Co-Directing in Animation
Ever watch an animated movie and see Co-Directors in the credits? Let’s talk about this weird job title & why it stinks.
Animated movies can be so complicated, mainly because everything that shows up on screen has to be created from scratch (unless you’re making a sequel and get to reuse assets). That means that, for the most part, a director in animation approves every single design choice before it gets built for the film. Every character, costume, miscellaneous background character, building, vehicle, prop, cloud, rock, raindrop - everything. I have approved the design of a blade of grass, and I had notes. (Apologies to the designer of said blade of grass.) And that’s just design.
Then there are animation tests to explore character, performance, mouth shapes, hand poses, how vehicles move and shake, water splashes, wind in the trees. Then rendering tests to find textures, lighting treatments, motion blur settings. Then you get to the storyboarding of every scene many times over, camera, animation performance, cloth sims, explosions, lighting and final renders. And there’s sound - voice recording (that comes first, by the way), music, sound design and effects. While I’m leaving a ton out, the point is, there is a mountain of reviews and approvals that happens in animation, and it takes years.
Doesn’t a Director in live-action approve everything? Sure, but many things come ready-made - cars, costumes, actors’ faces, locations, weather, you get the idea - and it’s usually a matter of accepting what is there and moving on, or not. Also, placing actors and cameras in a location, then lighting and shooting it can be done in a day. This would equal months of work in animation. Of course, a sci-fi film is more complicated than a western, but most live-action films are far simpler than a standard animated film.
Since there is so much to oversee in animation, many times you will see two Directors, or even three. I can’t think of an animated film that had four Directors, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened. In the good situations, those directors are equal. When I directed The Angry Birds Movie with Fergal Reilly, it was the two of us. We did what often happens on animated films with multiple Directors: when things got crazy, we split the duties - even though we wanted to stay together - so we could accomplish more. Sometimes it’s the only way to get it all done. Fergal and I would get together every night and catch each other up on what we did that day, often taking hours to cover everything. I would have swapped those nightly recaps for hours of directing together, but you can’t have everything on your first movie. We both got Director credit, because we both directed the movie. It was “Directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly” (we flipped a coin for the order), and not “Co-Directed by” and we were happy.
That Co-Director credit is usually given to a first-timer who is paired with a more experienced director. The Director gets top billing, and their own card, and the Co-Director comes second, usually on a later card. This second tier treatment has a ripple effect. I’ve seen entire reviews written where the Co-Director isn’t mentioned, or making-of clips that only feature the Director, or movie posters where the Director’s credit is prominent and the Co-Director is buried with everyone else.
Well, what does a Co-Director do? I would say it’s everything that the Director doesn’t have the time, expertise, or desire to cover. Sometimes the Director of an animated film doesn’t have any experience actually animating and they don’t feel comfortable (or the studio doesn’t feel comfortable) handling it alone. So they bring in an animator to “Co-Direct” to ensure the animation is great.
I’ve had a couple directing offers to “come in and help the Director who has never done animation before.” They will try this when the Director has signed on or sold the idea, and they bring their celebrity status in whatever field they came from - writing, Broadway, music, stand-up comedy. My next question is always, “Will I be an equal Director in every decision and not a Co-Director?” even when I already know the answer is: “You would be a Co-Director.” Every time, I have rejected the offer on the spot, without even thinking about it. I’m a Director. I’m not here to save anyone’s movie so they can get the glory and go home early.
That’s the trick with Directing, you do it because you can handle a movie, you know what you want, and you know how to get it. When you need to bring someone on to carry some of the directing burden, and NOT share equal credit, maybe you’re not ready to be a Director. The worst version of this is when the Director gets to stay in their hometown, while the Co-Director gets shipped off to whatever distant city is offering a tax rebate that year on animation. Then the Director sees the work come in and gives their notes on top of the Co-Director, and guess who has final say.
Then the kicker is, the Co-Director makes less money than the Director and gets the lesser credit for working just as hard, or harder, and contributing their very specialized skill set that the Director usually doesn’t have. It’s a terrible deal and I know the counter-arguments. “This is your first time.” “You will get a lot of experience.” “You’ll learn a lot from ______.” “Next time you’ll be a Director.”
I bet there are Co-Directors who would also defend this “opportunity.” I get it, they dangle something in front of you that you’ve never had before, and you can’t say no because it is one step closer to your dream of directing. But hear me on this, if you have the skill and experience to oversee any major aspect of an animated film to the level that a Co-Director is expected, you have the skills to direct. Trust me, I’ve done it. It’s just a bigger canvas and it’s not like you haven’t been studying movies your whole life.
This is what they should do instead: If a Director doesn’t have the time or skill to direct a movie alone, they should put their ego aside and admit they need help. Then, the Producer should add another Director, or two, so they can pair up and direct the movie together. They will influence and learn from each other, it will be a better film, and a new Director will be born to go off and make more movies. When they do, they will hopefully carry on this tradition of respecting young directors who respect themselves.