Text translation of an anonymous animation production staff story, received by AnimationProdUnionNow (@prod_animation)
"I've had my fair share of run of the mill work place harassment and sexual harassment, which I feel a fair amount of could've been remedied with union protection and standards. Over the years, PA's and PC's I've known have been turned and burned much like our live action counterparts.
In my case, it's a little different since I'm a mixed POC trans person. Being trans in any industry is *hard*, and animation is no different. But being in an industry that tries to pride itself on progressiveness when in reality its just a lot of NIMBY bullshit is exhausting.
I'd say my worst experience was at -------, a studio notorious for squashing unions and worker rights. I had just come off of a different job being physically and verbally abused by an alcoholic boss, so I was *very* careful to be closeted at ------ because I was paranoid.
Regardless of this, my associate producer and producer figured out that I was trans and proceeded to talk about me to other people on the crew and make fun of me, create impossible tasks for me, and ignore any complaints I had. Once a crewmember stood over me as I was sitting at my desk and screamed at me for 10 minutes over an email memo I had distributed telling everyone to remember to put their design on model sheets/paste ups--the producers did nothing and eventually the art director took this person on a walk so he would stop.
It came to a head when these producers, both white women, were laughing during a design/SB breakdown meeting and one of them had to step out due to a pet emergency. She shoved her laptop at me and told me to use it to take notes. It was open on her Gmail on a chat window to the other producer in the room, they had been laughing and gossiping about my face and how "stupid" and "ugly" it looked. I was in such shock...she knew what she was handing me and had wanted me to see. I went in the bathroom and cried after work and on the way home.
I confronted one of them during a "check-in", gently. Saying "T know what you said about my appearance". I was met with great hostility, being told I was going to be fired if I said anything and that I needed to "get my shit together" because I once did not include a cover sheet on a pile of storyboard panels.
To that point and my entirety of employment there, I worked OT and was never paid; was the only person who had "talkings to", the other coordinator never had meetings like I did; had crew members insult me/yell at me. With no upper management support.
I was let go with no provocation, no incident. And HR told me "well they told you that we had talked previously, didn't they?" I informed the woman talking to me, that in fact no. No one had told me it had gone to HR. That they simply told me to work harder (because of that coversheet on a packet) and that I'd been "doing well" (given all that unpaid OT). I informed HR about the harassment I'd endured and that I was convinced that they were letting me go because I was trans, and that they certainly didn't hold the cis woman who was my coworker to the same standards--and the response was "oh. well maybe we should check both sides of the story...in the future. they say it's because you're not a good fit."
I had to sit next to the woman who had called me ugly, and get asked "is there anything you want to say to her?" Of course said no. And HR told me "if you could not tell people about this... and maybe try coming back here to work another time??"
I was gobsmacked. And of course, I was escorted by security. Me. 5'4, 100ish pounds. As if I was going to do something over this awful job. My one friend on the crew and my faithful PA helped me pack my desk. In the meantime, the producers had taken the rest of the crew to a nearby bar to celebrate the fact that I had been let go/fired.
Sorry this was long. There were even more details around this hell hole, but I'm sure I rambled long enough. This was ONE job back in 2016.
Oh jesus. How could I forget. I ran into my PA at a --- function after all was said and done, and she told me that to twist the knife further, they refused to pay her OT as well and tried giving her AMAZON giftcards instead."
