Getting recruited in visual effects and building a great demo reel
This is an interview with Stan Szymanski of StanleyVision, a member of our Advisory Board and a recruiting expert.
1. Stan, you‘ve had a successful career in recruiting, you are an artist manager, a consultant, a career mentor and a senior lecturer at OTIS College of Art and Design. You’ve worked as a digital artist, producer, facility manager and studio executive. Would you say that you have a unique perspective in what makes an artist recruitable?
I’ve recruited for large and small companies on an international basis. At Sony Imageworks as SVP of Creative Resources and Digital Production, not only was I responsible for recruiting and talent acquisition but also artist management. Any artist hired at Imageworks who wasn’t an animator, a modeler, or a rigger reported to me. Having managed artists and headed up the creative resource allocation activities at the studio, I understand things from a producer’s point-of-view, I understand recruiting, I understand how the artist mentality works, how the big studio mentality works and also how the senior level executive management of visual effects facilities works. So I do have a pretty unique perspective I guess.
2. As a recruiter, when you look for artists to hire, what is the key thing that you are looking for?
The key thing that I look for is the artist’s skill-level and experience. Let’s just say skill-level, though, because experience is a big part of that skill-level. Anytime anyone ever walks into an interview, there are 3 questions that need to be answered:
Can you do the job? Do you have the creative and technical abilities to do the work we are looking for someone to do? Do you have the necessary experience?
Will you do the job? Which in many cases translates into, “are you really interested in this position? Or will you take anything just to get your foot in the door and then be difficult to manage because you’re going to start politicking for new/different jobs?” This question also includes the amount of compensation the job offers. That is, “can you do the job for what the employer offers?” And finally, “are you willing to relocate?”
How do you fit in? Can you be part of the team? Can you follow directions?
Once the employer gets a yes to every one of these questions then it’s a matter of comparing the candidates who got a yes.
3. Let’s talk a little bit about demo reels. Stan, would you say there is a consensus among studios as to what makes a good demo-reel?
Absolutely, it’s pretty standard.
Make sure that when you open your demo reel you have your name, the position you are applying for, and your contact information. And keep it simple. It needs to be legible, e.g. black type over a white background. Don’t overdesign it; don’t make it too complicated.
Only show us the good stuff.
Adhere to the 15-second rule and put all of your best stuff up front. When an employer or a recruiter looks at your demo reel, you have 15 seconds to grab their attention. Otherwise they’ll fast-forward your reel and if nothing looks interesting they’ll stop it and move on to the next one. You want to open as strong as possible and you want to close as strong as possible. You can think of your demo-reel as being similar to a 3-Act story structure: Act 1 is the most important act as this is where you are trying to grab your audience i.e. the employer. Act 2 is where you are showing the body of your work. And Act 3 should close strong to have your audience remember you and your work.
And the absolute last thing you have to do is you have to repeat that slide that has your name, what job you are applying for, and how someone can contact you. You have to begin and end with that information. And you have to hold it on-screen for the time a recruiter would need to be able to write it down; at least 5 seconds would be ideal.
And now we move to personal preferences. I hate demo-reels that use music with audio. Verbal audio should only be used in a reel if you are doing lip sync on animation. Let’s say somebody uses a song by U2 in their demo reel. That tends to distract me from the work. I’ll start thinking “Oh I remember when I went to see U2 in Vegas. Loved that concert; they were especially impressive when they performed ‘Pride’...” Please remember that you are selling your visuals, you’re not selling the music. Anything that distracts your audience from focusing on the imagery is a mistake and should be avoided at all costs.
4. How do you think artists should select the material they put in a demo-reel?
Only have the good stuff. If you can’t make the decision yourself, show it to people and get their opinions.
You will have to have multiple reels for multiple submissions for different types of positions. A trap that a lot of people fall into is that they create one demo reel that they think is absolutely perfect and then they send it out for everything. If you create one demo-reel and you’ve done modeling, matte painting, lighting, compositing, and effects work and you send it to a company that looks for an FX TD, there’s 75-90% they will not consider you for an FX TD job. In this instance, you’d need to re-cut your reel to showcase your FX work.
Only put in your most current stuff. If you are showing work with nothing more current than 2009 you’re sending the message that you haven’t worked since 2009. Now I realize that this is very challenging as there are many obstacles for an artist trying to get samples of their work to show. But I know it is possible because I see reels all the time.
Stan is an experienced digital media production executive and resource strategist with 30 years of experience in facility management, talent acquisition, and career development. It is fair to say that everyone in the entertainment industry knows Stan and Stan knows them. He currently runs StanleyVision Inc, a consulting recruiting and career-mentoring firm.
For our fourth installment on Scarecrow LIVE! we will have VFX Supervisor Sheena Duggal tell us what she looks for in artists.
