What Are the Working Conditions Like for the ‘Spider-Verse’ Animators?
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is one of the most successful films of the year, but the working conditions behind the project establish a rocky future for the franchise. Animation has always been a heavily underappreciated form of storytelling. Although many films in the past few years have pushed animation into the spotlight for modern audiences, the industry often views the entire production process of animation as inferior to live-action, often pay cartoon screenwriters much less than live-action screenwriters. Animators around the world are severely underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated. According to Vulture, which featured interviews with four members of the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse crew, production relied on harsh and relentless working conditions to complete the massive sequel. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
`Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse` Credit: Sony Pictures Release
Many of the complaints revolved around the management style of producer and co-writer Phil Lord, which resulted in several changes to the approved animated sequences at the end of production, resulting in the removal works by many artists from the final film and other artists are working “more than 11 years”. hours a day, seven days a week.”
“Over 100 people have left the project because they couldn’t take it anymore,” one of the unnamed artists told Vulture. “But a lot of people stay just so they can make sure their work lasts to the end because if it gets changed, it’s no longer yours. I know people who were on the project for over a year who left, and now they have little to show for it because everything was changed. They went through the hell of the production and then got none of their work coming out the other side.”
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse grossed $503.4 million at the global box office (according to Box Office Mojo) and was praised for its animation and impressive visuals. However, many of these artists feel like they can’t say much about the work they’ve done on their own, and these are the artists who stayed on the project and endured the working conditions. dire. “More than 100 people have left the project because they couldn’t take it anymore. But many people have stayed just so they can make sure their work will last because if it changes it’s no longer yours,” a source said. “I know people who have been on the project for over a year have left, and now they don’t have much to show because things have changed. They went through production hell and then saw none of their work show up on the other side.
‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing
Four sources told Vulture that animators were hired in 2021, but had to wait three to six months while the movie was in its layout stage. This caused the production to go into a time crunch, meaning that animators had to work those constraining work days for almost a year. Some work for the film required five revisions for the rendering’s final stage.
These working conditions seemed to have been a result of writer and producer Phil Lord’s demand to personally approve every scene in the 140-minute movie. Michelle Grady, executive vice president and general manager of Sony Pictures Image works, told Vulture that these statements do not represent all of the artists who worked on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
“It really does happen on every film,” said Grady, commenting on the film’s heavy revisions and reworking. “Truly, honestly, it can be a little bit frustrating, but we always try to explain that this is the process.” But it’s hard to not look at the animators who were affected by the brutal working conditions. Similar to the poor working conditions that VFXs artists endured while working for Marvel, who also reported time crunches and long hours, many animators were severely impacted, with 100 animators leaving the project entirely.
`Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse` Credit: Sony Pictures Release
A lot of money was spent making sure Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was exactly what Phil Lord had in mind, but a lot of that money still hasn’t made up for the lost animators’ work. whole year of work. The news comes as the WGA enters its ninth week of strike action and SAG-AFTRA negotiations for a fair contract with the Union of Film and Television Producers are approaching deadline. Advertising is leveraged in this industry. One way to protect creators at all levels is to fairly compensate them for their time. While it’s not the perfect solution for harsh working conditions, it’s a step in the right direction.