CMC 2018 | Tips and Hits from Animated Women

The CMC panel TIPS AND HITS FROM ANIMATED WOMEN was set up to tackle the fact that gender parity in the entertainment industry is far from a given. Examples such as the recent report on the gender pay gap, and the #MeToo movement, have made that very clear.

But instead of pointing fingers, our aim was to address bad practice by demonstrating good practice. We wanted to celebrate the many women who have succeeded in the animation business, by getting them to describe their journeys and talk about obstacles that may have had to overcome.

Positivity was key. The session was kicked off with a short speech by Changemaker Anna Hollinrake, a games artist just starting out in the business. Anna was keen to stress the importance of balance and self-care, in an industry that can sometimes entail long and stressful hours and not a whole heap of gratitude. It was therefore important for the rest of the session to show positive examples of how we can look after ourselves by celebrating our achievements and successes and in doing so address questions about equality and confidence.

The role models we chose to help us do that came with a range of experience and backgrounds:

Sarah Fell, Executive Producer at Turner Broadcasting talked about her journey from art school into production. Sarah achieves balance by allowing herself to be inspired by others, while maintaining her own creative vision. Sarah was asked whether she thought animation is a level playing field. She admitted that in the early days of her career, the industry was heavily weighted towards men, but over time, Sarah has been able to champion more and more women in the business and can easily claim gender parity on the shows she produces now, such as THE AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL.

Rebecca Hobbs embarked on a successful screenwriting career via a law degree and a short stint in acting. Her most recent credit is as Head Writer on SADIE SPARKS, a co-production between Brown Bag Films, Cybergroup Studios and Disney EMEA. Rebecca spoke a lot about taking risks and about how fear was sometimes a good motivator! She was also asked about mentors and she was keen to stress importance of finding someone to trust – sometimes we all need the reassurance from someone with experience, that the risks we’re taking are worth taking. Her most poignant piece of advice was some she has once been given – not to climb a ladder too far, only to find it was leaning against the wrong wall.

Up next was Georgina Hurcombe, Producer and Managing Director at LoveLove Films. Georgina was a participant in this year’s Helen North Achieve Programme and talked about the importance of organisations such as Animation Women UK for both networking and support. We know that centuries of conditioning mean we may not change things overnight, but channeling positive examples of where it does work, goes a long way to help nudge progress in the right direction.

Finally, and also from LoveLove Films, was JoAnne Salmon, who as an animator has seen more and more women come through the technical side of the business. She cited the importance of building confidence in those trying to break into the industry, as well as the importance of the role the rest of us play in being role models to those still in the early stages of their careers.

The whole panel was asked what tips they had to share with the rest of the industry to support equality and diversity:

• Building confidence was high on the agenda; so many of us still feel the ‘imposter syndrome’ and battle against the stereotypical idea that women do best in more nurturing, production management roles rather than the more ‘creative’ and ‘technical’ roles. So, we need more role models to speak up, while we also need to rediscover women whom history has over-looked.
• We also need to remember that we make content for a global and diverse audience; both our content and those making it need to be just a global and diverse if we are to paint a true picture of the world we live in to our children.

And speaking of children, the one and only question we had time for from the floor, came from a man, who inevitably asked the ‘how-do-we-deal-with-women-going-off-to-have-babies’ question. I threw this back, to a round of applause, as I truly feel it’s time we stopped making this a women-only issue, it’s an issue for parents, whatever gender. First of all, we shouldn’t assume all women want, or can, have children. It is not a question we ever ask men. Secondly, as technology now enables us all to work flexibly, this is a conversation men should be having amongst themselves too – it should not be up to us to tell them what equality looks like all the time.

Overall it was a session full of energy and it remained thoroughly positive throughout. Although the number of women in the industry has increased significantly over the last few years, we still need to support and champion and celebrate one another, as we do deserve to be here!