Role Call Roundup: Warner Bros. Animation, The Embassy, LightBox Expo and more
At ease, recruits! And welcome to CartoonRecruit.com’s weekly Role Call Roundup. On the main page, I monitor and curate links to job posts (updated daily) from an ever-expanding list of animation studios. This blog is where I reflect on job posts from the past week and take a closer look at hiring trends across the animation industry.
This week’s roundup includes remote storyboard artist positions at Warner Bros. Animation, job opportunities for 3D artists at The Embassy (a VFX studio in Vancouver), as well as networking advice for LightBox Expo attendees. We also cover opportunities from other studios that otherwise could get overlooked. Do you have your portfolios and reels ready?
Warner Bros. Animation rustles up remote talent for an anime-style action series
While it’s safe to say that 2024 has been a year of all time for Warner Bros. Animation, the studio has a well-earned reputation for being early to adult animation (with adaptations of comics storylines like Batman: Year One, Superman vs. The Elite and Justice League: Doom) as well as expanding the appeal of action animation to under-served audiences (from Static Shock to Harley Quinn). Recently the studio released a trailer for James Gunn’s Creature Commandos.
We mention action series because Warner Bros. Animation recently posted two new roles for an anime-style action series in development. The studio is looking for applicants who “understand anime action beats,” though experience on productions in Japan’s animation industry is not required.
- Director starting in January/February 2025 (Remote)
- Story Artist starting in January/February 2024 (Remote)
Pay a visit to The Embassy in Vancouver, British Columbia
The Embassy is an award-winning VFX studio, located in Los Angeles and Vancouver. The studio is known for their VFX work on films like Iron Man, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and District 9 as well as ambitious streaming series like Warrior Nun. The Embassy offers design, direction and post-production services, using CGI, animation, motion graphics and compositing techniques, and recently seems to be embracing 3D creature animation.
The Embassy’s Vancouver studio is currently hiring for three roles related to 3D animation and VFX:
Hiring highlights from the past week
United States:
- Flying Bark Productions is hiring a Layout Supervisor in Glendale
- Skybound Entertainment is hiring a remote Community Director for their games devision
- Sony Pictures Animation is hiring a production coordinator for a feature film
Canada:
- Mainframe Studios is hiring a 3D animator in Vancouver
- Guru Studio is hiring a Groom Artist in Toronto for Paw Patrol
- House of Cool is hiring a Line Producer in Toronto for a feature film
United Kingdom:
- Framestore is hiring a Crowd Technical Director in London
- And the studio is also hiring a Senior Compositor in London
- Blue Zoo has an expression of interest open for a 2D Compositor in Brighton
Australia:
- Glitch Productions (The Amazing Digital Circus) is hiring a remote 2D Animator
- And the studio is also hiring a Creative Marketing Director in Sydney
- Framestore is hiring a Lead Modeller in Melbourne
Networking advice for actors with pencils?
LightBox Expo starts next week, running from Friday, October 25 to Sunday, October 27. The expo caters to industry artists, with upwards of 90% of attendees self-identifying as animation students and working professionals. With that in mind, we asked our communities on LinkedIn and Bluesky about your advice for networking at animation events. Here’s what two of the artists had to say.
Chris ‘Chance!’ Brown (Storyboard Lead) on Bluesky:
“Talk to people like you’re genuinely interested in them. People aren’t looking to put cogs in the machine they’re in, if they’re looking for anything they’re looking for people they can share office space with. That’s if anyone is even in the position of hiring.”
Maeca Art (Cartoonist/Illustrator) on Bluesky:
“Be confident in being an artist. You want a job? Don't lead with phrases like, “Well I'm not very good.” You are your own hype person! Be excited for what your working on.”
What is your best networking advice or conversation starter? Leave us a comment on Bluesky or on LinkedIn and we just might share a link in an upcoming post.
Help keep this production going
CartoonRecruit.com is a website designed for industry artists searching for their next animation production. Our directory will always be provided to the community as a free service. With that said, if you find our project useful and want to help connect more artists to meaningful opportunities, you can contribute by becoming a Patreon Supporter.
When artists contribute to our $1 / Pay What You Want tier, they gain full access to CartoonRecruit’s Discord community. You also help cover costs associated with running the last website on the internet not attempting to sell you questionable herbal supplements.
Want to be featured in an upcoming issue?
Are you responsible for hiring decisions at your studio? Get in touch with us on LinkedIn! We plan on hosting Q&A discussions on this blog, and participating could put a link to your studio's career page directly in the inboxes of talented artists searching for their next production.
Signing off for now
That’s all for this week, recruits! Have thoughts or feedback about on our project? Feel free to message me by email at mike@cartoonrecruit.com, or send a DM to our LinkedIn page or @cartoonrecruit.com on Bluesky. I will try to reply to every non-spam email I receive.
Never want to miss an update? If you are not already subscribed by email, you can get new posts like this directly in your inbox.