Boy, has 2026 been kicking me in the ass!

I’ve struggled to write this post for a while now. I’ve stopped and started quite a bit. I’ve changed topics. I’ve thought a lot. And I’ve tried to look outside myself. I’ve worked in the animation industry for over a decade, and I’ve never seen it bleaker than I have recently. Studios have cancelled shows, laid off mass numbers of people, and/or closed down altogether. I personally, was laid off last month after working at a game studio (that decided to no longer be a game studio) for the past two years. And that was my most consistent work in years.

When I first started writing professionally (back in 2012) the future could not have seemed brighter. There was so much work out there, and we had a great community. I think back to those innocent times regularly. And this week, I was reminded of them.

The thing that surprised me: Hope.

This past week down in San Diego was the annual Kidscreen Summit, which is a great congregation of executives, producers, and creatives in the kid’s entertainment industry. While I wasn’t able to attend the summit itself, a decision partly out of cost and partly because I did not have anything to pitch or showcase this year. But what was great about it was connecting and reconnecting with so many colleges in the kids TV and animation industries.

It is of course always great to connect with colleagues, whether its pure networking or just to catch up with friends. Recently, whenever I’ve caught up with friends and colleagues in the industry, the conversation has always been the same. We a happy to see each other. We talk about our families, recreation, or any other positive things we can. Then, we eventually get into the mutually agreed upon eulogy bemoaning the lack of work and sad state of the creative industries in the face of corporate takeovers. But this was not like that. This felt more like a celebration. 

I met writers and executives I haven’t seen in year, and we were all excited about the possibilities! Of course, we acknowledged the current challenges of the industry, but this was the first time in a while that I’d seen people, myself included, feeling so positive. We all wanted to talk about projects we worked together on in the past and things we’re looking to pitch in the near future. There was this energy like we were all ready to turn this year around and plan for big things ahead.

Because let’s face it. 2026 has been rough. And it’s still only February, Lemon.

But maybe there is something to all that positivity. It doesn’t hurt to acknowledge the realities of the industry, but maybe if we look beyond it at the things we can do--look at the projects we want to write, think about all the stories we want to tell and get inspired by--maybe there’s a way through all this. The pendulum is sure to swing back eventually, and maybe creators and producers and execs and audiences are ready for new exciting stories too.