Shaq Got Dunked On By The Creative Community After Requesting Free Animation
Animators don’t like to work on spec. It’s a simple lesson that former basketball player Shaquille O’Neal is learning the hard way after he released a video asking animators to create animation with no guarantee of payment to promote his upcoming TNT and TBS docuseries Shaq Life.
The creative community has called foul on his “Shaqtoons” idea, with hundreds of animators and other artists in creative fields lambasting the concept.
In the video, O’Neal invited animators to produce entire short films about him in less than a month. He wrote that any shorts chosen for broadcast would then be paid $500. He also offered “exposure,” a common tactic used by people who ask artists to work for free. “That’s right animators, I’m going to make you famous,” O’Neal said in his pitch. (Ironically, the animator who created the animation for this pitch video was not credited.)
While O’Neal is receiving most of the heat for this bad idea, the situation could have likely been avoided. The networks producing his show, TNT and TBS, are owned by WarnerMedia, a division of telecom giant AT&T. Warnermedia spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually to create original animation through the many animation studios that it owns including Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network, Warner Animation Group, Adult Swim, Ellation Studios, and Rooster Teeth, as well as countless other studios to which it outsources production. For a company that knows the value of quality animation, it’s beyond logic why it decided to ask for free animation to promote a show about a well known sports celebrity.
For further information and resources about why working on spec is bad, and why companies that ask for it are behaving unethically, visit nospec.com.
TNT/TBS has already removed their own tweet that promoted the contest, but not before one animator already submitted their Shaq-themed short film:
Wow, Shaq, that's really cool!! I hopped right onto my computer and whipped this up! Hope this gets on the big silver screen! You're epic 🙂 pic.twitter.com/P5PA6G5ZXJ
— Yαd dude 2019 (@YaddingtonJ141) August 29, 2019
Here’s what others are saying on Twitter:
When companies and celebrities hold predatory contests like this instead of hiring professional artists, it's because their hope is to not have to pay what the art, expertise, labor, and time is actually worth. They want us to devalue our craft. Don't fall for it. https://t.co/aNTj10XnhI
— Jen Bartel (@heyjenbartel) August 29, 2019
Shaq…I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed AND I'm mad! https://t.co/VgmM066h7d
— Jeff Delgado (@Jeff_Delgado) August 29, 2019
Hey @SHAQ pay me $500 and I’ll educate you on how you just created thousands of starving artists. https://t.co/o00YwbqcSE
— dani hartel (@DaniHartel) August 29, 2019
It’s NOT a privledge to make art for #Shaq. It’s a job. This is insulting and down right bull shit. https://t.co/dojfOFzmmA
— JONATHAN BARTLETT✍️ (@Bartlettstudio) August 29, 2019
Wow! (Potentially)$500 whole dollars!? Thanks, @SHAQ! I am so glad you, @NBAonTNT, and @TBSNetwork really value the hard work of us animators!! I for one plan on dropping everything to produce something for your Sept. 20th deadline!!! 🏀✍️🔥 #SHAQToons https://t.co/lWckqhQXiC
— Granger Loosley (@GLoosley) August 29, 2019
Is this an union job? Does it include sabbaticals? How is the health insurance and pension plan? Also I was wondering if you could come by my birthday party and play some basketball for our amusement, I can give you a $5 if the crowd is properly entertained.
— Joaquin Baldwin (@joabaldwin) August 29, 2019
I am a huge fan of yours, so I say this with upmost respect: but animation is incredibly labor intensive. It’s unethical to ask artists to work hundreds if not thousands of hours for the *possibility* of netting $500. I made that at my first job, for animating about 3-10 seconds
— Giancarlo Volpe (@Giancarlo_Volpe) August 29, 2019
I will top @TBSNetwork’s offer and give an animator $501 to create a cartoon of @SHAQ taking a big dump and then chowing down on it. #shattoons #VeryFunny https://t.co/KxOBpMG2Qn
— Rev. Victor Berger IV (@VicBergerIV) August 29, 2019
Oh look. Multi-millionaire @SHAQ wants you to work on the vague promise of maybe making a pittance.
Guys, you've got to stop with shit like this. https://t.co/T1vTyFuqx2
— The Weebl (@TheWeebl) August 29, 2019
Not only will you work your ass off for $500 (if they pick yours) but they will own the short and your art to do with as they please with no future compensation. pic.twitter.com/iRxX0lqkXT
— Eric Keyes (@monkeyes) August 29, 2019
Gotta up the price on this one Shaq.
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) August 29, 2019
This is gross, Does Shaq do tv appearances and brand deals for free at the off chance that you MIGHT be paid for it? No. There are lots of talented artists and incredible animators (who would probably love to work with you) that you and your network could easily afford to hire
— 🎃Dave Scheidt 🎃 (@DaveScheidt) August 29, 2019
— Luke McGarry (@lukeymcgarry) August 29, 2019
Hey Shaq! Wow, here’s my entry. pic.twitter.com/VGJsSsbFAM
— Tokyo Sexwhale (@tokyo_sexwhale) August 29, 2019