“If we want to feel an undying passion for our work, if we want to feel we are contributing to something bigger than ourselves, we all need to know our WHY.”
— Simon Sinek
WHAT’S OUR WHY?
By focusing on growth and development at the individual level we provide each member of our team the opportunities to bring their best selves to the collaborative experience. By creating a fertile environment for growth we develop a studio culture that promotes teamwork and positive interactions based on learning, respect, and professionalism. More than anything, we value the strength of human relationships as a conduit to creating beautiful work and we don’t believe that the investment in professional and personal development should be viewed at odds with the financial health and profitability of the company.
It’s a HUMAN return on investment.
CORE VALUES
Core values make up the uncompromising cornerstones of a company, defining the standard by which a company operates. They are the heart of the company’s identity and culture, and they distinguish what is important to the company and should be woven deeply into the company’s character, structure, and behavior towards both its staff and its partnerships. These values below are fundamental to Steamroller’s beliefs, and they are engrained into our cultural system as we aim to create an environment of compassion and understanding for our team. We focus on building strong collaborative relationships, training, and leadership in the pursuit of personal and career development and the highest execution of our craft. Our core values guide us forward in all decisions and actions at the company level down to the individual Steammate level.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Steamroller wouldn’t be where it is today if we had not made mistakes along the way. Permission to fail is a huge part of who we are because while failure itself may hurt in the moment, it is the ability to learn from those mistakes, course correct at every opportunity, and give each other the grace to learn and grow through hardship that makes us who we are. This essential cycle of growth through failure extends from the very top of our studio hierarchy, beginning with the owners, to the belief that everyone in the studio must be given the opportunity to learn from and correct their mistakes. This philosophy is embraced by the teams that surround the individual, making us stronger, more compassionate, and allowing us to support each other towards a brighter future.
CREATIVITY
At Steamroller Animation, we believe that creativity and the passion for our craft are a huge part of what drives our studio culture. Whether you are working in an artist, technician, support or administrative role, we have all come together because of a shared love of art and animation. We believe everyone at Steamroller should explore their creative core and we aspire to be a studio that embraces artistic growth, creative collaboration and a passion for storytelling.
LEADERSHIP
At Steamroller Animation, we believe Leadership is not a role but a mindset. Steamroller believes in cultivating leadership skills at all levels. Through a uniquely designed studio-wide training system, Steamroller cultivates the leadership mentality at any stage of someone’s career. Being excellent at your craft is no longer enough to be a great leader. We believe that every member of Steamroller should have the opportunity to exercise essential skills that optimize their ability to work within a team. A leadership mindset is something we want all of our staff to possess. Regardless of your level, everyone at Steamroller should have the tools to contribute their personality and expertise to their team.
COMPASSION
Compassion and understanding are the driving forces behind strong relationships. We create our best work when we support, respect, and believe in those we collaborate with. As unique individuals, we value compassion because understanding one another helps us tap into each other’s strengths. Compassion is a value that must be embraced at all levels of the studio organization. We understand that every contributing member of our team is a human being first and we believe empathy is the cornerstone of a compassionate organization.
DEVELOPMENT
Doing the job is not enough! At Steamroller Animation, we want people to grow in both their personal and professional lives while they work with us. We believe in encouraging strengths and developing weaknesses. We want to be instrumental in helping teammates achieve their professional goals. At Steamroller, we take training and development very seriously and have built a robust training program that gives our staff access to craft development, soft skills training, mindfulness training and leadership development.
EMPOWERMENT
At Steamroller Animation, your ideas matter, and everyone should feel comfortable enough to speak up, ask for help, and volunteer their knowledge. Stepping out of your comfort zone to support those around you is the ultimate form of empowerment, and we love it! A studio should equally prioritize the empowerment of its teammates whether they are in a leadership role or not. We believe strongly in encouraging our staff to think outside the box and to contribute their voice to the studio.
TRANSPARENCY
We believe in being as transparent as possible with our teams. While we can’t always promise we can provide all the information being requested, we want our Steammates to ask us anything. And more valuably, we want to engage with them on issues and topics that are important to them and the studio. We have created a strong system of communication within the company that regularly informs our staff about all the goings on in the company. From our strategic initiatives, expansion and hiring plans, new projects, and I.P developments, we never want our teams to feel out of the loop or that decisions are being made in the studio they don’t understand.
TRAINING
Training is a huge part of the foundation of Steamroller Animation. So many of us have worked in other animation studios where expanding one’s knowledge and skill set through training is an afterthought. At Steamroller, we treat training like a full-fledged project, managed through Shotgrid studio-wide. Each year we marvel at the volume of training we have provided our colleagues. We do not believe training is relegated only to those in positions of authority. We embrace training as a form of leadership and people development as well as a way to foster relationships between teammates. Training is about so much more than just the knowledge one acquires.
INCLUSIVITY
Steamroller Animation sees people for their talent, professionalism, and willingness to accept and grow with others. We welcome all kinds of people and encourage diversity within our teammates. We do not believe we can be a studio built on excellence and diversity of creativity if we do not welcome all types of people into our ecosystem. Creating stories through animation is a collaborative endeavor and can only be as strong and varied as the people we work with.
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT STEAMROLLER?
Production Diaries #2 for Spice Frontier Episode 1
In this installment, the talented team at Steamroller Animation discusses the narrative and visual development of the show including the inspiration for the style and the challenges of bringing a 2D look into a 3D environment.
Length: 16 minutes