alt text: “the state of the animation industry”
“you’re pirating that show? don’t you wanna support the creators?” “I AM the creator.”
“haha the only way I can show future employers my work is to send a link to a bunch of pirated copies of it haha what a nightmare haha”
Sadly that’s pretty much how all media works. The creator may have had the idea, but they usually license that idea out for a specific use to a specific entity in perpetuity. Usually because that entity is putting up all the money to create it. Almost always because the cost is well beyond what any independent creator can afford or to risk. Maybe if you are a Spielberg who has their own studios at this point, but that’s pretty much it. :/
I can count on one hand how many times someone’s creative endeavors that when aired/sold to a network went back to them. I can’t begin to tell you how many times someone has a 100% original idea, a network funded it, aired it at such a bad time or had such bad ad campaign for it, it failed.
Then the network claims it as a tax write off so it never gets aired again, and no DVD/Blu-Ray sales are allowed. And the artists who worked on it can’t get any rights to what they made. Because a company somewhere couldn’t make money with the idea, now no one can. Even the inventor.
Animation is among the more common ones to have this happen to.