Electronic Arts’ Angelo Ferrugia on How to Hire for High-Skill Creative Roles
WORKING NOT WORKING
Even if you’re not a gamer, it’s hard to go through life without at least hearing of Electronic Arts games such as the Madden NFL or Sims series. Every year, the video game giant releases new versions of iterative titles or brand new stories for players to enjoy. And for every release, there’s a dedicated marketing campaign (of course).
That’s where Angelo Ferrugia comes in. As Electronic Arts’ Head of Global Production, he’s in charge of overseeing the talented creatives who produce cinematic and gameplay trailers, key art, display, and programmatic and big budget TVC commercials for EA Games’ most important releases each year. A 20+ year veteran in production, he came to EA Games for the challenge it presented. Before that, he spent time at prestigious agencies BBDO and 72andSunny.
Angelo Ferrugia, Head of Global Production at Electronic Arts, speaks with us for this post.
A significant part of his job is finding talented individuals to join his team for marketing projects, on both freelance and full-time bases. Combine EA Games’ high production standards with the need for mixed artistic and technical ability (due to the nature of video game trailers combining in-game shots and cinematics), and it’s an adventure to find the right person for each job.
In our conversation, Angelo shared where he goes to find highly skilled creatives for his team, plus how he evaluates candidates to make sure whomever he chooses has the chops to get things done right the first time.
Never heard of Working Not Working? Read more about why we’re the best place to find quality creative talent.
Hiring for EA Games: What Angelo Needs from His Creative Team
Angelo oversees production supervision, which is comprised of producers, media content localization managers, and production execution (which includes video editorial, production design, and cinematic and game capture artists). Each role requires a tricky combination of abilities.
For example, the skillset needed to do cinematic or gameplay trailers for games is not the standard film background that you could bring to a regular live-action ad. Angelo is always looking for a combination of VFX and film skills, along with a love for post-production work — not something every candidate has.
Or, consider the game capture team. They produce in-engine content for the trailer (i.e., shots from choreographed gameplay), so they need to have the technical know-how to capture those shots within the game. But they also have to have artistic sensibilities for camera angles and composition, depth of field, and camera movement.
“You have to be a 3D expert to use the marketing cameras because you're basically going back into Maya [a 3D digital production app] and flying these cameras around to get the right type of composition. It's a very creatively technical job that people sometimes overlook,” Angelo explained.
Angelo oversaw the production of Conviction, a trailer for EA’s game, “Anthem.” It was a collaboration with Neill Bloomkamp and featured live action shots rather than traditional cinematic.
To make things more difficult, he has to find creatives willing to extend someone else’s creative work. After all, the trailers and ads are built off an existing game narrative. While some look for “out of the box” thinkers, Angelo needs professionals who can get creative inside the box that’s already been built. If they can relish the challenge of creating something new within the game’s existing universe, they will thrive.
All that to say, Angelo really is looking for unicorns. To find the right people, he has to be diligent, creative, and gregarious.
Where Angelo Turns to Find Talent for Electronic Arts
Angelo is constantly looking for talent. It’s the nature of the game industry, which has a never-ending carousel of releases to plan for and execute. Because there are so many different projects with different styles and needs, Angelo relies heavily on freelance and contract workers.
In any given month, he’s looking to fill 5-10 creative roles in locations around the globe, most of which are temporary. That said, he’s always on the lookout for “anchors,” as he calls them — full-timers who can move fluidly from project to project and hold down the fort. But he also loves the fresh take that freelancers provide on each project.
“There's something about constantly learning something new and exploring and meeting people that the freelance community has for me. It’s afforded me a wealth of connections. You need your anchors, but I also like having my Bohemians,” he laughed.
Over his extensive career, he’s built strong connections with talent across multiple genres. Even so, he still spends 1-2 hours every day networking and recruiting to fill his team’s seats with top-tier creative talent. He finds them on Working Not Working and LinkedIn.
Why Angelo Starts His Search for Talent on Working Not Working
Angelo joined the Working Not Working platform over five years ago as a recruiter. He’s been an avid user ever since.
Rather than posting job descriptions and passively waiting for people to find EA, Angelo goes hunting. “I use the platform actively because I believe in the quality of the people there,” he explained. He can use the search filters to sort by who someone has worked for, plus by the skillset they bring. He’s constantly checking the site for VFX specialists, motion designers, producers, and more.
For example, if you look for creatives who list “VFX” as a skill in their profile, you’ll find over six hundred. Look for “VFX” + “film,” and you still have ~200 on the list.
What you’d see if you searched for creatives who list ‘VFX’ and ‘film’ as skills (rates and last names redacted).
It doesn’t matter if they’re available right away. He still reaches out and follows them, just in case they become available when he’s got a spot open on his team.
“I found one of my full-time, senior producers off of Working Not Working,” Angelo recalled. “I had followed him for months, and then he became available and I was like, ‘Hey, you want to move to Florida and work on Madden?’ Lo and behold, he did.”
For Angelo, quality is the main reason to headhunt on Working Not Working. “I'm always about quality. I'm not about quantity. If the platform only had five people that I knew and trusted, that to me is a lot more than having a hundred people that I just don't know. I don't want to get people in here that are not up to speed. It really is about quality and knowing that I'm getting the A+ people,” he explained.
Angelo’s Thoughts on LinkedIn & Professional Recruiters
Due to the sheer volume of hires he needs to make each month, Angelo is also active on LinkedIn, although he mainly stays within his network.
Connections and quality are his two primary criteria. If he doesn’t know you through the brands you’ve worked with or via mutual, respected connections, he may not be as quick to respond. But if someone reaches out and has the kind of portfolio he admires, they’d certainly be under consideration. Unfortunately, he’s found that many of the people who reach out to him on the platform don’t meet the skill threshold he’s looking for.
Angelo also can’t rely on recruiters to narrow down his options. He has one recruiter whose past experience at Blizzard Entertainment and knowledge of VFX makes her suggestions better than normal. But when other recruiters that he’s worked with don’t have experience in the creative industry, it’s common for them to miss the details that make or break candidates.
“A recruiter isn’t going to look at things the same way as a hiring manager,” he said, “because creativity is subjective. As a Head of Production or as a Head of Creative, you know your discipline the best. You have to do the legwork. Only you know what you're looking for.”
He estimates that recruiters are only able to help with about 10% of the work; the other 90% falls to the hiring manager. Recruiters may be able to find candidates to send over, but the hiring manager ends up qualifying them.
What Angelo Looks for When Evaluating Talent
The Greatest Play Call Ever, an ad for Madden NFL 19 that Angelo oversaw as Head of Production. It was executed in conjunction with ad agency Johannes Leonardo.
Angelo is the first to contend that good talent won’t just show up at your door. To work with the best of the best, you have to go out looking and build relationships in your community to find them.
So what should you do if that searching pays off, and it’s time to evaluate the contenders for a role you’re filling? Angelo focuses on two main categories for the first look: pedigree and portfolio.
1. PEDIGREE
Where you’ve worked says a lot about your skill set, especially when it comes to top performers in the creative fields. For Angelo, creatives with a work history at one of these locations are sure to catch his attention:
For any role…
Work at top-tier ad agencies like Droga5, Wieden+Kennedy, and Anomaly.
For sports-related games…
Work at first-class brands like Nike, Adidas, or Under Armour.
For post-production...
Work on major motion pictures produced by giants like Marvel, Pixar, or Lucasfilm.
For design…
Work at hip and trending places like Brand New School, Gentlemen Scholar, or Mill+.
Having a roster of trusted brands makes it easier to flag candidates who deserve a closer look. If you haven’t already done so, consider making a mental (or physical) list of companies you trust to employ great talent.
Note: On Working Not Working, you can search by where someone has worked, what skills they list in their profile, and whether they’re available.
2. PORTFOLIO
Everyone knows a good portfolio is important. And yet, Angelo often finds portfolios that are poorly curated. He doesn’t have time to sift through 20-30 videos in the hopes of finding one that shows exactly what he’s looking for.
It’s a sign of a truly great creative talent if they can pick just a handful of their best pieces to present. Why? Doing so shows taste, and good taste is critical for a creative person to have.
“I’d rather look at a reel with three things on it that are great than 20 things that are mediocre,” he said. “So my advice to anybody in the creative field is curate, curate, curate.”
To Angelo, that’s far more important than, say, the website the portfolio is posted on. “It needs to be clear and concise,” he said. “Show what you think is good. Be proud of the things that you're proud of and let that be the first thing a recruiter sees.”
If You Forget Everything Else, Remember to Grow Connections
“Getting good talent is an active process,” Angelo emphasized. He’s a firm believer in forging relationships, regardless of whether it fills a need right now.
It’s hard to land a position at a high-tier company if you haven’t spent time cultivating relationships with the people in and around your field. Similarly, it’s hard to be the one to hire the best talent if you aren’t talking to them. “For me, it’s all about community,” he said.
“Whether you're a hiring manager or you’re an active candidate, don't be afraid to reach out,” he emphasized. “If I don't have something now, it doesn't mean I won't have something down the road. Network, network, network. Constantly hit people up; be active! And if somebody reaches out to you but you're not interested in the opportunity, I would still take the connection. Take an interview; take a phone call. It's a small industry, but it's big as well. So, just always be looking, because you never know.”