"Edward, how come there aren't too many people here? I thought you had a hundred drawing guys and some animation directors to help with you." This was what Sullivan noticed as they walked through the not-so-big warehouse studio.
"Well, some of them are off to their makeshift jobs. You should know how limited art jobs are so they are making do with the types of jobs that teens take as a summer job." Edward explained while downsizing the harsh truth of it all.
Alexander could more or less tell that the people employed here are passionate people hoping to make a mark but, sadly, their art course isn't too cut out for anything other than animation and art commissions.
If any of these animators or artists would become relatively famous though, then their livelihood is an easy matter. They'd just place random dots on a blank canvass and the 'professionals' would deem it as art.
He had seen a lot of posers in museum exhibits to know that it is a vain person's way of expressing how better they are than the people they deemed as 'ignorant'.
They didn't know that in the eyes of the 'ignorant', they are showboating fools that take pride in knowing a useless fact such as which brush was used to wipe an artist's sweat.
"By the way, isn't this place way too spacious? There is still even a second floor we haven't gotten to yet." Sullivan asked like a touring person would as he noticed how different the place was to a true blue animation studio in his mind.
"Shouldn't there be cells, picture mounts that transform and layers drawings, editing equipment and sound pieces of equipment and all that?"
"Didn't you say you didn't want any of those?" Old Edward was baffled at why he wanted to know about animation equipment. "Aren't you just here for the place and the employees? Besides, I've mostly sold them off to keep the place afloat and those things were out of date for today's animation standard."
"Sounds like animation is a tough thing to go into. Aren't cartoons just a big commercial for toys? Why didn't your guys just draw some teddy bear and go on with it?" Sullivan had no clue on why this friend of his has wasted a good business potential.
"It's easier if you say it that way but that is also where I've made some mishaps." Old Edward could only lament that he couldn't turn back time. "You see. Although I've hired some neglected talents that everyone didn't hire, they just aren't cut out for the technical work of animation. Also, the screenwriters I've hired to make a working script keeps fumbling with a coherent idea and story."
"So, you didn't hire professionals from other animation studios while your screenwriters shouldn't even have been part of the Screenwriter's guild. I feel bad for you, Edward." Sullivan could only pat his friend on the shoulder. "You could've solved all of those with money and incessant poaching."
Stolen story; please report.
"That's the problem!" Old Edward only got ticked remembering it. "No one couldn't be poached for cheap from those tightknit groups and those screenwriters cost even more. I've already blown through my fortune with just buying the equipment and headhunting people from art schools."
The silently listening Alexander could only sympathize with the old man. Jessica's Inked Porn had much more success in the future than this doomed Troy-jan Animation Studios. Animation and animators are just dirt cheap and accessible for everyone in the 2010s and 2020s.
"When you take account that the animation process takes months and the expenses ballooning from that production time, I'll be bankrupt before Her Majesty could drink all of her tea." Old Edward and his scorn for animation is no exaggeration. "I've only started this studio within two months yet here I am already recouping my losses."
"You should fire the advisers that didn't give you much detail on the pros and cons of this industry." Sullivan commented while learning from the mishaps of his friend. One can never know when the pitfalls of others could come in handy to you.
"If you hadn't come to me with your proposal, my losses would probably be bigger because I'd probably still push on." Old Edward imagined this probability and his old bones can't help but shiver.
For someone as old with an amassed fortune he worked his whole life for, losing just a chunk of wealth is rendering a chunk of their years of hard work worthless.
The old men went quiet after that as they just made a cursory walkthrough with the rest of the building.
It wasn't like there was even anything new. All that Alexander could see are tables, pens and papers, and coloring materials with wary people.
They must be the animators that know that the company is changing ownership. These people are already struggling to find a stable source of income so the variable of a new boss would inadvertently lead them into thinking about the worst case scenarios.
In any case, the Troy-jan tour was over when the trio reached the only semblance of an office throughout the whole building.
It should be the Edward Williams boss room but it was still uninteresting as the rest of the studio as the old man has already packed up.
It could be seen how the old man wanted to rid himself of this place. Using Troy in the clever name didn't really offset the fact that it was a Trojan horse kind of business.
The lurkers inside the horse may have already started their siege the minute that Edward Williams has decided on using such an ominous name.
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With the tour over, old Edward called for everybody to convene in front of his office. The space was perfect for the announcement that everyone already knew would happen.
"As you all know, I've already decided to sell my ownership to the place. You'll hear no sorry ass speech from me but I still appreciate you choosing to work for me so I thank you for that." Edward Williams was not someone with an American spirit for camaraderie and quickly moved on. "Well, it is fortunate that an old friend of mine is taking over. You just have to make sure that you make him money because he is more money-hungry than I am."
Sullivan could only shake his head and the handover was underway. In fact, it had already been done when the old men's signed the contracts.
This meeting was just a formality and a way for the employees to be up to speed with the new company direction.
The short-lived Troy-jan was now going to be repurposed into something that would be the comic branch of Creed Entertainment.