CG features seem to be starting to follow the live-action trend of setting up for a specific project, then dismantling everything...
Except for the big studios that are creating movie after movie (Pixar, Disney, DreamWorks), it seems that companies are keeping lean and mean. Bulking up for the project then letting everyone go afterwards. There is no other way that these $20 million features can exist. (Unless they are moving immediately onto another movie project. And that is not easy for a new studio to do.) There is most likely going to be enough down time inbetween that there is no way they can continue to pay employees to play solitaire at their workstations.
This works for live-action films because... well.. it just works. It could work in animation, but production crews don't seem to get rolling or gel'ing until a movie production is coming to an end anyway. If you lay these folks up and try to re-hire for the next project, you are risking many things. First off. Will the employees that were dumped in the street even want to come back when they have a chance to move to a studio that cares more about long term multi-project hiring? It makes sense financially. Or it seems that it would on the surface. But with all the retraining and restaffing, infrastructure buildup. It isn't exactly as easy as a live action film.
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