Chapter 91 Hiring The Studio Head Director
[BONUS CHAPTER]
Ryoko looked at Theo with expecting eyes.
"I'm very happy to offer you a job as the head director of my animation studio." Theo said with a smile.
"Yes!" She shouted in excitement.
"Thank you so much!!!" She said afterward with tearing eyes.
Theo just smiled as he heard her gratitude.
He was very excited about her coming into his studio.
He could see that she would become one of the leading figures in the animation world.
"Thank you for choosing to bring your talents here." Theo replied.
"Now, we can properly plan the establishment of the studio." Theo said after Ryoko calmed herself.
"Yes, boss!" Ryoko replied excitedly.
"You can be more casual with me. Call me Theo if you're comfortable with that." Theo said gently.
"T-thank you, T-Theo. You can also call me by my first name." Ryoko said shyly.
"You don't have to force yourself." Theo replied gently.
He understood her traumatic past, so he did not want to be forceful with her.
"Let's have the first meeting of the animation studio?" Theo asked with a brilliant smile.
"Sure!" Ryoko replied.
"Now I will tell you the general information about the establishment of the company."
"The building of the animation studio will be located here in Elffire City. It will be done in half a month. It will possess the latest equipment and hardware to produce high-quality animations."
"Now I know you might be thinking it's a controversy to open an animation studio away from the animation production center in the whole country. But I have enough money to support such action." Theo said with a gentle and firm tone.
Ryoko, who was about to ask exactly that, shut her mouth. She was impressed that he would make such a controversial decision.
"Even though, the building will only be ready in half a month. We will start the process of opening the studio company with the government. That will be one of your jobs. I know you're not experienced at this, so I will introduce you to the head manager of my company. She will help you through it. But remember, if you want to keep the Head Director position, you will have to learn more of this stuff." Theo said as he looked into her eyes.
Ryoko was a little nervous about doing stuff that she didn't know about, but she was thankful that she would get help with it.
She wanted to make a wonderful job as Head Director, so she already planned to study how to manage an animation studio.
"Your second task will be to contact freelance keyframe and inbetween animators. I presume that during the year you worked at Sakura City, you were in contact with lots of these professionals. I want you to poach as many animators as you can." Theo said with a firm tone.
"But boss, it will be hard to get them to leave Sakura City." Ryoko said in worry.
"Tell them I'm offering the double what they receive in Sakura City." Theo said with a playful smile, he doubted that some of them would resist the temptation.
The salary that these freelancers animators earned was pathetic.
Essentially, animators in the Sakura Abode Country are being overworked and underpaid. However, this is a gross oversimplification of the issues the industry is facing
Starting with salaries, most animators are only paid by commission. An "In-Between" Animator, which is an entry-level position, is only paid around $2 per drawing.
A single drawing can take up to, or usually over, an hour to make. If you were working a 9-to-5 job as an animator, you could produce, on a good day, probably eight drawings.
But that was a dream, because most animators worked for more than 14 hours daily.
Hypothetically, if an In-Between animator worked 14 hours a day for the 30 days of a month. He would only earn $720 per month!
Imagine working for so many hours every day, and only earning this meager amount of money.
The market only was sustained because there was a huge amount of young people who did not care about money and just wanted to work in the industry.
What Theo offered them was the double what they would receive!
He was certain that there would people who would want to earn more money to live a better life, even if they had to leave Sakura City to do it.
Ryoko was even more surprised when she heard that, it became normal in the industry the underpayment of the animators. But Theo did not care about it and directly doubled the market value!
"I'll take care of it, boss!" She said in excitement.
She could see just by decisions that the studio was heading towards a better direction.
"I think that's all. Do you have any doubts?" Theo asked Ryoko.
"It doesn't matter the level of experience of the animators?" Ryoko asked.
She wanted to call her classmates from university, they were struggling to survive in this harsh industry.
They even tried to help her when she was framed, but they were at the bottom of the industry and could not help her at all.
"As long as they are talented." Theo replied with a smile.
"And what about the chief positions?" She asked.
"I was thinking about doing a big audition with everyone to choose between them the supervisors, keyframe animators, and others. They would perform, and the more one made a good job, the better position in the studio he/she would get. What do you think about my idea?" Theo asked.
"It's brilliant, boss! This way we can filter the good from the bad." Ryoko replied with shining eyes.
They talked about miscellaneous stuff about the studio for another hour.
Ryoko said goodbye and left the Fuji Jump, the adrenaline rush of getting the job was starting to fade away.
And the accumulated fatigue of two weeks of intense stress and deprived sleep was catching up.
When she arrived in her hotel room, she went directly towards the bed and fell asleep with a smiling face.
She did it!
Her dream came true!
While Ryoko was soundly sleeping, Theo finished projecting the animation studio for that day.
He would finish the whole project tomorrow.
Afterward, he only needed to contract the construction and decoration company to execute the project.
The building was already chosen, it was an abandoned building from a bankrupt company.
The edifice's sale price was below the market value of a building of its size. So, Theo wanted to take advantage of the low price and buy directly.
Sam told him that by tomorrow the purchase would be done.
Theo predicted that he would use all the money he got from the system rewards, which amounted to more than 2 million dollars.
But this price already included the renovation project of the building.
Even though it might sound pricey just for a renovation, Theo was buying high-quality animation equipment.
And took most money, because the structural renovations of the building were minimal.
The building had a glass exterior and was a great architecture project, it was a bargain to buy the building for such a cheap price.
Theo was implementing some studio rooms that took some money too.
But 2 million was a fair price to the whole thing.
And Theo was prepared to invest more money into it.
He wanted to have the highest quality of the market.
Theo was to have a studio that would shake the anime industry!