One Animators Career Path
Lindsay Writes:
More questions for Chris! Just wondering which EA studio you work at–Europe, Maxis, Redwood Shores, Burnaby, Downtown Vancouver, etc. Also, if you dont mind, Id be interested in hearing about how you got into the industry yourself and any advice on the best strategy for getting into EA (networking and connections? internships? sending in countless demos?).
Chris Writes:
In regards to Lindsay’s question, I work at the Redwood Shores office here in Redwood City CA. just south of San Francisco. I got into the industry more or less on pure luck. When I graduated from college, I turned down many jobs out here in the film industry at various companies in order to stay with my then Fianc in Fla. Because of this I took a job working in Broadcast design doing animation for TV commercials and News promos and various other TREMENDOUSLY boring thingsI hated it. This was around the beginning of PS1 and I was lucky enough to come across a start up company in Orlando doing games 1st party for sony. I worked on some real crap games there, but luckily enough got a break working on Duke Nukem for 3d realms and Gt interactive. After that the door opened wide for me, and I was recruited to move and work out here for Eidos interactive where I stayed for 4 yearsnot a bad place to work. But things got boring for me there so here I came to EAand I love it here, there is nothing like knowing whatever game you work on will sell at least a million units. AS for a strategy for getting in here, well that is a tough one. EA really doesnt tend to hire a lot of new talent they really like people who have a lot or at least some experience in the industry, and more importantly people who look as though they can grow professionally. Internships are great if you are starting out, but they are not easy to get. Put together your best work and submit it, then cross your fingers. If you do get in, work your ass off, learn all you can, and chances are you stand a good chance of getting a job here. Sending countless demos is not the way to go. In general the same people view the demos all the time so you arent tricking anyone. Anyways I hope this answers your questions and feel free to post as many as you want, I will reply as often as I can.
Good luck to all of you, and who knows, maybe one day I will bump into you here at EAor maybe even interview you!
Updated on October 11th, 2013
Removed the link to Lindsay’s email. Added a link for Chris.