Surface level nicesness with good people with some obvious failings/ conflicts of interests - Animator JAM Media Employee Review

3.0
6 Aug 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Generally great work environment and people. Outstanding diversity/ gender parity and in earlier days of job plenty of drinks on them and cinema trips/ life drawing etc. First studio experience which really solidified my career, and gave me a decent showreel. Outside the box approach to IP creation which is a blessing and a curse, as seen below.

Cons

Over time the nice feel and energy declined to high demands, tight deadlines and little support beyond technical. Easily argued mis-management made this bottle-necks (bad choices in pre-production with overly ambitious ideas that didn't produce word class results, under staffing/ lack of resources for this, bad rigs etc etc) and the tone taken with production workers was at times severe to demand over-time, with implied threats regarding pay, where the vast majority of staff were giving it as much as they could. It was rare to have much in the way of guidance or a 'learning' environment- it became very much about crunching scenes to the point of only the (many) technical (issues with rigs) in scenes were flagged, so very little room for personal growth as an animator, which was particularly disappointing when the animation supervisor who was present for most projects was a highly skilled and effective animator who was able to set animators on the right path if they were stumped with a particular bit of animation in very occasional moments and give valuable, long term advice. I get having support all the time isn't possible for a lot of emplyees were quotas exist but at least having some sense of there being a climb upwards in skills and scope for employees might encourage keener, better work not in future but present also, instead of hard-assness when your scheduling fails. Which leads to; Massive conflict of interests that saw a graduate 'junior director' direct shorts, review the work of far more experienced animators, animate preferable scenes in particular productions (not skilled animator), while other keen, production level workers who had shorts funded externally by actual schemes had their projects pushed entirely to over time and much less attention given. In essence, one employee had all the space to develop and learn, the rest did not.

Explore other reviews about JAM Media

4.0
15 Nov 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good opportunities to develop skills in interesting children's projects

Cons

There isn't always continuity between projects, so the contract depends on that, and that creates financial instability for many employees. The salary could be adjusted to the new times.

5.0
20 June 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Friendly coworkers/ management Remote/Hybrid and in studio options, they trust staff to get the work done and is flexible. Great set up system, IT quick to solve any issues Lovely dogs in the studio

Cons

No cons so far, Studio is doing a great job to try keep staff happy!

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All