Advice on Work After University With Martin

I had a meeting with our past animation tutor Martin Povey so I could ask about advice about working in the animation industry after university. 

He was incredibly helpful as he has had much experience working in the industry in Leeds and has set up his own animation company. 

He begun by giving me a tourer list of studios he knew of in the area and knew were decent if not very good including:

• Manto Films
• Vista
• Bradley TV
• True North
• Media 73
• Shot Plast
• Motiv Productions

He said that all of the above studios take on students as they are young and creative. Furthermore, they all do animation so just for that reason they are all worth going for in my case.

Bradley TV and Vista he said were the biggest and Bradley TV has a London office so has multiple connections. He also advised that as an animator fresh into the industry, I should not wait till the summer to approach them and that I should approach them immediately. Due to Martin’s experience, he was able to give me the contact details of the head of film at Vista, Max Woodworth. This was incredibly useful as he was able to advise me on how I should go about approaching Vista and any of the companies really. He advised that I should not apply by simply filling out the studio’s online application form and that I should instead get ahold of contact details from the website of the best people to talk to then actually call up. 

He advised me that when I do call up a studio I should have a sort of script prepared of exactly what I want to say, a good example would be to state that I go to Leeds College of Art and am approaching the end of my time and am looking for work, who can I send my portfolio to. He also mentioned that it was important for me to research the studio before I call them, this shows that I have taken an interest in what they do and means I have an answer for if they ask why I chose them. Lastly he told me that if I’m on the subject of pay that I should not accept less than $18,000 a year as that is after qualifying what I am worth.

Although he had plenty to say about working for a studio. Martin did also give me advice about working as a freelance animator which for me is definitely an option. He said that I should register as a limited company, or register with an agency.

The meeting was very beneficial to me although I did mention that I will be following up our discussion with further questions at a later point.