My time at RT

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Hello,
I’m writing the following statement in case one day I feel the courage to share it. The fact anyone is reading this deeply saddens me because I truly was never sure if I should be open about this or not, but I think it's time to be honest. So this is the story of how the show I created was taken away from me.

During my time at RT a group of people destroyed my hopes and dreams in front of me. And I will walk through not only how that happened but how they never took responsibility for that, their verbal abuse and gaslighting, as well as how this is correlated to why I quit the company.

While at RoosterTeeth I grew in a lot of ways, but overtime that growth seemed to come to a halt. Back during the first episode launch of Nomad of Nowhere I quit my ultimate dream, and had to leave one of things I loved more than anything behind. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, and a lot led to that moment, but I will do my best to be brief and explain why not only Gray Haddock, but also how Jordan Cweirz, and Maggie Tominey were all partially responsible. I know Gray is gone, but this story I feel is worth telling despite that, due to similar events still occurring, and even others who cause similar problems are still being promoted. I'm telling it to hopefully help those in a similar spot as I was and who are afraid to tackle their situation.

When I pitched Nomad of Nowhere I was told I MAY not have a directorial role on the show, I responded with that’s ok so long as I can at least be responsible for the art. This… never happened. After my pitch meeting, I was asked to leave so they could all discuss something. I was later told it would be greenlit, and that was that. No contracts were given to me to sign, no new negotiations, nothing. I was later pulled into a meeting with Maggie who mentioned not to get my head too deep into nomad until Camp Camp was done, I said ok and did just that. But as Nomad started and I asked to talk to Jordan ( the now director for the show ) about my ideas, the meeting was always pushed and was walked around.

When work for the show was starting I was initially excited, and waited to dive deep into the world and art, however this never happened either. It began with not getting an art director for the show, even though I was promised we’d have one before the show started. (that’s right this entire show had no art direction) All meetings discussing the shows direction, I was never given the opportunity to be involved with. What made it into the show was all the pre story work, concept art, and world building I did FOR FREE on my own time. “IE.” I made an outline for episodes 1-12 and those stayed “relatively” true to what I wrote. (Initially 1-24 as a mini series with the ending for the entire thing being written already)

I then began artwork for the show, which is what caused the downward spiral of depression, and the realization that some nasty behavior existed. The style I pitched and that was GREENLIT AND WHY THEY PICKED UP THE SHOW TO BEGIN WITH was thrown out the window. The art calls were now being made by Jordan Cweirz who had 0 years of any art direction, education, or experience. And I was shocked to see in the first art review I now had to work in a style that I did not feel comfortable with on my own show and also would hurt the show's production schedule. The first meeting had books laid out on the table, and they were FEATURE FILM GHIBLI ART BOOKS, as well as Professor Layton? for the background and character design. I mentioned "This would be impossible if you want this done within the year." (and spoiler* they wanted it done in months and it ended up looking nothing like the ref.) They wanted the characters to be more “realistic” which lead me to stating "We wouldn't have time for that kind of animation and would be easier to animate the simple shapes I had in my pitch, as well as be more appealing to the eye if we ever resorted to tweens or used basic rigs." (which we ended up doing) (Also remember how Nomad had a hiatus) When I brought these problems forward I was told a time crunch wouldn’t happen! That they would hire more animators on... They didn't.

As I began showing discomfort with my show I had multiple meetings with Gray and Maggie and mentioned "If the show looks off-putting it may affect viewership, and may also not be able to help support GEN:LOCK, should genlock not be able to hit the incredibly high standards you have for it." Nomad could be 2Ds breakthrough with a great story AND matching artstyle. I was told not to worry and to go back to work as if none of it mattered. I had 0 control on anything it felt like… Meanwhile Gray was controlling the budget, casting, writing, directing, EVERYTHING on GenLock, while also preventing any control I had on Nomad. He was the larger hurdle on decisions like these and had the power to make any change that needed to happen. But before I had a meeting with him, I would notice a smaller meeting with himself, Maggie, and Jordan, that would transpire before-hand each and every time for around 20-30 minutes,( I had to give a heads up to schedule these meetings) likely discussing and preparing for the meeting I was going to have. Knowing what it was about, because I had to mention to Maggie why I wanted to talk before it happened. I had multiple meetings with Gray and why I started to stumble with my workload and why I wanted to get out of being just an artist. I was depressed and It was affecting my performance, I felt detached entirely from my creation, and I couldn’t force myself to work in the style that I just did not agree with, that was being pushed, and effectively was hurting what I hoped the show would be.

A bit of a side note about artists as well, we may be flexible, but most of us contain a set of skills and how we approach artwork. The main characters were primarily being done by the other artist Laurin (there are only two of us that did a majority of the artwork), and I had to match their style, which not only takes time, it takes effort and thought which was hard to do as I just fundamentally disagreed with the choices the director was pushing and making.

So I began to ask to shadow the director to learn or move over to writing for the show instead. But was seriously told, “Your LINE QUALITY lately hasn’t been up to par so get better at that and we will consider you taking part in different roles.” Now my lines aren’t the cleanest but for the most part they get the job done and aren’t messy by industry standard, it was mostly smaller broken pixels and I began using the pen tool in PS to prevent the ever so slight off-ness the natural brush had. Something so irrelevant and so small was used against me as to why I couldn’t do work in a different field that wasn’t even related?! Why not just cut my responsibilities like they were doing with others at that time, and see if I could be better suited at something else to help production, and hire another artist (we clearly weren’t getting an art director anyways which was talked about every meeting) I was stuck and was being gas lit for months like that.

I even tried to improve at the things they critiqued and when I asked for how long I needed to do it for, they had no answer. It was bait and a way to stall and just pump out the show. Meanwhile each meeting, Gray had new things to say that made me more and more uncomfortable. One exchange was about how I critiqued a lot of the silhouettes in the show.
I was told by critiquing, (actual part of my job) it was inappropriate. I mentioned that my critique took place in a closed slack room for art discussion, and the only ones who see it are me, the literal one other artist, and the leads. Here was my critique and let me know if it seems
inappropriate.

(Image 1) see original post for image

I was giving general feedback, to a peer like I had done on every other production and was told it was not ok. This kept oddly happening on Nomad. I gave a note to an animator once and told them to ask Cweirz what he would think, then moments later I got a long worded message from Maggie on not to go over Jordan's head. This was for a piece of animation for the TEST ANIMATION. The things the animators did to get a feel for things, and nothing in the actual episodes. It became clear that Cweirz didn't care about having actual communication or working together. In one meeting I mentioned how the lighting on character rigs could just be a reverse of what we used for shadows in Toonboom and was immediately told that wouldn't work, The Tech artist then had to vouch for the idea and that's how it's normally done, only then was it okay’d. In another instance an inconsistency was brought up in ep 1, and the meeting continued as if the question wasn't heard. When we asked again, Cweirz got upset and said "he'd get to it!" and his solution wasn’t valid. One example of being unheard, even in a basic way, was when I asked for episodes to start with crows looking for the nomad with yellow eyes, and fly away when he comes into view. This was to signal El Rey is watching, and to foreshadow the end of season 1. As well as a much later reveal for how the crows always run from scarecrows, and why he couldn't be found easily. The scarecrow reveal was not supposed to happen till near the end to keep the nomad a mystery and not let the viewer know his weaknesses, as well as his opponents. It all hurt more and more everyday.

To get back to things. These conversations happened and I wasn't heard. Gray eventually set up small meetings at the end of art gatherings so I could talk about concerns, but it didn't actually do anything. I wasn't in the writers room, I wasn't allowed to change to the style I developed and was the thing they liked most in my pitch, and when Cweirz struggled to find a voice for the main characters, they asked him if I should be involved and he responded with a firm no.
All of this just made no sense to me, I never tried to upset anyone, or knew why this behavior kept happening. When one of the voice talents came to tour, I walked up to say hello. When I turned to Cweirz to introduce myself, he put his head down and turned away. So I awkwardly had to say who I was. This is on top of the unprofessional comments and gaslighting I also received in slack. (I’ve kept these but holding onto them for legal purposes)
I didn't understand why this was happening or what I did.

I began to document my time in a small staple format to express my current thoughts as they happened. There’s just too much to keep track of.

The overworked hours for all animators was unheard of, meanwhile the leads would go home at the strike of 7, sometimes earlier. (work started around 10) I learned through an ONLINE ARTICLE when my own show would be airing, and not anyone else. The animators learned the same way. (it would not be ready at that time) and is why the show took a hiatus.

But in the end the largest realization was when I had one of my last meetings with Gray and Maggie. Gray said a few things that bothered me, the first being, "We only picked your show so others in the company would start pitching" and the second, when I mentioned going to HR, "If you went to HR about this they would just see it as us stealing your show." It was after this conversation I brought a few friends to HR and they also stood up for some of the issues I had. It took me so long to go because I didn't want to lose my job or be hated for it permanently. I thought they hated me enough for some reason. It helped when I talked to friends and animators about the issue because most reassured me I wasn't crazy and they saw how they were treating me. So we went to HR, and not much happened other than addressing the crunch a little by giving Nomad an extra month of development time, but even that wasn't enough. I then went to Matt's office during his open door hours, and told him everything. I was emotional, I cried, and didn't even want to be there. It was genuinely nice because he made it clear that he cared by giving me more time to speak on the issue when my time was up, then after pulling the leads into a room to discuss. I'm not sure what was said, but after I got very high praises from Cwierz for a piece I did, which hadn't happened since the first season of Camp Camp.

It wasn't much long after I put in my two weeks, because after talking with Matt and Burnie more it became clear nothing could change. The production was too far along, and the same story of " his line art isn't great" made its way to them, and I knew that because these leads were closer to them as friends I wouldn't be fully heard anyways. So I put in my two weeks with Maggie, and immediately saw her and Cwierz pour a drink for what I'm guessing was the first ep being finished.

Before I left I had one last meeting with Gray and Maggie, where an employee spoke Ill of Gray in the open workspace on how I was being treated. I was pulled into his office, and when I asked to explain the situation I was yelled at and was told "You don't get to speak!" this is when I mcfucking had it honestly. I knew I was leaving and nothing mattered anymore so I responded with " I DO get to speak, it is my right, and you will listen!" I spelled out just what they did. EACH AND EVERY THING and in the end when I asked if that sounded right, they basically sat in silence, and had nothing to say.

I was upset because I wanted to leave with some form of good relations but it was gone. On the day I left, a party was thrown for Nomad of Nowhere airing. I wasn’t invited and was quickly rushed out.
Before leaving I had asked to keep my name on the credits, and to get it in writing. When I got my document in writing back it had this wonderful veiled threat at the bottom.

(Image 2) See original post for image

So if i said anything bad that happened to me my name would be taken off. Keep in mind this is a one way signature and not agreed upon by myself. I just asked to have it in writing to keep my name on the show. Nothing more.

As I was leaving I offered to keep voicing Preston in Camp Camp as a Professional courtesy, and for the fans of the show. I liked voicing him, and wanted it to do well. It wasn't until I got a call from Miles on the air of the next season that I wouldn't be voicing him any more. He was nice enough to say that he thought telling me was the right thing to do, and it was clear the ones whose jobs it was wouldn't make the call.

It wasn't long after I asked him to lunch to tell him my side of the story and what happened. Miles always helped push for Nomad, and was someone who was very genuine with why he liked it. I thank him for his help, listening, and his genuine interest in the show. We met for lunch, and I told him everything that had happened. He then proposed that we all meet for another lunch and to be human beings and try to help put these feelings of despair and sadness in the past so we can all move forward. When I met him for the next lunch none of the three came, and I was told "That everything that needed to be said had been." It really sucked to hear that. After all of that, they couldn't even be human and explain why with a simple lunch. I was told Gray wanted to come but had a late flight back home, and was urged to meet with his family, but I just felt like it was another blanket statement. I didn't know who or what to believe and was disappointed.

I know Gray is gone, and mostly from his own actions, but others were literally promoted and praised. This company clearly hasnt grown or changed in years since theyve shifted things, and that is disappointing to see. It's a giant clique of friends who cast others out who are beneath them.

And that’s pretty much the end of my time there. I just want to say I'm still incredibly thankful for all my friends at RT who helped me, and listened to me. I'm also sorry that any of them had to go through this pain as well. It took about two years to really get beyond a lot of the lingering pain I felt, but some still remains. I looked up to this company, I made machinima because of red vs blue. I became a partner with Machinima.com and told stories on youtube and was paid for it, because of that inspiration. I knew and played halo3 with chilled chaos and zeroyal before they were where they are now. I went by Combat Wombat and gained a fairly decent following, but left it to pursue animation as just me. I managed to get a show greenlit, I’m not confident about a lot of things about myself, but I know I have the skillset to achieve what I love doing. I will also say I'll continue down that path and have learned from this experience. However, I tell THIS story today so others can learn from it too! Always fight for your worth and your ideas, hold onto them, and if something does move forward know what you're fighting for and give it your all. I certainly know my worth now, and promise to make something special for people someday even if it takes years. I made Port partially in spite of these events, to prove my worth to myself, and am more happy with it than anything I’ve made before. It’s almost complete and I can’t wait to share it. What happened shattered my heart for seeing how the people I looked up to behaved, and how they could’ve made something truly special, but I know I can at least try to be better and so can you! If you ever find yourself in a worrying position, don't be afraid to document what you are going through to help later. Thanks for reading all of this and hope you all can make something special someday too whether it’s a show, a painting, or just something you love.

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