The way I figured it, there was no way a company would want to hire me if they didn't see my demo reel (obviously)! So my plan was to send reels to EVERY company I had even the slightest interest in. I began this process at SIGGRAPH 96 in New Orleans. I went down there armed with a duffle bag full of reels ready to hand them out to everyone. And hand them out I did! I went to every booth and hospitality suite I could find trying to get my reel into the hands of the people that made the decisions. I was lucky and actually got called in for two interviews while I was there. For the most part, though, I had to play "the waiting game" just like every other animator. This basically meant sitting around for a minimum of 2-4 weeks (minimum, mind you!) twiddling my thumbs! This was particularly nerve-racking since I had no income and the grace period on my student loans was rapidly diminishing. After about four weeks I began making some calls to check on the status. Most places were still sifting through the mountains of tapes they received so, for the mean time, I made a point NOT to call more than once every two weeks. Some companies were quite prompt in replying while others I still haven't heard from (over 6 months later, I might add)! Making calls also kept the Human Resources departments on their toes. For example, I had sent a new version of my reel to a company who already had an older version. Through some mix-up, they sent my new reel back to me instead of my old one. Initially I thought they just didn't like it, but I called and found out that it was just a mistake. Other companies never received my reels in the mail, which I never would have known if I didn't call.

After SIGGRAPH I continued to send out reels to companies which were not present in New Orleans. With the costs of tape duplication, packaging and shipping, it tended to get rather expensive. But it was a SMALL investment in what would eventually lead to a good job. I'd say I sent out a total of about 40 reels. Out of those, I got only three positive responses! Needless to say, I've got a very nice collection of rejection letters! But if I hadn't sent out that many reels I may have only received one response (or worse)! And of those three, only two actually ended in job offers. In the end, I accepted the position of animator with Mainframe Entertainment, creators of the highly acclaimed and totally computer-generated cartoon, Reboot.

Permit me to briefly focus more on how I finally snagged the job at Mainframe Entertainment. It went something like this:

My school hosted a Computer Animation Festival in which they invited representatives from several of the major studios to attend. I knew the date of this festival well in advance and slaved night and day to make sure I had my first reel ready. Now most people hate to hear this, but to get into this industry you really have to NETWORK! What this boils down to is getting into Reboot's face (for example) and make yourself known. So I made a point to sit down and talk to the guy from Mainframe and learn as much as I could. Before he left I made sure he had a copy of my reel.

Now I didn't hear ANYTHING from Mainframe for months. I did have the email address of the guy I talked to so I made sure to periodically let him know what I was up to. This didn't mean EVERY DAY! There is such a thing as leaving a BAD impression, so I did my best to avoid it. So one day I got an email from Mainframe saying that my tape had made it past the first wave of reviews! This served to boost my spirits… although only temporarily. Several weeks later I received THE dreaded letter in the mail. You can pretty much bet that it's not good news coming in that letter. Sure enough, I had been bumped from the running. This just served to make me more determined to do better work. I knew that Mainframe would be at SIGGRAPH 96 and that I would be there too. I made sure I had new material ready to show them at when I was there.

Once at SIGGRAPH, I made a bee-line to the Mainframe booth and happened to see the guy who visited my school. Better yet, he remembered me from our conversation and emails (networking = bonus points)! I presented him with my newest reel, which he proceeded to watch right there at the booth. However, once again it was time to play "the waiting game". But I didn't want to waste any time, so as soon as I got back from SIGGRAPH I cranked out another animation. I sent this one off to Mainframe even before they had replied about my previous reel. This was the animation that (I think) finally caught their attention. My contact guy really liked it and said that he would pass it on to his boss with his recommendation. After several more weeks of waiting, I got the coveted phone message saying that they'd like to talk to me! This eventually lead to an offer… and the rest is history!