How the dream works

The competitive realm of animation thrives on creativity and an unbridled imagination. But in the commercial world, that’s not enough. Dan Satterthwaite, Head of HR at DreamWorks Animation, delves into what is being done to nurture the company’s behind the scenes superstars.

“The interview process here is extensive. It’s not an easy place to land a job”
-Dan Satterthwaite

The world of HR concerns itself with the management of individuals within an organisation - or at least that's the presumption. In reality, being the head of an HR division calls upon far more than merely managing staff and assessing potential employees. Being inspirational and motivating whilst creating a culture in which creativity and innovation can thrive are all pivotal traits of a successful HR leader; and nowhere does this feature more prominently than in the realms of creative industries such as film and animation - and no one understands this sentiment quite like Dan Satterthwaite, Head of Human Resources at DreamWorks Animation.

Creative collaboration

For Sattherthwaite, the DreamWorks equation is one of relative simplicity: Start with incredible stories and characters and then introduce an environment in which a narrative and exceptional visuals can develop. "That inherently is a very natural process," explains Satterthwaite. "There are all kinds of creative processes and different creative environments in the world. But the way we think of it at DreamWorks is that it's above all else collaborative and creating an environment where people can come together in a really comfortable, safe environment and collaborate creatively to make the films and tell the stories that we do." To ensure this stays the case, DreamWorks employs a number of different tactics to create and maintain their collaborative environment; from the set up of their campus to the way the company is structured from a managerial, administrative and creative leadership standpoint - every aspect is there for one reason: To make sure that each artist has great leadership, supervision and most importantly, great inspiration.

"Sometimes that's not all incumbent in the same human being and so building a management team around people that can both manage folks really well, but then also inspire their creativity has its challenges," says Sattherwaite. "It definitely has its challenges from a managerial and human resources standpoint, but that's something we focus on.  People principally making films in Los Angeles, California and Bangalore have a technology infrastructure set up so that collaboration can happen in real time, face-to-face, looking at the exact same visuals to make sure that when a character's being animated and a director needs to give notes or directions on a particular look or aspect of the sequence, that the crew who's listening to that director talk can also see their face when they're speaking. It's not a conference call, it's video conferencing like you've never seen before."

In addition to a commitment to developing the best possible environment for creativity and innovation, Satterthwaite makes sure that his artists are constantly inspired and continue to develop creatively - not an easy task considering that it can take up to three and a half years to produce just one film. The difficulty stems from having ability to keep an artist inspired and thinking about future projects whilst making the current shots as unique and emotional as possible. "For instance," explains Satterthwaite, "we have a department at the studio called the character effects department which deals with the way that cloth lays on a character. They also deal with animals, birds for example, and the mechanics of how a bird flies, the way that their feathers flutter in the air and the way their feathers fold when they put their wings down. All of that work comes from the minds of a character effects artist." Out of the 50 or so character effects artists working on the project, two stood out from the crowd in terms of really understanding the nature of birds. So, in order to spread the wealth of knowledge, Sattherthwaite invited an ornithologist in to work with the team on everything 'bird': From the way different birds fly, to their feather characteristics and natural interaction with their respective environments. Not only did this educate the effects artists; it inspired them - a core principle of Sattherthwaite's.

However, within the realms of creativity often the lines of control can become blurred, so how does Sattherthwaite maintain this balance? "Actually, it's pretty well defined," he explains. "We have a production supervisor who's responsible for the productivity and performance of each of our artists and employees and will work with them. When it comes time to do performance reviews and things like that, the production supervisor is really the lead on making sure that that artist gets the feedback that they need to really be successful. The actual work that the artist is doing is highlighting the action and drawing the audience's eye to the right area of the scene; giving that kind of direction. Wanting a facial expression to be ever so slightly different, or wanting action to be faster - that comes from the creative lead. They're really giving the creative direction to that artist on their shot or the work that they are producing in the moment. The partnership between that creative lead and the production supervisor is really making sure that the department is working at the highest possible quality and highest possible productivity. Each of the departments across all of the various projects that we have going on has that kind of partnership in place."

Inspirational leadership

Despite the fact that this may seem a rather unusual way of running a department in the more general context of business, it has not only proved effective but also offered out a few lessons for the masses. A former SVP of HR at Blockbuster, Sattherthwaite understands the wider implications of structuring human resources in such a way as to essentially get back from your employees what you put in. Putting a management structure and role descriptions in place, followed by training and performance reviews and ways to recognise good behaviour allow for an environment where an employees positive traits can be identified and nurtured as completely as possible.

"At Blockbuster," continues Sattherthwaite, "when the online business was being developed and we were creating an online rental company within a company, we wanted it to be a very innovative, nimble, fast moving and creative small organisation; almost a startup within a large corporation. What we decided to do at the time, which proved to be very successful, was to carve it away from the corporation and set up a completely separate entity. We set up the online business in a rented out, empty warehouse miles away so the people that we brought in didn't feel like that were being brought into a large corporation.  Many of those creative, innovative thinkers - especially in web design and online - aren't attracted to being in a large corporation as they are to being in a very small, almost startup feel. We were able to appeal to the best of the best as we had created this environment that ultimately had all the benefits of funding and structure that a corporation would offer, but also had the benefits of a very small, intimate feel with a very fast decision making model, which helped launch that business within a very short period of time."

New arrivals

Indeed, while providing the best possible environment for employees is a fundamental must, that can only create the potential for success; it is the people within that environment that will ultimately be the deciding factor. As such, assessing a potential employee's attitude versus their aptitude is equally as critical. Of course, it's infinitely easier to look at a person's resume, portfolio or demo reel and assess their work or experience, but making sure that someone is able to fit into the culture of an organisation can be a huge challenge. As Sattherthwaite details, being able to ensure that the cultural fit and introduction to a company is second to none for new employees is one of the most important things that an HR community can do to contribute to the success of their organization: "The interview process here is extensive. It's not an easy place to land a job. One is because it's a desirable place to be. Two is because there's a tremendous community of very talented people out in the world to talk to and to consider joining the DreamWorks team. But once someone does come in and we spend time talking to them about their background experience and what it's like working at DreamWorks, there's a lot of people internally involved in meeting that person. On average, most candidates for jobs here will meet between 10 and 15 people; we try and do that within a fairly short timeline. We also do cross-site interviews with the collaboration and video conferencing technology that we use because in many cases we are working across various sites. For example, we're currently in production for Shrek Four, which is primarily in Los Angeles but we have a crew up in Redwood City. Having the supervisors feel comfortable about the crew that work on both sites is extremely important, so we use cross-site interviewing all the time. There's a number of things that we do to help make sure that the people who join the company are not only great in terms of the quality and caliber of their work, but that they're also going to feel great about being part of the DreamWorks team."

While assessing new employees on the job is the only true way of knowing whether they're likely to fit into a culture, the time-scale involved remains key; usually it will take about a month or so to fully appreciate how a new employee is fitting in. Most new employees at DreamWorks start work on a Monday and go through a morning of new hire orientation, making sure that everybody understands what DreamWorks is about; their philosophies, principles and what the culture is. However, the way they think about creating an environment for people and their expectations are not only leveled at new employees, but also at management and supervision. After all, creating a solid culture is pointless if it's then left to stagnate and isn't maintained or developed. "We also share with them some of the things that are in the hopper that aren't publicly released yet because we still haven't given them the green light, but they're ideas that are in development and they're hugely exciting for people to hear about. Whether they're going to directly work on one of those projects or whether they just know that they now work for a company who is developing these kinds of unique stories and characters, it's very, very exciting for someone on their first day.

But even HR staff have to start somewhere when they enter the company, and Satterthwaite is no exception. Indeed, the DreamWorks culture was already established when Satterthwaite arrived, so it was more a case of keeping an eye on the culture - testing its metaphorical temperature so to speak - and making enhancements where applicable. In short, Satterthwaite has to 'walk the walk' in as much as having to personify DreamWorks in an HR context: "None of this comes without bad days and bad days will come along, but I think that what's most important and stays at the forefront, certainly of my mind, is that you can very quickly remind yourself of the bigger plan that people have a place to be where they feel like they can do their best work and that the decisions that get made affect people that work here always have the affect of those decisions on people at the forefront. In my two plus years here, which isn't all that long, I've seen it demonstrated time and time again. The message we sent to our people at DreamWorks during last year was to make sure that people here felt secure and that what virtually every other major company was doing in the state, even across the entire country, was mass layoffs - or at least the threat of people losing their jobs - and we wanted to make sure that people knew that if that time ever came at DreamWorks it would be the absolute last resort. Everyone here knew that we would make every other choice available before we had to make that choice, and we have not made that choice."

A secure environment

In fact, DreamWorks has not even touched upon mass layoffs in this incredibly tumultuous past year. Of course, this doesn't include the normal comings and goings of people in the natural cycle of work. But the commitment they have made to their staff has been done so to keep people focused on creative work and innovation, which inherently requires people to take risks; without risk there can be no innovation. If people merely survive in an environment where they are fearful, the level of risk taking will diminish severely. Seeing as DreamWorks, and the animation industry as a whole, is driven on precisely that, they needed to form a bubble in which the uncertainty and fear of the outside world could not affect the work and staff of DreamWorks. And that is exactly what they did. Amongst other tactics, the office walls contain huge posters that get across a work ethos with a twist of humour that only DreamWorks could apply. The idea: to inspire work through feeling secure. "Everyone here knows they've got a particular project that needs to be done," explains Satterthwaite. "You can walk around the halls and talk to people who work here and more often than not they are rushed to get something done because there is definitely a sense of urgency there. I don't think DreamWorks Animation is much different than most other animation studios in that respect. But what we do in addition to that is actually what makes us unique. The breaks that we let people take, the events that we host on campus for employees, the kind of opportunities we offer; those are the kinds of things that I think make DreamWorks a very different, unique environment.

If the work is hard enough for the artists, then keeping them motivated, inspired, and productive is equally as difficult for Satterthwaite. "There's a number of facets to what I try to do as a leader, and first and foremost having the best possible people in jobs on the team is the most important thing that I can do as a leader. My ultimate goal is to bring the best possible people into the roles within the HR team and then allow them to go for it and not micromanage unless it's needed.  My leadership style is more of a situational one, where given the circumstances and the situation and the person that I'm working with, I'll give different types of leadership and management to. My ultimate goal is to be able to step back and let a person shine and do an awesome job, and to be there for them to help break down any barriers, or to escalate issues and challenges that they can't do on their own. Ultimately let them really succeed. I don't believe in a single leadership style other than to be able to know how to address a diversity of different kinds of situations and tailor your style to solve that kind of situation as best as it can be solved. I'd say that's the principle leadership style that I aspire to."

However, Satterthwaite is the first to admit that his earlier career saw him do exactly the opposite in attempting to manage everyone in the same way, which tended to be too closely and caused people to push away. For Satterthwaite, at least, mistakes were there to be learnt from. "The most important thing I've learnt over the course of my career," offers Satterthwaite, "is regardless of the circumstances or what's going on, treating people with the utmost respect, dignity and empathy is the single most important thing that any human resources leader can ensure for the people that they're responsible for. "Without a doubt the thing that is always top of mind for me is really making sure that the compassion for the people and the recognition for the work that they do and treating people with respect and dignity at all costs is without a questions one of the most important things that an HR leader can do."

With obvious competition coming in the forms of Pixar, Sony Animation, Blue Sky and Disney, DreamWorks is having to stay on its toes in terms of how it is perceived by both their staff and the industry as a whole. "I think that many employees and artists that work at DreamWorks feel is that there is a uniqueness to the look and feel of DreamWorks films, TV specials and projects that is very intriguing. Most projects centered around fuzzy animals that talked until Shrek emerged. Fast forward five, 10 years from those days and the diversity of characters and environments is extremely high. "We've got Shrek the Fourth and then Megamind later next year. The diversity of those kinds of films and the number of projects that we have going on is unlike any other studio out there. From a competition standpoint I don't necessarily think about it as head to head competition as much as I do as the kinds of projects that we're doing and the diversity of those projects is extremely attractive, exciting and inspirational for the people who work here and the people who want to work here. That's what I think about when I think about competition."

And so it seems that the HR world of animation mirrors its trade in terms of imagination, inspiration and creativity. But for Satterthwaite and others, this world is a fine line between creativity and discipline that must be harnessed at all times if the best possible outcome is to prevail. For the company, the name says it all: The dream really does work.