Another exciting interview! This time with an inspiring woman in film. I connected with Lindsay over Instagram, and she was so kind to allow me to interview her. Lindsay is an animator and director based in Los Angeles, currently working for Stoopid Buddy Stoodios. One of her most impressive credits is the popular television show, Robot Chicken! Read ahead to discover Lindsay's journey from a live action student, to one of the world's few pixilation artists, to a character animator, and finally a director.
Anisha: Thank you for letting me interview you! I saw you on my Instagram and I thought, “Oh wow! A girl doing stop mo.” So I looked up your [work] and was incredibly impressed, and thought wow she’s so cool, I have to talk to her!
Lindsay: Aww, wow! Thanks! That's a big compliment. *Laughs*
Anisha: I creeped on your video and I saw your character reel and your IMDb and and I saw that you animated for Robot Chicken!
Lindsay: Yeah! Wow it’s gosh it’s funny [because] it wasn’t until this year that I started reflecting on my career. I think it’s because I’m always kind of hungry for more, and I guess my character defect is I’m never satisfied or I never think I’m doing enough...I have imposter syndrome still.
This year I’ve had a [lot of time] for reflection because honestly this year my career has kind of skyrocketed. I give talks at a lot of schools...and at one point I realized, oh my god! Holy shit! I’m actually kind of a veteran. Even my coworkers were calling me Buddy’s core team, or one of the heads of departments, and I don’t head one of the departments at Buddy but you know [they saw me as] one of the top tier...and I was like what?
It’s really nice! I’m really glad people feel open to give me compliments like that because as cheesy as it sounds I don’t think I would’ve ever considered myself as any of those things unless someone just told me.
Anisha: You totally should though!
Lindsay: Oh that’s nice! Well thank you! *Laughs*
Anisha: Well anyways, I’m Anisha! I am a senior at Florida State University‘s college of motion picture arts and specializing in stop motion. I love stop motion (obviously), so I’m [creating] this blog Where I experiment with building Armature’s and interview industry professionals because I just want to learn as much as I can about stop motion. My first question is about your story. How did you get started in animation to how did you end up where you are now?
Lindsay: *Laughs* I cackled because this is actually a really good story. I will start by saying that I didn’t really study animation in college. I will try to make it concise. I am a very type A personality, and I’m very hyper focused, and I work really fucking hard towards one goal like a workhorse. Even in high school I was super hyper focused. I was like, “I am going to be a live action director.” So I looked at colleges, and I fell in love with the school, Rochester Institute of Technology, which is RIT. I got in, which was really exciting, and started studying live action. But how the school works is that you declare whether you’re live action or animation your sophomore year. Your freshman year, they make you take classes in everything. It’s actually a really great model because people who come in and think they want to be a 2D animator, but maybe they fall in love with 3D rigging, and they didn’t even know that was a thing, [they can do that]. So even the people who say they want to do live action, the school makes them do animation stuff. And they make people who maybe want to be an animator take a director of photography class. They even have this animation 101 class where they actually make you do mostly stop motion. I was doing that class, and it’s funny because my parents aren’t really technically artists. I mean my mom is really creative and has a lot of artistic qualities, but this is so out of there realm. And I remember them saying, “You know, have you considered doing stop motion? You’re one of the best in the class, and you seem to be most excited about showing us your animation [projects] from this class.” And I was like, parents! Grow up! *Laughs* no one is a stop motion animator...do you want me to die on the side of the road from being poor? I was like, be responsible! How about your daughter goes into a career where she can make money? And they were like, “Oh okay, we don’t know.” *Laughs* Whenever I say I didn’t pursue animation, it pursued me… It’s completely true it. Animation just kept shoving itself in my life, specifically stop motion, over and over again. And I kept laughing it away very violently until I couldn’t ignore it anymore. And when I couldn’t ignore any more was my junior year. I was already on a live action craft track...and there was this boy. And I was like, oh! What classes are you taking next year? And he was like, “I’m taking this alternative frame by frame class.” And I was like, what? What’s that? And he was like, “It’s really cool! It’s like animation but live action. It’s like all the experimental side of stop motion where are you animate people.” Basically it was a class about pixilation animation.
"Animation just kept shoving itself in my life, specifically stop motion, over and over again. And I kept laughing it away very violently until I couldn’t ignore it anymore."
Anisha: Aw that’s awesome! I love that. I love pixilation!
Lindsay: Oh my gosh! I am the pixelation QUEEN, quite literally!
It was cut out animation and light painting and pixilation...all the experimental side of stop motion in one class. And honestly at the time I would’ve never taken that class but I had a huge crush on this boy. And he was like, “We could do projects together!” And I was like, oh!!! So I ended up taking the class. In about two weeks into the class, I couldn’t give two shits about the boy. Instead I was in love, love, LOVE with this artform, specifically pixilation animation. I didn’t want to do anything but make pixilation art, from waking to sleeping. I remember being so mad at my professor Tom Gasek. I was like, fuck you. You introduced me to this amazing thing and [now] I don’t want to do anything else, and I hate you for it because how am I going to make a career out of this? I can’t go back to live action. And he was like, “Buckle up! I’ll show you how.” Basically he took me on, and we worked very closely together, and he introduced me to this clan where we got to push each other and make art. So when I graduated I was one of the only truly trained pixilation artists in the world. There were like five of us. Which is great...kind of a weird place to be in. I was picked up to be a director in New York City by a company end it was great because I was guaranteed any pixelation job that came through...but we weren’t making that many pixilation. Like how many pixilations are really done? It was like four jobs a year maybe. They let me be their administrative assistant in between directing jobs since they were pretty long. I eventually moved up to assistant producer there since I had a lot of producer study, and I was really good at that.
"I was in love, love, LOVE with this artform, specifically pixilation animation. I didn’t want to do anything but make pixilation art, from waking to sleeping."
I was obsessed with this other director which was buddy systems on the roster, and we were always pitted against each other for jobs. They were in LA and I was in New York with just me and my boyfriend at the time, [pretending] to be this much larger studio that we were not. So we want some jobs against them, they want some jobs against us.I kept sending them my resume like, “Save me from this hell!” And they just ignored me! In fact it’s funny, I work with Mario now and he knew I was sending my resume back in 2011 being like, “Mario! Save me!” And then the company went under that I [worked for]. And they owed me a ton of money for two jobs that they hadn’t paid me for. Basically I sat down with them during an exit interview and [said], “Listen, you have two choices. Either I saw you or you get me an interview with Buddy system.” And they said, “Well we’re going to get you that interview because we don’t fucking wanna be sued.” And they got me the interview, but they were like, “You have to take your 20 foot truck from New York to LA and you leave in five hours.” And I was like, “Okay but I get to bring my best friend and a comfy credit card,” and they were like, “Fine?” So that was my truck to LA. I lied saying that I lived in LA. When I arrived on Buddy Systems lot it was just part of one of the owner’s garage. I thought I bombed the interview because we didn’t talk about animation at all. I drove across the entire country and we talked about stealing candy from kids on Halloween and all this random stuff. But I dropped Tom Gasek’s name, because they were talking a little bit about my history, and I just said I studied under Tom Gasek. And they were like, “Oh! That’s nice.” And that was it. I went home super defeated thinking I really fucked it up. Also Buddy Systems wasn’t as big as I thought it was. It was just someone’s garage; they don’t really need people. I really messed up. But two days later, I get a call, and they were awarded Robot Chicken, so they were expanding into these warehouses. [They] said, “Hey, I talked to Tom.” Tom basically gave me my first job ever in stop motion.
Anisha: Wow! So you’ve been there since the beginning really!
Lindsay: Yeah! I helped build Stoopid Buddy Stoodios from Buddy Systems into the warehouses we’re in now. We have multiple warehouses depending on the year you’re referencing but I think right now we have three or four.
"I helped build Stoopid Buddy Stoodios from Buddy Systems into the warehouses we’re in now."
Anisha: That’s insane!
Lindsay: It’s crazy! I’m like an OB, an old buddy. I was like, oh shit! And they kind of created a position for me because I had a heavy producing background, but I also knew animation but I didn’t know character animation. I was only doing pixelation remember, so I knew how to animate, but not characters. That’s a completely different thing. But I understood it so they made a position for me which was animation coordinator, where I was basically the animation supervisor’s number one person. And the short of it from there is I’ll move to LA, I did that job for a while, [and] I studied under the animation supervisor who knew I wanted to become an animator. I would work all day and then I would go home and do animation test in my garage. I [would] bring them in for other animators and the animation supervisor to look at and critique, until I was good enough to start demanding that I get onto shots to help the show [if] there was an open shot and there wasn’t an animator on it. I was like, why not just throw me on it, it’d help the show. So I started doing more shots, and was eventually offered an animation position. There was a lot in between there but that’s kind of the bare bones of it.
"I would work all day and then I would go home and do animation test in my garage. I [would] bring them in for other animators and the animation supervisor to look at and critique, until I was good enough to start demanding that I get shots to help the show."
I’ve been animation pretty much year round... Think I’m got moved up in 2014 to be an animator and now I’m directing!
Anisha: No way! Congratulations!
Lindsay: Yeah! Thank you! I’ve been on four different shows maybe five, but multiple seasons of them. I’ve been a game player on some other shows, and tons of commercials, and [I’m currently working] on a huge music video that I can’t talk about. *Laughs*
Anisha: *Laughs* I'm excited to find out eventually!
Lindsay: *Laughs* December! December! All I can say is that it’s with four very huge artists. It’s a very big deal.
Anisha: Okay, I have some guesses but I’ll keep my mouth shut and wait until December!
Lindsay: *Laughs* Yeah! I guess that’s the long and short of my entire life!
Anisha: That’s incredibly impressive! I’m just processing all of that! So you basically learn how to character animator on the job, correct?
Lindsay: *Laughs* yeah! I legit had very little experience, and like I said I studied live action and animation, but I kind of made my own career. The amount of puppets that I touched was very minimal and it wasn’t until I got hired on the first job at Stoopid Buddy, which was Robot Chicken, when I actually started touching puppet in applying what I knew about animation to a human-like puppet form. I attribute two people to my entire career, Tom Gasek, and the animation supervisor [at Stoopid Buddy], Alex Kamer. I call Alex Kamer my animation dad. He really believed in me. He saw something in me. I don’t know if this is the insecure artist part of me, because I could see how I could be easily overlooked at the time…the animation I did at the time was cut out and light painting and animating human bodies and time lapse. And to look at that and think that someone could be a really good character animator, you really have to look. Also it was something about me as a person, I don’t know what it was. I feel very lucky that he really believed in me, and has always believed in me. I still learn from him every day. Even with this music video I’m directing, I went to him for advice. He still at the studio. He’s killing it. He’s amazing. I owe him so much.
"The amount of puppets that I touched was very minimal and it wasn’t until I got hired on the first job at Stoopid Buddy, which was Robot Chicken, when I actually started touching puppet in applying what I knew about animation to a human-like puppet form."
Anisha: That’s nice that you have such great mentors in the industry! And your animation program sounds amazing as well!
Lindsay: Yeah! Again, it’s actually because of Tom! Even when I was in school he was in the industry. I think he animated some on Fantastic Mr. Fox and a few shots on Coraline. He wasn’t just some old guy who studied animation and knew a lot. He was very current and very beloved in the animation industry, which is very helpful to have someone like a professor who is still current, and knows the industry really well. He is, gosh...he’s invited to my wedding! He’s family.
Anisha: Aww! It’s inspiring to hear how you found your way to animation. Just like you, I also started out in live action, and although I always loved stop motion, I recently switched over to working towards a career in it.
Lindsay: Yeah! I think animation found me, I don’t know. *Laughs*
Even Alex, who I keep referring to as my animation dad, he started out and live action too. He was an animation intern when he started, and now he’s head of the entire animation department at Buddy. When there’s a will there’s a way. I always think that hard work trumps talent. I know that it's overused, but I think that if you have a good attitude and you want to work hard, that will take you so much further than just being on aloof super talented studied animator any day.
"I always think that hard work trumps talent. I know that it's overused, but I think that if you have a good attitude and you want to work hard, that will take you so much further than just being on aloof super talented studied animator any day."
Anisha: That’s really inspiring to hear! I guess leading from that question, what’s your typical day like?
Lindsay: *Laughs* right now it’s fucking crazy but that’s not usual...I’m animating on a show, while in production for my music video, and I’m directing three commercials on the side. All the clients decided to do everything at the same time. I would not ever have it this way, but I’ve been talking to these clients. It usually doesn’t happen where a client is like, “Hey! We’re contacting you to do this music video!” And you’re like okay! And they say, “Great! Let’s start in a week.” Usually it’s months of, not even pro-production, just talking, and, “What about this timeline?” or, “What about this budget? Now we have to sign contracts,” and now it’s going to take forever...and finally out of nowhere everything just greenlights, and all of [my projects] happened at once, so I’m like, fuck you all. *Laughs*
But a normal day...let’s say I’m just animating on a show. Well I get up super, stupid early. But that’s because I have a dog, I’m walking him right now! I’m a very athletic person. I like to work out before I go to work. I rarely shower before work. That is just my life! I show up in my workout gear. My work day starts at 9am and I usually try to get there fifteen minutes beforehand so I can put all my food in the fridge, grab some tea (I’m not really a coffee person), and get to my stage.
For [anyone] who doesn’t know what a stage is...I’ll talk about this show. For this show there are twenty curtained rooms. They’re just like curtained boxes beside each other. Each one has a very large animation table with a set on it and a lightning set-up. The black curtains keep the light from one scene from bleeding into its neighbor scene, and also so we can work in peace. Whenever the shot is being set up, one of the curtains is open so you can see in. Once the animator starts working, they close the curtain. No one is allowed in without permission. That’s what a stage is. They’re all numbered. You switch stages based on the shot and what’s available. I might come in and I might not even know what stage I’m on so I go to the big board which has each stage number and all the shots that will be shot for the next couple weeks on that stage in order, and it’ll have someone’s name on it. So I’ll see, “Lindsay on stage four,” and I’ll go, “Okay, I’ll go there!” So I take all my stuff and go to stage four, and maybe lightning is setting up or something...and I kind of sit there. Whenever the crew is setting up your shot, there can be a lot of sitting and waiting around as an animator. I’ll come [in], look at the animatic, talk to the director, and [s/he] will tell me on what’s going on a little bit. In television you have a lot of creative freedom as an animator. A lot of what I do is actually from my brain. I’m not really told to do it. The only thing is that the director tells [me] is the important beats. Even if it’s like, the [characters] need to walk from here to here so it links up to the next shot. Or, [the character] needs to hold up the prop really high because the prop is important to the joke. Or, [the character] needs to fall down extremely silly because it’s important to the joke. It’s all about selling the joke. But how he falls down, or how he walks, or what he says, or his facial expressions, or anything [other] than the main beats in the scene, completely comes from the animator. [It’s] really fun. In feature work it’s not necessarily like that. It’s a lot different. You have to do pop throughs first, then you animate it on twos, then you get approval, and then you animate it for real...you have to animate the scene basically three times...it’s a lot. I like television. I feel like it’s more fun. But feature work can be very rewarding, although it’s a lot slower, and can be a lot more intense.
"In television you have a lot of creative freedom as an animator. A lot of what I do is actually from my brain. I’m not really told to do it. The only thing is that the director tells [me] is the important beats."
Anyways, my day...eventually the set people will be done, and the lightning people will be done lightning it, and everyone gives their approval, and then I start. The curtain closes, I animate the scene, and I call the director in to approve whatever I did. And then it gets approved. Then I either stay on that stage and do another scene that’s going to be set up [quickly], or [the crew] will [say], “We have to completely reangle it and put new puppets in,” and they’ll probably bounce me to like stage twenty, because that one is closer to being ready. [That’s] why [animators] bounce around stages. And at 12pm we have an hour long lunch break. We’re not allowed to work during the lunch break unless we get special permission, which is pretty rare. Then at 6pm I leave. Then the next day I do it again. I work Monday through Friday. The only reason I’m staying pretty late, coming in early, and working through lunches is because I’m also directing this music video there.
Anisha: So generally, animating is a very nine to six job, and you don’t work on the weekends?
Lindsay: Yes. Sometimes if a show gets behind, which is a lot of the time, they’ll have optional Saturdays. But it’s optional. They don’t look down on you...it’s not quote on quote optional where if you don’t take it you’re not a team player, it’s basically, “Do you want extra money? Because we’re offering it.” You get overtime. I’ve done it, when I think I could use an extra [few] dollars. I’m like whatever, fuck it. I’ll work a Saturday.
There’s different departments for everything. There’s an animation department where all we do is animate. We don’t do anything else. There’s a lighting department where all they do is light. They don’t do anything else. There’s a set department where all they do is build the set and the props. There’s a puppet department, a digital design department, a post department, a storyboard department...so it’s very department-ized.
Once you get launched on a shot, the curtain closes, everyone leaves, and you are free to do your creative process basically in room by yourself with your set, the lights, and the puppets. The only time people are allowed in is when they knock and you allow them to. It’s almost like an office. If someone were to walk in [while] I’m shooting, and they didn’t ask, that’s terms to be fired. It’s a really big deal. It’s interesting. Everyone has their own creative way of animating and their process. We do have a seconds quota...which is where my instagram handle comes from. My instagram handle is @10secondday. The reason for that is in television, our quota is ten seconds a day. It’s really important as an animator to hit your quota each day.
"Everyone has their own creative way of animating and their process. We do have a seconds quota...which is where my instagram handle comes from. My instagram handle is @10secondday. The reason for that is in television, our quota is ten seconds a day."
Anisha: Aww that’s cute! I like that. But ten seconds a day...that’s a lot!
Lindsay: It is a lot. Television goes fast. It’s really fast. If you’re not consistently hitting your quota, someone might talk to you. But you’re not expected to hit it everyday. Like I said, there’s been days where I’ve come in, and no stages have been ready for me all day long. [Those days,] I won’t animate even a single second. That’s not my fault. Or today, my stage wasn’t ready until 11:30am. Then I got put on a shot that was really complicated, and it was only six seconds long, but it was really complicated so it took me the whole rest of the day because there were puppets walking, and someone had to spit another puppet out of its mouth...it’s a lot of stuff going on. They’re going to be understanding of that. No one would expect me to get ten seconds on a day where I was launched late with a hard shot. But there’s some days where you might get fifteen seconds. [That] was me last week. I was blowing through shots and getting like twelve, fifteen, seventeen seconds in a day. So you kind of make up for it. But they were simple shots. It was like characters talking and close ups, which you can just bust through. So everything is with a grain of salt. But let’s say for entire month you didn’t hit your quote, people will start to be like, “Dude...” But I use that as a motivator in my day. Why I made my instagram handle that...and my creative process...I figure it’s a lot of math. I just set myself a goal of getting ten seconds every day. How I do that is I allow myself breaks. I break it up every hour once I get launched on a shot. If my shot is ten seconds long, which would be convenient, and I have six hours to do that, I figure out of how many frames I have to do per hour. My reward to myself is that if I get done with that amount of frames before the hour is up, I just take a break for the rest of the hours. Some people would hate to work that way, but it keeps me focused and it gives me goals. I really like goals. It also keeps me fresh and gives me breaks. And what’s great is that because that curtain is closed, if I take a twenty minute break, no one sees it. No one yells at me. But at the end of the day, I’m still getting my seconds, so no one cares. Whatever my process is to get my work done, it’s respected, which is really nice. We’re all artists, so everyone works in a different way. I put away my phone and think, “I can’t check instagram until I get seventy five frames before eleven am...oh my gosh, I have ten minutes left, cool, I can go on instagram.” *Laughs* It’s so sad, but that’s literally how my brain works.
"Television goes fast. It’s really fast. If you’re not consistently hitting your quota, someone might talk to you. But you’re not expected to hit it everyday."
Anisha: If it works, it works, and clearly you’re killing it! So right now you work at Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, correct?
Lindsay: Yes.
Anisha: What’s the working environment there?
Lindsay: As far as stop motion studios go, it’s a little more on the corporate side. No stop motion studios are really corporate. They’re all pretty laid back. But I would say Buddy is one of the bigger studios, and so by nature they have to have some pomp and circumstance, and bureaucracy to the way they work. I could have brought my music video to any studio in LA, and I did interview almost every studio there, and I kind of decided with how high profile the clients are in this music video, Stoopid Buddy is owned by celebrities, there are celebrities in there all the time...they’re used to dealing with budgets from something small like thirty thousand dollars to millions and millions of dollars. Also [they’re used to] dealing with clients that have certain sign off approvals, and they have lawyers backing them...it’s a really big well-oiled machine in that way. They probably give the most support which is why I ended up going with them.
"As far as stop motion studios go, it’s a little more on the corporate side. No stop motion studios are really corporate. They’re all pretty laid back. But I would say Buddy is one of the bigger studios, and so by nature they have to have some pomp and circumstance, and bureaucracy to the way they work."
Everyone there, like the artists that work there, they’re like family. It’s not like suit and tie at all...like I said, I show up literally from the gym. I’m sweaty in the clothes I’ve been wearing for three days, and no one gives a shit. If I dress nice, people are really confused. You’re working with power tools, and getting clay all over you...if you wear nice clothes, it’s actually kind of weird.
The people there all family. To me, it’s like working with your friends, but we all get shit done. It is nice to work beside people you’re inspired by, and that you like. Everyone can speak candidly. Friday nights we all go out for beers or whatever. Every place has its pros and cons. Buddy has been very kind to me, and I’m very grateful. Every time [I] come into the studio, I always feels like I’m coming home for Thanksgiving. It’s also because for me, in animation terms, it’s almost as if I grew up there. It’s really nice. I’m also very familiar with the workflow there since I’ve been there for so long. But I am hungry to work at other places. It’s hard though, because Buddy offers me pretty much all the jobs that come through there, which is amazing! And I’m not going to turn down work, but as a result, I haven’t really worked at other studios. Definitely not for long projects. I’ve been a day player here and there, but I’ve been working pretty much full time at Buddy for years and years and years. My goal right now is to work a long term project at another studio just to try it. But we’ll see if that ever happens. *Laughs* I keep working at Buddy. But I’m also happy, so we’ll see what happens.
"The people there all family. To me, it’s like working with your friends, but we all get shit done. It is nice to work beside people you’re inspired by, and that you like. Every time [I] come into the studio, I always feels like I’m coming home for Thanksgiving. It’s also because for me, in animation terms, it’s almost as if I grew up there."
Anisha: How many years have you been at Buddy?
Lindsay: Since 2012. February 2012. So I’m coming up on seven or eight years.
Anisha: Your other clients...do they contact you directly?
Lindsay: Yes. The jobs I’m directing are my projects. The music video I brought to Buddy, but it’s not their project. It’s my project, but they’re producing it.
Anisha: So you asked Buddy to be a part of it?
Lindsay: Yes.
Anisha: Any favorite moments of your career?
Lindsay: It’s always been a lot of small things, in a good way. A lot of daily, small things. I remember when I first got my animation credit, how good that felt. [The feeling] was irreplaceable. I took a screenshot of [the] animators, and my name was there.
"I remember when I first got my animation credit, how good that felt. [The feeling] was irreplaceable."
Honestly, landing this huge music video as a director has [made me] so happy, and so empowered. It’s just been a very validating, challenging, and rewarding experience. [It’s] my first huge job as a director. I’ve directed little things, but they’ve been mostly random commercials, which has been really great. I love doing [commercials], but I’ve never done [something] this big, with this big of a budget, and this big of a crew. It’s a good time right now.
I also remember one of my first shots as an animator...what I saw in my head was actually what I animated. *Laughs* As an animator, sometimes you have this idea of what you want, and it’s not that the shot is bad, but it definitely turned out a lot different. And you go, “Well this works...” but it’s not what you saw in your head.
"Honestly, landing this huge music video as a director has [made me] so happy, and so empowered. It’s just been a very validating, challenging, and rewarding experience. [It’s] my first huge job as a director."
Anisha: Do you get a lot of feedback/critique on your shots?
Lindsay: It depends on the director and the animation supervisor. I’m a person who’s really hungry for feedback. I make it really known with my supervisors to critique me hard. Even if it doesn’t mean I have to redo the shot, if it’s like, “This shot is great, but if you did this, it would be stronger,” or, “Watch out for this...be careful to not do that.” They know that I like that, and that I really actually need it. On certain shows I really get that, and it’s great. On others...there are great directors, but they don’t do that as much even though I’ve asked for it. [It’s] fine, but I don’t personally grow as much [without feedback]. I always ask for it. Some directors point out just what they like, and you feel really good about yourself, but I also want to get better.
Anisha: What’s the most difficult thing about your job/the industry?
Lindsay: I will be honest. I usually talk about this in my college talks. You got to be prepared that you’re going to be poor. A lot of people think, animator! They think Pixar. I don’t know how much a Dreamworks or Pixar animator makes, but I know it’s more than 150,000 dollars per year. Stop motion animators, I will be upfront, we barely make living wage to live in LA. Personally, I work year round. I work my fucking ass off. I can say this in confidence, and you can probably talk to anyone who knows me. I work so hard. I work multiple jobs. Before I started directing on the side, I even bartended on the weekends. I never stopped working. A lot of it was because I never felt like I had financial security. I worked paycheck to paycheck, even though I worked all year round. I want to have savings. I will never buy a house. But it’s possible...in the words of a great animation friend, you just keep your overhead low, and if you love what you do, the sacrifice is worth it. I’m not living in squalor. It’s the type of thing where my lifestyle...I have to save. I have to budget. I can’t always go out to eat. Some people prioritize their money differently. I’m very type A. I like to save my money to make sure I’m putting money into retirement, and making sure I’m being a responsible human. For instance, I need new running shoes, but I know I can’t afford them for three or four weeks from now. It’s stupid things like that. But picking up these extra jobs is definitely a big help. You have to be good with money. You will have hiatuses too. Those can suck. It can be a few months between television shows. Television shows go for six to nine months, which is long. But in between you just get a minimal unemployment check. You have to make sure you have a savings to do that.
"You got to be prepared that you’re going to be poor. Stop motion animators, I will be upfront, we barely make living wage to live in LA. Personally, I work year round."
I will say the hardest thing is if you want a family. I will be honest. There aren’t many people who have families who are in stop motion, because you can’t afford it. Maybe marry rich? *Laughs* There’s a few [families]. But as long as you’re prepared for that. You’re not going to be so poor that you won’t be able to survive. But you’re not going to be able to...I don’t want to say have a comfortable life...but at least in my life, I have a lot of weeks where I worry about money.
Anisha: It seems as though it’s a little hard to get by...but you love what you do?
Lindsay: Oh, yeah. I have many talents. I could go into a lot of different other careers, but I don’t want to. And there’s a reason for that. I feel very fulfilled, and I’m very happy. And I do have everything I need. My apartment is dope. And I can still have a dog. And I have my dream car. But I definitely had to hustle for those things. I think it’s worth it.
"I could go into a lot of different other careers, but I don’t want to. And there’s a reason for that. I feel very fulfilled, and I’m very happy. If you truly love it, the whole budget thing is not that big of a deal. You’ll make it work."
Burnout is different from not liking your job. Burnout just means you need a week to not do art, and then you want to do it again. If you truly love it, the whole budget thing is not that big of a deal. You’ll make it work.
Anisha: Do you still do pixilation?
Lindsay: Oh, yeah! Light painting, pixilation...that’s my true art form self. I love doing puppet stuff, don’t get me wrong, but if you truly hire me for directing job, you’re going to hire me for that kind of stuff. Or that’s what I’m going to pitch you. I’m always waiting for the client that will let me do that stuff. There’s not many, but that’s my jam!
Anisha: Do you have anything else you’d like to add? Any advice for anyone interested in stop motion?
"My advice is to never stop being hungry. The moment you get satisfied, is the moment you get stagnant. And I don’t mean stagnant in your career where you won’t be hired...I mean stagnant as an artist where you’re not pushing yourself, and you’re not improving upon your craft, and you’re not making new connections."
Lindsay: My advice is to never stop being hungry. What I mean by that is whether you’re starting out, or whether you’ve been animating professionally for six years, you should never let yourself not get hungry for something. The moment you get satisfied, is the moment you get stagnant. And I don’t mean stagnant in your career where you won’t be hired...I mean stagnant as an artist where you’re not pushing yourself, and you’re not improving upon your craft, and you’re not making new connections. Those are where, beyond the financial gain, you become fulfilled as a person. For me, if my animation isn’t improving, I’m just not happy, and I’m not enjoying the work anymore. When I’m continually hungry, and I keep trying to look to satisfy that, that’s when my career improves. That’s when my pay improves, and opportunities come my way. Putting yourself out there as much as possible, even if it’s uncomfortable, is one of the best things you can do. When I decided I wanted to get into directing again, I just started telling people. [It] may seem hard, because [you] have doubts. [I think], “People are going to think I’m dumb,” or, “Lindsay, why would she want to be a director?” No one is saying that. You just [have to] put it out in the universe as something that you want. People will hear it, and [they’re] usually pretty receptive to helping you get there. Put [your work] out there! Everyone has been there. Everyone has been at that stage. No one’s going to think that’s the only thing you’re capable of. If anything, it’s fun to watch you improve! I post shots I don’t like! Some of the shots on my instagram...I wasn’t even a good animator then. But I post it. Because it’s all part of my process. And I still made it. And people still like it! *Laughs* Even if you’re like, this isn’t good. Whatever! Do your thing. And be hungry.
"You just [have to] put it out in the universe as something that you want. People will hear it, and [they’re] usually pretty receptive to helping you get there. Put [your work] out there! Everyone has been there."
Thank you so much Lindsay for taking the time to speak with me! It truly is inspiring to see a woman thriving in the animation industry as both an animator AND a director. I learned a lot, especially about how a stop motion animation studio is run, and got some helpful tips for animating myself! If you would like to learn more about Lindsay Berkenbile, or follow her on her many adventures, check out her Instagram:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/10secondday
Cool interview! Hope to see more in the future