ICON Creative Studio Reviews

I was brought on to be a team lead. I soon realized that most of management had junior level experience. It was uncomfortable receiving critiques / direction from people who's best production was VeggieTales. Senior management are rooted in self grandeur and cant see past their own nose. Their arguable years of "experience" at a B rated studio, has led them to believe they know best. This delusion has infused an envious atmosphere of outside talent. Instead of replacing management with more qualified individuals, they fire people that seem to be a threat. ICON uses a deceitful practice of letting people go before their 3 month probation is up. They lure artists on board with a lengthy contract but let them go early so they wont have to pay any penalties. Many have been given bogus reasons for being fired only to appease the sole purpose of avoiding lawsuits. As for dailies, it was a joke! Half the time was spent arguing about the shows budget and how they blew past the projected bids. Mass hysteria and bleeding funds can only be placed on the heads of incompetent management. Unfortunately, it's the truly talented artists that get axed while the veteran management are left stroking each others ego due to cutting payroll. As an artist... you'd have a better experience flipping burgers in between jobs, while waiting to work on the next Avengers film. Most positive reviews seem to be coming from individuals with little to no experience on major productions elsewhere.

Be aware!! Production / Corporate rules with a sneaky backstabbing hand here. If there is a list on what bad management is in a creative industry, ICON is the prime example. Random young people with ZERO industry experience are hired as Production Managers right off the bat. Same group gets accolades and promotions to Line Producer, Asso Producers etc within a matter of months!! These so-called production staff walk into the animation industry and start treating artists like tools, to them the only thing that matters is the bottom line. These people have no concept of what it is to work with creatives, it's a barrage of bureaucracy that follows. Quality is done on the backs of artists with: - Unrealistic schedules, made without consulting creative leads. Unbelievable! All of a sudden there is a spreadsheet with unrealistic delivery time in your mail box. And it's up to the Leads to figure out how they can sink or swim. All the way down to Jr.s will suffer. - Overtime, all the time. Guaranteed 10-12 hour days Mon-Fri. - Forget about stat holidays. If you take one stat holiday or long weekend the next day you have to work twice as hard just to barely meet the deadline. - Some weekends are also sacrificed for work. - No work / Life balance. - No benefits. You are NOT covered for anything! - If you rely on drawing tablets or drawing equipment, The company tells you to bring your own from home. There are a handful of animation industry veterans working at Icon, but they get bullied by corporate and bad management. Production staff who doesn't know their place in this industry makes decisions behind creative's back, when it doesn't work creative gets the blame. These are young and downright amateurs who have been promoted to be Producers, who have hijacked the company. It's a poisonous environment for creatives. Stay away! There are lots of better studios to work at in this town. Icon is not it.