Why I Got REJECTED from 8+ Animation Jobs

so today I am finally doing the long awaited reading my rejections letter video so buckle your seat belts for me literally just exposing myself so first of all if I sound a little bit different in this video it's because I literally lost my voice this weekend so just bear with me hopefully it will just add some character to me reading all of these emails second off I just wanted to say whatever I'm going to be talking about in this video is not representative of the studios that I will be talking about these are just purely my experiences primarily as a post-graduated student applying for jobs and I wanted to do this video for more educational purposes again I'm not doing this to like dis or say anything badly of Studios it's just me explaining things from this is my experience and this is just Why I think it happened and what I think you or I could do next time to better increase your chances of Landing a position like this if that's what you're looking for in life so before I get too deep into this video I did want to say for any of you who don't know who I am my name is Michelle and I am currently a story artist working in the LA animation industry and I just recently released Mish the bad demon my very first middle grade graphic novel ever which you can now purchase down in the links below if you would like to read it or even borrow it from your local library and in addition to that I post my comics on Instagram where I just share like tidbits of my personal life anyway let's start diving into these rejection emails I just wanted to say I did not receive emails as responses for every single one of these rejections but I will do my best to either recap or explain what the situation was and why do I think it happened and you know what I could have done for the next time so I will just start off with Pixar anime Nation Studios which most of you know this one I actually applied to when I was probably a third year because this was an internship position I applied to so I already don't even remember if this was for animation or storyboarding because when I was a third year I was just applying to whatever internship is available and this was the email rejection I got in response hi Michelle wanted to let you know that unfortunately we are not moving forward and offering you an internship this summer we will keep our eyes out on your progress though you're very talented hopefully we'll see you at the producer show which is basically the show that was at calards which showed like a selection of student films that got in I don't even really know what was the reasoning because there was not much explanation behind it but my suspicions behind why this one might not have worked out could have been because my portfolio at that time with two TV based which means like my boards were more on the flat and graphic side versus film which usually has more of a preference towards cinematic 3D spaces and the boards I'm only assuming that because Pixar is a film studio for animation rather than TV but I just wanted to get this one out of the way since it was short and sweet all right and then the next one I have talked about this rejection many times in my previous videos this one I unfortunately did not get an email response to but for those of you who have stuck around long enough you know this story so this is when I applied to a character art position that I originally interned for at DreamWorks so character art is not necessarily like a part of the pipeline for an animated film or TV show it was more so for like marketing things for films that already existed so for example of how to train your dragon came out with a film they would then make these books posters supplemental pieces of Graphics that would support the release of the film and as the character art person you kind of help create the character art stuff to help promote that film so I had an internship in my fourth year that was basically as a character art intern and when I was about to graduate they had a position open for a full-time position and they were really encouraging me to apply because I just graduated and even though I know I wanted to be a storyboard artist at the end of the day I was like you know it can't hurt to just apply to see if I can get my foot in the door and see what happens and you know I thought the interview went really well I just got like so much positive feedback from it they didn't really give me a reason as to why I wouldn't land on this position but then I remembered after I graduated Cal arts and we were shopping around for furniture for my new apartment and I was in Ikea just buying some of the final things I got this phone call and I had to run out of the store to get cellular service and I finally got the rejection call basically saying hey sorry Michelle we're looking for someone of more seniority more urgently we had a project that needed to be dealt with someone with more experience so basically they wanted somebody who has already been working and knows exactly what to do a little bit more quickly and even though this is totally a reasonable reasoning behind why someone would choose someone with more experience over you at the same time as a newly graduated student who has no idea what to expect post-graduation I was internally like heartbroken and I was like oh my God that's the end you know if this internship that apparently had a really great experience with me didn't even want me like I don't even know what else there is for me that was a little bit disheartening but it was not the end so next I got a rejection from Disney TV animation because while I was also in school this was around the same time as the DreamWorks one I was also waiting to hear back from this position from Disney TV and I waited a little bit longer for this one like I did not receive a response for probably two months or so and I think after two months is when I should have gotten the hint but you know I just wanted to follow up and know it was the situation so I eventually received a response back saying hi Michelle thank you for following up and for your interest in taking the storyboard test for blank unfortunately we are going ahead with another candidate at this time however your test was highly ranked and we would like to keep you in mind for other positions opening in the next few months please keep us updated on your availability and congratulations on graduating so this one also did not really give me a real reason as to why my boards were not accepted like of course like thank you for thinking my boards were highly ranked but also there was a reason why someone else got the job and I didn't so my personal suspicion after working like five years or so as a storyboard artist right now is that I feel like the boards I submitted were actually too cinematic for a TV show and I did not really know the difference between TV and film yet I think this was the moment in time where I was absolutely confused when people were asking me so do you want to work in TV or films and I was like none of my classes taught me this I don't know so basically I have been told for the longest time that my boards were too TV styled in the past so for this position they made me do a storyboard test so when I did the test I was like all right I'm gonna put more cinematic boards and how I know I put more cinematic boards is because I was putting like the camera really low aiming up at the characters or I would be putting the camera really high aiming down at the characters usually TV is very like straight on for the most part because that's what the budget can usually afford and stuff but I know know a lot of other TV shows are like breaking out of that so I think they were more likely to hire a storyboard artist with more TV experience and also probably a higher level of seniority because again I just graduated most people that graduate start off in a storyboard revisionist position especially for big studios usually if you're going for a small Studio you can have chances of being in a somewhat higher position but usually for things like Disney you would start off as a somewhat entry-level position so I'm pretty sure they hired someone who has already had experience as a storyboard artist and has strong Proficiency in the world of TV so then next is actually another rejection letter from Disney TV animation once again but this one is not for a storyboard related position at all this is actually for a color stylist position and you might be wondering Michelle why are you applying for a color stylist position I thought you hated coloring ring you hired a colorist for your own graphic novel like what is happening I was in a position where I was applying to anything possible that I could see myself potentially getting into like I wasn't even sure if storyboarding was fully for me even though that's what I preferred so once I graduated it was more of a matter of just getting my foot in the door as soon as possible if I can and that usually meant like you know applying for things that might not even be what I exactly 100 percent wanted but it's really not a surprise that I did not land this job because my heart wasn't fully into it I didn't really want to do something in colorist positions and also my coloring just is not my strong suit so the the rejection letter said Hello thank you for your interest in taking the color stylist test for blank unfortunately we are going ahead with another candidate at this time your test was reviewed positively and we wanted to provide you with some additional feedback a good test overall But ultimately sensibilities do not match with the show's style we appreciate all the time and hard work you put into the test please reach out to continue to update us on your availability we wish you the best of luck and I know that as a newly graduated student the idea of sensibilities might not be fully clear as to what that means but it's usually like the show has a tone a style specifically maybe it's horror themed or something but your style is more on the pastel side you prefer things looking a little bit lighter and that's your style and that's just what you like in the coloring but that's not what's going to fit the show's tone and this is something that's usually pretty hard to figure out because when you're applying to these shows that haven't even been released yet you don't really know what they're about you don't really know what the tone of a show is other than like the initial pitch that the person gives you about it in the interview and then from that point onward you just have to guess what is the best fit for the show usually it might be a little bit easier for shows that are Legacy shows like Spongebob like you exactly know what the tone the style and everything of it is just from watching it and if you apply for a job position you know what to expect but some of these shows are just new shows that have not had any pre-existing episodes or whatever aired online or on TV so you just have to guess and that's just what the case for this was so then next is a trainee position that I apply to for DreamWorks feature and this one did not get an email response this one was a phone call response so I actually just came back from like a trip to Japan with my friends during this time after graduation and you know I had like such a great time but I felt like the one thing that really helped me back on this trip was just the looming thought of not having a job and I was really insecure about that and it kind of ruined my trip to some degree I'm not saying like my whole trip was ruined but it was just like I was not in the greatest mental space and I was just like I have no idea if I'm getting this job that I just did an interview for and of course when I got back after I landed I immediately got a phone call which then said hi Michelle sorry we couldn't like give you the training position and this is the one where they said their main piece of feedback for me is to watch more films at the main critique because this was the interview where they asked me what are your favorite films and I took it as what are literally my favorite films I did not think of like what are films that I critically analyze and just think about and apply to my boarding style whatsoever they just seemed to ask me that question like what do I like watching for fun but my answers I guess were not what they wanted and I feel like my boards didn't really receive any feedback from this situation it was just mainly the point of watch more films and from this point onward was when I was like on a roll with watching live action films so my recommendation for you if you're somebody who is looking to apply for a storyboard position is to definitely get your live-action film glossary collection whatever filled with some good quality films that you can talk about in an interview in a way that it will apply to your work and the inspiration behind your work so then next is a position I applied for Walt Disney feature animation for a storyboard position and this one I kind of already knew it wasn't really gonna happen because the way that they were messaging me at this time was kind of like oh like just so you know we are looking for someone with more experience but like we'll still like listen to your interview anyway type of thing so I was just like again I'm just gonna do whatever I can just gotta take my chances gotta take any opportunity that is in front of me so this one I did not get an email response to this one was a purely on the spot rejection okay so when I went to go pitch my storyboard at this pitch they basically said there were things about it like I over explained my boards and I didn't show enough because usually when you show your storyboards you want people to understand what is going on without you saying anything about it which is a little bit debatable because I feel like once you enter the industry nobody even gives a about that anymore there are a lot of people who do overly explain their storyboards even though that's not really how things should be but it still just happens I would still encourage you to show and don't tell but I'm also saying that you're not gonna like suddenly get fired if you do end up overly explaining your boards a little bit so I think just for the sake of an interview purpose they didn't like that I told more than I showed and there were other things that they mentioned saying like oh maybe for my story idea I could have chosen a more pivotal or climactic scene and for this pitch I was doing my Chinese Three Little Pig story that was from my very old storyboard portfolio and I think at the end of the day they were ultimately looking for someone with more seniority there was no way I think they were gonna hire just somebody who just graduated for a story artist position for a feature film at Disney so that's just what happened and when I was on my way out walking from the interview literally the person who brought me in was just telling me like oh you know what like maybe next time like you know I'm gonna look up like a list of other Studios and people to send out your name to and blah blah blah and of course once they say something like that it's pretty obvious that you did not get the job so I left just being like okay well at least I showed my faces to some industry professionals and that's what matters so even though as a student I've been applying to a lot of these jobs and that's primarily where I get most of my rejection from it's not like you stop getting rejections either once you start working I feel like once you start working in the industry it's not really a matter of is your art good anymore usually if you've worked in the industry already obviously your art is good enough to have qualified to work on these projects but at the same time there is a matter of suitability or just if your art or your sensibilities align with this project that exists that's kind of the more primary thing that depends whether or not if you will get a job in the future so the next one I'm gonna say is actually a rejection email I got when I've already been working in the industry for some time so this is like actually pretty recent it was just two years ago and it was from Disney feature and the email basically says hi Michelle I just wanted to get back to you and just let you know that it looks like we've ended up filling all our rules across projects for this round of hiring if it helps for the future the team over here loves your personal Instagram work but your professional boards are a bit too steeped in the TV Aesthetics for our heads sensibilities if you have the time down the road your portfolio might benefit from one to two personal board sequences that reflect all the true heart and fun behind that oh so unique voice of yours so the ironic thing about the situation though is that the boards that were in my portfolio were actually for film style TV shows because we're starting to enter the world of streaming where basically you have a lot of long TV shows that are boarded cinematically but they are broken down into episodes and it's kind of like a mixture of film and TV but sometimes those things still qualify as TV or some of your boards look to TV sometimes it's a matter of are your boards and storyboard Pro toon boom storyboard Pro that sometimes means your boards might look too TV for this Film Production that you're applying for so ironically it's just funny that they also mentioned that they wanted personal boards over professional boards but usually when you apply to professional jobs they prefer to see your previous work experiences so I felt like this one was a little bit confusing but at the same time I felt like it didn't really matter anymore because when I got this rejection letter I was already working full time at a different studio and I was already busy and it didn't really matter because I was already employed so I was like okay whatever but I appreciated the feedback anyway and I would definitely consider it in the future if I really wanted to land a job like this at Disney feature I would start putting in personal boards again but honestly with you know just having the lack of time and having other things to do now I wouldn't really like kill myself and just do a whole new storyboard portfolio just for the sake of this one job I would only just consider it if I'm at a point in life where I'm like okay I just really want a stable job working at Disney feature and and I will just do that then but this is also another sign to don't underestimate social media put your stuff up online so that people can discover your work and know who you are as an artist and sometimes that might give you better guidance as to what you should be putting in your portfolio so then lastly is actually not even a storyboard job position I applied for it was actually a pitch for a TV show idea that I attempted to do while I was in my first job because I felt like during this time in life people were very encouraging of you know Young Artists or new voices to just pitch new show ideas or just pitch ideas or just start getting into the habit of pitching things so I was like okay well everyone else is doing it so I guess I'll do it too and even though this one did not work out I still think it's a very good experience to have and I would highly encourage anybody to do this just to get into a good habit of knowing what it's like to pitch an idea to an executive or a studio and ironically this is actually what Niche the bad demon ended up becoming because of this rejection so just know that every rejection does not mean it's the end for an idea it just maybe means that there's a different home for this idea the rejection letter basically says hi Michelle I just wanted to follow up with you regarding Mish the demon fairy I really vibed with the idea breaking out of the mold and not letting other people Define your identity unfortunately this project feels a little too low concept for what we're prioritizing right now so not the right fit at the moment but thank you for reaching out and pitching I always want to hear your ideas and let me know if you have others so at this time when I pitched what was Mish the bad demon this was a totally different story idea like it was not even what the graphic novel is today which if you want to know what the book is you can check out in the links below Mish the bad demon to read the full story but at the time when I pitched this show idea I think the story idea was definitely a little bit too indie or like it was more of like a slice of Life fantasy story idea in which I didn't even know what was the difference between High concept and low concept before so if you want to know the difference between what is high concept and what is low content check this article out because it could probably help you if you ever have like a story idea and you want to like pitch it to someone but you need to know what they're kind of looking for examples of high concept ideas are like Avatar Inception and die hard and some examples of low concept movies would be Phantom thread manari Birdman and The King's Speech although I do feel like low concept films have been raising in the past few years or so like they've definitely been gaining more popularity so I wouldn't discard the idea of low concept stories it just really depends on what the studio or production is looking for so again I feel like there's a misalignment of sensibilities when I pitched my show idea I also just recently graduated like one year ago and yeah there are going to be your people who have just graduated and pitched a show idea and they just got like a show the moment they graduated yes there are going to be people like that that exist out there but also it's not something that's going to happen to everyone and I do feel like again every idea might have their own home and I feel like Misha bad demon as a graphic novel did end up working out for the better because I felt like it taught me a lot about the world of publishing and it opened me up to this other potential career path that could either eventually become a new career path or a supplemental career path just because something is not the right fit doesn't mean your idea sucks it just might mean that this is just not the right place and time for it but maybe there is a right place and time for it somewhere else and thankfully with Mish the bad demon I was able to land a two book deal with a major publisher penguin random house and while I was working my animation job and working on the book at the same time I was earning more than probably some people who were in some leadership positions in the animation industry and I'm not saying that you know the amount you get paid is what matters I'm just saying that even though I was not where I wanted to be exactly in my career life it really did allow me to live a pretty damn good life if I was to be real like I got to travel the world I got to have so many of these public experiences and also let's not forget just because you make a book too doesn't mean that's the end of the book you also still have the chance of it being picked up by somebody later on down the line in the future who might want to adapt it to a show a film or something else and even if it doesn't hey at least you still got something done you got paid to do this you got additional exposure and promotions for this so overall some of my takeaways from my experiences of being rejected is that realizing that it's rarely because you are a bad artist okay like I know I'm not a bad artist I know that I have certain tastes and sensibilities that might not be in alignment with every project out there and it's really unrealistic for somebody to expect themselves to be able to suddenly fit every style of every show out there otherwise you wouldn't have an identity as an artist and I feel like it is important to have a balance between being a generalist but also having your own voice like yes be good at doing multiple things but also yeah be good at embracing who you are at the same time in general I do think it is hard to really tell if what you are creating with your own work is aligning with these projects out there when you don't even know what they are so you're kind of submitting your portfolio in the hope that it might fit with this project out there but the best thing that I can recommend for you to do if you really want to put in the effort to do this is to create one portfolio for TV work and then for this other storyboard portfolio to have like a whole cinematic film style board and to like submit only the TV styled one to TV positions and only apply the film styled one to film Productions but I'm just saying if you have the extra time and if you feel like you don't know what is not working with your storyboard portfolio or portfolio in general to create a portfolio that is Catered towards what the job position itself is asking for I know it's a lot of additional work but I'm just saying this for anybody who really does not know what else to do I'm starting to realize how much a job is really just a job even though you're working in animation looking back just thinking about it I'm just like you know when I was a kid I really watched like those 2D Disney Renaissance films and animes that really got me into wanting to do animation but like is that really exactly what is the market out there it's not like anybody is really doing those 2D animation Renaissance films so I feel like the idea of applying to your dream job kind of changes over time and you think what you wanted to do as a kid is still what you want to do now but it might not exactly be that and I do find that even though I do love working in the animation industry and working on animated projects a job is still a job I work on projects and I don't really think about it that much once like six or seven PM hits or once the weekend hits I just like to Pretend This animation project that I'm a part of doesn't exist and I think about my own projects I think about my own life I think about where I want to travel I think about how I want to spend my time I don't really think about my identity being tied towards a job position anymore another thing I like to think about is your career is like a restaurant and your animation job is just one of the dishes that you serve I like to think of myself just being an artist and doing a storyboarding is just one of the dishes I serve but hey I also do graphic novels I also do personal comics and I also make videos helping others out there who want to get into the Arts so I don't like to be fit into a box and I feel like so far my life personally has benefited by doing these multiple things so I will continue doing it because even though it's not a thing that I really thought about being when I was a kid it is something that the me now has seen positive results coming out of so I'm just gonna continue doing this and I do feel like as time goes on careers are starting to become more malleable and not exactly like oh I am purely just a storyboard artist and that is it and other things to remember is that things like seniority cannot be helped if you don't get hired because you don't have seven years of experience well I can't help it you know I wasn't alive for more than 27 years of my life as of now and if there's somebody who is 40 years old and has that additional like 10 years of experience you cannot change the year you were born you cannot change when you graduated you cannot change how many years you've worked in the industry to qualify for this job position and you know there is some comfort in knowing that that is an element you cannot control so yeah rejection at the end of the day is just a part of life even if you did not experience it in your job or career world you probably have experienced it and other parts of your life whether it be romantically friendships relationships financially and I ultimately feel like even though rejection initially sucks and yes it hurts It ultimately is a learning experience at the end of the day so if you do receive any rejection letters because I do know it is graduation season right now just know that this is not the end for you whatsoever you know after I got all of these rejection emails by the way this is only just some of them like I've received so many more than just these ones but obviously a video can only a lot so much so just know that just because you got some rejection letters it doesn't mean it's the end of your life or career at all once you start working you're gonna realize that life is just so much more than this and none of this will matter in like five years from now like I already forgot what are some of these positions I applied for don't take it too personally I hope that this video is anything provided you some comfort and knowing that hey at least I wasn't the only one out there and at least Michelle also experienced rejection you know so other than that I hope that me exposing myself helped you and I will see you all in the next one so again check out Mish the bad demon it's in the links below if you would like to read it and I will see you all in the next one foreign [Music]

Channel: mewTripled

Views: 12,038

Keywords: animation, art, artists, money, finances, business, book, publishing, graphic novel, anime, manga, cartoon, artist, illustrator, freelance, income, how much i make, full time artist, art career, career, animation industry, storyboard artist, storyboard, los angeles, california, tutorial, art trips and tricks, art tutorial, improvement, improve your art, social media, art school, class, journal, jobs, acceptance, rejection, rejection emails, studios, pixar, dreamworks, disney, netflix, art tips

Id: D9WKVTYRCUw

Length: 31min 22sec (1882 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 28 2023