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I was reminded recently of something I recently told a fellow – a particularly penny-pinching pinhead who grilled me for over an hour trying to get a sack of gold for a sack of nickels.
At the limit of my patience, I said this: “We’re not Wal Mart – we’re more like Old Navy.”
Now, we work cheap, there’s no doubt about that. But we don’t have the resources, the cunning or the utter lack of ethics required to manipulate hard work out of desperate, hungry animators for a few coins and some lint – so we’re probably not the cheapest Studio. But we do aspire to making cartoons that aren’t revolting to watch… “great” would be nice, but we’ll take not revolting.
Much in the same way Old Navy clothes aren’t utterly revolting to look at.
Now you may have some kind of “fashion sense” or “style” that far exceeds mine (like that’s hard – I invented the Mullet) but in general, it seems Old Navy duds hold their own, as long as you’re not hanging out at Country Clubs or.. well any clubs.
And if you can’t afford to shop at uber-casual outlets like Banana Republic, or Tommy Hilfiger or Needless Markup (I’m looking at you, career animators), but you’re not willing to contribute to the slow painful death of America (by shopping at Wal Mart), Old Navy is much appreciated.
I like to think of Flinch as the Old Navy of animation. Mock me if you must, but have you seen their commercials? Not the old ones with the silly songs and the 80’s has-beens, the new, sexy ones with the pretty girls! And people talk about how sex sells… I don’t know if sex sells to me, but it makes me stop fast-forwarding for a few seconds.
And that’s exactly what we try to do, get you to stop fast forwarding for a few seconds – just apply that to whatever metaphor comes to mind. That’s our goal for now – to do that and get paid.
When we get some traction, we’ll be going for the JC Penny crown!
1 comment:
Awwww, no need to sound apologetic. Some people don't understand the value of good art or service. I've only seen Flinch's work online (it's not like we get Otto the otter commercials in Puerto Rico) but it is competitive with the rest of the market. In fact, it is much better than most of the stuff that appears on TV nowadays (I'm especially looking at you, Adult Swim and Nick Jr.)
I love the work I've seen from Flinch. It's really great stuff and you have everything it takes to work as a JCP of animation: will, skills, experience and creativity.
Maybe you just need to manipulate the power of branding and advertising a litte bit more in your favor. Look at Disney. Yes, they were the pioneers of animation and they do have a large collection of great films, but nowadays a lot of their work is quite ordinary but it sells because it has the Disney name. Just like Tommy Hilfiger can sell the same crap made in sweatshops that Wal-Mart sells, but for a higher price since it has a designer's name on it.
You produce some quality work that would make any studio proud. Now all you need is for the rest of the world to discover it, so next time you produce a gem like the McCain shorts, everyone has the opportunity to enjoy it.
Anyway, let me stop babbling. I wish you success as you climb toward the JCP step.
PS: When do we get to see sexy Flinch pretty girls like in the Old Navy commercials?
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