If you’re a fan of animation, chances are you have heard of the struggles the animation industry is facing as more studios are exposed for having unsavory working conditions. Whether it be due to low pay, long working hours, or time and budget constraints, even studios that produce successful and critically acclaimed movies, such as Sony Pictures Imageworks, are under scrutiny for their treatment of their workers. With this information coming to light, many are concerned about the future of animation, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Many up-and-coming animators are taking to sites like YouTube to host their shows that are being made independently. New studios are even being established to support these shows, such as Glitch Productions, Spindlehorse Studios, and Lackadaisy, to name a few. These studios are giving animators the creative freedom to do what they are passionate about and share it with the world. Independent animation is growing increasingly popular as audiences love the unique storytelling in these shows and the creative liberties they take.
Shows like The Amazing Digital Circus and Murder Drones are incredibly popular, with just the pilots of these shows alone accumulating 393 million and 72 million views, respectively, with the latter being available to stream on Prime and the former available on Netflix. Despite the industry growing in popularity, indie animation on the internet is not a new concept. Shows like Eddsworld were created as early as 2006 on sites like Newgrounds.
Currently, a few shows are in the works, the biggest one being Knights of Guinevere, a Glitch Productions show co-created by Dana Terrace, the creator of Disney’s The Owl House. The pilot is set to release on September 19th. There’s also Lackadiasy, an animated adaptation of the webcomic of the same name that is still currently in development.
As you can see, even when animators are being mistreated by larger studios, they are finding ways to get around working for them and establish their own studios so that they can continue to do what they love. So while it may be a dark time for animation with corporations, indie animation is just getting bigger and getting more support from fans and streaming services alike.