
How an Episode of the Simpsons Is Made (2015) - mhb
http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/25/9457247/the-simpsons-al-jean-interview
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btown
> The process doesn't so much start again, as it continues. As the production
> ramps, multiple episodes are in development at once, with every step of the
> process constantly overlapping. You understand why the writers — and
> everyone else involved — would need a retreat.

The Japanese animated series Shirobako is an excellent depiction of this
phenomenon, and it details almost every aspect of the OP's article - an anime
about making anime, it follows a project manager at a small studio needing to
make tradeoffs between allocating resources to the current deadline vs.
falling behind on the next one. (Which should be familiar to all of us!)

The tightness of this pipeline is much more aggressive than many might
realize: this diagram
[https://i.imgur.com/xRVd3xW.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/xRVd3xW.jpg) (translated
supplementary material for the show) depicts an _ideal_ situation.

For any fans of animation with sufficient time, I highly recommend watching
the show itself; it's highly illuminating and entertaining:
[http://www.crunchyroll.com/shirobako](http://www.crunchyroll.com/shirobako)

As a side note, the supply and demand for labor in the anime industry is at a
very interesting point. There's a significant bubble keeping animator salaries
essentially at the poverty line in Japan: animators do the work for such low
prices out of passion for the art, but in turn fewer individuals are training
for the positions while demand for production is at record levels, so there
may be a crisis that changes this pattern. As in software, offshoring can only
go so far when end users demand a certain level of quality and consistency
with prior work. See: [http://goboiano.com/anime-industry-faces-animator-
shortage-c...](http://goboiano.com/anime-industry-faces-animator-shortage-
crisis-that-could-damage-future-productions/) and another salary comparison
chart from Shirobako that demonstrates how deep the problem goes:
[https://i.redd.it/uwirci3iubvx.jpg](https://i.redd.it/uwirci3iubvx.jpg)

~~~
Keyframe
This is fascinating, and nice timing. I'm doing a production schedule of a
live TV series as I type this. It's somewhat similar.

Looking at those salaries, up to episode director's one, can one live with
that at all in Japan? I've been there on a few occasions and I know 'shit's
expensive, yo'. These salaries are comparable to Eastern Europe, more or less.

edit: ah, STARTING salary.. not average. Makes more sense.

~~~
btown
Nope, NOT starting salaries. More along the lines of microwave dinners and
closet-sized rooms. See:

[https://twitter.com/kenarto/status/848182329566560257](https://twitter.com/kenarto/status/848182329566560257)
: equivalent of 1050 euros per month

[http://kotaku.com/being-an-animator-in-japan-is-
brutal-16902...](http://kotaku.com/being-an-animator-in-japan-is-
brutal-1690248803) : At Nakamura pro we were paid $1 per drawing, meaning you
earned between $5 and $25 a day. At Pierrot it`s way better... but still
pretty bad. 1 drawing = $2-$4 .... so on any given day I can earn about $40.
(HORRIBLE by anyone's standards.... but, if you want to work on cool anime,
there's not much choice.) ...Each month at Pierrot I earn about $1000. ......
each month at my previous "slave-labor" studio, I earned about $300 a month...
The less-busy periods are six-day work weeks, ten hours a day.

[http://kotaku.com/the-average-anime-salary-in-japan-is-
shock...](http://kotaku.com/the-average-anime-salary-in-japan-is-shockingly-
low-1700892325) : According to a Japan Animation Creators Association survey
of 759 animators, the average yearly income is 1.1 million yen or
approximately ten thousand dollars. Which is less than a thousand bucks a
month. And that’s working, again, on average, eleven hours a day.

I really should have said "exploitative" instead of "interesting" in my first
post... And my understanding is it's not really the studios' fault either, but
more systemic: studios rarely have the capital to bankroll a show over a
2-year production cycle, so "production committees" of manga/novel publishers,
distributors, music labels, toy companies etc. (all of whom treat modern anime
as a glorified advertising campaign) capture all the upside from any funded
show, and studios need to race to the bottom to compete for their business.
Sad to think that individual pieces of art are treated like widgets on an
assembly line.

~~~
Keyframe
Graphic said starting though, but I see. That's just sad. In Eastern Europe
~1000 Euros per month is ok-ish to good salary, in some countries in EE it's a
great salary. Lots of talent as well, as demonstrated by a large number of
small to medium companies providing outsource work. Especially in poorer
countries in EE where salaries for 2D and 3D work are between 300 and 500
Euros per month on average (Serbia and Macedonia, namely). In Japan though,
that's borderline poverty.

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stuart78
I had alway wondered how they did topical inserts, glad to know its how
everything else last minute comes together: lots of hectic running around...

I haven't watched regularly in quite a few years, but there is something very
nice about the constancy of it being around, always there should we need it.

~~~
azinman2
What's amazing to me is that the process sounds like there's a lot of rushed
deadlines, sprints, etc. Yet the simpsons has had decades to hire and smooth
the entire process out. You'd figure it'd be more rinse and repeat.

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dmitripopov
Hm... For almost 15 years the writing of The Simpsons feels more like
production, not creation. According to the article it should be quite
opposite.

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kstenerud
It's a shame that the writing quality has been in steady decline. It really
became apparent when the sister show "Futurama" was brought back in 2010.
Mostly the same writers, but not even remotely as funny or interesting as
1999-2003, with zero subtlety in the humor.

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ouid
It's amazing all the work that goes into mediocrity.

