Joey Drew Studios/novel
- This article refers to the in-universe location. For the real-life game development name of the same name, see Joey Drew Studios Inc.
- For other uses, see Joey Drew Studios (disambiguation).
"Oh, Rose, I wish you could have too. I really do. It was something else. You'd never have wanted to leave. It was the kind of place that just sucks you in, you know?" |
Joey Drew Studios is an American animation studio established in 1929 at Broadway, Manhattan. Owned by Joey Drew and co-founded by his old friend Henry Stein, the studio created the popular Bendy franchise, producing a series of cartoons, comics, and other media before its closure in 1948. The building's exterior supposedly is a tall building made out of bricks and wood.[2]
History
In 1928, after deciding to make cartoons for a living, Joey planned to open up an animation studio with a little, cheeky devil character. For the investment, Joey got help from his friends, Nathan Arch and Mrs. Richmond. Richmond also helped Joey hire the best animators and cartoonists of the time, and Joey soaked up everything he could. After Bendy was fully realized and created, Joey and Henry became business partners for the upcoming studio.
After everything was set up, the studio was founded by Joey Drew and Henry Stein in 1929, Joey Drew Studios is located on Broadway, Manhattan in New York City, New York.[2] Having work hours of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Henry and Mr. Hemmings was responsible for hiring the Creative side of the company. Henry, the art part; and Hemmings, the writing part respectively. Boris is also created by Henry during this time.
In 1930, Henry Stein left the company and moved to Pasadena, California, to spend more time with his wife, Linda. After this, Joey took full creative control and hired Mr. Morris as the new Art Department director.
Also in 1930, Joey Drew decided that he needed a proper Music Department and hired Sammy Lawrence as the department's director with creative control, and Jack Fain as the lyricist. Abby Lambert also joined the studio the same year and quickly rose through the ranks and eventually became the new Art Director after Mr. Morris went overseas. Joey Drew Studios also started releasing comics for the Bendy franchise as it was one of Joey's goals.
In 1933, Joey bought the rest of the building the studio was located at, causing the structure of departments to change. And expansion were also made to fit the growing staff of the studio. The same year, Alice Angel was created and Susie Campbell was assigned as her voice actor. A meeting about this was also made at the studio and The Erie Daily Times released a newspaper article about the first female character of the Bendy cartoons.
In 1934's holiday time, the new subsidiary of the company, Heavenly Toys, manufactured new Bendy merchandise and these were sold in the stores during the upcoming years. Later in 1935, the Butcher Gang was created and premiered in the cartoon of the same name. The comic strips releases were cancelled for the new comic book releases for next year. The comic books were very successful and Bendy thrived in this type of system release.
In 1940, Bertrum Piedmont was hired by Joey to construct a Bendy amusement park called "Bendyland". Bertrum ultimately agreed and the work on the park began. During the construction, Joey got the idea of having living mascots rather than just people in costumes. In the coming year, the studio and the Gent Corporation declared a partnership after the latter sponsored the former's Construction Corruption cartoon. Also during this time, Joey Drew Studio had grown so much that it was considered a "titan" in the industry.
During World War II, the studio started to struggle with finding supplies and re-released many of its early cartoons to sell war bonds. When many of Joey's workers were drafted into the United States Armed Forces to fight in the war itself, Joey became more open to hiring women to work for him in addition to men, since he was desperate for new hires. Also during the war, the company partnered with the food company, Briar Label Co, and this led to the creation of the Bendy branded product, Bacon Soup. Briar also sent the studio multiple of the soup as a thank-you, making Joey Drew Studios start encouraging their employees to eat the soup at the studio building rather than going out for lunch.
During the partnership between Gent, the contracting firm supplied the company with tools, machinery, employees; and, as intended, Joey had them build a machine that would bring cartoons to life, called the "Ink Machine". After the machine was transported from Atlantic City, it was installed inside the studio alongside the Ink Makers. A cover-up was made about the Ink Machine and its special ink as they were claimed to be used for the highest-quality material. However, in reality, they were used for experiments that would create characters in real-life.
With the first experiment, the physical incarnation of Bendy, being a failure was locked up in the Infirmary and it was decided that the creations needed souls for accuracy. After this, the employees' souls were used to bring the cartoons to life with varying success. This process then continued with many employees being experimented on with the Ink Machine and turned into ink-made creatures. Only the Boris clones were successful but the other cartoon characters still needed to be perfected.
In 1944, Bertrum Piedmont purchased massive amount of steel from the MacArthur Steel Co, resulting in Grant Cohen delaying the employee paychecks. Due to excessive spending on Joey's part, in order to fund the then-upcoming Bendy Land project, the studio began to enter financial decline, ultimately resulting in Joey enforcing stricter rules for employees, in order to keep his company from going out of business.
At some point, Joey Drew Studios had to work with an outside company for their toy merchandise, likey because their subsidiary Heavenly Toys had to shut down, causing a large drop in quality.
In 1946, Joey Drew Studios was under investigation after reports of hazardous work environments, missing employees, harassment, and excessive backpay, as well the company's danger of being bankrupt, all of which are a result of Joey's mismanagement of the studio. Anonymous employees threatened to make labor unions over the poor conditions, which included unpermitted buildings, hazardous electrical wiring, and a plumbing system prone to bursting. In addition, there were excessive work hours, most of which were unpaid and several animators were unable to see their families in weeks, after being threatened with disciplinary action and termination if they were unable to finish animations on tight schedules. There were reports of barricaded offices, employees locked up in workspaces, and complaints of crazy malfunctioning machinery. Despite the evidence against the company, Joey Drew remained firm that the studio has done nothing wrong, calling the accusations "preposterous" and "ridiculous", dismissing them as either complaint from menial employees, or feeble attempts by competing studios to discredit Joey.[3]
Later in the same year, the Court Theater was acquired by Joey and was used for the production of all things Bendy. Later, the Ink Demon from the experiments was accidentally released as the ink rained over the studio, causing mayhem behind the scenes as the infected employees went insane and the others were murdered in cold blood by the demon. Many of the employees had gone missing during the year and most were consumed by the ink. Eventually resulting in an investigation by the police and a short temporary closure. Later in the fall of the same year, the Ink Machine was taken out of the studio and temporarily sent back to Atlantic City for repair. This year was also the time the last remaining comic press of the studio went out of operation.
In 1948, the company had shut down presumably because of the financial trouble and the investigations at the studio much to the disappointment of Joey Drew. Upon the company's dismemberment, the Gent Corporation took back all of the assets produced through the partnership between themselves and the studio, especially the Ink Machine and the experiments.
In 1953, Joey Drew created a new Bendy television show called "The Joey Drew Show" at Kismet Production Studios in an attempt to revive Bendy's popularity and reopen his studio. However, he had seemingly failed in this goal. He still managed to create the inky world, however; which was a cartoon version of his studio.
In 1972, the whole Bendy IP and the property of Joey Drew Studios was purchased by Joey's long-time friend and business tycoon, Nathan Arch Sr. Upon this purchase, Nathan rereleased all the surviving comics from the Bendy library in a compilation book, Crack-up Comics Collection, through Archgate Films, and transfered the studio's property to his company's location.
Operation
Joey Drew Studios has work hours between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. However, during the studio's high-output periods, overtime is frequently required to meet the intended deadline, both during after hours and weekends. Even though any salaried employee is ineligible for overtime pay, the company allows one to avoid overtime if they complete their work to the highest standard in a timely manner.
Joey is stated to observe the staff at all times, sometimes through himself and sometimes through others. Anyone caught not doing their work properly or entirely won't go unnoticed and likely result in disciplinary action.
When it comes to dress codes, the studio usually allows casual clothing to faster an atmosphere conductive to creativity. However, during high-level meetings, business attire might be required. Anyone unsure of the dress code of an event is advised to speak with their supervisor for help.
Any employee that is shown to be unproductive to the work environment either by negativity, poor attitude or even gossip, may be terminated if they're causing any kind of distraction from the company's goal of entertainment. To avoid this, workers are advised to put up a happy attitude.
Department activity
Animation Department
The Animation Department is the place where animations are planned and made. The various staff includes; storyboard artist, concept artists, pencillers, inkers, and animators. The department's room was recently expanded to fit the growing staff.
- Bathrooms are located to the left of the entrance and are assumed to be likey used once a day.
- Bendy cardboard cutouts are placed through the building as he's the most beloved character of Joey Drew Studios. The employees are allowed to shake Bendy's cardboard hand for luck.
- Office Decorum is allowed and the staff is free to add as many posters and illustrations to their heart's content. The company advises to add a favorite motivational quote.
- Animators use the high-technology drawing boards that are well lighted to ensure the quality of the animations. The animators are also given state-of-the-art hardwood chairs that are stated to be conformable.
Music Department
The Music Department, which is located on Level 3, is the place where the cartoons are given audio. It has a modernized recording studio which includes a projector both for the band and the voice actors. The talented actors and musicians are combined here to record the audio.
- Band seating is made comfortable as possible with the same wooden chairs. There are also microphones hanging from the ceiling, which capture every small sound.
- Storage is the place where the larger instruments, such as bass fiddles and drums, are stored.
- Recording Booth is the place where voice talent, such as Susie Campbell, record their lines. A sign that reads "RECORDING" indicates when the microphone in the booth is live.
- Projector Booth is located at the top the recording studio. Norman Polk is the projector's operator and helps out the rest of the team with their part of the animation.
Accounting & Finance Department
The Accounting & Finance Department is the department that handles the budget and investments the studio makes. Grant Cohen is the director and balances the company's checkbooks and funds.
Administration Department
The Administration Department is a labyrinth of halls and offices. It is the place where the "paper-pushers" runs the company and processes the paperwork, paychecks, and annual performance evaluations.
- Gent Office is where the Gent representative, Thomas Connor, works at. The partnership between the two companies, repair work, and the secret projects are all handled from here.
- Film Vault is the top-secret vault where all of the outdated Bendy cartoons are stored for a future rerelease in the theaters.
- Lobby Seating the receiving room for the ones who are on official business with Administration. The people waiting there can review paperwork or business proposals while sitting on the couches.
- Reception Desk is where the reception team works at. If anyone wants to get in contact with Administration, they need to check in with Reception and the team will page their point of contact.
- Administration is the place that houses nearly seventy employees. Its design of a labyrinths-like layout is made to house the very staff of Administration.
First day at the studio
At someones first day at the studio, they're to directly report to Administration for new employee processing. The rest of the morning is usually spent within the Administration offices labyrinth as the company sets up the new employee in their systems of record keeping.
Then the employee is sent to the Registration, which is where the company's Personnel Registrar takes Packet 12A (which contains the employee's position, salary, contract information, and employment history) from said employee, which also starts their file at the company. Any performance evaluations, promotions and disciplinary actions taken against the employee will be added to the packet moving forward. Afterwards, the employee will be issued their own identification badge, which they will have to show to the reception as they enter and exit the studio building.
The employee is advised to bring their forms from Packet 524B so the Payroll can process their information. This is also where they meet the Paymaster, who oversees and delivers all of the employees' paychecks evey payday, which is Friday. During the payday, the Paymaster travels from department to department to have the employees take their paychecks from him as delivery to their desk is not permitted. Anyone who misses the Paymaster during his rounds is to travel to Administration to collect their paycheck directly.
During the Orientation process, New Hire Orientation will take the employee to downstairs to the Archives of Level S to briefly explain the studio's history and accomplishments. After Orientation, the employee will be taken to their department and handed over to their supervisor. The employee is advised to take a minute to say hello to their teammates before starting their work.
Interacting with the Ink Machine
Safety precautions
Music Department
Recreation
Storage closets
Medical needs
Briar Label Bacon Soup
According & Finance
Level S, Storage 9
Administration
Gent Corporation partnership
Office of Joey Drew
Film Vault
Employees
There are currently 22 known members of the studio altogether.
Story Department
- Mr. Hemmings (Writing Department director; 1929–unknown date)
- Dot (Story writer; unknown date–unknown date)
- Mike (Story writer)
Art Department
- Henry Stein (Co-founder and lead animator; 1929–1930)
- Abby Lambert (Artist; 1931–1941; Art Director; 1941-1948)
- Mr. Morris (Art Director; 1929–1941)
- Dave (Artist; unknown date–1946)
- Richie (Artist)
- Jacob (Artist)
- Daniel Lewek (Artist and gofer; late July–early September 1946)
Music Department
- Joey Drew (Composer; 1929–1930)
- Samuel Lawrence (Music/song director; 1930–1946)
- Jack Fain (Head lyricist and assistant music director; 1930–unknown date)
- Unnamed violinist (unknown date–1946)
- Norman Polk (Lead projectionist; unknown date–1946)
Voice talent
- Susie Campbell (Voice of Alice Angel; 1932–unknown date)
- Allison Pendle (Voice of Alice Angel; unknown date–1948)
Accounting & Finance Department
- Grant Cohen (Accounting & Finance director)
- Toby (Accountant)
Administration Department
- Joey Drew (President, lead writer and founder; 1929–1948)
- Miss Rodriguez (Secretary to Joey Drew)
- Mrs. Miller (Lobby secretary)
Maintenance Department
- Wally Franks (Janitor and maintenance director)
Legal Department
- Numerous unnamed lawyers
Others
- Norman Polk (Lead projectionist; unknown date–1946)
Subsidiaries
Establishments that are owned and controlled by the studio.
- Heavenly Toys (Toy company)
- Bendy Land (Amusement park)
Behind the scenes
Joey Drew Studios is a location and setting of the novel series. Joey Drew Studios is first seen in the first chapter of Bendy: Dreams Come to Life; it was a major setting in the novel. It also appears in the prologue of Bendy: The Lost Ones, and later appears in Bendy: The Illusion of Living. However, it's only mentioned in the Bendy: Fade to Black novel.
Gallery
Organizational Charts
Organizational chart of the Animation Department.
Organizational chart of the Music Department.
Organizational chart of the According & Finance Department.
Organizational chart of the Administration And Special Projects Departments.
Studio Layout
Dialogue
- Main Article: Joey Drew Studios/novel/dialogue
References
- ↑ Bendy: Fade to Black. Chapter 21. Written by Adrienne Kress and published by Scholastic on October 3, 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bendy: Dreams Come to Life. Chapter 1. Written by Adrienne Kress. Published by Scholastic on September 3, 2019.
- ↑ Joey Drew Studios Employee Handbook. Part I: Surviving Your First Week. Chapter 5: The Last Reel. Written by Cala Spinner and published by Scholastic on July 30, 2019.