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| Standing by the tree on the right, with Adam Ely, who helped me land the interview at SIGGRAPH |
Well today's the final day for a vast number of my co-workers. The shockwave of closing the PDI branch is still being felt. PDI alums across the industry are posting alumni-photos in a show of support. Down here at the Glendale campus we did the same. Crazy to see how many of us got our start up at scrappy PDI.
Having been at PDI, I know what a precious environment that was for everyone, and how close-knit that studio was as a whole. Breaking that up - where Shrek was born and saved DreamWorks Animation - is heartbreaking.
Today we're losing some amazing talent and some rare friends. The cuts were across the board. Senior artists, executives, promising recent hires...a huge trove of talent that will now get disseminated to other companies and locales.
My department, which had 29 people in it this summer, is down to just 19 - if all of the PDI people decide to move (which is unlikely). It's just a tough time in the industry, and at least DreamWorks held off longer than most. But there's just not enough work to go around anymore. Most folks are having to look to new cities or countries for work - or just get out of the industry all together.
Wish there was a silver lining to end this post on. But times are just rough. Even though I feel fortunate to see what DreamWorks 2.0 will become, I just keep thinking about all my co-workers (and their families) and hope everyone can land on their feet...
