Could virtual studios become a thing?

[UsaMiKo]

Well, I guess they already are. People freelancing with remote workstations have been happening for years, but I’ve been seeing these popping up recently.

https://simpleanimation.com

https://nimblecollective.com

https://www.artella.com/home

To me, a complete novice, this sounds pretty exciting. The idea of being able to participate in animation projects from your home. No rent or overhead needed. And I suppose, in theory, without the extra costs you could pay artists more.

But I could see the problems. Not being in the same place could cause communication problems. You’d have to rely on the internet and technology of the people you recruit (streaming TVPaint? I’m not sure what to think about that.) And what about security?

I wanted to ask here, because I know so many of you are industry veterans. Do you think virtual studios becoming more popular in the future could be a good thing for the animation community, or do you think bricks and mortar studios will always win out? What are the pros and cons of both in your eyes.

[slowtiger]

Of course the idea of "virtual studios" will sound intriguing to producers, because it means rent and electricity bills and even the hardware will be paid by someone else for, so they can argue they need to pay you less.

In praxi this will not work well especially for beginners. As you correctly said, without real face-to-face communication there will be a lot of friction and misunderstandings. In a team which already worked together for some time remote work is possible. If there are video chats over shared project files the communication deficits might get overcome, but there's still time zones and different languages.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Sure it can be done: Do everything by yourself or with a spouse.
I am not trying to be facetious. I've been working this way all my life and since the appearance of the Internet often for clients I have never met.