired 500 people and give a shit about their families. I think he is taking "Be a CEO of yourself" too seriously. He ONLY cares about himself. Get your asa back to the studio and fix your room before you go out to play with your buddies. Didn't your mum taught you that you're room has to be clean before you go out and play?

Re: lol 40% of the CFX department is not enought? That is the amount I heard it was cut. The guys will be there to ship Turbo and then leave.

I'm surprised the cuts weren't that deep. There are guys here in the cfx department I'd be shocked if they knew how to operate a computer. Just saying..the whole efficiency thing..

Anyone find it Ironic that Katzenburg received an Oscar last night for his "Humanitarian" efforts? How "Humanitarian" is it for him to Lay off 500 US employees, and send Jobs overseas to India and China? I wanted to puke when I saw his smiling face holding that gold statue. Hypocrisy at its finest.

Anonymous, your logic is quite flawed. First of all, the idea that if the movies do well that all magically trickles down to the artists is naive and idealistic. Sure, if DWA films have a great year as they did in the Shrek Blockbuster years there are bonuses and everyone is happy. That has NOTHING to do with jobs being outsourced to India. Avatar made 2 BILLION dollars at the box office. Do you think the artists at Weta all got giant checks and employment there skyrocketed?? No. They continue to hire and fire the same way they have in the past and will continue to do. When Avengers made a BILLION dollars do you think ILM is set for life and every artist there has job security?? Again. NO. Those jobs are being farmed out to India and China as fast as possible and the number of staff kept fulltime dwindles by the day. Box office performance has NOTHING to do with how quickly US jobs are farmed out to India or China. They're farmed out there for 2 reasons; labor is exponentially cheaper and the labor can be easily exploited into working long hours for free. Something our Union at DWA may not be 100% effective at preventing, but at least it's not rampant. It's the same reason that Lucas killed IATSE back in the day. He had the leverage and they didn't. So now their jobs are going to India/China and they have no healthcare as project to project employees. So PLEASE don't say that India isn't taking away jobs. OF COURSE they are. Pull your head out of the sand my friend.

Once again, India did not "take away" jobs. During the economic downturn after 2008, it wasn't just home values that tanked the economy. The film industry suffered a rapid contraction of profits due to the evaporation of DVD sales. It was during this time in 2009 through 2011 that DWA could have taken steps to reduce production costs through layoffs. What actually happened is that the management decided to increase production in effort to increase the profitability of the company by creating more properties and hoping many would become ongoing franchises, especially in light of Shrek being retired. This required lower costs to move forward and India was able to give DWA that added push to make it happen. Without this - without the India initiative, DWA would not have been able to increase its output to 3 movies. This was a sound plan that protected the US staff as well as giving greater opportunity to everyone involved. The problem here was not that India failed or the India initiative took away jobs. The problem is that a very expensive movie to make that performs below expectations will cause a very direct effect on financing the next batch of properties. The income from this year's movie decides how easy it is to fund the one for two years from now. Sure there may be some people in your department you don't like or mid-level management people you don't respect and even high-level managers whom you blame for steering the company wrong. You may even be blaming a crew on the other side of the world for losing your job or that of a coworker - but the truth is that it comes down to what the movie's ability to generate dollars above and beyond the money spent investing in its performance. If a mostly US-crew-made movie fails to capture #1 at the box office, then it makes no sense whatsoever to blame India for those financial repercussions. Naming such and such artist, supervisor, manager, executive, or an entire country is not the answer. Look at what you put out there - it's about the movie and whether people say "Shut up and take my money!" as they beat a path down the box office.

http://vimeo.com/32071503 The goddamned talking heads make my BLOOD BOIL. F8ck F8ck F8ck em all. Cruel, creepy, calculating SOBs.

To 'Ah well , Wednesday 2/20/13' - AMEN, thanks for telling it like it is. Doug Cooper - "technical chops" - WTF? Gimme an effing break. Can you say ZERO talent? Ditto for 'cring'. People like these are LOUD, ANNOYING BSers whom upper management LOVES. The artists and tech folks on the other hand know the truth. And why is no one talking about the Waste of $$$ 'Training' 'Department'? The blonde down south and redhead up north know enough to teach artists? GIMME A BREAK. Shut down the whole department at both locations, save $$$ (start with Barb C, the biggest waste of all).

Its because powerful friends where going to get fired from shadows and turbo, but managers decided to keep them and fire someone else from another show. Thats why some layoffs make no sense at all. Its just so they can keep the same scum, which is willing to talk good about them in return. Corruption and fear.

We were told it's all over, yet they let some people go today...

How much longer are we going to have to go through this? Some people who were told they were fine are now getting recalled back in. It's like a three ring circus with this management team.

aaaand..I got axed =(

@not_a_dreamWorker (outside) As a veteran of "Bee Movie", I'd love to hear some of the macabre stories of Coop's artistic guidance. I actually will defend his technical chops, but I don't trust his aesthetic at all. The most oft-heard note in lighting dailies was "warm up the core"

Please don't lose sight of the less than average development team. They all survive? Some really nasty projects glued together doesn't make a good movie.

Please don't lose sight of the less than average development team. They all survive? Some really nasty projects glued together doesn't make a good movie.

I don't see anybody backing up Doug Cooper. The guy is a celebrity at other studios, but a very "special" one. His reputation is what makes us think people at DreamWorks "fail-up". Its just impressive the amount of macabre stories artists tell about him. They always end "and guess what, they fired someone else". I also heard artists where fired, but not really any supervisors or top production people? That is like saving pennies, but spending dollars! It makes sense on the "books" and reports, but it will changes nothing! I can speculate a lot about the reason for that, but lets not. Artists are just the hands. If you really want to change a company, you should start from the top. Artist just follow a plan. Good luck!

Barb Cimity is just an executive for the training dep.... and I heard she is being laid off. She has the least amount of responsibility compared to those managers which handle artists. There are good managers, but there are some bad ones too.

@to reef: the current state of problems where predicted in the same "wild accusations", but years ago. Im sure the current wild accusations will prove right in another couple of years or sooner. Wild accusations are made for wild mistakes. People that make these wild accusations will get a job, because they can see beyond lies and deception. An inconvenient truth is less popular than a comforting lie, and Dreamworks failed for being comfortable with the lies it holds. While those lies persist, it will continue to limp on a game in which clearly you now need to run.

"Ah well" has hit the nail on the head.

So life goes on. The cuts weren't that deep at Glendale. Nothing will change. The real problems at Dreamworks are all still there in their cozy positions. You all know who you are and who has been mentioned on this forum. The Doug Coopers, Barb Cimity's, and Nancy Bernsteins of the company. And those are just the tip of the iceberg at DWA. Nothing changed and nothing will. Croods will come out and flop because it's another vaguely marketed film with a mediocre look and no particular point of view, unlike most Pixar films. Everything at DWA has become a made by committee effort, and frankly the committee making the films here now are a bunch of talentless, in-bred, douche bags who couldn't get a job at another studio in the industry if they tried. DWA has become the death-bed for every talentless retard in production and management to go to retire. Good luck with the crappy slate of upcoming films that will make exactly between $80-$120 million at the box office domestically and be forgotten the next day.

Worked the long holiday weekend fixing bad India work. Doubting it's really that much cheaper after fixes,redone work, and ex-Pats being sent over to Bangalore. I'm sure it looks good on paper for Heads of Production to Bill D. and JK though. Anyone know what Technicolor's cut is on the films since they are offering free workers to DW?

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the people working in India and China were *not* hired for their talent. They were hired because they are CHEAP. Thats the ONLY REASON. If you believe anything otherwise, you my friend are blind.

Your comment, among many others are the reason why this forum is completely worthless to anyone's time trying to find answers or truths. Your complete and utter ignorance(among others) is embarrassing and shameful. India and China workers are not working longer hours or more weekends than their American counterparts(unlike you, I'm speaking from truth and knowledge). To see that as a reason is an excuse and a poor one at that. Before making wild accusations - any of you, it would help to have some knowledge. That involves research(reading, asking questions to those who have real and formative answers) and not speculation. You're going to have trouble moving forward and perhaps finding a job with your minds so closed.

India and China aren't why jobs are going away. 40+ year olds being laid off might as well blame their younger American co-workers for taking cheaper offers to work at dwa straight out of art school or after working for one show at another studio. Who didn't see this coming? You think that a six figure non-supervisory production position will last forever? Poke your head over the cube wall and look around. 3 younger artists willing to work for 40k and who can follow direction makes more sense than one at 120k.

DWA doing deals with Russian theme parks and sending Animation to China and getting rid of US jobs. Are you sure your fearless leader isn't a Communist? Obama should be proud.

Let's face it, China and India are the sharecroppers for their American masters, working seven days a week while their owners go home to their overfed families. So it will always be while artists in Asia fail to stand up for their workers rights the way Americans did in the last century.

At the same, regardless of hate and noise here, the board is probably more useful than any PR or an official internal memo you'll ever see

That has to be the smartest comment someone has made thus far. Most of what is said is first, mostly filled with racism and bigotry. Outside of that(which isn't much) is a lot of speculation(also, much of that is pretty inaccurate). If anyone is looking for real answers - this forum isn't the place to find them.

Maybe not valuable to you. It is to me. Sorry if you dislike that. And thanks "A" for the answers.

Really? Valuable? You find piss, bile, and vinegar to be a worthwhile source of information?? Hate to break it to you but all this bitter anti-India/china talk is about as useful to anyone as the minutes to a meeting where people wear pointy hoods

The info in this thread is super valuable. I wish there was more of them. Thanks!

Re: Netflix: I guess that will probably be done in China since Glendale and Redwood City are not really meant to produce that kind of content and are too costly. Not sure about India. It seems that in the mid/long run it might disappear altogether if the big one in China (Oriental Dreamworks) takes off and proves successful (which is not at all guaranteed). Doesn't makes sense on a logistic and business point of view to duplicate facilities in the same region and they are probably interested in economies of scale. Although ODW with its more than 2000 artists will focus on Chinese oriented content (that's what they declared to keep Chinese happy), I'm pretty sure that it will eventually produce all DW movies. At this point they'll probably close one of the US studios (maybe a keep minimal staff in Glendale). So ODW will produce pixels by the megaton - and will become some sort of Foxconn of entertainment.

@A: I also read that Netflix will release exclusive content. Who will develop it? Glendale, Red Wood City, India, China? Thanks for answering my questions =)

@Q: Most of the staff in India are not at all Dreamworks Animation employees. They are employees of Technicolor India to which DWA outsources work. So technically speaking, DWA is a client of Technicolor and thus the these employees are not on tbe DWA payroll.

I have a question. Can someone explain me why this says DreamWorks had 10 Employees outside the US in 2012? Was India not part of DreamWorks in 2012? Or India had only 10 employees in 2012? http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/2012/snapshots/14.html Thanks!

http://www.deadline.com/2013/02/video-the-croods-new-clip-trailer-dreamworks-animation/

No more spam! Thank you!

Sorry to hear The Axe is at DreamWorks. good luck guys. She is truly something. Just ask previous companies.

TORCH is a scam to ship things to China

"how come people think the leadership is great and smart". Down in the trenches, nobody, and I mean NOBODY has ever thought that the leadership is great and smart. Are you a lead, sup, or manager? HR perhaps? Even during good times when we had bonuses. We knew that if we got x bonus, it could have been 10x bigger if it wasn't for the "leadership". Many of us saw this going down since the company became public. I'm really baffled to think, that we ever thought the leadership was great. You are still living in the dream! Wake up!

So you've already lost some Jobs to India.... Dreamworks is setting up a Studio in China. Are you going to bend over, and train your replacements again? Are you going to say nothing when you see your supervisors being sent to China to train people to take your Job? Dreamworks is proud of their outsourcing. Look at this video. https://vimeo.com/32071503 You see any familiar faces in there? You think its going to be any different with China? Wake up Dreamworkers.... The free lunches are about to end for you....

How come people think the leadership is great and smart when bonuses are fat and the company is rolling in cash but that same leadership is awful when the public just doesn't like the product as much and profits fall just like it does everywhere else since the 08 meltdown... If anything DWA did a good job over the last few years of recessionary times.

DreamWorks needs top of the line artists, because they have mediocre executives and leaders. Its the only way to balance things out, and deliver a good product. What I heard there? A great product? Sorry, but you where not even nominated for an Oscar. Do I need to say more? Now, Imagine what will happen when you mix mediocre artists (students, china, india), with mediocre leadership? Exactly, things wouldn't go well even at China. It does not matter you have 2000 or 4000 artist then. The more you add, the more slabs in bewteen you put, and if those slabs are mediocre, the structure collapses due to its inefficiency. The only way to succeed at China would be to balance things out: Change executives and also leadership. Then, you could maybe succeed at China. I think they have not forseen this.

If you don't mind sharing, what was your severance package?

"Anonymous , Friday 2/15/13 8:19 PM" - why dont you go first?

If you don't mind sharing, what was your severance package?

Oh, so this is the "real world" and we all just bend over and take it huh "sickening". Accept that your jobs are going to be farmed out to third-world countries at sweatshop labor prices so that they Jeffrey Katzenberg's of the world can make another $5 million next year? So we should all just "grow a thick skin" and bend over and take it huh? And where is that going to get you? How many countries are you going to move to with a wife and kids and house? Or are we supposed to throw away that side of the American dream to? Oh, I get it. You're one of those people who thinks we should all be thanking our lucky stars to be "so lucky to work on MOVIES." Well guess what dumb ass, executives and Studios are making BILLIONS off those movies that you're so willing to travel around the globe and give up your life to work on. If you think fair treatment, protecting our industries, providing health care, and good jobs/benefits for American jobs are too much to ask for then hop on a boat to Singapore tomorrow my friend. You're the one who is sickening.

End of 2008 when the global economy was crumbling and everyone was wondering if the banks were safe, if we were on the verge of a depression, we had a big company meeting. You told us how worried you were, you told us what other industry leaders were thinking. You gave us advice on how to handle our money, what to do, what not to do. You told us we were not going to have raises, and we were gutting every single unnecessary expense, like our Comcast bill, our floral/gardening bill, quality of food, morning newspaper, corporate jet trips, paper-freaking-cups. You told us you were going to do everything possible to save every last job in that room, and we were all going to ride out this storm together as a family. I've been with the company a long time and I had never been more proud of you than this moment. You were no longer the cold hearted bastard who used to check the temperature of people's hoods in the parking lot to guess what time they arrived. I was told there were a few moments in your life that humbled you... one being the fires near your home; another was Maddoff stealing your charity account. You were no longer content simply building an animation studio that could take on Disney - you wanted to create the BEST working environment on the West Coast. Where people were proud to wear their Dreamworks swag and tell their friends who they worked for. Where people would happily spend their extra hours because it felt more like home than home. You did all that; you got us through the storm - and it was glorious. My, how times have changed. So now I gotta ask you - where did that guy go?

It's clear DW management is checking this forum based on the spam, so this is now a great tool to try and help make the company better.

can someone please "transition outside the forum" the person who is posting the "shhhh"? (HR, I know who you are), leave people here to express themselves. Its the only change they got to let off some steam. Give them some last words, these people have families. This is all they got!

can someone please "transition outside the forum" the person who is posting the "shhhh"? (HR, I know who you are), leave people here to express themselves. Its the only change they got to let off some steam. Give them some last words, these people have families. This is all they got!

He's on a Corporate plane bound for Bangalore. With all of your paychecks in his pocket so he can go hire 500 new DDU trainees.

End of 2008 when the global economy was crumbling and everyone was wondering if the banks were safe, if we were on the verge of a depression, we had a big company meeting. You told us how worried you were, you told us what other industry leaders were thinking. You gave us advice on how to handle our money, what to do, what not to do. You told us we were not going to have raises, and we were gutting every single unnecessary expense, like our Comcast bill, our floral/gardening bill, quality of food, morning newspaper, corporate jet trips, paper-freaking-cups. You told us you were going to do everything possible to save every last job in that room, and we were all going to ride out this storm together as a family. I've been with the company a long time and I had never been more proud of you than this moment. You were no longer the cold hearted bastard who used to check the temperature of people's hoods in the parking lot to guess what time they arrived. I was told there were a few moments in your life that humbled you... one being the fires near your home; another was Maddoff stealing your charity account. You were no longer content simply building an animation studio that could take on Disney - you wanted to create the BEST working environment on the West Coast. Where people were proud to wear their Dreamworks swag and tell their friends who they worked for. Where people would happily spend their extra hours because it felt more like home than home. You did all that; you got us through the storm - and it was glorious. My, how times have changed. So now I gotta ask you - where did that guy go?

End of 2008 when the global economy was crumbling and everyone was wondering if the banks were safe, if we were on the verge of a depression, we had a big company meeting. You told us how worried you were, you told us what other industry leaders were thinking. You gave us advice on how to handle our money, what to do, what not to do. You told us we were not going to have raises, and we were gutting every single unnecessary expense, like our Comcast bill, our floral/gardening bill, quality of food, morning newspaper, corporate jet trips, paper-freaking-cups. You told us you were going to do everything possible to save every last job in that room, and we were all going to ride out this storm together as a family. I've been with the company a long time and I had never been more proud of you than this moment. You were no longer the cold hearted bastard who used to check the temperature of people's hoods in the parking lot to guess what time they arrived. I was told there were a few moments in your life that humbled you... one being the fires near your home; another was Maddoff stealing your charity account. You were no longer content simply building an animation studio that could take on Disney - you wanted to create the BEST working environment on the West Coast. Where people were proud to wear their Dreamworks swag and tell their friends who they worked for. Where people would happily spend their extra hours because it felt more like home than home. You did all that; you got us through the storm - and it was glorious. My, how times have changed. So now I gotta ask you - where did that guy go?

End of 2008 when the global economy was crumbling and everyone was wondering if the banks were safe, if we were on the verge of a depression, we had a big company meeting. You told us how worried you were, you told us what other industry leaders were thinking. You gave us advice on how to handle our money, what to do, what not to do. You told us we were not going to have raises, and we were gutting every single unnecessary expense, like our Comcast bill, our floral/gardening bill, quality of food, morning newspaper, corporate jet trips, paper-freaking-cups. You told us you were going to do everything possible to save every last job in that room, and we were all going to ride out this storm together as a family. I've been with the company a long time and I had never been more proud of you than this moment. You were no longer the cold hearted bastard who used to check the temperature of people's hoods in the parking lot to guess what time they arrived. I was told there were a few moments in your life that humbled you... one being the fires near your home; another was Maddoff stealing your charity account. You were no longer content simply building an animation studio that could take on Disney - you wanted to create the BEST working environment on the West Coast. Where people were proud to wear their Dreamworks swag and tell their friends who they worked for. Where people would happily spend their extra hours because it felt more like home than home. You did all that; you got us through the storm - and it was glorious. My, how times have changed. So now I gotta ask you - where did that guy go?

Shut your face Jesus freak.

Shut your face Jesus freak.

ON whose graves is he collecting this award, he should really see whats happening in his own built companies before considering it, humans have become machines and have become toys for his executives, managers, supervisors, heads, leads....... there will be no forgiveness to all this people. Matthew 7:2 "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/jeffrey-katzenberg-receives-jean-hersholt-humanitarian-award

DDU stands for Dreamworks Dedicated Unit. They've rented part of another established company in India (Technicolor) and using its facilities to get DWA specific work done. This unit is pretty much separated from Technicolor (office hours, in office policies, atmosphere, etc). But big picture policies still apply (harassment, etc). From what's been told, the DDU was Dreamworks' attempt at creating a separate studio in India. It would gradually take on more and more work - starting with shots in DVD specials, going up to shots in feature films, then whole sequences in feature films and finally doing feature films of their own (which is, the penguins of madagascar - the movie). As this progressed, they would take more and more ownership of the unit from Technicolor until it was owned completely by DWA. Personally, I can't complain about the DDU. Standards have just gone up every few months (in terms of infrastructure, work done, etc).

Why are people so surprised by the India situation? I interviewed for a job, everything went well, and then was suddenly told all the positions were closed. Two days later the same positions were being hired for in the DDU in India. Coincidence? lol Get your head out of the sand..

How do you spell "kill your brand" in Chinese? Anne Daly almost did just that at Disney with cheap knock-off sequels made outside the country. Saved Disney by going to DW. Downhill now...just the beginning. This is no way to inspire a quality brand that should be growing.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2015/dreadworks.jpg

Today was one of the hardest days of my life. I was "transitioned outside the company", but that was the easy part. The difficult part was to grab my daughter in front of me, and tell her: daddy will not be able to pay the surgery you need, maybe later this year. She can not see me clearly. She heard me crying and she told me "don't worry daddy, one day I will be able to see your work". I couldn't hold it and I cried. I want to get another job, one in which I can hold the promises I made to my kids. I came to this site because someone mentioned me others where complaining about the lawyers not responding. That is right, but I'm not sure now if to get a psicologist instead, or save that money for my daughter. Best luck to you guys. Please let us know through here if you have any luck, or suggestions on legal matters.

Today was one of the hardest days of my life. I was "transitioned outside the company", but that was the easy part. The difficult part was to grab my daughter in front of me, and tell her: daddy will not be able to pay the surgery you need, maybe later this year. She can not see me clearly. She heard me crying and she told me "don't worry daddy, one day I will be able to see your work". I couldn't hold it and I cried. I want to get another job, one in which I can hold the promises I made to my kids. I came to this site because someone mentioned me others where complaining about the lawyers not responding. That is right, but I'm not sure now if to get a psicologist instead, or save that money for my daughter. Best luck to you guys. Please let us know through here if you have any luck, or suggestions on legal matters.

I got laid off today, and it has been impossible to talk to either HR or the lawyers. There are more than a dozen of us trying to get in contact with the lawyers at DreamWorks, just to advice of how and when to leave the country. It has been impossible. And yes, the people that have been hit the most are 40+. Dreamworks wants this to be done fast and quick, no hussle and it doesn't seem to matter to them if they ruin our lifes, and we have just a couple of weeks to leave the country. I tried also via HR, and they make things even more difficult. that "shhh" pretty much sums up what dreamworks stands with dreamworkers. Shut up and work. If you're old: die or go away. So we do kids movies right? ..thats kind of..bad....

Is that Uncle JK, Heads of Production, VFX Sups, or unsuccessful Producers spamming again? How cuuuuute.

Where do I see Dreamworks in 3 years? DDU gone. PDI gone. Just preproduction in Glendale and a 2500 worker factory in Shanghai.

Agreed - folks over 40 took the biggest hit

Seems like the vast majority of the people who got laid off are over 40. Time to talk to lawyers?

I guess SHH wants us to be silent. Nice work man... You have some serous copy/paste skills...

DDU means Dream Works Disgusting Unit Dream Works Disaster Unit Dream Works Drama Unit Most of them know what goes on there Production Sucks there TOO absolute complete Brain less,..... IDIOTS. people who worked there and transferred to US Know the whole story of DDU Fcuked up Production Dept, and how they play with peoples career you are just 250 people and you layoff every 6 months ??? WOW!!! What kind of Recruitment is that when you have to lay off why do you want to recruit on the first hand and spoil their career, families, and their dependents, The whole Point is whether it is US or India STOP Fcuking up Peoples life

FYI - Disney Animation is doing just fine, so it's not an industry issue, it's JK...

Or how bout when JK swore China would be doing "regional-specific" films, about their culture, their history, for their markets. They would be lower quality and carry the ODW brand. And a week later we learn from the Hollywood Reporter that ODW will do 50% of KFP3. And so more Americans lose their jobs, cut back on hobbies like movie going, Netflix and TV, and then DWA wonders why people don't watch their stuff.

Feature Animation production as an industry is being destroyed. When it is all over, it will be in bits and pieces. Game Over, MAN.

DreamSucks Dedicated Unit, which is a fancy term for "DreamSucks Outsourced Outpost".

anyone?

I think something is being missed here, and it's heating up into this India vs US debate. To all the workers in India, I don't think people are blaming YOU. If I saw a dollar on the street I'd pick it up too. That's doesn't make it my fault the dollar was there. I just took advantage of the opportunity in front of me. They opened a division in India and you took jobs there. Fine, that's not your fault. What people are rightfully upset about are that workers at DWA/PDI were outright lied to about what the purpose of the India studio. I was there. I can tell you 100% that Jeffrey Katzenberg said India would, "NEVER" and I quote "NEVER going to replace work and jobs at DWA that were being done on feature films". It was for overflow work and direct to video "only". So was "Puss and Boots" not in a theater?? Was in my neighborhood. Are you saying that India isn't taking jobs on theatrical features from US workers?? Because if you are then you're a liar or ignorant. This has nothing to do with India being responsible for the layoffs or problems DWA has. As has been clearly stated here that's due to inept management, in-bred stale Supervision, and an Old Boys/Girls Club that promotes the worst upwards. All of those, and other reasons, are why DWA is struggling. NOT India. That doesn't change the fact that US workers jobs are being replaced by cheaper labor in India. Two different issues.

Really? Dreamworkers here can be so naive as to suggest their layoffs are because jobs went to India?? I cant believe these are the same super smart and brilliant people we at DDU look upto and respect so much, till now. I hope this is just your frustration and anger speaking. I mean you really think a meager 250 odd artists at India could do this to the best talents in the US? Was your precious talent so easily dispensable in favor of 'button pushers' in a shitty country like India? You think I just walked into your 'best xx places to work in the world'-class studio, played kitten and stole back from you all your ten thousand dollars college fees worth knowledge and creativity? Somehow I find this very hard fathom. The fact is I didnt steal YOUR job, its as much MY job as it is yours. I earned it. I work for a company, contribute to it to the best of my skills and get paid for it. Just like you do. I dont care if you think you are so much more talented than me, just like I dont care I get paid a pittance compared to you. We all get what we deserve. Company is exploiting cheap labor like me for its profit, so that great talents like you can have the grand buffet breakfast and dinners, fly back and forth from PDI to Glendale for company meets, get fat bonuses and hefty hikes, work strictly from 9-6 and drive around in fancy cars. Oh sure you guys deserve all the perks and champagne, only too sad the company couldn't afford it in-spite of India. IN-SPITE of India, not because of India. Guess who invented capitalism? Who is the champion of Globalisation? Who preaches free market to the whole world? You thought you would make a 400 million dollar movie that makes a box office collection of 600 millions, and just pocket a cool 200 million in profits. Oh wait, we can actually make it in only 200 millions courtesy the Indians. Wow, thats so much profit. Why do you need so much profit in the first place? Because thats the main objective of a BUSINESS. If you thought the company was there for some patriotic or artistic cause, I think you must've felt the kick on your mouth this week. Sadly, the American public didn't give a damn how many great talents would be jobless if they didnt watch our movie. But you cant blame the public, right ? So, who's left for the mob to lynch? Of course it has to be the FOREIGNERS who stole your cheese. I'm damn sure without DDU, the layoff percentage would have been 50 instead of the 20% you are angry about. I dont want to quantify and compare the impact of this layoff on a DDU employee vs a DWA employee. I'm sure its equally painful for both because a man's responsibilities towards his family are at stake. I was sad for whats happening at DWA and know it will hit DDU in a few days. But reading this forum made me so sick that I had to vomit it out here. I apologize in advance to everyone who find my post insensitive or offensive because even I think so but I could not avoid writing it.

Your union sucks and DW controls them better than any other studio in the industry. The union has blind eyes to unpaid OT, day swapping, non-union workers working for long periods of time at a DW - a union shop (that includes PDI workers at DW). Overseas workers doing shot work but calling it "training". Even if you still have your job, you should be very concerned about the lack of support you are getting from the Union. Very scary behavior is allowed to happen by your Steve H. and other leadership from the Guild.

I'm saddened by the outright RACISM on this board. Disparaging, ugly comments about India and Indian people disgusts me and those people should be ashamed. I know people are angry and bitter but the Indian artists have families too, have rent to pay, and are just trying to make a living and do the best work they can I'm sure. Anyway, anyone who is SURPRISED by DW using offshore talent is an idiot. The writing was on the wall. What I want to know is WHERE THE F*** WAS OUR UNION WHEN DW STARTED "TRAINING" OFFSHORE WORKERS?!! WHY DIDN'T THEY STEP IN? What do we get for our union dues. A crummy newsletter and nothing else.

Well, speaking from the point of view of someone, who is one of the guys fired from the Indian side of operations, let me clarify a few things here. True, DW came to India because we are cheap. The fact that a few individuals in here claim that Indian talent is on par or god forbid even better than the talent in the other branches, are just brainwashed by the management in India to believe they are so, we are cheap.... at least till the Chinese operations kick into high gear! What i noticed working for DW India is that the studio management relishes the opportunity to put the fear of god into the artists. At least in India, the pressure to work is insane, not due to the work, but rather from the atmosphere of fear and intrigue permeating through the whole studio. Artists petrified that they may be on the chopping block next. This has been the modus operandi of DW India from day one. So yes my american friends they cannot behave like that with you. But yeah for any international hires.....they have them by the gonads! A thing they relish and a sense of power they are addicted to by now. Anyone who shows a modicum of questioning certain decisions is labeled a trouble maker and guess what.... the next round of layoffs...off they go. India lays off artists pretty regularly....practically every 6 months or so. Some senior artists ( with respect to India, guys who have been there since the beginning, we call em senior, just because they survived all the bullshit!...lol) have been let go, from what i heard for performance issues. If guy has been made team lead......how can he have a performance issue? He has proved himself. Unless he made the mistake of doing his job and not wanting to blow sunshine up some management arse....or he raised a few issues with the way the studio is run or brown nosed the wrong party... I donno. Though my track record was good ( got my payhikes on time an' in full, which judgin' by the politics in DW India, is a miracle) i wasn't comfortable brown nosing the big dogs (though i do have a brown nose since i'm brown!...lol) After reading what the guys in here have said and hearing the news of the state of the industry. It is surprising that even though State side the artists have a union, no action has been taken to remedy the situation. Instead of screaming at each other we need to find a solution to fix this seemingly endless cycle of management bungles that will only end badly. If it requires drastic action so be it. Also, some guys talk about Katzenberg's business acumen... I just have to say for someone who fired Lasseter from Disney for talking about using 3D in animation and for later claiming that 2D is dead leading to Disney making that stupid decision. What do you expect? business men look at profits....artists look at products. I guess we as artists need to evaluate who we wanna work for. cheers and good luck

That is a lot of success right there! I guess Jeffrey Katzenberg should have stayed at Disney then, because at DreamWorks, he is failing. With this I don't mean he as a movie maker (which can nowadays be attributed to 'timing'), but as a leader. It makes you wonder what is the difference of that success he had at Disney, and the current success he can't seem to attain now. Or at least, the respect from his workers, let alone the industry as a whole. In politics? Support Obama then go to Fox? err.. Lots of contradictions in my opinion, which leads to lots of contradiction in the management underneath that follows him.

In 1984, Michael Eisner became Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at The Walt Disney Company. Eisner brought Katzenberg with him to take charge of Disney’s motion picture division. Katzenberg was responsible for reviving the studio which, at the time, ranked last at the box office among the major studios. He focused the studio on the production of adult-oriented comedies under its Touchstone Pictures imprint, including films such as Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Three Men and a Baby (1987) and Good Morning, Vietnam (1987). By 1987, Disney had become the number-one studio at the box office.(5) Katzenberg also oversaw Touchstone Television, which produced such hit TV series, The Golden Girls and Home Improvement. Katzenberg was also charged with turning around Disney's ailing Feature Animation unit, creating some intrastudio controversy when he personally edited three minutes out of a completed Disney animated feature, The Black Cauldron (1985), shortly after joining the company.(6) Under his management, the animation department eventually began creating some of Disney's most critically acclaimed and highest grossing animated features. These films include Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989),The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), which was the first animated feature to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture,(5) Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994). In addition, Katzenberg also sealed the deal that created the highly successful partnership between Pixar and Disney and the deal that brought Miramax Films into Disney

I am not with DW but I am curious what positions are being eliminated. I just saw that there 11 positions open on the website and they seem to be mostly in IT, so I reckon at least that group is safe.

Imagine working for an industry which makes movies with a message, but which are made unethically. I wonder why the movies don't sell well..mmm...Its going to be difficult to make a movie with a solid story that reaches audiences, if the process cannot live up to the ethics and values it preaches. Audience can tell, and that is why audiences decide to watch something else, more authentic. Shrek was success because its humor and theme where based on hate against Disney characters. Great humor, but it was like that kid that laughts at the fat kid. It was however an honest movie, and that is why it sold so well. However, its a different deal to make a movie which is not based on crushing someone else. That is where Katzenberg is not good at. He is a leader of fear, not of respect (specially based on values). He is good at succeeding by crushing, not by building. He is frustrated to live up to the shadows of others which have built empires, and that is why he is going into helping Obama, dealing with Fox, talking with China (even when he knows its not a good idea). He can't wait to get into the "bigger leagues". So he is willing to give the keys to Bill D, and try to play with the "big boys". In the process, he will ruin the company, sell it, and tell it was someone else fault. Perhaps, it was just "bad timing". Remember one thing: Greed sees no consequence.

DreamWorks Animation: Where the dream is gone, and the work remains. Oh wait, not even that now!. I wonder if they will make the moon-boy asian now. They would have to tint the clouds a bit darker to match the pollution.

Why do I get the sense that people that find this board disgusting, didn't lose their jobs this week? Some of the people that talk about 'that is the way it is' are the people keeping it as it is, here and in the past. Those guys are responsible for this to blow up, because they fear change, and they fear knowing the truth about how DreamWorks movies are made. I dont think that guys at India didn't lose their jobs, and its not their problem either if we lose them. The problem with India is that Jeffrey Katzenberg lied to us. If he can lie to Americans, in American soil, he will most likely give a crap about oversea workers at India and China. Voila! That is why he is moving the industry there: He is allowed by other goverments to exploit people easier. Even if we where side by side paid the same amount, he would prefer China and India, since he can moraly and ethically exploit people better there than here in the US. Same happens with international talent at the PDI and Glendale: while there is a legal cost included, is less costly to apply fear on international talent, than national talent. If you are international with a visa working at DreamWorks, you don't get benefits after you're fired. You go back to your country after X time. The company has a tighter grip on you: you will not really ask for a raise or promotion, since they know you fear losing your job more than the national. If DreamWorks animation intention was really to have international talent, they would treat their international workers differently than us Americans. They are just more fear-affordable than Americans, which have a greater sense of what it is to be free. All these decisions and fear tactics are not done or planned by the artists, the tech people, the people at the food court. Not even the leads or sups (perhaps?). These decisions are made by the executives and managers of the company. These are just a bunch of people which are guided by Jeffrey Katzenberg. He knows this. He has exactly the management he wants at the company: corrupt and greedy. Has anybody in HR being fired btw?

I cannot agree more with "ExecutiveBuzzwords" - I spent working ~12 years in the back office at a competitor and I got so fed up with BS and egos that walk around studios that I switched industry completely - granted that I was not a creative resource the switch was somewhat easier but at least I am not forced to listen the BS every day - dont get me wrong my industry (packaging) is not stellar either and there is a ton of idiots here too, but overall, it's much healthier human and work environment where relationships are meaningful and most of the folks are straight-shooters. I know with how much passion most of the creative folks work and I totally agree that the worker bees in the studios are awesome hard working folks, but management is the worst kind of lying self-promoting and self-centered insecure leaches that walks the earth. I am sorry for all the folks who lost their jobs this week, I have several friends and acquaintances who got affected and I hope they will pick up the pieces quickly. Best!

Isn't it absolutely pathetic how in this industry that the people responsible for continuously making obviously stupid decisions concerning marketing and promotion as well as those who decide to tailor movie after movie to the "dumb and simple" movie goers of 'MURICA get to keep their extravagantly high paying jobs while groups of people much smarter and more talented than these executives could ever hope to be get laid off? It's a game of fake smiles, who sleeps with who, and how well you can make people believe the bullshit of buzzwords that comes out of your mouth. Remember "Go Green"? This is what happens when green is your priority. TL;DR Animation/VFX companies promote elite paid executives who bs'ed their way into a role.. and fire hard working and ambitious individuals who had no choice but to run with the executive's horrendous decisions.

I'm confused. As someone at DWA, why are all the Indian folks getting worked up on here? Have you been told and heard directly that a significant number of you are being affected by these layoffs? Because that's a load of crap. DWA is not laying off people making $10/hour in India and keeping their $50+/hour talent on overhead in Glendale. Not gonna happen. You guys over in India are fine. It's those of us in the States that are losing are jobs BECAUSE of the cheap labor in India. So show a little compassion and quit whining on this board. Until you get laid off and 25% of your Indian office has lost their jobs I just don't want to hear it anymore.

Oh, so this is the "real world" and we all just bend over and take it huh "sickening". Accept that your jobs are going to be farmed out to third-world countries at sweatshop labor prices so that they Jeffrey Katzenberg's of the world can make another $5 million next year? So we should all just "grow a thick skin" and bend over and take it huh? And where is that going to get you? How many countries are you going to move to with a wife and kids and house? Or are we supposed to throw away that side of the American dream to? Oh, I get it. You're one of those people who thinks we should all be thanking our lucky stars to be "so lucky to work on MOVIES." Well guess what dumb ass, executives and Studios are making BILLIONS off those movies that you're so willing to travel around the globe and give up your life to work on. If you think fair treatment, protecting our industries, providing health care, and good jobs/benefits for American jobs are too much to ask for then hop on a boat to Singapore tomorrow my friend. You're the one who is sickening.

The lack of professionalism on this board is disgusting at best. This is how you choose to represent our industry? Nice job. Welcome to the real world, people, where lay-offs happen, where off-shoring happens, where there will always be management issues, and where YES, people do move to other countries for work. That's not a new concept. Stop with the entitlement and the hostility towards our friends and peers. Ultimately, grow a thick skin or find a new career and stop representing the rest of us like this.

Dear Union? Guild? & Reply to India, India did not invite your bosses to do their business in a cheap labor country, this way you called Indians Cheap? Right Now go back and ask this same answer to your bosses who are playing with people's life and careers with both countries they came looking for cheap labor so that they can make More and more millions out of cheap labors Now do you still call Indians cheap we are making you rich and who is Cheap now? ask your self ???? people are talking about their careers and lives which are in stake because of your bosses, ... they invite people to join them and showing them big dreams in so called organization and utilize them and fire them later this is what they are playing.... now who's cheap??? people have kids and families who have lost jobs believing your bosses now they dont have any???? your bosses have deployed some Creative jokers in Indian DW who are dancing on the tunes and playing with peoples lives and their careers and along with them are there Ass lickers who are scoping Shit out and making their living..... this is what a organization is who boasts one of the best companies to work .... God be with my friends ..... Now wait for the day to come when Chinese Mo****F****rs will buy DW and ultimately ALL will be working for Chinese And be happy with the label Made in China.

Oh... You're just *Now* realizing that the Union/Guild doesn't have your back? And you're shocked by this? Can't they strike and protest the sending of jobs overseas? Oh...whats that? They have a no-strike clause in their collective bargaining agreement? Oh, thats a shame. They'll be happy to collect your Union Dues, and inform you how your health care will last a few months after youre "Transitioned outside the Company" But do they do anything to protect your Jobs? No. When Tom Sito was president of the Union (Now Guild), he was farming out Jobs from Warner Brothers to companies overseas. Do you think things are any different today? Nope. The only person protecting your jobs is you. REFUSE to train further influx of Indian workers. REFUSE to be sent to offshore studios to help set up systems and train your low-wage replacements. It starts from within. And if you sit idly by and do nothing while this goes on.....don't whine and cry when YOUR job gets "Transitioned to India"

Yes.... Dreamworks has employees from *many* countries. You mentioned a French Designer, and a Spanish Director. I'm assuming you mean Nico and Alessandro. We employ people from France, Spain, Italy, and all across Europe and elsewhere... The difference between you and those foreign employees? *They* were hired based on their talent. *YOU* workers in India....were hired because you are CHEAP. Don't fool yourself that DW came to India based on your talent. Do you think they went to your country to find that elusive artist or designer that couldn't be found anywhere else in the world? No. They hired you because you are Cheap Labor. As DW management refers to you, "Wrists" You are Cheap Wrists. Paid button clickers who DW can exploit. And do we blame you? No. We Blame Dreamworks Management who slowly "Transition to Outside Jobs" US workers and replace them with Low-Wage Indian workers once they are trained to replicate "good enough" the work that used to be done here in the US.

Why didn't our union even acknowledge DW was training non-union workers for long periods of time? I pay for such little support - now I understand why NoCal studios avoided the union. They are silent in all of this mess. Steve H. even saw us working after hours and not getting paid. Why didn't he help us?

To all the Indian artists - I am sorry for the hostility you see, and I am sorry you have to go through this pain like we do. But here is where it comes from: in the last couple years we would see 3 or 4 people in a department get layed off, for seemingly no reason. Great reviews, hard workers, not even expensive. Same week we'd see 3 or 4 Indian workers show up for "training" doing that same job. The training would last 3 months, then they'd move to the other US studio for more training. Really all they were doing was working on a film. Interestingly enough - that "training" is subsidized by the CA state government. Yes, DW got paid to swap American jobs for Foreign labor. It sucks that the company is willing to do this to the people who built the company, who invented this industry. Today we learn that DW is doing a Turbo TV show. Gee, be nice if that work was here, or there, to keep people employed. Know where it is? China. And you can bet in a couple years we will all be back on this board and the Indians will be crying over how those cheap Chinese bastards stole their jobs. Maybe by then we can share a pint.

To all the Indian artists - I am sorry for the hostility you see, and I am sorry you have to go through this pain like we do. But here is where it comes from: in the last couple years we would see 3 or 4 people in a department get layed off, for seemingly no reason. Great reviews, hard workers, not even expensive. Same week we'd see 3 or 4 Indian workers show up for "training" doing that same job. The training would last 3 months, then they'd move to the other US studio for more training. Really all they were doing was working on a film. Interestingly enough - that "training" is subsidized by the CA state government. Yes, DW got paid to swap American jobs for Foreign labor. It sucks that the company is willing to do this to the people who built the company, who invented this industry. Today we learn that DW is doing a Turbo TV show. Gee, be nice if that work was here, or there, to keep people employed. Know where it is? China. And you can bet in a couple years we will all be back on this board and the Indians will be crying over how those cheap Chinese bastards stole their jobs. Maybe by then we can share a pint.

If you all hate this company so much be sure to return the money they gave you for the last years you worked there and don't forget the bonuses either.

If you all hate this company so much be sure to return the money they gave you for the last years you worked there and don't forget the bonuses either.

If you all hate this company so much be sure to return the money they gave you for the last years you worked there and don't forget the bonuses either.

This is true even though I was given the information my job will be ending. There is too much finger pointing at those who are suffering at the hands of mismanaged resources and information. The leadership at DW has been in place for longer than most studios in Hollywood. That would be acceptable if the company was doing well. However DW seems to struggle every year to every other year now. The leadership covers each others shortcomings which also includes (and not just Marketing). Even the shows have how many Producers on them? If they were good, couldn't there be just one with a good team around them? Instead, the studio supports weak show runners by piling on management. Bigger changes need to be made in order for this company to survive - beyond outsourcing. A high level management shake-up needs to take place. Totally inappropriate to take raises this year for those at higher levels. Where is the accountability?

I am seeing employees pointing on each other, fighting on Race, language, country, and this is what exactly companies want,.... if any body has to be blamed it is their bosses who are running this business. Either they don't want to run this clean, or they don't know how to run, or the main bosses are not aware about this shit.???? Well this company is just simply hyped not big in terms of ethics and humanity, i have seen big bosses rewarded humanitarian awards from their governments??? for what?? first they should see how much shit is accumulated inside their own arena, their Managements Play with Peoples life and their careers for their benefits,. Take it US DW or India DW or China DW it is all same shit, I have heard that India DW is much more worse and one of the most Unprofessional management works their, take it politics, brown nosers, Biased, and unsafe especially for women I have heard the production management is completely F***ed up they manipulate with women artists, and yes they have the same policy hire experienced people who have families children’s and fire them So ultimately same story but different versions and I completely agree with sexy gal this is one of the shity company I have heard about and got feedback from people,,, will never work for such companies ….

WoW!

"when you see how visa wise foreigners struggle to have jobs in US," - nobody is begging you to come here, so STFU and stay the f wherever the f you are from.

For the stupid people crying because they have family and don't want to move ... welcome in the world of the rest of the world, people in europe have to travel to get job, there is no work in italy, portugal, poland, greece ... you know ... europe, cause all the work is in London or US, so WE have to travel with our families and kids, WE have to struggle to find work, WE have to FKING learn new language, adapt to new culture, where msot people complain ebcause our english is not perfect, when we speak 3 or 5 languages and those su*kers speak only english, you fking spoiled people who never had to move to another country to make a job you love and make your family pay the price of your passion have no empathy or understanding whatsoever, I just hope the ass**les here speaking so bad are the one who left, cause you definitely don't deserve to have this job, when you see how visa wise foreigners struggle to have jobs in US, and excuse me but I would love to see how would be a movie like kung fu panda or how to train your dragon, without a french designer or a spanish head of story :)

I'm not trying to get flamed or anything here but Indian artists have families and kids too you know! And we are going through the same uncertainity as you guys are. There are talks of people laid off in the Indian studio as well, what happens to those artistss' families and their children who goto schools ? Unlike the US, India has a very very small number of good studios where a local artist might find work get a decent salary and for most people DreamWorks India is the only option available as of now. In a country where average starting pay in this industry is Rs. 25,000 which is roughly $500 / month and a  little 1BHK little apartment's rent cost is Rs. 10,000 ($200)..It becomes really hard to survive even WHILE having a job. I am not saying that the India studio is anything special but yes we do contribute to the DW by doing parts of movies, DVD work and TV shows. We have no unions to look after us either! As rightly said before, its the managements decision to open up studios in India and China. DW opened up a studio in Bangalore and offered a job and some people took it, whats wrong with that? Where is the artists fault here? ... And what do you think the Indian artists are going, "Yea! fire those american artists in GLD and PDI, we don't care!" !? .. No, we are not. We are all in the same boat and we share the same concern. Its somewhat ignorant to blame the artist in another country for the layoffs which are affecting all 3 locations of the same studio. And its not the artists fault, American or Indian or Chinese, its how the market is currently. Its just shitty! .. The Information & Technology industry has gone through a massive layoff in the recent times and so has the Consumer Industry. Many US only companies have also closed down in the recent past and laid off hundreds of workers, who do they blame for taking away their jobs!? .. Its just the financial markets which are in a bad bad shape right now and companies are trying to stay afloat by having less workforce and making them do more work. PS : To the guy who said he doesnt wanna move to a third world *shitty* country...clearly you have never taken part in an intelligent grown up conversation before and I am amazed at your ignorance towards the world. Calling some other country which you haven't even visited a shitty country is a pretty big judgement call, and considering the current job scene you should feel lucky *IF* you are even asked to move in order to keep your job!

This just in from DWA: "We would like to transition your kids schooling. outside the country...on your dime.". P.s. We're keeping the Europeans we like.

This just in from DWA: "We would like to transition your kids schooling. outside the country...on your dime.". P.s. We're keeping the Europeans we like.

This just in from DWA: "We would like to transition your kids schooling. outside the country...on your dime.". P.s. We're keeping the Europeans we like.

Many of us have FAMILIES here in the US, our children GROW up here and go to SCHOOL here, etc. To the morons who suggest simply packing up and moving, SCREW YOU - you are too STUPID or CRUEL or both, to suggest this.

ThisIsTheLife and indian dreamworker, F YOU both, and F other A'HOLES like the two of you. How f'ing DARE you comment that we in the US should pack up and move, to sh*thole countries like yours, because "that is where the jobs are". Because our a--hole management is f--king us in the ass and shipping OUR jobs to YOU, it does not mean we MOVE to where YOU are and compete for peanuts. This will all come full circle, and bit POSs like you in the butt. No tears will be shed then. When people post "angrily", read between the lines, and realize WHY people are PI**ED off. It is our LIVELIHOOD at stake, you MFerS.

Last comment for India, can I remind you people that since 5 years that India studio exist Dreamworks and PDI never stopped to grow, we are not stealing your job, we are working on sequels for you to work on original movies, croods, turbo, smekday and rise of the guardians, all this original movies done in US while china will do kfp 3 and we do pinguins, so just realise that if there was no india, you would have pinguins but maybe you wouldn't have the croods ! So just think for a moment instead of saying stupid thing, India is exactly what happend with PDI, we're doing our own movies now, as much as Glendale or PDI, they recruited more people in Glendale and PDI last year for the 3 movie per year ... not India, we are still a small studio of 250 people and we are doing only 1 movie and helping you guys on others. So just use you brain for once and stop pointing fingers to us, and like the smart comments before me, if you don't get how work this industry then wake up, everyone travel in the world for this job, speaking other language and discovering new culture, if you're too lazy to move your ass then don't complain, cause you're not playing the game.

I'm assuming many of you forgot what business we are in. This is the life - this happens ALL the time. You all knew that when you insanely decided to pursue this as your career(I am also that insane person - because you have to be a little crazy to be an artist). I also promise you - that won't be your first lay off(I've had two already). It's just the way the industry works. However, you pick your self up and find work somewhere else. There are great studios in France, London, Sweden and many other countries. It's also nice to travel around the world and get to work around the world. So those of you who have only worked in the US market for a few years - get up, understand this is the industry(as you were probably explained many times) and move forward. Look into other places to live. Many of my colleagues come from many different parts of the world and have worked in many different parts of the world. Lets not act like lay offs is a new thing. I'll take a wild guess and assume many of these bitter comments come from individuals whose first job is DreamWorks - this is the life.

chio, we already said what we think, but there is too much anger here to listen to us, nobody believes we have people getting fired here as well, and objectively nobody gives a shit cause like said not afraid of my shadow, it's not our job at first, so we don't have to complain :) Beautiful the company spirit, makes me sick to know I'm working with assholes like this. I for one am tired to read so much harsh words towards us, we are not doing crazy hours for peanuts, our salaries are not bad for India, sorry if our country is cheaper than your expensive country, anyway writing her eis useless as in few minutes someone else will explain us how we are not allowed to complain fo think anything ...

As I read through many of these comments I quickly see there is a lack of knowledge and enormous amount of scapegoating. First, lets quickly understand the reason for this 'disaster'. It stems from the over zealous hiring that occurred in November when it was announced that DreamWorks would transition into a 3-a-year film slate. This of course is an ambitious push - only if finances are in place and a studio is not reliant solely on the success of individual shows. However, that was the case and with the financial crush of Rise of the Guardians - DreamWorks has found themselves in this situation. Now an adjustment must be made to compensate for the lack of future budgeting. Secondly, no one studio or people/persons are to blame. I see in many of these posts that it is easy to blame the 'Indians' and the Bangalore studio. This is also a shame (and large lack of professionalism). It is important to note that majority of the lead and heads of that studio are in fact Non-Indian and come from the US or France, et cetera. Also, it is important to note that many of the team members are also non-Indian(and get paid the same salaries that you in the US get paid). Lastly, it is important to note that all of them have their jobs threatened too and fear for losing work and finding ways to support their families. No one is alone here and you're not special in your need for sympathy. This is a tough time for everyone. So stop pointing fingers at individuals who have no power over these and are not the root cause(and who are also suffering and scared). The problem started from the top and has trickled down. Bad planning and budgeting play the largest role - not a studio in India or an Indian worker, or those who have moved their for a chance to work in the industry and live their lives too. I know this is a hard time for many people and I have seen many friends and some family members lose their jobs because of this and it is very very sad, but point fingers without just cause and creating a hatred within is not the way to get through these terrible times. It would be much more productive and professional for everyone on here to share condolences and also lend advice and aggregate information that may help us in our next step in moving forward.

Why nobody from Bangalore is posting here? You guys have an opinion too and you are too being affected. Chime in, the more the better...

@"Yes you are" - "Transitioned Outside the Company" is the best line ever, should be trademarked...

I am F-IN bummed to read all this crap! I am in school pursuing a degree in animation and I was hoping to land a job at a studio. Based on what you guys write here it looks like I would have to relocate to China or India in order to find ANY work in the field. This is darn depressing people - I have a student loan in tens of thousands of dollars and like 0% percent chance of finding a job that will ever help me pay that off... My heart is in animation, but all of this makes me ask myself - am I every going to be able to support myself and my family (wife and 11 month old baby girl)... DAMN IT!!!

"Not Afraid of my Shadow" is absolutely right. Dreamworks problem resides within. *Useless* managers like Barb Cimity, Nancy Bernstein, and countless other drones in middle management. Inept VFX Supes like Doug Cooper and Craig Ring who play more politics than they make images that hit the screen... And either the Blind Eye from JK to recognize that his company is being run by idiots, or his acceptance of it and refusal to do anything about it... Either way, its just wrong. The only reason the Cost to make these films is going up is the mis-management of the front end , and launching into production before they even have stories sorted out. Instead of acknowledging they have a problem....they look to farm out the work to India. Idiots. So now you're sending work to India, and bringing it back to the US, where you hand it to an Artist to fix. Is this cost effective? One of the outsource artists talked about Madagascar 3.....There wasn't a single shot that came back from India that didn't need to be fixed..... The work they do there is a mess. If we're going to ship it overseas, bring it back, and fix it when it arrives.....is that a good business plan? The reality of it all is... The layoffs are just an excuse to get rid of higher paid US artists..... and when the fire drill is over, and they need those artists again......the work will go to India. But don't worry about it....Bill Damashke says you're all just being "Transitioned Outside the Company"... Awww....that makes it all feel better now doesn't it?

I don't know why admitting that "I'm too lazy to look for work elsewhere" discredits anything I said. I didn't say I was too lazy to do a good job or to be proficient at what I do. I said I was too lazy to quit, NOT too lazy to work. Big difference. I'm admitting that even though I see all of the HUGE problems at this company I don't have the desire to quit, put together a reel, and look for a job at another vfx studio that's likely not any better. The industry overall sucks right now, especially in California. And I wish I did have the personal situation that I could just walk away and not care. Like many of us with families at DWA I don't have that flexibility. That doesn't change the SPECIFIC problems that DWA has, and I'm sorry if you're offended that I pointed them out. And as for Klapto, no you are correct, the Indian workers aren't responsible for "stealing the jobs" from DWA. That's poorly worded. JK and his execs are responsible for sending them over there. Either way, those jobs were still stolen from able bodied American employees who were perfectly happy doing those jobs. Period. Call it what you want. Are people in India happy that Monsanto has destroyed your agriculture Industry to make a quick buck? Probably not. Am I happy that greedy execs like Jeffrey Katzenberg have helped destroy the visual fx and 3d animation industry by offshoring our jobs as fast as possible? Hell no. I don't blame the workers in India. I'm just saying stop crying because those were never your jobs in the first place. Invest in your country and your industries. Please don't steal ours and then whine.

NotAfraid of my Shadow - "Amen" to every word, you tell it like it is :) The truth is a hard pill to swallow. Too bad that the highest rungs of the mgmt ladder are blind/oblivious to the mis-management that occurs right under them. If that layer of fat/crud/crap is EXCISED and discarded, it will be a much better (happier, creative, satisfying, profitable) place. Oh well.. what-EVER. Glad to watch the train wreck from a distance. That said, SAD for many that I've known over the years, who work there (or did, as of 2/8/13).

NOTAFRAID OF MY SHADOW. Nobody in India "stole" anyone's job. DreamWorks advertised in India, people in India applied for jobs, and were given them. The writing was on the wall when JK announced the India studio. This can't be taking anyone by surprise.

@MyShadow - "And I'm too lazy to look for work elsewhere" pretty much discredits everything noted in your post... You should be ashamed of yourself as you are no different from the folks you are trashing in your post. I hope you get axed and someone who's willing to put in some effort is spared...

Some interesting comments on here for sure. As someone who has worked at the Glendale campus for the last 10 years, some thoughts. -India workers claiming to be as "hurt" by the layoffs. First off, there is no way they're laying off anywhere near the numbers in India for people making 1/10 of what they pay in Glendale. Just not happening. Secondly, those jobs shouldn't even be over there in the first place. Just like the 2D industry did with cheap Korean sweatshop labor for animation, they sent the work over to you guys because you have a cheap, easily exploitable workforce. In other words you are willing to work long hours for little pay and no benefits. That's why you were able to steal U.S. jobs. So IF those jobs go away now, they were never yours in the first place, so stop crying. -As for Glendale, yeah, with the layoffs now it's just like it's always been at this campus. Politics and BS. The execs who do nothing or are responsible for the failures like Nancy Bernstein will be rewarded. The VFX Sups who call the shots (the Craigs and Dougs of the world) will sit in little rooms and do "ranking" meetings where they label people numbers 1-3 like cattle. Which is of course entirely based on who they like and don't like. And the useless management and production who add nothing to the shows like Barb Cimity will continue to justify their existence because they can. As long as production runs things there, and VFX sups are an in-bred Old Boys Club things will never change. The new hires and the good talent that has other opportunities will leave and the same stagnant cycle will continue. Doug has a job here even though he's been the worst VFX Sup (my opinion) and crews beg not to be on his films year after year. Why? Because he's friends with Craig and others and has been here forever. So they tolerate him. Year after year and failed project after failed project. Face it. Things won't change at DWA while they have the same in-bred production management and executives they've always had. This company fosters apathy and corporate stagnation. And before anyone asks why I stay here then. Simple. Free food. Good benefits. And I'm too lazy to look for work elsewhere...

This is true. Remember many of DW's development team are rejects from Disney's dark days. Their approach to story development is very outdated.

This is true. Remember many of DW's development team are rejects from Disney's dark days. Their approach to story development is very outdated.

Honestly, having 3 vs 2 pics a year at DW didn't hurt story quality because they have (had) enough staff to keep the projects pretty separate. If a bad story comes out of DW it is because that is simply the level of story that JK their story dept is able to produce. This is probably the main problem at DW: having enough quality story material ready for production to work on. The artists have complained time and time again about how story is developed at DW, but JK insists that the way DW does it is just the way that stories are done. I also wouldn't blame India for the layoffs (at least not this round), since India isn't picking up work at the expense of American employees. The Indian studio simply doesn't have the bandwidth or skills currently to cause major layoffs at Glendale or PDI. China is another matter, with KFP3 going over to Oriental DreamWorks even though Oriental DreamWorks was pitched as creating properties for the local Chinese market instead of taking on major IP that was previously done in America. With Oriental Dreamworks planning on hiring 2000 people, that will have a major impact on PDI/Glendale staffing. I wish my former coworkers the best of luck at landing on their feet if their position is eliminated.

I am from India and I can tell you that our numbers are being cut as well. It's not a happy situation here as well as most people like working from DWA and take a great pride in it. When it comes to quality, given that we typically have less experience, work (typically) with less advanced technologies (I know, I know, US folks are not happy with tech too) I think that the quality of work is outstanding given the circumstances. On the other hand, we are not blessed with a good standard of living, have much lower expectations from the employer, and most of have difficulty making ends meet even by local Indian standards. I have not come to US and took someone else's job, DWA came to my hometown, advertised here and went after many talented folks who could have been contributing for an Indian company as well. When you add things up, while I do get paid by DWA, DWA still keeps most of the profits for itself and only crumbles trickle down to me, on the other hand, my work helps an US company make money and hopefully do some amazing and cutting edge things. To end this on a less controversial note, I am truly sorry for all folks who lost their positions regardless of their geographic location - huge majority of DWA folks are VERY talented and will thrive and grow in any environment! Good luck to all!!!

I am still stuck on the ipads, Insult to injury..India got iPads? And does India not know that no one can tell the difference in their 25% of Mad 3 because it all had to be fixed in Glendale? So much nimrod misinformation

breaking news! India is soon to be flooded with immigrants round the world looking for feature film and VFX and tv and game work

Seriously, I can understand you're hurt by the lay offs, but putting so much anger on us, we are just employees like you, artists in our country with not the same schools than you or your life style, sorry for that, seeing how you speak of us doesn't please me, nobody complained of the company update when it happened or the ipads offered, nobody complains of the lunch and breakfast offered everyday, but now there is lay off everybody is bitching, you don't stop to say we are talentless or are paid 1/2 for 1/4 of the quality, this is very mean, especially when you see that we did 25% of madagascar 3 and that nobody can see the difference between the work done in India and US. I wonder what would you say if the new studio was in florida for say and that people of glendale or pdi would have been fired ...

Sad.

Management/"execs": the likes of Barb Cimity running around with a fly-by-night "MBA" "degree", getting paid fat dollars for bossing people around. People such as JA running around foul-mouthed and drunk, making unkeepable promises to get people to sign up. Artists: great talent here, mixed with two-bit programmers such as Doug and Craig, masquerading as "VFX Supes". What a joke. Tech: Neanderthal-age "software" in the age of 1000% (yes, 1000%) interactive FREE apps that do everything that DW can do and more.. WHAT A JOKE. JK is fooled into making public statements about their software being the state of the art etc.. Software 2.0 at DW is analogous to "In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King". Their "tools" and "pipeline", what a POS pile of crap. I can create every effect, model, render, camera move etc. that DW can, with nothing but a laptop and FREE programs; to render, I can use cloud-based rendering. Buh-bye, "tech dept" (a bunch of overpaid, arrogant, smug CLOWNS". Time to pull your heads out of the ground or out of your asses, uncover your ears and eyes, and LEARN what is already out there, often, FREE for the taking. Stop bragging about what your wonderful technology can do, you are fooling no one. Gee, wonder why the movies cost so much?? It's the bloated "tech", stupid. "Training": get off your ivory towers, stop "teaching" antiquated crap to us state-of-the-art artists. We knew, know, and will know WAY more than you. Just quit, the whole bunch of ya, and go home. No one needs you. I'm lucky to be trained in classical animation AND 3D AND some scripting (thank you, Gnomon). I don't need to join loser studios like these to make a living. I am happily and gainfully employed right here in LA, *hope* it will last (no, not willing to post which studio I'm in).

Management/"execs": the likes of Barb Cimity running around with a fly-by-night "MBA" "degree", getting paid fat dollars for bossing people around. People such as JA running around foul-mouthed and drunk, making unkeepable promises to get people to sign up. Artists: great talent here, mixed with two-bit programmers such as Doug and Craig, masquerading as "VFX Supes". What a joke. Tech: Neanderthal-age "software" in the age of 1000% (yes, 1000%) interactive FREE apps that do everything that DW can do and more.. WHAT A JOKE. JK is fooled into making public statements about their software being the state of the art etc.. Software 2.0 at DW is analogous to "In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King". Their "tools" and "pipeline", what a POS pile of crap. I can create every effect, model, render, camera move etc. that DW can, with nothing but a laptop and FREE programs; to render, I can use cloud-based rendering. Buh-bye, "tech dept" (a bunch of overpaid, arrogant, smug CLOWNS". Time to pull your heads out of the ground or out of your asses, uncover your ears and eyes, and LEARN what is already out there, often, FREE for the taking. Stop bragging about what your wonderful technology can do, you are fooling no one. Gee, wonder why the movies cost so much?? It's the bloated "tech", stupid. "Training": get off your ivory towers, stop "teaching" antiquated crap to us state-of-the-art artists. We knew, know, and will know WAY more than you. Just quit, the whole bunch of ya, and go home. No one needs you. I'm lucky to be trained in classical animation AND 3D AND some scripting (thank you, Gnomon). I don't need to join loser studios like these to make a living. I am happily and gainfully employed right here in LA, *hope* it will last (no, not willing to post which studio I'm in).

Hi everyone.. before you post, get into anonymous browsing mode (I use Firefox and Chrome, both allow this, I'm sure other browsers do also), then post! That way your particulars aren't traceable. GREAT forum, let the truth come out!

Funny how every time good points are raised, the spam starts flowing. I hear DW outsourced the spam jobs to China as well.

I like the cut of your jib. I have found that when major divergences from the current flow of events take place, it often results in an "olfactory hallucination". I percieve a foul smell, something like a mix of sulpher and feces and burning hair. The smell comes from within my skull as opposed to my nostrils. Once the divergence has passed, the foul smell disappears without a trace and I blank out for a short while. Aftwerwards, there is some mild disorientation similar to what you feel upon waking from sleep. I tend to associate the foul smell with the decay or immolation of possible realities. Within my framework, that would necessitate significant mental restructuring, possibly explaining the black-outs and temporary confusion.

Not blaming the India campus.... and I seriously doubt *half* of them are being laid off. They get paid peanuts.... literally. Blaming Joe Aguilar, Ann Daly....and any other douchebag executive that thought it would be a good idea to farm work out to India. And blaming any employee that was willingly sent to India to train their replacements.

This is from Hollywood Reporter: Katzenberg, who had been receiving $1 million per year, will receive an annual base salary of $2.5 million under the new agreement and will be eligible for annual cash bonuses of $4 million. Ann Daly’s annual base salary is being increased from $1.012 million to $1.5 million, and she will be eligible for annual cash bonuses of $750,000 in 2012, increasing to $1.5 million in 2013.

Half of the India staff is being cut as well. Obviously this is a terrible situation, but you can't blame it on the India campus, when they are being cut as well.

Half of the India staff is being cut as well. Obviously this is a terrible situation, but you can't blame it on the India campus, when they are being cut as well.

Oh, stop whining, JK made a decision to hire you, now he changed his mind and it is as simple as that... Move on, you are all smart and will do fine working for someone else...

I find it hard to believe Dreamworks employees would train people in India or China to steal our jobs. Who would do such a thing?

As someone affected directly by the layoffs, I can say a lot of what you read on here between all the spam is true. JK has been lying to us for years. "India is just for overflow work" is one story he told us. "India is just for Direct to Video" he told us. And while he said this he flew person after person here to Glendale for us to train, and some of my co-workers flew over there to train people making $10 or less and hour to do my job. Think about what that got us? Once again in Corporate America we listened to a lying, 2-faced money grabbing Exec who will sell out American jobs faster than you can open a sweatshop in Shanghai so he can add another .20 to the bottom line in the company P&E report for the quarter. And we have no one to blame but ourselves. #1 for listening and believing what Corporate Shills like Jeffrey Katzenberg told us, while he was actively figuring out how to put our jobs in 3rd world countries as fast as possible. And #2 for us and our co-workers who actively TRAINED the people in those third world countries to take our jobs. 5 years from now when the people coming out of film school with 100K in student debt are looking for those "great" VFX Jobs they heard about only to find out they've all been sent to India and China they have US to thank. They have the people who willingly went over to live in gated communities in India with a Driver and a Maid to make short-term gains while giving away our Industry to thank. So yeah, there is blame to go around on all sides. The execs who lied to us, and those of us who went along with it. It's too late now, but the next time your employer asks you to "train" someone Cross-site, tell them you're not in that business. You're an artist and a technician. If they want you to train your replacement tell them where to shove it.

Raises for execs and all those in charge of failure unite! Long live DW!

I feel sorry for the people being laid off, but I have always thought that DreamWorks Animation had a bad habit of biting off more than it can chew. When the studio takes its time to develop a project and ensure quality we end up with Kung Fu Panda, or How to Train Your Dragon. When the studio cranks as many projects out as they can, than we end up with something like a Sharks Tale, or Bee Movie. If DreamWorks Animation is slowing down production to ensure quality by fixing production problems than it's a good thing. I would much rather have 3 great films, than 1 decent film and 6 mediocre ones, wouldn't you?

I thought the film industry was going to take care of me!

My understanding is that DWA was expanding its feature lineup from 2 to 3 per year as a response to make up for the shortfalls of shrinking DVD sales. Now that they are going back to a 2 feature/yr schedule and DVD sales continue to fall, are we looking at a spiral from which the company can pull up from?

Curry has a good point there. Oops.

Wake up and smell the Curry, Dreamworkers. You think your jobs are going to come back to California? If they do come back at all....they'll be going directly to India. You shouldn't complain though.....you've been training them to replace you. That all expenses paid travel to India, to train your replacements still seem like a good idea? You can thank Joe Aguilar for making it easy to get rid of you, and hire 10 people to do your job at 1/2 the money, and 1/4 the quality.

DWA went public too early. JK wanted to raise a ton of money fast while relinquishing power so he went to the capital markets. DWA relies too heavily on the box office returns of just 2-3 properties a year, making it highly volatile in the eyes of shareholders and subject to intense pressure from said shareholders. That "meta problem" aside, Hollywood lives in a bubble. 3D movie tickets are freaking expensive. A family of 4 is going to spend approximately $56 on tix plus another $25 on drinks/snacks. $80 is a hell of a lot of money to spend for 90 minutes of entertainment if you're an average American household (avg. per household income for family of four is about $50k). A great many families would much rather spend the same amount for a longer sports event, a nice dinner, or spend slightly more for a full day at an amusement park not named Disney.

Sad to hear especially with the production slate that Dreamworks had been announcing all of last year (2-3 fully animated features a year for the next few years). Just when things seemed at their peak they get brought back down, good luck to everyone let go, hopefully work will find you soon.

The 5-year Plan could be the cause of the downsizing, not to mention, the underperformance of Rise of The Guardians could been a factor. These are troubling times indeed.

There seems to be a correlation between the hiring bonanza at Dreamworks a few years ago and todays receding tide...It's the old Boom and Bust cycle rearing it's ugly head. I don't know if there's any way of averting the trend. The one thing I've learned over the years in the business is the more secure the ground feels, the more unstable it actually is.

Interwoven with all these thoughts about quality versus quantity is the sense that animation fans will go to see anything. I understand parents taking their kids to see a familiar franchise. What I don't get is the many readers of this site who don't support new and innovative projects while paying up to see every sequel or blandly big box blockbuster out there. If we don't exercise good critical judgement, why do we whine when crap pictures get big box office results.

I'm a little bit puzzled here Amid,when Dreamworks committed to 2-3 movies release where they still at par with Paramount?Now with the deal with Fox does that commitment still stands,remember I think Fox still has Blue Sky in their wing.Could this be the reason for the layoffs?

WTF? Is there not a moderator? Someone please delete all the bullshit spam on this board.

Today has been filled with some great questions and comments. Yesterday was a bit aggressive. It's too bad whoever is scared to see their name on previous pages is spamming the messages down. Good luck DW folks. We are thinking about you.

He closed the curtains, turned off the light, took his clothes off, except for his boxers, and went to bed, taking the side closest to the wall. I did the same, only keeping my panties and bra on. I normally don't sleep with my bra on, it's pretty uncomfortable, but I kept it on, given the situation. I then went to bed and he put the blanket over me. We were now both under the same blanket lying on our backs, him on the right side and me on the left, and it went quiet for a couple of minutes. I guess we were both a bit uncomfortable and shy given the situation.

Yes, after graduating, I started my career with television serials. However, I have been in theater for as long as I can remember and so film making seemed like a natural progression. Being from a small town, I didn’t really aspire to be a director, but from thereat, one thing led to another. For any filmmaker, being able to successfully communicate a story should be their driving force. That is perhaps the reason I do not demarcate my methods into categories of commercial or art. If you have a story, you tell it the best way possible. People have the tendency to often produce a certain kind of story and so they fall into classifications and the trap of being labelled. DWA is often this way. Business is business.

Luckily for me I decided to leave DWA before this terrible news, I feel very sorry for my ex-colleagues who are going through this. Anyway, I felt it was really a weird working environment over there. Way to many people doing very little work, I had to beg the prod sup to get assets to work on, or I could wait days without getting any assignments to do, no wonder these movie are expensive. Also my feeling is that there is bunch of outdated dinosaurs who never wanted to learn new tools/workflow, probably because it was confortable not to think too much and eat free food. I really hope DWA is going to become a much more efficient company, with tighter and smarter management of its human ressources. And they should spend less money in all these company events, like bringing PDI staff to Glendale for useless games, free food, exec helicopters, planes..etc.. it's not necessary. And...how can you trust a guy that giving millions to Obama campaign and then choose Murdoch to distribute his movies?!

got here via a link on an animation group page (facebook) - i do not work for DWA but i am curious to hear if the union was able to do ANYTHING for you guys? i mean, we all pay dues and they are supposed to do SOMETHING when horrible things like this hit us. right?

Wow. I'm in pieces. I feel I am going crazy, have no reference to reality anymore, and unfortunately nobody close to me who can objectively help/listen. I broke up with my girlfriend of 2.25 years a few days ago. It was rather out of the blue, although it took me almost a month to go through with it and really clarify my ideas. I broke up with her because I didn't feel "in love" with her anymore, although now after the breakup I'm more confused than ever. Our relationship has been great. I truly loved her, and she still loves me above anything else. I started dating her when I was 25 and I am now turning 28. She is 5 years older than me, and gave up her dream of having children, for me, because from the beginning I made it clear I didn't want any. From the beginning we had both intense feelings and experiences together, but also from the very beginning some fundamental personality differences. Throughout our relationship we kept having highs and lows, the highs definitely more remarkable than the lows, yet the lows weren't "You can't go drink at the bar!" kind of lows, but rather "I'm an atheist and you're a God fearing Christian", or "I work my ass off to achieve a goal and you live vicariously through Facebook" kind of lows. I felt from early on that we had these fundamental differences, but we also had from the beginning incredible sex and fantastic experiences, along with great conversation.

Um, for those preaching "Unite!", Dreamworks is already union. Doesn't help lol.

No offense "Unite!" But putting your faith in the Union....Now "Animation Guild" is like pissing into the wind. Go cry a river to Steve Hulett, and whoever is the president du jour of the Guild.... You'll get a charming story about how "Thats the way it is...." and a tale about how awful it was in the days of the Black Caldron at Disney.... But being in the 'Guild' or 'Union' during layoffs doesn't buy you shit. It gets you health care for a few months after you're laid off.... And thats about it. The Guild doesn't care about you.... they don't have the power to strike, its in the collective bargaining agreement. The Guild has no balls.

This has been a long time coming.... Dreamworks "Front End" has been under-talented and over-staffed by the wrong people since the inception of the company. The very fact that we have "Creative Executive" positions is at the very heart of the problem. "Creative Executive" is an oxymoron. The people that start the ideas, and bring in outside properties are all Executives at DW. The company doesn't place enough trust in the creative employees to generate and produce original story ideas. Instead, they're at the mercy of Executives who bring in ridiculous properties like "Punk Farm" and spend millions of dollars on properties that eventually crash and burn, and waste the companies money. This could only go on for so long. Who pays the price in the end? The employees. Not enough stories ready to go into production, so when a film gets pushed back, and they've got an army of artists with no inventory.....what happens? They get laid off.... or excuse me, "Transitioned Outside the Company" That somehow makes it sting less right? a Bullshit term like "Transitioned Outside the Company"... Only a Creative Executive could come up with magic like that.

I'm a little bit puzzled here Amid,when Dreamworks committed to 2-3 movies release where they still at par with Paramount?Now with the deal with Fox does that commitment still stands,remember I think Fox still has Blue Sky in their wing.Could this be the reason for the layoffs?

Having many friends working at Dreamworks, that makes me feel really sad. Good luck to all of you! In the meantime, maybe we could analyze and try to understand the reasons why: too many sequels and not enough innovation/creativity in their latest movies (kind of the same recipe over and over again) I am sure they'll learn and keep moving forward though

Between this and the news about Rhythm & Hues, this industry is looking pretty dire lately. It used to seem that while most VFX houses were in constant turmoil, artists working contract to contract with long layoff periods in between, places like Pixar and Dreamworks were "safe havens." Not so much, anymore. As a working professional animator myself, my advice to aspiring animators? Don't do it. Or if you really must work in the business, then as Scar in Lion King said: "Be prepared."

I feel sorry for the people being laid off, but I have always thought that DreamWorks Animation had a bad habit of biting off more than it can chew. When the studio takes its time to develop a project and ensure quality we end up with Kung Fu Panda, or How to Train Your Dragon. When the studio cranks as many projects out as they can, than we end up with something like a Sharks Tale, or Bee Movie. If DreamWorks Animation is slowing down production to ensure quality by fixing production problems than it's a good thing. I would much rather have 3 great films, than 1 decent film and 6 mediocre ones, wouldn't you?

All the problems add up when it comes to layoffs. Yes multi million dollar companies that have these big budgets in the first place are due to the hard work and talent of all the artists that make up the studio. More and more we are seeing the budget cuts even when a show gets picked up with proven monatary success. This taps into artists within the studio giving away FREE overtime labor without being paid. THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM. what happens as a result is the production gets finished sooner because the work is finished and the artists that are working without overtime, think they are doing themselves a favor by impress ing their directors and producers when in fact they are putting themselves and everyone else out of work months sooner than needed. How can it change, only by individual awareness and with the power of social media, ALL ARTISTS MUST UNITE in this cause and THE UNION NEEDS TO ACT NOW!!!!!

Let's face it: home video (mostly DVD) sales peaked in 2002-2004, and have been in a dive overall since then. That used to be the thing that made feature animation so profitable, and without that, unless you have a run-away-hit with lots of toys sold based on it, it's hard to make money with all of these animated films. If there's a story change, they can't keep hundreds of people working while the thing gets re-written and new story reels are made, or else the budget just goes up too high to have a hope of a profitable movie.

DreamWorks Animation will lay off staff in the wake of the weaker-than-expected performance of the studio's Rise of the Guardians and its announcement Tuesday that it will release two films in 2013 rather than three, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. OUR EDITOR RECOMMENDS DreamWorks Animation Pushes Back Release for 'Mr. Peabody & Sherman' Michael Keaton Joins DreamWorks' 'Need for Speed' (Exclusive) Berlin 2013: DreamWorks Studios Ramps Up International Ties Participant Joins DreamWorks for WikiLeaks Movie 'The Fifth Estate' DreamWorks Snaps Up Film Rights to 'Silver Linings Playbook' Author's Next Novel The layoffs, which have been rumored for weeks, are expected to hit the Glendale-based animation studio's production, technology and overhead functions. Sources say no single film project in development will be targeted, though DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said in a statement Tuesday that the Kate Hudson-Josh Gad-voiced Me & My Shadow, which had been slated for release by Fox in March 2014, is being taken off the schedule indefinitely. Mr. Peabody & Sherman, which was set for a Nov. 1 release, now shifts to the March 7, 2014, slot. "The move of Mr. Peabody & Sherman means that we will now release two films in 2013, and we are adjusting our operating infrastructure costs accordingly," Katzenberg said in a statement. A DreamWorks Animation spokesperson declined to comment on whether layoffs will happen. But sources say plans for an unspecified reduction of the company's 2,000 or so employees already are afoot and should begin before the publicly traded studio reports earnings Feb. 26. Guardians, released in the U.S. in November, grossed nearly $300 million worldwide in theaters but was considered a box-office disappointment due to its high production and marketing costs. Lazard Capital Markets analyst Barton Crockett predicted in January that the studio will be forced to write down as much as $96 million in Guardians losses. DWA stock consequently has been pummeled by investors. The trouble comes as DWA in August entered a five-year distribution deal with Fox, which will release its films globally beginning with The Croods on March 22. Turbo will follow on July 19, then Mr. Peabody & Sherman, How to Train Your Dragon 2 on June 20, 2014, and Happy Smekday! on Nov. 26, 2014. Kim Masters contributed to this report. Email: Matthew.Belloni@thr.com

DreamWorks Animation sked shift brings pinkslips 'Peabody and Sherman' push precipitates cost cutting at toon shop By DAVE MCNARY Katzenberg "Mr. Peabody and Sherman" “The Croods” With its immediate workload abruptly lightened, DreamWorks Animation is expected to lay off an unspecified number of employees in the coming months. The trigger for the job losses has come from Fox's decision to push the toon shop's "Mr. Peabody and Sherman" to next year and bump "Me and My Shadow" off next year's calendar temporarily. DWA spokeswoman Shannon Olivas declined to comment on reports that several hundred of the staff of 2,200 would be pinkslipped. Many of those are repped by the Animation Guild, which operates as Local 839 of the Intl. Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and the guild's business rep Steven Hulett told Variety that the union began hearing about potential layoffs Tuesday and started holding meetings with members Wednesday about healthcare, pension and layoff questions. As with visual effects houses, it's common for animation studios' payrolls to fluctuate while projects ramp up and wind down, though the potential scope of layoffs at DWA may be a symptom of deeper financial troubles. Originally dated for Nov. 21, "Mr. Peabody" will now bow on March 7, 2014, through Fox. Also set for 2014 are DreamWorks titles "How to Train Your Dragon 2" (June 20) and "Happy Smekday!" (Nov. 26). In a Tuesday evening statement disclosing the cost-cutting, DreamWorks topper Jeffrey Katzenberg attributed the layoffs to the calendar shift. "We believe the best strategy for DreamWorks Animation in the long run is to ensure that every one of our films has an optimal release date with the biggest opportunity to succeed at the box office," he said. "The move of 'Mr. Peabody & Sherman' means that we will now release two films in 2013, and we are adjusting our operating infrastructure costs accordingly." But DWA has other reasons to be sweating the bottom line: its most recent release, the holiday-themed "Rise of the Guardians," was a major disappointment at the box office, with a domestic opening of $33 million over the five-day Thanksgiving frame. Though it's crept up on $300 million worldwide, analysts have called it one of the company's most disappointing releases to date, for which Wall Street expects the studio to take a nearly $100 million writedown in the fourth quarter. DreamWorks Animation stock closed down 67¢, or 3.8%, to $16.75 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. The issues hit a 52-week low of $16.04 on Jan. 2. The company will report fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 26. "Rise of the Guardians" ended DWA's seven-year distribution deal with Paramount Pictures; the studio now begins a relationship with 20th Century Fox, through which DWA has dated 12 toons through 2016. Fox releases its first DWA film, "The Croods," on March 22, followed by "Turbo" on July 19. In an interview with Variety published Nov. 30, Katzenberg was upbeat about the company's future. "It's a very optimistic time for us," Katzenberg said. "We are going from two movies to three movies a year starting in 2013. Without a question, it's the most ambitious and exciting slate of movies that we've had. I think our best years are ahead of us. We're excited about the business."

I hate it here at DW and would not mind severance! Bring it on... There is a slew of jobs out there...

Hell is other Vfx studios

What I would do is buy the stock low and then sell it high. Also, make sure you only make the good movies from now on. When someone at a meeting says hey let's make some shit nobody wants, I would say no, we need to make a hit. Then make sure we make it really cheap by cutting the schedules in half and stop buying any more new computers. At the same time make workers happy by not making them work so hard. That's how

Do any of these pushes in schedule have anything to do with DW hiring the weak development people from the dark days at Disney? Disney went through the same thing before.

Layoffs are expected at Glendale animation studio DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. following disappointing returns from its latest release and an announcement that the studio will decrease its theatrical output this year. The studio announced yesterday that it will move the release of “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” to March of next year at the request of the movie’s distributor, 20th Century Fox. The film was originally scheduled to debut in November. The studio is coming off disappointing returns for “Rise of the Guardians,” which has grossed about $300 million at the international box office but was costly to produce. Lazard Capital Markets analyst Barton Crockett predicted last month that the studio will take a write-down of $96 million in its fourth quarter earnings, to be released later this month. Layoffs have yet to be confirmed and a spokeswoman for DreamWorks declined comment. Trade website Deadline.com reported that as many as 500 employees could be cut in the next few months, citing anonymous sources. Chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg hinted at cuts in yesterday’s announcement. “The move of Mr. Peabody & Sherman means that we will now release two films in 2013, and we are adjusting our operating infrastructure and costs accordingly,” he said in a statement.

Boy there are a lot of sour grapes here. Listen boys and girls, no matter where you go, there will be dead weight. There will be dead weight in management, there will be dead weight in production, there will be dead weight in administration. It's a natural distribution even at the best organizations. There is dead weight at Google. There is dead weight at Jet Propulsion Labs. There is dead weight at Pixar. There are idiots in Harvard, Stanford, ILM, Weta, and any number of places that require smarts to get the job done. So this whole "let's name names" game I'm seeing in these posts is just petty and small. It's a simple business model. As long as the conveyor belt of bags of cash keep feeding the company, people keep their jobs, bonuses get paid, and you get to keep paying your underwater mortgage. When the bags of cash stop flowing in, the company has to reduce its costs. People get let go. It sucks, but it happens everywhere from sea to shining sea. India isn't to blame, Obama isn't to blame, W. Bush isn't to blame. Business just has its ups and it has its downs. I see a lot of fingers being pointed and if need to get it out to feel better, then go ahead and rat on your coworkers for taking long breaks but it only makes you look cowardly. Big picture is that layoffs suck, people's lives get up-ended, and the company has to fight to survive for the ones who remain on board. I wish the company well. It has performed well for a very long time and it took one slip-up with an underperforming big-budget movie to bring it to one knee. It is a powerful reminder of how high the stakes are in feature animation. Prepare for the worst, save money, and be ready when the company hits a difficult period and you're out of a job. Don't spend all your paychecks on German sports cars and trips to Vegas. That's show business.

Rather than take a good hard look at our terrible marketing performance under a vastly overpaid Ann Globe the studio has decided to destroy the one area of the company that has always overperformed - the artists. The poeple who actually make the damned product and pay the bills of infinite upper level dead weight. No reason to cut millions out of the budget from voice talent, or JK's daily executive flights to visit with other like minded "liberals" like Meg Whitman and Rupert Murdoch, who don't give a willy about the American worker, and then wonder why the Chinese dont buy our crap. The market has changed and inexplicably our execs only just now got the memo. We've been screaming for years we can't do 3 films. We've been screaming for years - don't start production until the story is locked. Stop trying to shift production to a talentless Asia and appreciate what you got right here. Our formula still works and we can make a film better and faster than any major studio in the world if you would let us be. Upper level management has not had a good idea in years and is killing this comapny both with the corporate credit card and astonishing ineptness about entertainment trends.

DreamWorks does have Steven Spielberg in their corner (it’s also not the first time Spielberg and Halo have been mentioned together) and as Vulture notes, if anyone has the authority to take control of the film and ease Microsoft’s concerns it’s him. But how exactly is DreamWorks going to sidestep all of the legal red tape and avoid getting sucked into the same bitter battle that Universal and Fox did?

the spamming is unfortunate. people need to grow some thicker skin when it comes to criticism.

HA HA HA I love it! People who have been torched in the comments sections are spamming the board!!! Damn, guess those comments must have hit too close to the mark!! PLEASE SCROLL DOWN PAST THE SPAM, THERE ARE SOME EXCELLENT COMMENTS ABOUT DREAMWORKS!!!

... What is with all these random comments that have nothing to do with Dreamworks?

Why do they keep dead weight? Why are they in the trouble they are in now?? As in most cases like this look to the top. They hire IDIOTS like Nancy Bernstein who burned through Digital Domain leaving a wreck there (that eventually toppled), and now she's burned through DWA. As Head of Production/Studio she made one blunder after another and doesn't know shit about what she's doing. And then she spearheaded the producution, Rise of the Guardians, that lost the company $100 Million and it looks like about 500 jobs. But at worst she'll walk away with a golden parachute and millions in the bank while the rank and file will be applying to Disney and other studios for short-term contract work. And look at Katzenberg. Did you really believe him when he told all of you for years that "India is only for overflow and PR work. It's never going to take jobs from our main campuses" Well guess what? How many cuts do you think are happening in India over this?? My guess is none. DWA is a shark tank from the top down, run by people who see animation as a numbers game based on how many widgets they can sell in a given year. They don't give a crap about the artists or any long term stability. Every one of those jobs will be in India or China within the next 5 years and Katzenberg and Nancy Bernstein will be sitting in their mansions in Malibu living the good life.

Why do they keep the same Producers who fail over and over even when they're handed Jerry Seinfeld and Santa Clause? Then give a movie to a first time Director which will decide the fate of 2200 people?

So I guess my DH didn't want me to worry when he found out last Tuesday that there were going to be lay off's at his work. He said that he didn't want me to stress if nothing was going to happen.... I honestly don't know what DWA is thinking.... That man busted his heiny 5 day's a week doing everything asked of him the moment it was asked. He pulled twice the work load as the 2 kid's that he worked with AND worked over time whenever asked, but at the end of the day... my husband was sent home. How on earth will we make it? I am the only income we have now and I don't make much at all. On top of that I still have the coop to fix and a pen to build with no money... I think I'll have to sell my chicks and find a second job just to make end almost meet.... I'm just in shock. He worked there for year's. And this is how they treat him?! That man came home with tore muscles, banged up knuckles, tired feet and at time's all while sick as a dog and he still got up every morning and WALKED to work to save us money. He's a hard worker and a loyal employee and they dumped him.... I just can not even begin to understand why they would let him go over 2 kids that can't seem to pull half the work my husband does. And they made the same wages so it wasn't even like the business was saving money.... All it was was that there were 3 tec's there and they didn't need 3. I'm so angry, and scared, and sad. I was so excited about this chicken project I was so into it and now I can't even begin to see any way we could keep them. I'm just at a loss. Sorry for the rant. And now that darling man is doing all he can to be brave for me... and Lord.. he is seriously trying to get into the off shore oil business, he want's to "make this up to me" can you believe that? This amazing man, we JUST had an oil rig BLOW UP off shore there are like 11 men "missing" and he want's to put himself in that industry to provide for his son and his wife. It's not like we haven't been here before... California is a harsh place right now as far as employment goes... I am blessed to have the 10 hour a day 5 day a week job I have, I just... it's so hard to struggle and scrape.... and to let go of thing's you had worked so hard to get started.

I was listening right up to the point where he said, "The rest of the game is a joke. EA knows it and so does George Lucas." Sorry, but if Old Republic really is of subpar quality, George Lucas definitely does NOT know it. This is the man who is responsible for the last Indiana Jones movie and the Prequel Trilogy, including Jar Jar Binks. JAR JAR BINKS!!!

Am I the only one who is blown away by how much so many people work overtime and/or from home??? I'm the kind of person who keeps work life and personal life very seperate. When I am at work, I bust my ass to get things done efficiently and correctly. And every once in awhile, working through lunch or coming in early/staying late are understandable and fine. But I feel as though the last few jobs I've had just ... never .... ever .... stop. Right now, the place I'm at is open 8am-8pm because we are on the East coast and have customers all over the country. So we have 3 different shifts to cover those 12 hours, which is fine. But I NEVER leave when I'm supposed to! I'm always getting stuck on a phone call or stuck on a project that takes forever to wrap up. It's almost everyday! And I'm on a temp-to-hire basis so I can't even make overtime! I don't complain about it at work because I do like the job and the people there and I want to stay but I just don't understand this and it's REALLY annoying to me. Maybe it's because I have so much going on outside of work. I mean, I'm there for 9 hours a day PLUS an hour drive IN and an hour drive home. I take yoga on Mondays. I go to the chiropractor every other Wednesday. I help my mom, who has health problems. I'm planning a wedding. I'm house hunting. I'm trying to work out as much as humanly possible. I don't have TIME to work over time! I barely have time to eat and clean my place! Yet it seems like every single week, the email for optional overtime goes out. Luckily I can't do overtime yet because of the temp thing. But there are people there who work overtime EVERY day or EVERY weekend and it blows my mind! Don't you have a life?!?!? Don't you have things to do?!?!? I've only been at this place for 5 weeks and the overtime opportunities come out nearly every single week. And like I said, every once in awhile, OT is fine. But I'm talking, like, once a month. Or even a few times a month. But every day of every week? And every weekend? Don't you people have doctors appointments, family gatherings??? I've already been late to yoga class several times and late to dinner with my parents/friends/fiance. Pretty much none of my family/friends work overtime. There just isn't the need. But the last few jobs I've been to ...it's like constant. And working from home .... HA! I'm barely home to begin with. If I'm not home, I'm touring a house, grocery shopping, bridesmaid dress shopping, at the doctors, taking yoga, etc. If I'm at my house, I'm eating or sleeping and certainly NOT working. I am not lazy and I am not careless. I just have SO much to do outside of work that I can't imagine working SO much! Again, I think your work life and personal life should be totally seperate. And I'm planning on taking some classes this fall after the wedding but ... if I have to work so much that'll be impossible! What the hell?!?! Am I the only one frustrated/confused/flabbergasted by this phenomena? These people are like zombies!!!

Only 2 months ago, DreamWorks took every employee for a nice tour at the Universal Studios for a company update . I am talking about 2200 employees, (the whole crew from PDI,San Francisco had a payed flight to LA and return...). They spent probably millions to say "we are good". Today they are laying off 500+ people cause there are no money. No comment.

The Compounding Challenge of DreamWorks Animation Layoffs http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/the-compounding-challenge-of-dreamworks-animation-layoffs/

Why do they keep the same Producers who fail over and over even when they're handed Jerry Seinfeld and Santa Clause? Then give a movie to a first time Director which will decide the fate of 2200 people?

Those which are defending didnt got laid off. Simply because they are the ones being mentioned, and now are defending the territory they have been guarding for years. Dont come and tell us to take it easy when you stay for the wrong reasons, and we are let go for no reason. I got laid off. Need to find a way to tell my wife and kids...

Talent does not keep you hired at DW as much as having powerful friends. Like any other place really. Those guys mentioned below will stay hired, and most likely others will be fired. This is not any type or breaking news. Its just like Lance Armstrong saying he did it with drugs: you just get a bit more dissapointed when your idol is not as pristine as you expect f(#14 best company to work for).

C'mon everyone knows the place could be more efficient. Here in the department I'm curious if some of the guys know how to even use the tools.

It sounds like someone is fixated on the schedule and habits of one individual who got to paint better stuff. Maybe his working there 10 times longer than the new gal had something to do with that. Maybe talent did, maybe obsessing about what he was doing was a distraction from doing your own job well. That guy is at work 2 hours before me, don't know how you missed that in your stalking,

These are horrible news. I wanted to let you know that we feel with you guys. I hope you can keep a good attitude. Many times you end up in a better spot than you would imagine, today...

"AfroCircus" clearly didn't get laid off.

Venting gossip about coworkers on a public forum like this is really bad form. I don't know why that person would name and libel individual artists that have no say in deciding whether a layoff happens. It has nothing to do with the layoff. The way this person is talking, I wouldn't be surprised if they can figure out exactly who this was by who is named in the posting.

venting gossip sans knowledge about coworkers under the veil of " a friend" because you were laid off is sour grapes., And very not sexy... Gal. Losing 500 good people would be tragic, Losing any good people will be. I Hope some of the dead weight go out with the cuts.

500 good people losing their jobs is "sour grapes". Stay classy.

"We've been screaming for years - don't start production until the story is locked. Stop trying to shift production to a talentless Asia and appreciate what you got right here. Our formula still works and we can make a film better and faster than any major studio in the world if you would let us be." THIS. It's a tragic time for the animation community and those getting let go. A lot of really great talent is being let loose and it's DreamWorks true loss. Wishing them all the best.

Hey sexygal, please take down or modify your post. You're airing very personal information about people without their consent. Complaining about managers is one thing. Talking about other artist's experience is not OK.

Boy there are a lot of sour grapes here. Listen boys and girls, no matter where you go, there will be dead weight. There will be dead weight in management, there will be dead weight in production, there will be dead weight in administration. It's a natural distribution even at the best organizations. There is dead weight at Google. There is dead weight at Jet Propulsion Labs. There is dead weight at Pixar. There are idiots in Harvard, Stanford, ILM, Weta, and any number of places that require smarts to get the job done. So this whole "let's name names" game I'm seeing in these posts is just petty and small. It's a simple business model. As long as the conveyor belt of bags of cash keep feeding the company, people keep their jobs, bonuses get paid, and you get to keep paying your underwater mortgage. When the bags of cash stop flowing in, the company has to reduce its costs. People get let go. It sucks, but it happens everywhere from sea to shining sea. India isn't to blame, Obama isn't to blame, W. Bush isn't to blame. Business just has its ups and it has its downs. I see a lot of fingers being pointed and if need to get it out to feel better, then go ahead and rat on your coworkers for taking long breaks but it only makes you look cowardly. Big picture is that layoffs suck, people's lives get up-ended, and the company has to fight to survive for the ones who remain on board. I wish the company well. It has performed well for a very long time and it took one slip-up with an underperforming big-budget movie to bring it to one knee. It is a powerful reminder of how high the stakes are in feature animation. Prepare for the worst, save money, and be ready when the company hits a difficult period and you're out of a job. Don't spend all your paychecks on German sports cars and trips to Vegas. That's show business.

There needs to be more people brave enough to start their own companies there is lots of talent and lots of people willing to invest if people have a good idea for a film... And for heavens sake get the hell out of California... There's a reason the state is in debt. And all of you who think that you should be getting paid 80 k or more need to come back to reality and check how the rest of the nation is doing.

Rather than take a good hard look at our terrible marketing performance under a vastly overpaid Ann Globe the studio has decided to destroy the one area of the company that has always overperformed - the artists. The poeple who actually make the damned product and pay the bills of infinite upper level dead weight. No reason to cut millions out of the budget from voice talent, or JK's daily executive flights to visit with other like minded "liberals" like Meg Whitman and Rupert Murdoch, who don't give a willy about the American worker, and then wonder why the Chinese dont buy our crap. The market has changed and inexplicably our execs only just now got the memo. We've been screaming for years we can't do 3 films. We've been screaming for years - don't start production until the story is locked. Stop trying to shift production to a talentless Asia and appreciate what you got right here. Our formula still works and we can make a film better and faster than any major studio in the world if you would let us be. Upper level management has not had a good idea in years and is killing this comapny both with the corporate credit card and astonishing ineptness about entertainment trends.

I was one of the employees let go from PDI after the downsizing following Madagascar 3. Judging from the missing pictures from the Polaroid board, I'm guessing about 70-ish people were let go from PDI following Mad3, but it didn't make the news because the layoffs occurred over a several month period.

this has been going on since puss in boots.

Yet through all this they keep a bloated executive staff which is not only dead weight but actually counterproductive to the shows. And HACKS like Doug Cooper, the worst VFX Sup in the history of film, keeps his job, running legitimate talent out of the company year after year. The problem with DWA is that they keep higher-ups there who have been there 10+ years and SUCK at what they do, and could never get a job outside of the company, on staff regardless of performance. If they just got rid of some of the dead weight execs and Sups maybe new ideas would come into the company and they would stand a chance. But it's always been a political company that favors ass-kissing suck-ups and it's more important who you know than what you do. My advice for anyone at DWA who can travel is go to a real company like Weta or ILM where they value TALENT not bullshit politics.

So much for contracts....

Yet through all this they keep a bloated executive staff which is not only dead weight but actually counterproductive to the shows. And HACKS like Doug Cooper, the worst VFX Sup in the history of film, keeps his job, running legitimate talent out of the company year after year. The problem with DWA is that they keep higher-ups there who have been there 10+ years and SUCK at what they do, and could never get a job outside of the company, on staff regardless of performance. If they just got rid of some of the dead weight execs and Sups maybe new ideas would come into the company and they would stand a chance. But it's always been a political company that favors ass-kissing suck-ups and it's more important who you know than what you do. My advice for anyone at DWA who can travel is go to a real company like Weta or ILM where they value TALENT not bullshit politics.

Just came across this site after google search..ha! I wished I knew about it before to vent a little. Great stuff here mates! I'll put my two cents after working for DreamWorks the last year. There was this girl called Katrina Tung in the Surfacing department who was laid off. She worked at ILM Singapore as a texturing artist, and was contacted (she didn't applied) by Wes Burian (surfacing). She was promised a senior surfacing position (btw, no one has that position, you are 'by default senior' on word not contract) and a solid stay at DreamWorks animation, is she right away moved into DW. 6 months later she was let go, and on top of that, she had to pay 15k in debt. The debt came because she had to take the cost of moving into DreamWorks right away, instead of waiting another month. So she is now without a job, and in debt, no actions at ILM. Yet, some of Wes Burian friends are not fired. One of these is John M, who is always given the best assets to work at, and the most amount of time. He arrives to work late, and leaves early. He is most of the time on the phone, or not at his desk. The reputation of this group already has some legal story behind: These guys are/where intimate friends with Young Song, killer of a puppy who he brutally shot with a gun, and finished with a hammer a dog. The judge stopped the video, and considered it one of the worst animal cruelty cases that have been ever seen. Just look it up! He is out of jail btw These are the people that make the movies your kid watch. Disgusting Anyway, this was all expected when they changed the executive in charge of the department from Barb Cimity (older wiser woman) to Yvette Memory and Bonnie Lemon. Yvette Memory previously worked at The Orphanage, and was known to have no clue of the value of talent. She was however good at firing people because of that, and gained a reputation as 'an axe man'. Bonnie Lemon was sent up north to control the accounts. She is the one in power, and Yvette Memory is the axe. That was 2 years ago, so all these layoffs happening at DreamWorks are planned, and expected. Don't go to work at DreamWorks. Its a mentally ill place to work at, regardless of the hype. People put on a smile, but they live in constant fear of guys such as Young Song, doubting lias from people as Wes Burian, and not trusting managers as Yvette Memory. Well, that is just one piece of the story, hope you guys have better luck.

Bill Damaschke called in everyone today February 5th 2013, to announce that DreamWorks will lay off 20-25% of all Company Employees. This includes people from Glendale, India and PDI. Several meetings where arranged to announce the unfortunate news. The term "layoffs" was substituted by "transitioning outside the company". Most people being let go will be from the show Shadows and Pea Body, while people comming out from Turbo will not find many spots available in other productions such as Smekday. Additionally, everyone in production will be called in next week to be announced of his status and re-casting (another term for taking your job away) positions.

Crew meeting for Turbo. Next gig is going back to story, most will be laid-off at show wrap. This cuts across all departments. Yuck!

fire and hire - it never stops at DW

New round of layoffs in DWA at the RWC studio. No total numbers yet, but I was one of the unlucky.

They are all at it , DISNEY ILM SONY FOX DD, finding a way to get the same product out at less costs, they all up the quotas, hire new grads, mentor and train them up to speed and open the bomb doors on pricier senior staff when the show wraps. Get over it and bring your A game every day at work and blow your clients out of the water everytime you go to bat. Dont be loyal to anyone but yourself and prepare for that next job the moment you get in the door , whether its up the ranks or at another address , because be assured the employer has already laid out their plans for you before you even started.

Supply and demand. They over hired new talented staff that was released from other large studios or the talented unemployed artists that were out there. Then they shaved the senior or over paid staff off the books. Dreamworks and Disney are pretty similar now.

same here. just got axed.

I am one of the many that got laid off...where's the media coverage on this. Top 10 Companies to work for without any layoffs? What bunch of b_ ll sh_t!

I am in the IT group, we are also concerned. It may be a bit different here as compared with the creative side, but it's nerve wrecking nonetheless.

Wondering why we aren't seeing any news on the layoff's taking place at DWA right now. Hundreds of artists are freaking out and no news. This is unlike other companies such as The Walt Disney Company where slight layoffs are always big news. It sounds like a few of the animated projects are facing issues and requiring a push in release dates. Looks like trouble for some time there and/or continued jobs being sent overseas to India.