DMO: What about work going outside of the country? That has to be another reason work seems to be on the decline.

Daryl: The whole notion of taking it out of the US sucks, but that's a problem with animation and production in general.

I mean, it's always going to be volatile, it's just the entertainment biz itself, but it seems like they're going out of their way to make it worse.

Rowsby: This reminds me of a certain production house… they started trying to teach the Chinese to do animation and funneled money into it. Most of the work that was done overseas, had to be redone. That means that they paid for work done TWICE. Not good for business.

I'm sure the idea looked great on paper... Save about 50%, but with the language and cultural issues, it didn't work so smoothly.

Daryl: It is not only China, but Australia and Canada too.

Rowsby: I've been laid of twice, due to MainFrame (a Canadian based animation house) getting a job that we had hoped to work on. The first time, was when Sony pulled out at the very last moment and signed a contact with them to do "Heavy Gear." The second time, was when they got "Max Steel," season III.

Canada is a big problem for the US animation industry. In fact, some people have begun to form a group to defend the rights of animators in this country, from unfair business practices.

DMO: But production being sucked up to Canada has been something that has been going on for quite some time…

Daryl: Yeah, it's been going on and increasing for some time, but that doesn't mean anyone has to LIKE it.

Gregg: I'm a union artist, and I want to raise a family while working in this field, but I'm not putting all my eggs in the CG basket.

DMO: What kind of things are the unions doing right now to keep work in the US?

Gregg: Right now, not enough work is being done. I think it's a problem of education. A 20-year-old kid, just out of some 3D program isn't looking ahead when he's making an above US average wage at his 'first job'. I've even heard a few of them make comments like 'at least I'm not a 2d artist, all the work is overseas.'

Bottom line, there is not difference between traditional 2d and the 3d industries… it can all go away.

DMO: So have you lost work to overseas houses?

Gregg: Not yet, but projects like Moebius' 'Thru the Morbius Strip' could be the first of many shows that would have be done in the States, Canada or Australia, now they are looking for something even cheaper.

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