The Animation Code

In the field of animation unionized companies have to adhere to the Animation Guild. The Animation Guild includes the following companies: Warner Bros, Cartoon Network Nickelodeon, Walt Disney Animation, DreamWorks Animation and many more. With the powerhouse studios following a set of guidelines that the Animation Guild provides, it gives them (Animation Guild). Members of the Animation Guild must follow the following rules of ethics:

“Any gross misconduct, including repeated violations of any Section or Sections of this or the International Constitution and By-Laws; (c) Repeated violations of the rules concerning work within the jurisdiction of this Local; (d) Disloyalty to the principles for which this Local and the International stand; (e) Practicing antagonism or maliciously fostering prejudice among fellow members or members of Sister Locals of the International; (f) Committing any act of anti-Unionism; (g) Committing any act of malicious nature” (Animation Guild)

Based on these guidelines the studios involved with the animation guild cannot use their work to provide a form of prejudice which is a positive attribute of the Animation Guild. It is also important to note that any act of malicious nature is in violation of the code of conduct. This is important in numerous factions because this refers to anything from sexual harassment in the workplace to misconduct in paying their workers. The idea that negative attributes such as the ones mentioned in this essay is disheartening, but it is important that the Animation Guild follows through with them

because these violations could make a large impact on the employees and the energy in the workplace. Another larger company that adheres to their own code of ethics is Netflix. This company has many different facilities such as television shows, movies/ films and their own animation company as well. The employees at Netflix must abide by the following:

“Honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships; Full, fair, accurate, timely, and understandable disclosure in reports and documents that a registrant files with, or submits to, the Securities and Exchange Commission and in other public communications made by the Company; Compliance with applicable governmental laws, rules and regulations; The prompt

internal reporting to an appropriate person or persons identified in this Code of violations of this Code; and Accountability for adherence to this Code.” (Netflix)

Netflix has a different set of codes of ethics than the Animation Guild, but they both have a set of rules for the workplace. The Animation Guild is stricter on this fact because they have a no tolerance policy for any violation of their policies. This differs at Netflix because they have a wider range of features they release; in addition to animation they have to release films and television shows as well. It is also different for Netflix because not everything they have on their streaming service is made in their studio. Therefore, Netflix cannot control all the workers that release content on their platform. Netflix as an independent company and the Animation Guild that is a corporation that has many other companies under the influence both agree on positive experiences in the workplace. Netflix states that their members follow , “Honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships”(Netflix) ... the Animation Guild states that, “practicing antagonism or maliciously fostering prejudice among fellow members or members of Sister Locals of the International” (Animation Guild). This means that the companies believe that their employees should follow the same conduct in their respective work environments. Thereby this essay favors the importance of a code of ethics because it structures a positive experience in the workplace.