The Animation Options Blog

In the previous post, “Rock On!”, we looked at a really bad cover letter from aspiring animation professional Rock N. Thamouse (pictured above). I was amused to receive a few emails taking me to task for the “exaggerated” and/or “obvious” aspects of this admittedly fictitious aggregate. How I wish that it were so!

To the cry of “exaggeration”, while I have indeed never come across a cover letter that displayed all of the trouble that poor Rock gets himself into, I have unfortunately encountered each and every one of the mistakes and missteps contained therein, many times.

Regarding how “obvious” the errors are, we’ll see. Some readers have pointed out the more notable problems, but the fact of the matter is that if these mistakes were all so “obvious”, applicants would not keep making them. Yet they do, time and time again - undermining their opportunities in the process.

Nevertheless, I should observe that the reference to Cal Arts is not an indictment of its students in particular. I simply created this example while teaching there, and have much love for my peeps in Valencia. (Full disclosure: I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly from other students and from other professionals - myself included. I still cringe at the thought of my cover letter to ILM in the mid-90’s, in which I looked forward to meeting with “their people”. Ugh! Got a callback though… two years later. Woo hoo.)

The cover letter - too often treated as an afterthought - is truly the welcome mat to your application, and should be treated as such. There’s no lack of opinions on the subject, so I’ll proceed to add mine. To begin with, let’s take a look at the problems with Rock’s attempt, from top to bottom.

The first thing you notice is that Rock’s cover letter is printed on 3-hole punch paper, and is off-register. Most likely, Rock ran off a photocopy and didn’t bother to check the type of paper that was loaded into the cassette. And, if he did notice the holes later on, Rock couldn’t be bothered to load the copier (or better yet, the PRINTER) with the proper paper. (Don’t laugh - this is art imitating life.) DO make the effort to print your cover letter (and all other documentation) on the highest quality paper you can afford - something that feels good in your hands - from the highest quality output device you can access.

The next issue is Rock’s graphic in the upper right corner. First of all, it’s ginormous - taking up a lot of real estate that could be put to better use. Secondly, it’s unnecessary. As an employer, I’m interested in your work - period. At best, your graphic fails to annoy me. At worst, it sits there like an ugly blotch, or even more terrible for you: it’s the best thing about your submission! For some reason, students around the world have taken to imitating Hollywood-style production graphics in a misguided attempt to look more “professional”, with logos that trumpet “Rock N. Thamouse Productions” or “Skidmark Studios”. (You’ll even see student reels with absurdly top-heavy opening credits such as: “Rock N. Thamouse Productions & Skidmark Studios presents… a Rock N. Thamouse film… written, directed & produced by Rock N. Thamouse…Copyright 2008 Rock N. Thamouse Productions, All worldwide rights reserved”. Word to the wise: stop it. Please.)

The third (and less immediately obvious) problem with this logo is that it reproduces poorly. Something that most applicants fail to consider is that their documentation may be photocopied and re-photocopied, faxed and re-faxed. Pretty soon, your lovely graphic is a nice, big ink-cartridge-wastin’ smudge on the page. If despite these warnings, you absolutely MUST include a graphic (there’s at least one of you out there), do yourself a favor and fax it to yourself on the crappiest fax machine you can find. Then, re-fax the output. If you’re happy with the degraded result, keep the graphic. If not, lose it.

Moving on to Rock’s contact information, we have to at least give him credit for providing both phone and email. The problem is that he provides two of each. Recruiters don’t want to guess which email or phone to use, so provide ONE email address for contact purposes, and make sure that it is neither inappropriate (”nippletwist.com”) nor erroneous (”calarts.ed”). Also, make sure that the email you use will not expire within the next year - especially if it is an academic account. Potential employers usually keep you on file, and you never know when one may come calling (to wit: my ILM reference above).

With respect to phone numbers, the ideal is to provide ONE number - preferrably your mobile. However, if you don’t have a cell phone, it’s ok to provide more than one number if they are clearly differentiated (ie. “H” for home and “W” for work), and you can answer each at any given time without embarrassment. Home numbers are fine as long as you can keep background noise to a minimum, and aren’t saddled with flaky roommates who screw the pooch in some way (answering rudely or forgetting to tell you that Pixar called). Work numbers are generally ill-advised, unless you are SURE that you can answer at any time, and you are SURE that you can speak freely without the line being monitored. And for God’s sake, DON’T list your current employer’s front desk receptionist as your work number! (Again you laugh, but…)

Adding a return mailing address is always a good idea. Your potential employer will need this information eventually, so why not provide it right up front? If your submission has the desired effect, you’ll be receiving paperwork soon enough.

Now let’s look at Rock’s salutation: “To who it may concern,” Aside from the grammatical error, the biggest problem with this opening line is that Rock has not addressed his submission to anyone in particular. This is the quickest way to end up at the bottom of the pile or in the “round file” - not because people are insulted at being addressed anonymously, but because of the utter lack of initiative that it demonstrates on the applicant’s part. If you don’t know who to address your submission to, FIND OUT. A simple phone call to the main desk of the studio in question works wonders: “Hi, this is Rock N. Thamouse. Could you please provide me with the name, title and contact information of your artistic recruiter? Thank you very much.” Done.

Within the body of the cover letter, there are a number fun things going on, many of which were correctly observed by Gerard de Souza in the “Comments” section of the previous post. Spelling mistakes abound, as do text-message-style abbreviations (”How R U?”) Once again, these are not far-fetched. They happen. And while I’m certainly open-minded enough to engage in an intellectual conversation on how text messaging may economically evolve our written language, the fact of the matter is that such shortcuts and informalities are entirely out of place in business correspondence - irrespective of whether it is printed or emailed. The insidious thing is that email and texting have become so pervasive, that even relatively “old-fashioned” abbreviations like “FYI” and “BTW” appear to have become acceptable. They aren’t. If you’re already taking shortcuts while applying for the job, what can I hope to expect once you’re on the clock?

Spelling errors are best addressed with 4-step coverage: 1) run spell check 2) read the result through on screen 3) print the letter out and read it on paper 4) have a friend read it. Sound excessive? It’s not. (In fact, I probably have an uncaught spelling error in this post.)

Other formal problems in Rock’s cover include hand-corrected errors (you’d be amazed at how many people attempt to white out and ink in corrections instead of just printing a new letter) and the lack of a proper signature. A hand-written signature is always a good finish, especially when it’s elegant and/or strong. Your signature is like your handshake: it doesn’t make or break the deal, but it speaks volumes of you as a person.

Ok… enough about form, let’s get to content. Rock starts out by painting a rather uncertain graduation picture. Not only does this reflect poorly upon his studiousness, but it fails to provide the potential employer with a clear idea of when Rock will be available for work.

Confidence is great, but our friend Rock appears to be soaking in it. Your prospective employer will be the one to decide how great your work is, and whether or not you are right for them, so there’s no need to offer your own assessment on this front. Likewise, the unqualified opinions of others matter very little, although qualified letters of recommendation and references can be helpful (as long as you’re sure you won’t be undermined or downright sabotaged by that person whose good word you are counting on… you’d be surprised).

Rock fails to provide his demo reel, although he is kind enough to mention that it is coming later. If the demo reel has been uploaded to the company (an increasingly common requirement), he should say so - and should still include an auto-play DVD reel (with no menus) AND a VHS copy (for employers rocking it old school). This convenience never hurts, unless the application guidelines specifically discourage physical reels. When multiple formats are provided, the content should be identical. (I stopped saying “It goes without saying.” years ago.)

Rock proceeds to make vague, sweeping reference to his software proficiencies, and admits to software piracy (which puts him in league with 90% of computer users, including perhaps his future employers, but still - not cool in a cover letter). He closes this paragraph with a bit of hubris about visiting professionals who apparently “stole” his ideas. No doubt Rock has indeed noticed similarities between his techniques and those employed by major studios. (In this day and age of technical disclosure at conferences, on DVDs, in magazines and over the internet, how could he not?) If so, Rock should be pleased that he is on the right track, and feel free to mention the congruency, but in a more modest way. The personal aside that Rock makes to his “lady” is also a little more information than we need in a hiring situation.

In the next paragraph, Rock commits the cardinal sin of applying for a position that he doesn’t really want, with the intention of using it as a toehold for the position he really does want. There’s nothing wrong with being clear on what you would like to do (in fact, it’s highly encouraged), and there’s nothing wrong with pursuing career aspirations and learning new things, but there’s nothing good about an employee who agrees to a position they could care less about with the intention of angling for something “better”. I’ve witnessed this firsthand, and it’s a recipe for diz-ass-ter.

Insulting your potential employer is never a good tactic, but nobody appears to have informed Rock of this principle, as he charitably offers to raise the quality of the studio to which he is applying. Believe it or not, the line: “Based on your last movie, I could definitely help raise your game.” is copied word-for-word from an actual applicant’s cover letter. That applicant ended up “raising” someone else’s game, not for the moronic comment (true professionals are not that petty) but for the lame reel that accompanied it.

Next, Rock gives a conflicting assessment of his drawing abilities, and after a poor attempt to spin his deteriorating draftsmanship, makes broad assumptions about his future employer’s willingness to train him. Many studios do indeed have training programs, but these are intended to burnish existing talent to a high shine - not to polish turds.

Forging ahead (you sorta have to admire the guy at this point), Rock dictates his terms: he’s a late sleeper, so he requires flex time, and his future boss needs to earn his respect. While managers, leads and supervisors do indeed reap the best results from employees who respect the person instead of fearing the title, it’s not Rock’s place to advance this as a prerequisite for his productivity. Furthermore, it’s NEVER a smart idea to badmouth your colleagues. As beaten to death as it is, the old saying holds true: “If you can’t say something good about a person, don’t say anything at all.” (I’m going to be struck by lightning at any moment.)

Finally, Rock sets the conditions for future correspondence and meetings at his convenience, not the employer’s, and doesn’t seem to really care if things go further or not. The sad thing is that Rock probably does care - he’s just never been shown the proper way to approach this. Had Rock attended my “Industry Survival Tips” seminar, he would have been exposed to the following key points on cover letters:

DO…

• …get a copy of the job description that you’re applying for, and study it.
• …briefly address the strongest parallels between the required skills and your own abilities.
• …use proper formatting in your header, body and closing - whether you are printing the letter or emailing it. (And when emailing, include your name, the position and any job listing ID in the “Subject” line.)
• …address the recruiter by their full name and position.
• …introduce yourself properly.
• …SELL yourself, focusing on the company’s needs - not your own.
• …give ‘em a little sugar (but only a little).
• …include clear and complete follow-up information

DON’T…

• …exceed a single page.
• …send a form letter (or send the wrong letter to the wrong company by accident - sad, but true… and really funny).
• …get cute with the format (odd paper choices, overly designed layouts & logos, etc…).
• …ramble on. (Here comes that lightning again!)
• …brag, exaggerate or lie.
• … be arrogant or kiss ass. (Ka-BOOM!!!)
• …be too casual. (”How R U?”)
• …explain what you want: (Newsflash: nobody cares! How do you satisfy what they need?)
• …share too much about yourself. (”My interests include cooking, surfing, dancing and dreaming.”)
• …overlook spelling or grammatical errors.
• …forget to sign it.

So with these points in mind, here is Rock’s revised cover letter.

If you want to have your own materials reviewed by an industry pro with major studio supervisory and recruiting experience, drop me a line at kevingeiger@animationoptions.com

For a flat fee of $100 USD ($60 USD for students) I’ll review and make recommendations on your cover letter, resume, shot list, reel and associated materials. How often can you get candid feedback from anyone these days - let alone the very stripe of person to whom you are applying - without using up an opportunity in the process?

Exercise your options.

Kevin Geiger

Tags: animation careers, career advice, cover letters

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 1:02 am and is filed under Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.