For anyone considering visual effects as a career and for those already working in the industry- please check out this great article by Jeff Heusser at fxGuide: VFX in Los Angeles – 100 hour weeks & homeless
Puts things in perspective.
This is what our industry has come to. We who make the magic from nothing and we who generate the major profits for the studios. The studios have commoditized us and shipped jobs around the world to save pennies. Those who are experienced, talented and skilled are putting in long hours and are being forced to move to other locations around the world, away from their family and homes.
Those just starting out are being fleeced by anyone and everyone selling them on this fictional dream of fame, fortune and creative riches.
For profit schools are multiplying at an incredible rate and being funded by money machines such as Goldman Sachs to sell dreams to people, young and old. The problem is those dreams don't exist. These schools are churning out thousands of graduates to an industry without jobs. The only selection process at these types of schools is can you pay or can you sign this student loan from the government. Your aptitude and your potential talent is never evaluated. Guidance counselors never reveal the reality of the industry you're getting into or your odds. In most cases these diploma mill types of schools teach very little of value and even those that do now have cranked out so many others it doesn't matter. It's hard to stand out and even when you do it's hard to get a job. When you do get a job you will likely be working long hours and then have to move to find your next project.
All of these students are eager to go into tens of thousands of debt. They are eager to work for free or close to free. They are eager to be exploited, to lower their value and the value of everyone else in the future, to the detriment of their real future.
The student loan bubble is the next big bubble to burst with over $1 trillion in student loans here in the US.
Many coming to this website are searching for the salary of visual effects supervisors and other positions, eager to learn about making a fortune without pausing on some of the more sobering information.
Those just considering visual effects industry as a career, save yourself. Go into something with a future. Visual effects are being used more than they ever have (every film from hollywood uses vfx and most independents) and the technical and creative challenges are increasing but the business aspects and control of the industry have turned the love of what we do into a mess. It certainly pains me to write this as someone who has been doing this a long time. Visual effects companies are collapsing while others fiddle.
Many in the industry, even those with experience, are bailing as quickly as they can. And with a visual effects only skill set, there's very few places you can work. There are few other industries that can take people who do animation, lighting, rendering, modeling, compositing, etc. Make sure if you do go to school you gain a broader base of knowledge than just visual effects.
There are plenty of visual effects companies around the world that have no problems exploiting recent graduates who have already been exploited and fleeced from the schools they attended. Overtime is the norm. Companies encourage it, especially since it hides the sins of poor management, and it is now such a mantra for workers that they accept it as the norm themselves.
The visual effects companies who take on many of these new graduates do so at the expense of other, more experienced workers. And why do they do it? False economics. They think that hiring people at a lower wage is how they can save money. The truth is the experienced worker is more productive, the more likely to solve the problems, and the one who can make sure the project gets done in the compressed time schedule. New people should be brought in as needed and mentored so they have a future. In an industry where experienced people are being dumped for the cheaper, inexperienced people - what do people starting a career in this industry think will be happening to them once they become experienced? It's an endless cycle.
With so many visual effects graduates eager to be exploited and companies willing to exploit them, the visual effects industry is dissolving from the bottom while pressure and other problems are dissolving the top. The end result will be an empty hull.
Now there are thousands and thousands of film school graduates every year as well. Likely many times the number of visual effects graduates. Why isn't the rest of the film industry having these same problems? Well the studios are smart enough not to hire too many inexperienced people. They know the value of experience. And everyone else working in live action filmmaking is covered by a union. This provides the studios with the experienced people they need and also protect the crews from being exploited. Visual effects is the only group not covered by a union and thus is able to be easily exploited.
See any article on the right column under the State of the Industry
Updated 6-11-2013
I'll repeat some of the links here from the schools post since not everyone follows the links and I've added many more since there seems to be some confusion regarding this issue.
Last night was a great visual effects event. Visual Effects World Wide Town Hall - Pi Day. A great many people worked incredibly hard to pull this off in the time available. (Big thank you to all of them) We had abut 250 in Los Angeles where the event was held (Gnomon) and interconnected to New Zealand, the San Francisco Bay Area, Vancouver and Austin. I touched on this yesterday and here's the website with more info of the things going on. See vfxsoldier and links on upper right for additional info. Below is the script notes I started with for my talk. I wasn't able to cover everything in the time provided and since I was free speaking most of it, I probably lost a few things along the way. I've posted a link to the YouTube of the talks and discussions at the end. (And thanks for all the great responses and feedback. Let's keep the discussions going and lets implement some solutions ). Suggested music for reading Eye of the Tiger by Survivor Waiting on the world to change by Jon Mayer Changes by David Bowie A change is going to come by Sam Cooke
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I’m Scott Squires, started on Close Encounters, started up and ran Dream Quest for a few years, was at ILM for 20 years and I run the Effects Corner blog.
I am a VES Board member but today I’m speaking as an individual,
This event is aimed at all VFX professional worldwide. Film, TV, Commercials, and similar art forms
Each year we as the vfx community pushes the boundaries of what we can do. We develop the art, skills and technology to do more and more. This last year we have seen incredible work. Our efforts have allowed filmmakers to tell any story. We have made the impossible, possible. We are involved in not only most Hollywood films but also almost every form of moving image content. All films that were up for best picture this year used visual effects. The studios are reaping large benefits from our talents. We should be celebrating instead we find ourselves scrambling for coins in the gutter.
We have allowed visual effects to NOT be considered for creativity, collaborative and quality. We have allowed the discussion to simply become a decision of costs.
Films do not hire the key creative’s based on how inexpensive they are.
With the bankruptcies of R&H and DD and closing of other companies I the last 6 months, it’s clear that our industry is out of balance.
Major Problems
Subsidies
These are basically government funded corporate subsidies for select industries in select areas. Politicians are controlling who wins and who loses. The evolution of companies is no longer based on creativity, collaboration, quality and efficiencies. No matter how great a company is they can’t compete with a 50% or more discount funded by the deep pockets of governments. Subsidies do not create jobs, they simply move them. VFX companies are forced to setup expensive branches in locations with subsidies. The vfx professional is now forced to move from place to place like a migrant worker. We still work in offices and the moves are only based on these politics.
The taxpayers in those areas are paying a high price. Louisiana recently discovered that they make less than 16 cents for every dollar spent, even factoring the intangibles and the multiplier effect. No unbiased report I’ve seen has shown any benefits to the taxpayers in those areas.
Building an industry based on subsidies means building it on a house of cards, ready to collapse when the subsides go away. And they will go away. The subsidies are one of the next bubbles to pop. They are temporarily. Film subsidies require constant feeding.
Another location will provide better subsidies or your subsidies will go away. The BC film industry is seeing that with work now going to Ontario and Quebec. UK companies are now setting up branches in Montreal.
If tomorrow Antarctica announced a 70% subsidy, the studios would be on the phone to all vfx companies and the vfx companies would be scrambling to setup in Antarctica and requiring many employees to pickup and move if they expect to keep working. 6 Months later a small island in the pacific will offer more and the cycle will repeat itself. This is ridiculous and as insane as it sounds. Yet this is what is happening. You can see a time lapse version playing out in the US. Michigan was top dog a short while ago. They are no longer top dog and now have shutters studios and businesses simply because they falsely believed they were building an industry.
Everyone in visual effects is affected by the subsidies.
Too much competition
The amount of visual effects in films and other entertainment has exploded in recent years. But there is still too much competition. The subsidies have caused a distortion in evolution. Companies are trying to get a small profit from the projects. The companies have no leverage due to this imbalance. Large companies, even in subsidize areas, are underbidding the actual cost of the projects. Anybody with common sense can see that doing projects in the red will end in the company going out of business.
Broken business model
The visual effects business model is a fixed bid. A fixed bid for a creative process that starts as simply vague writings and has a fixed deadline. We are the only industry in the world that operates this way for a process with so many unknowns and so many changes, large and small. Construction requires blueprints and selections. Any changes are billed and deadlines are extended. The fixed bid is an insane way to work and results in companies going out of business. And it should be pointed out that when these companies go out of business they leave a trail of unpaid workers. Because at the end of the day the workers bear the brunt of all of this. It’s not the studios or the companies.
Massive Overtime
Unions fought and won to help make a 40-hour week standard. Most countries have a maximum allowable number of hours a person can work. The Fair Trade Association that Apple, HP and other companies belong to that covers China and other countries has a cap of 60 hours. In visual effects many of us start at this number of hours and increase from there. As vfx professional we’ve already exceeded what both many countries and associations allow. In there UK they have a maximum hours of 48. But vfx workers are required to sign a waver when they start. As overtime goes up, productivity goes down. There are now health studies clearly showing the impact to workers health when worked over 50 hours. Why on earth are we working the hours we’re working.
Unpaid overtime
Many putting in these hours are doing so unpaid. Many vfx companies are breaking labor laws by misclassifying people, making workers exempt from overtime and other questionable activities. In Vancouver they are classifying people as technicians to get around overtime laws. In the UK there are no requirements for overtime rates so many are simply given a standard day pay, if anything at all.
Health Care
This is the only US centric problem I will mention. Health care here is very expensive. Each new company you work for requires 3 months before coverage. If you work shorter than that then you will have to buy your own. That is one of the reasons why all other film crewmembers are union members, including writers and directors. Because they offer continuous benefits as crewmembers move between projects.
Problem Summary
There are plenty of other problems but we need to focus on these first.
The visual effects industry is like large ship that’s burning, sinking and headed towards a waterfall. It would make a great movie but we are all on it. All of us. There are some on the ship that see no problems, some that simply want to hold on and hope for the best or hope that someone else will come to the rescue, others argue about which to fix first and of course there are plenty that just complain without solutions.
Solutions
So lets talk about the possible solutions
Subsidies Vxfsoldier has started a legal team looking at the issue of subsidies under the World Trade Organization, which technically lists these as illegal under their guidelines. But beyond this there is little we as individuals can do solve this problem due to the politics and the deep pockets of lobbyists.
Making our own content
Many have suggested that vfx companies make their own content. That this would provide an alternate revenue stream that would help cover costs. But being a content company is a different business than being a vfx service company. Some vfx companies have attempted this with varied degrees of success. It is certainly worth exploring but bare in mind large amounts of money have to be obtained and invested. It would require companies to invest large sums themselves to create the concepts, hire writers and directors as necessary. And even once this has been done there is no guarantee of success. Even the large animation studios are not always successful at doing so. If your company was successful in create such content, would you even bother being a vfx service anymore? Especially if the vfx business was still broken.
Residuals and royalties
The other notion is that vfx company’s share back ends participation. Perhaps even the workers. If you think getting more credits is hard, try to get a valid back end. There are some vfx companies that have done so with varying success. But this usually requires the vfx company to bankroll a certain amount of their own production for which they require deep pockets. And what happens if these projects are unsuccessful or make no return on investment. How deep are the pockets of the companies, especially since they work on very low profits currently.
Keep in mind people such as writers get residuals based on their union coverage. Most film crews get residuals in the form of health and benefit fund payments. When you buy a DVD a certain % goes into that fund. So again, vfx workers are the odd man out with no participation in the profits of the projects.
Working for the studios
The studios could simply employ vfx workers directly, just like they do film crews. This is the way it used to be done. There would be a direct connection between decisions the director makes and the cost, just like there is for the rest of the movie. This isn’t as far-fetched or as impossible as it sounds. There would be some benefits to workers and could be an advantage to the studios and directors as well if it were done right. But the vfx companies today offer the studios the ability to take all risks over themselves and the vfx companies also offer doing the work below costs. Hard to convince a studio to do their own when others are more eager to fund their projects and take on the risks.
Post-production supervision
A director is given so many days to shoot live action. The producer, line producer and 1st AD all encourage and guide the director to shoot their moving in the allotted time. They have to shoot so many setups a day to meet their schedule. A director is less likely to do 100 takes or change their mind after shooting a setup or ask for a lot of reshoots because they have a limited time and they have others who keep them on track. Once into post-production there is no one working with the director to keep them on track. Because the vfx is done by an outside company that may not charge for all changes and overages, the changes continue. As these changes continue workers work more overtime and the company loses more money. If the studios had a strong post-production person and treated visual effects more like live action that would stop,
Global working conditions
Just like the Fair Trade Associations and other organizations mandate a specific code of conduct for companies; there could be a code of conduct for vfx companies to adhere to if they wished. Those who do so would be clearly listed and overtime and health benefits would be clearly defined. Should a company break any of these guidelines they would be off the list. All companies on the list would be required not to subcontract to others not on the list. And the studios could not plead ignorance.
Trade association
A trade association would be made up of vfx companies. By organizing they create a unified front, with numbers comes strength and leverage. Just like a union. Companies in the trade association couldn’t agree on pricing but they could establish standards and also define their business models. The goal of a trade association is to do what’s best for the companies involved. The film studios have their own trade association for negotiating with the unions as well as take care of issues affecting all of the studios.
The VES hosted a few meetings with some companies and Scott Ross has been trying for years to get companies on board. The larger companies and those in subsidies areas have been reluctant to even discuss the possibilities. But the vfx protest that many of you were involved in has seemed to make a bit of an impression. Scott Ross will be discussing the trade association tonight.
VFX Guild
A guild and union are one and the same. As mentioned almost all others involved in the film industry are covered under guilds. Writers, directors, production designers, cinematographers, actors, etc. Please don’t stereotype unions by what you have heard 2nd hand. And please don’t bother bringing up false notions of the auto industry. The German auto industry is doing just fine with a union work force.
The union provides protection for the worker. As an individual you have very little control at your workplace. The company could drop everyone’s pay without notice. They can do things to skirt around the labor laws. A company may not pay you for a few weeks and simply say that they will pay you soon. (Dave Rand can discuss this aspect) All of this is even more possible at a time of large unemployment. You have no say over your situation. You either keep working or you quit. Those are your two options.
The guilds goal is to do what is best for workers. Workers are involved in the management of the guild and are involved in determining what is critical. The guild sets up basic working conditions and they set minimums. Everyone is still allowed to do their own negotiating higher as they choose.
And guilds are not only here in the U.S. There are in a lot of countries including Canada, UK, New Zealand and even India. China is one of the few places where unions are not allowed by law.
Solutions summary
So those are many of the potential solutions. None of these will fix all of the problems. We have different members on the panel that can discuss different aspects of some of these possible solutions. And if other have better solutions please submit them.
Workers POV
Since this is a town hall event primarily for the workers let’s take a look at the solutions they can be involved with.
From my perspective a VFX trade association would be a very good thing and help build a more sustainable business model. I would suggest to all workers to ask management if they have an interest in a trade association and would be willing to meet about one. If not, why not?
We as workers don’t control the politicians, we don’t control the studios and we don’t control the companies so lets look at the options that are left.
1. Do nothing. Hold on and simply hope you don’t end up unemployed and/or half way around the working next year.
2. Quit the business. Some have already done so and more are more making plans.
3. Unionize. We now have a large group of motivated workers around the world. We’ve changed our Facebook images but how do we put that into real results? For real change to take affect we will have to truly be organized in a contractual form.
I know some people say they want working conditions, they want to be paid the hours they work, they want collective bargaining to get continuous benefits but they don’t want a union. The problem is you’ve just described a union. Here in the US there are specific laws and regulations. To do those things you have to be a union otherwise you’re an organization that submits petitions in the hopes someone may read it.
Ideally a union would be global but given the range of laws in each country that’s not possible. The best option is a per country union that can be loosely connected.
Some say they wish to start a union from scratch. How much time will that take to get through all governmental approvals, to get acknowledgement from companies, studios and other unions? And in the end what do you have gained?
Now there will be those that say a union will be too expensive, that the companies can’t handle it. That all work tomorrow will go to China or the cheapest place this week. It does the union no good to create a large added cost to the companies, which cause the companies to fail. The unions would negotiate with the companies to develop a reasonable solution for both sides.
And remember, I’m not just talking here in the US. If you wish some protection as a worker you should consider joining a union. Canada, UK, etc all have the option to unionize as well. I think that once one area unionizes the others would be more interested in following.
Nothing signals we’re tired of this and we’re not going to simply wait around for others who may not fix the problem than people joining a union. It sends a strong signal to the vfx companies that a trade association is a good idea. We as union members would be connected to all other film crewmembers. With numbers comes the strength to do great things.
There are those who want to continue to talk about all of this for the next 2 years. I don’t know about you but I’m tired of talking. In 2 years time our ship will have burnt, sunk and gone over the waterfall.
We need to understand at the end of the day the entertainment companies need what we do. They are dependent on us.
What we need now is unity and courage by everyone. That is the only thing that is preventing us from making positive changes.
VES Visual Effects Handbook feedback
We are having meetings and starting to work on the revised VES handbook. Most of the feedback we have received has been very general. If you want to see additional information, improvements, changes, etc to the handbook please post here or email to the VES. Is it working for you? Is there anything lacking? How is the Kindle or other eBook version for you? Get in your feedback in NOW.
Townhall meetings
Today there was a VES townhall on the web where members and others were able to ask questions and hear Jeff Okun and Eric Roth discuss VES 2.0
There will be additional townhall meetings.
VES 2.0 feedback
As requested if anyone has something to say regarding VES 2.0, especially solutions and suggestions contact Jeff Okun at: jeffokun at aol.com
You can also contact: leadership at visualeffectssociety.com
VES Forums
The VES has expanded their online site with a beta version of VES Forums. Check your VES emails to get the info on it and some upcoming VES events.
There have been some good comments regarding some of my posts.
As Steve Molin commented: “I think the heart of your post is that the relationships between artist, VFX company and studio are fundamentally flawed. I don't think we'll have a healthy industry until we find better ways to work together.”
And that’s exactly it. We can try to patch here or there but what we really need to do is revamp the basic structure and balance.
The VFX industry is like a tire that has gotten out of alignment and is getting more out of balance all the time. Toward the end of the optical era and the beginning of the digital age most projects ran reasonably smoothly, at least at ILM. There was still the sprint at the very end but it wasn’t super crazy. ILM was powerful enough to let the studios know how much time was involved.
With film you had to make sure you finished your shot in time to make the lab run. Once you made the lab run at 7pm or 8pm that was it. That was the end of the day for most vfx artists. Working after that cut off time was only worth it if there was a late lab run, which was only arranged in the final sprint. The next morning you’d see the dailies and would reshoot. Even if it was a small change you’d still have to wait until the next morning unless you sent the film as a daylight run (more expense). When digital came in, the render took the place of the lab run. Sometimes it took longer time to render than to process the film. You’d get your render prepped for 7pm or so and the CG supe would allocate procs in the render farm. And you still have dailies in the mornings. However now it was possible to actually see composites and other things during the day so turn around time for some tasks was much less. As computers became faster the internal deadlines became more flexible.
Certainly in the early days of digital the studios would at least discuss how much time would be required to do the vfx for a large film. The studios would use that information to determine the release date. As more projects were being done digitally the studios realized how much flexibility was available. Both studios and directors started pushing the limits not just creatively but technically and time wise. And we, the eager and hard working vfx artists, jumped to meet those goals. While we were wiping our brows afterwards, amazed at what we had accomplished, the studios and directors now used this as the new standard. Directors on their next show would say, “You guys say you need clean plates and markers. But remember that last film where we had one shot that we didn’t do any of that and you still made it work? Well that’s what we’ll do for all these shots. That was much faster and easier to shoot”. The studios were now saying “You did the last project in 6 months and we made changes two weeks before the release and you still did it. This time you’ll have 4 months and we’ll be making changes 1 week from release.” Some of them like to brag about this type of thing.
From the studio standpoint they want to get a film out as quickly as possible. They take out loans to make the film so their interest payments accumulate the longer it takes to make the film. They also know there is overhead at any vfx company so the longer the project is in post-production, the more that costs them. What they don’t reliably calculate is the compressed time schedules mean there will be large amounts of overtime that is likely a bigger loss than the gains from the short schedule. The studios also have specific target release dates they like and yet they at times may drag their feet waiting to make a decision to greenlight the picture. Now with this new reduced schedule (1 year? 9 months?) to make the film they review the project schedule with the director, producer and 1st asst director. And of course the shooting time will remain the same as it always does. X number of shoot days. So where do they make up for all the lost time? In the post–production phase. Their goal is to complete it in less time than the last show. Multiple vfx companies working a lot of overtime is now normal in their thinking. It’s now standard practice. With the various tax breaks and globalization the typical vfx company doesn’t have a lot of leverage. The studio has the money and may have several projects looming. The vfx company needs to keep some type of cash flow going if they are to remain open. Since there are now a number of worldwide companies for vfx, most of which are willing to charge less just to keep afloat, it’s a downward spiral. The squeeze on the vfx company in turn causes a squeeze on the artists.
The ironic thing is the studio, who originally pleaded poverty when bids were coming in, is more than willing to throw money at the problem to make it finish on time. It bears repeating they would have gotten better quality shots for less money if a reasonable schedule had been used. But the studios sometimes tend to take away a different lesson. “VFX are expensive and we should do anything we can to find the lowest price company that will do it good enough on the next one. And let’s reduce the post time even more. That overhead was killing us.”
With all the extras shots being tossed into the vfx mix along the way of the production, the number of changes and even more processes such as 3D post work, there comes a time when it will be impossible to shove any more into that time. At some point there will be a major project that misses it’s theatrical release date due to vfx not having enough time. And that will not be pretty.
The flexibility of the digital process also causes some directors and studios to delay making decisions as long as possible. “We’re shooting it this way. I’m sure you guys will figure out how to make it work later. “ And we do. You try to setup target dates that decisions have to be made by working the schedule backwards. We need the design for this model approved by date x so we have the time to build it and render it. We need the turnovers for sequence y to be locked and delivered by date x for us to complete the sequence. But unless these dates are built into a contract and have consequences they may likely be ignored.
As discussed in the Special Effects Service posting there is now a disconnect with regard to the studios and the vfx artists. The vfx company is a black box they push stuff in and out it comes when demanded. There’s very little connection to the actual people doing the work. This can hurt both the creative process and the budget process. The current incentives the studios typically have in place for producers and asst directors can be problematic. Their main target is to complete the shooting on schedule, even if it means pushing more work on the vfx list. This can cost the studio more money but there is a disconnect between the production process and the entire budget of the film.
Solutions?
I don’t have any solutions but I do know the studios and the vfx companies are going to have to start taking this seriously and to start looking further than the current film. With the amount of money being spent in vfx, the amount of money being made by vfx films and the sheer volume of vfx in many films, it’s madness not to review the situation.
If the studios go to a vfx company they may find it’s gone out of business. There’s little incentive to develop talent and techniques if there’s no money in it. If the studios focus all of their efforts on places where tax incentives allow them to get work cheap, what will they do when those incentives go away? What will the vfx companies that are located there do? All companies have to realize they’re in the same field and whatever happens elsewhere is likely to happen to their location at some point in the future. Your country may be the least expensive today but as we’ve seen things can change rapidly in a global economy. What happens if you’re not the lowest priced country or company? Are the studios going to jump from place to place trying save a dollar? Does the quality of work and working relationships enter in to these equations?
The studios should start taking a look at their schedules and the decision process. Preplanning and some discipline would result in better work for less money. The same can be said of the vfx companies.
Question responses
Q: I'm of the camp that creating a vfx union would just drive the nail in the coffin of the US vfx market, or at least that within the circle of union influence, namely, Los Angeles.
A: I think it’s a myth that a union will cause all expenses at a vfx company to go up. Most vfx artists in the US, at least at the larger shops, are reasonably paid. And likewise many are already receiving some type of benefits. It’s not like everyone is being paid minimum wage and want several times that amount. I think what most people want is for there to be a little more balance in terms of hours and other issues. Part of what might come into play is limits on crazy over time or at least paying people higher wages in overtime. Many vfx companies have managers at different levels. Most of those in management came up through the ranks, which is good since they understand the process. The bad news is some of those people get moved into positions that are beyond their real skill set. Leading people, managing people, dealing with business decisions, etc is not easy and not everyone can do it. A vfx company may always be doing crisis management. This project is running over schedule or budget so we’re going to steal people from this other project. This usually causes a ripple to each following project and the problem doesn’t stop until there’s a dry spell. Management may under-staff to keep costs down but with the low number of artist means they have to work them very long hours to make up for the fact they don’t have enough people to begin with. And this is where one of the many false economies comes into play for the companies. In trying to save money it can easily cost them much more. A higher cost to work people overtime would compel them and the studios to rethink that approach.
Q: I'm not even sure how that would work internationally, or interstate, as many states are 'right to work' states.
A: That’s why we’re discussing this and that’s why we should think out of the box. That’s why I made my suggestions regarding universal rates.
Q: It would be nice to have some form of group that at least made sure companies complied with safe and respectable working conditions, but not be involved in setting rates.
A; That was the first suggestion on my list. A Code of Standards, Seal of Approval, whatever it may be called. Wasn’t there a standard put in place for companies that outsourced shoes and clothing to other countries? We’re not at that level (hopefully) but that’s the idea.
Q: We only have to look as far as the auto industry to see how that ultimately pans out.
A; The auto industry created their own problems by not making the cars people wanted or needed. They also made too wide of selection of vehicles. Once again, it will be up to the vfx companies to rethink where they are and where they’re going and to work with their customer, the studios, to make sure they’re in sync.
Q: Very interesting stuff, although in my opinion kind of depicts unions in a too idyllic light.
A; I would agree. I’m sure I’ve painted the union as being too good. However I get the impression most people have a lack of knowledge about unions. In an ideal world the company you work for would take the well being of their employees into consideration and try to establish a balance of profit with a balance of the people who work for them. In that case unions would not be needed. The problems are that many companies are so focused on profits for their shareholders or management is so removed from their employees that decisions are made because they seemed right on paper. As a result they pull in one direction. The unions typically pull in the other direction to try to establish some type of balance. For those who aren’t unions you should realize one of the reasons why you’re likely paid the wages you are is because the unions made some headway decades ago. Believe me, any company would love to pay everyone minimum wage. In the film industry studios could charge people to work for them (and they might if it were legal)
The union is another group of management that you may not agree with. Look at the WGA. Not all of their members agreed to what management there was doing. With a union you still have to put in so many hours every 6 months in order to qualify for health care. =The camera union has restrictions on who can operate the camera and they may require an operator to be employed even if the DP will do most of the operating.
Q: The only serious observation with the article is the recommendation at the end for Michael Moore. The guys is the most unreliable "documentary" film maker I've seen, totally subjective and set from the start to prove his agenda. I don't think someone can make an *informed* opinion by watching a Michael Moore film.
A: I would be the first to say none of Michael Moore’s films are non-biased. And he does as well. But it does provide some glimmer in several areas that are documented by others. It certainly seems strange to have a college educated jet pilot flying hundreds of people full time and still having to apply for food stamps to make ends meet. And I think that’s part of the issue is the imbalance valuation of people.
(I’m not a lawyer or a representative for a union so take this with the grain of virtual salt. As always I’m trying to provide a point of reference and possible ideas to discuss.)
There’s been a lot of talk recently regarding having a visual effects union.
I’m in the International Photographers Guild as Director of Photography. There is no VFX Supervisor category. When I started on Close Encounters all the vfx jobs were union. All cameras in the facility were operated by someone in the camera union. This included the motion control cameras, optical printer, animation stand, matte painting camera, and included the line up people. (The line up crew prepped the film for the optical printer along with work forms for the work). Animators and roto people were in the animation union. (There wasn’t a lot of roto in those days since it was such a time consuming task to trace, paint and shoot) The modelers were covered by the props/models union. And even the matte paintings were covered by an art union.
When we started Dream Quest all co-owners, including myself, were union but we didn’t initially set it up to be union. For a small shop it was difficult to deal with the paperwork and requirements of the union. However most of the studios were unable to source out large work to non-union companies since they themselves were signatories to the unions. So we setup Dream Quest Images as a union shop and hired all union people.
When I went to ILM it was all union as well. Local 16 in that area handled everything. Stagehands working in the opera in San Francisco or model builders at ILM were all covered. With the introduction of computer graphics the positions and union requirements became a gray area. Those CG people who were new to the business didn’t see much point in joining a union. Why did they need to pay the union a few hundred dollars a year in dues? They were working and the sky was the limit. Besides the company was making very attractive offers to not be a union employee and other CG companies weren’t union either. And thus began the backslide.
In the early days of computer graphics there were a limited number of animated and others so they tended to be offer great packages. Those days are over.
What a Union Offers
A union represents a number of skilled artists or crafts people working in a particular field or industry. It has strength in numbers that single artists do not have. Look at the writers strike from a couple of years ago. The majority of writers voted for the strike and most new film and television work shut down. Many shows on TV went into re-runs. The writer’s union negotiated with the studios to try to get better wages.
During the vfx work for Journey to the Center of the Earth the main company stopped paying people at a certain point toward the end with the promise that the payroll checks would be coming soon. They never did. Many artists took great losses and the Canadian government stepped in as I recall and the artists received a percentage of their back wages (but far from what they were owed). Had that been a union shop the union shop steward or anyone of the employees could have called the union and informed them a payroll had not been met. The union would then contact the company and tell them they were in violation and would need to pay the employees within a day or the union would request all union workers to stop. That’s how you get a businesses attention. I’m sure there were artists who went to management and complained but unless you can say that the entire company will be shut down, a lone voice is usually ignored by company management. The union has leverage.
VFX companies can try many tactics to avoid paying people, reduce their taxes or to avoid local restrictions. A supervisor and vfx producer are usually deemed as management along with any leads or dept heads. This avoids these people qualifying as standard employees under the state law. This allows the companies to consider their pay to be a salary and to not pay overtime when working late or on weekends. The theory being that we controlled how much we worked. The reality is the vfx company determined the amount of overtime required, many time out of the hands of the vfx supervisor or producer. The studio may have major changes or another show in the vfx company caused a delay, which now requires overtime to make up on this show. A company may request you sign on as an independent contractor. This avoids them having to deal with many tax and employee issues required by the law.
A union allows a freelance employee (as are most film people) to work at different companies and know that he or she will receive the same working conditions and wages. Look at camera assistants. They may be on a commercial shoot for a day on Thursday and the following week be on a different spot or a feature film.
When you work at a company you may have a health care package and a 401k. The problem is if you’re freelancing (i.e. when they lay you off) and you move to another company now you have to start all over again with a different health care company and 401k package (assuming the company offers any of that). With the union that’s all taken care of. The companies pay into the union funds so the union members have health care and pension.
The union spells out the different job types and levels along with the wages for those. In the camera union there’s film loader, 2nd assistant, 1st assistant, etc. Remember these are the minimum wages that a union signatory can pay. A skilled union artist can receive more than union scale. In the vfx industry there is no minimum and no standard of wages. The person who just started next to you with no experience may be making twice as much as you just because they were a better negotiator and the company was in a pinch. Certainly those just out of school are more than happy to make any type of money in a field of interest to them. Some companies hire less experienced and less expensive people just to cut corners. They lay off people who may have been working for years simply because they could hire three new comers for the price of a skilled person. The quality of work will suffer but they make the department leads take up any slack and try to get the new employees up as quickly as possible. These new employees will be fine with working the coming weekend, possibly without pay. Hey it’s new, it’s fun and they’re single so no real issues. Just a few years later they’re making better money and starting a family. Whoops, you’ve been laid off because the company just hired some cheaper people. There tend to be minimal lays about these types of tactics. Once again the union tries to keep this more consistent.
The union calls out working conditions and wage increases. (I haven’t confirmed these numbers so use as a guide only) After 8 hours it’s 1 ½ times. After 12 hours it may be double time. At a certain point it becomes double golden time. This cost increase prevents companies from making a habit of working people long hours for little money.
Companies need to provide meals and ½ hour mealtime or need to provide sufficient time to get a meal elsewhere (1 hr). This is to happen every 6 hours.
Workings conditions, safety conditions and turn around time (time you get off to sleep and rest before you have to work again) are covered in the union agreement.
The union worker agrees not to work for a non-union company. After all, why would union company A pay you a certain amount if you’re fine going across the street and working for a non-union company for less money?
I know some people are concerned a union will cause studios to leave the area and go elsewhere. Hey, it’s already happening without being a union and if you’re working under poor conditions or getting substandard pay it does it really matter if they leave?
One thing unions can’t do, which I know is a concern, is to deal with runaway production. Many films and tv series that would have shot here in Los Angeles in the past are now going to Canada or other places. Some of the key spots such as the Director, DP, and VFX Supervisor may travel to where ever that work is but the average film worker is left behind here in LA with no work even though they’re union.
Unions tend to have limited jurisdiction so how does this work in the now global scheme of things?
A few ideas to help level the field and provide better working conditions-
Have a Code of Practices or some sort of seal of approval. This would spell out the working conditions, but not the wages. If there were 4 vfx companies in town and 3 were officially in the program, then artists would know which company to avoid. Even better is if the studios were convinced to support the program. If a company knew they couldn’t get a piece of a studio project unless they agreed to be part of the program, they would join and clean up their act. This would also help put the companies and more level ground as apposed to cutting corners on working conditions in an effort to underbid the competition.
Establish pay rates that use universal numbers. If you go to a different city to shoot, the US Tax group has different figures calculated for working per diem per day in major cities throughout the world. You might get $150 in London and $75 dollars in Atlanta. If you sell an iPhone app you don’t set the price, you set the price tier level. A price level 1 may mean 99 cents in the US, .69 pounds in England, etc. A universal price listing could then be used no matter where you worked and actual rate would be based on standard of living, exchange rates, etc. (I’m no economist but after the last couple years I don’t think anyone else is either)
A co-op or employee owned company. I’m not sure how useful this is (having done it) but thought it should be noted. Most vfx companies started as being employee owned. And the fluctuation of workload and temp workers doesn’t tend to make this as feasible as a normal company with a more even workload and employees.
Some vfx artists, such as matte painters, are already working independently. They’re in some other part of the country or world and simply logon to pass images back and forth and to get feedback. This will likely happen more and more in the future although the speed of transferring large data and working truly with others would be a loss. This needs to accounted for in any future plans and the hope would be there would be some types of minimums so you there’s not a rush to the bottom. See all the 99 cent iPhone apps as an example when a large number of people are fighting strictly on a price basis.
The vfx companies could work with the studios in such a way the studio leases part of the company and pays the people directly. Now they have a stake in successfully getting the work done and helping to balance the changes.
None of these provide a secure future but they may help the discussion.
I also urge everyone to see Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore.
Very scary look at some union and company issues but includes a few things such as co-ops.
(Note: I’m on the board of the VES but all posting to this blog are mine own and do not represent the VES) (As always, I could be wrong about anything)
If we’re re-examining the current VFX situation we need to take a step back and look at the whole process.
I think most of us think of visual effects as a service. But is it?
History
Years ago the studios had their own visual effects department with people on staff and basic optical and animation equipment. When the studios closed those departments, labs and small optical companies took their place. I can remember looking over lab and vfx company price lists in the mid-70’s. A dissolve was so much per foot. A matte was so much per foot with minimum cost of X dollars. Some of the places had small insert stages they would rent for so much per day. If you needed something special they could give you a quote but the majority of the work was on a time and materials basis.
For larger vfx projects the productions themselves would set up a full department somewhere. This was the case with 2001, Logan’s Run, Close Encounters, Star Wars and other films. The production would lease a building and set it up from scratch with the people needed to run and operate it. For Close Encounters we were in an industrial building in Marina del Rey. They had to custom make the matte painting stands and other equipment as need be. They purchased or leased optical printers and an animation camera. Everyone working there was paid by the production. This is in fact how productions usually run. They become their own company that has a group of people that round up or build whatever is required for the film. In live action this would be the construction of the sets, special rigs, etc. Once those shows were done the one off facility they setup would usually be closed down and the crew laid off. In the case of ILM, since George Lucas had such success with Star Wars and thought he might like to do more things for himself and his friends he re-created it in Northern California. Apogee was formed by John Dykstra and others using the original ILM building and some of the same gear(?) used on Star Wars. Many of the Close Encounters people went to Universal Hartland where Universal setup up a facility to handle Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica.
When we formed Dream Quest most of the initial projects we did on a time and materials basis, especially if it was large. If someone wanted us to shoot motion control we charged for the stages and the crew for so much per week. This saved us in a number of cases where the director or the vfx supervisor they had hired made changes or threw out work because of a change.
Today if you’re working on a commercial the cost of a telecine is so much per hour and so much for tape, etc. The work on the Flame system or equivalent is on a per hour basis. They may provide a rough estimate but it’s always up to the client how much time is used. If the agency wants to tweak something all day that’s fine. They get billed for it and the video house doesn’t have to worry about making a budget.
Fixed Bids
Somewhere along the way the studios wanted a fixed bid on vfx work for feature films. Estimates were no longer good enough and the vfx companies would now have to stick to the budget. This changes a number of dynamics. In the eyes of some studios and directors the vfx people were no longer working directly for the production, they were working for the vfx company. The vfx crew became another step further from the film crew. Outsiders. Now there’s always the ping-pong of trying to please the director but not going over budget. Filing change orders and having discussions with the studios regarding the costs now became standard process. At times the vfx company can be pushed into a corner. The vfx supervisor was now that guy from the vfx company. The name of the vfx company became the main selling point. The vfx supervisor, not so much. If the client doesn’t like the first proposed company supe then another one at the company will be swapped out on a whim. The crew having to work overtime was now the vfx company’s problem. We still had crazy hours at times in the ‘old days’. On Star Trek: The Motion Picture I worked several weeks straight, 12 hrs a day, 7 days a week. (and a few 24hr days) But the studio knew it and actually visited the facility. Today, they’re now removed from those details.
So are there any other areas of film production that are completely farmed out to a 3rd party company besides VFX? All the other main leads tend to be hired directly. DP, Production Designer, Wardrobe, etc. Even though most Special Effects people have companies I believe most are hired as a team of people or at least paid on a time basis. Sound mixing or the DI? I assume these are on a time and material basis as well. The previs team is frequently brought in to work in the same office down the hall from the director. They typically bill by the man days or hours. Most of the set construction I see is done by a team of people working for production with special projects (cars, etc) farmed out.
When I think of a service I think of a dentist, a car shop where they work on your car or a plumber that comes to your house. In these cases they do work but don’t tend to produce anything. The costs are based on time and materials.
Custom manufacturing?
Should vfx be considered as custom manufacturing? We actually create something when we finish our work, whether it’s from scratch or a montage of material provided. That’s what the studios want, not the actual service part.
Here is where things get crazier. Each shot is unique like a snowflake. It’s own little world of issues, handwork and tweaks. You try like anything to make shots as consistent as possible and to be able to run them through the exact same process but it’s never full automated. For all the talk about computers in our business it’s still a very labor-intensive process. The number of people and the time required to do a shot from start to finish would astound most outsiders.
If you go to most manufactures and request custom work you will be required to make specific requirements in writing. (I.e. you want cabinet style 32 but in this specific color of blue. You want a custom cake that says Happy Birthday. It will be yellow cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate frosting.) And that is what you will get. They seldom show you the work in progress or have your input at every single stage. The other thing is a custom manufacture will tell you when it will be done. They dictate the schedule. In the film business it’s the opposite of all of this. The studio specifies when the delivery will be. It’s almost always less than the time that would have been arrived at by a normal scheduling process for the facility.
On a VFX project you start with the script, which provides a wide-open interpretation of what the final visuals will look like. In pre-production the director hopefully approves concept art, does storyboards and ideally previs. While most previs lays a good foundation the number of nuances and changes required for the final shots can be enormous. The director usually wants something never seen before that will require a lot of R&D. Not just custom but a totally unknown look or process that needs to be invented. Just how much time and money will that take? The vfx companies have to provide a bid for all of this before the film is even shot. During shooting things will change. During post-production things will continue to change.
This is a creative process so there will be changes but think of it this way: The vfx company is making a 1000 custom oil paintings that technically have to be delivered on a hard date for a fixed price (at least initially). This process could costs in the 10’s of millions of dollars, make up half of the film budget and fill up half of the screen time. There are some rough thumbnails but not enough information to simply deliver the finished paintings. The director is involved at every step of the process for every single painting. In some cases, for every brush stroke. Some directors only want to see the final pieces. In these cases you can end up with ‘no, now that I see it I don’t’ want apples in the painting, I want pears’. So much for the time and effort to create the initial painting. If a director changes one painting that may change two dozen that are almost finished. Remember, the due date will not move, regardless of the changes. And of course shots are not paintings but moving images so time and motion presents another infinite number of possibilities.
How many other areas does the director really work in this much minutia? Normally when they’re working with Directors of Photography, Production Designers, etc they discuss and try to get in sync regarding the general look and style they want. The director may be asked about the color of the pillows on a set but at some point they pass on the taking care of the details to their key creatives. The director is unlikely to ask to change the 3rd brick from the right on the set or ask the DP to reduce a specific light by ½ stop. And yet at times it can be that way when working with visual effects.
With visual effects the director has unlimited control. Every pixel of every frame can be changed. If production has an on set stunt or action the director shoots what takes they feel are appropriate and will select one. The fact that the stuntman’s hand is raised a little doesn’t cause problems. The best take will be selected and production moves on. With the advent of digital visual effects that’s not the end of the story. What would have been fine previously in any movie is now something to be scrutinized and analyzed by the director, editor and studio. Now it may be an added shot for the vfx crew to fix that hand position. And while they’re working on the shot can they change that thing back there and that other thing over there? A shot with a jet may get a request to roll the jet another 3 degrees. Will the audience notice 3 degrees? Will it make it a better shot? Obviously if production paid and shot a real jet they would be unlikely to schedule another shoot day simply to get the jet to roll 3 degrees more.
On the set the director knows it will take a certain amount of time to make a change so they always have to balance that because time is their gold standard. They have so many days to shoot the show and have only 2 days scheduled for this set and need to shoot 20 setups a day. With vfx that time balance is thrown out the window. Most of the work is done after filming. The amount of time and effort to make the change is all hidden. It’s happening elsewhere by unseen people. It’s no longer the director or producers responsibility to complete this phase of production on time; it’s up to the vfx company. To add to this difficulty is the fact that the live action shoot can and does go over schedule. Problems during shooting may now require additional, unplanned work to be done by the vfx company. But the vfx company cannot go over schedule. They are the end of the road so every delay during shooting, every added fix, shot or change needs to happen by the deadline. That’s the finals date that was set before the vfx company even started bidding on the show. Not only does the vfx company have to do all the work they initially agreed to do in that time, they have to absorb most production issues that have accumulated and rippled down the pipeline since the pre-production began. Add into that mix the requirement by the studio to make last minute changes, possibly based on test screenings, possibly based on an idea of an executive.
Are there other non-film businesses setup like vfx companies in terms of the requirements and client involvement? That would be useful to look at and learn from. Unfortunately I can’t really think of anything on the scale or dealing with the same types of issues. Many construction projects are of course custom and involve a lot of money and people. However they have blueprints that have been signed off on. They have colors that were selected to paint the walls and the client has approved the carpet and the tiles. Sure there will be some changes but the majority of the work is usually very well specified. Any major changes will involve a change of completion date or will require client to pay a large fees to have it accelerated.
Summary
Visual effects is a very labor-intensive business. The labor is made up of dedicated and highly skilled and trained people. There’s the requirement to complete hundreds of works of unique, never before seen, art (shots), based on rudimentary starting points, that are constantly being scrutinized and changed. And this all has to be done for as much adherence to a fixed bid as possible and above all has to be finished on the deadline, - no ifs, ands or buts.
I do want to go on record that I support all the directors I work for and that I’m all for anything that can make a film better. All vfx artists want the best possible film. What I hope this posting will illustrate is just how complex this issue is. We have art, technology and commerce all colliding. The vfx companies are put in a tough situation and the vfx artists are put in a tough situation to try to balance this all out. The end result is any process or structure that will help balance this issue to create the best creative and to make it reasonable for the vfx artists will be a welcome relief.
Here are some random thoughts and ideas regarding some of the issues brought up in the vfx townhall meetings. I heard the original townhall broadcast live and caught the tail end of the next one. I missed the one last night on unions and haven’t kept up on all the twitter/forums so what I’m posting may be redundant or may be 180 from any of those. These are just ideas so don’t hold me to them 5 years from now. (This is turning into a much longer document so I’ll be breaking it up for the postings)
Scott Ross discussed the fact that VFX companies don’t make much profit. I ran Dream Quest for 5 years and can vouch for that. It seems to many outsiders (producers, some studio executives) and some employees that it must be a cash cow because look at the costs being charged. Think of the number working on the project at a company. The number of people there may exceed the number of crewmembers on the live action shoot. And they’re not just working for 45-100 shooting days. So delete all the costs of the employees, including any health care and 401k expenses. Delete the costs of the lease (very expensive in LA, London, etc) Delete the costs of the utilities (special internet, phones, power). Delete all the costs of the workstations and all the software licenses. Once you’ve whittled it away there’s not a lot left. Now the VFX company will build in a profit when possible but at most it would be 35% (much less than 100% markup for many products or other services). And it never stays this way no matter what the company puts in since it’s always squeezed down. End result is more likely 10-20%.
This assumes that you’re making a profit. This business tends to be feast or famine. Look at the last couple of years between the writer’s strike and the actor’s pseudo strike. Some large projects were made but many mid to small projects were stopped. Many times as was discussed by Scott companies will try to get work even if it doesn’t make a profit; even if it doesn’t cover the expenses. When you have a large overhead it’s better to have most of it covered than none of it covered. And that’s just it. Any profit you make at a company has to cover the times when you don’t have any projects. It’s difficult to maintain a consistent volume of work through a company. Even with layoffs there are a number of base expenses that still need to be covered. At Dream Quest it wasn’t unusual for the co-owners to skip salary ourselves so we could continue to pay for the basic staff. Training people and getting them up to speed on a particular company approach takes time and money. When a company lets someone go they will re-incur that cost when they rehire someone when there is work.
That’s why I recommend freelancers or those starting VFX companies have at least enough money to cover 6 months with no income (same advice for most business startups) and to not underestimate the cost of overhead, healthcare, etc when on their own.
Competition for work is high. VFX companies have been sprouting up all over. In addition the cost of doing business and trying to bid completely, Chris deFaria points out if some location (such as England) has a 20% discount there’s little likelihood the companies can compete on price alone.
It was suggest that 30 years ago was the same thing but there were a number of differences. 30 years ago there was ILM, Boss Films, Apogee and Dream Quest as the likely competitors for feature film work. The number of VFX films and the number of shots on a film was much smaller. 200 shots was considered huge. These days many films start at 600 shots and go to over 2000. To enter into the VFX work required you either purchase or build specialty equipment (optical printer, motion control, animation stand, etc) these could run from $10,000 to 80,000 each. The upside is once purchased, that was it. No upgrades or replacement. You also needed a place to put that equipment. Dream Quest started in a 2-car garage. These days a company can start with one guy and a computer at a desk in his/her apartment. Depending on software you might be able to start for as low as $5000. But the other critical factor was there were no subsidies, or at least ones that affected the VFX market. If a studio needed VFX work done at that time it was almost always done here in California. That meant at least there was a level playing field.
As I recall Lee and Jeff suggested people not work at places that didn’t provide very good working environments or that didn’t treat their employees well. That sounds great but the reality is people are likely working at places like that precisely because they don’t have a choice. If there are jobs available at a place down the street you can change jobs. If there are no openings elsewhere or they’re half a world away then it may not be possible to quit or to not take a job, especially if you have a family and house. As individuals I would urge you to discuss the issue with the head of the company. Unfortunately this could get you labeled a troublemaker and increase the likely hood you’ll be laid off sooner and not rehired in the future. You could discuss with fellow employees but unless most of the employees opt to threaten to quit, your quitting a company will not change that companies practices. This is where a union would come in and I would urge those truly interested to take a real part in discussions and whatever is necessary to try to make it better for yourself and other artists. (I.e. sitting on the side complaining is the easiest thing but it’s also the least productive)
Chris suggested that some of the people could work for the art department. Designers, modelers, CG supervisors, etc. One question is are these positions that are available in the art directors guild? And of course this only covers a small number of people in the whole scheme of things. Even if the thought is to make it call it Digital Production does not mean the camera crew will be hiring CG lighters.
Online Town Hall registration is open - totally free, Monday March 29th, amazing panel Link
Info from the site:
VFX Online Townhall
an open disccusion of a visual effects industry in transition
Effects driven films like Avatar are breaking box office records while visual effects facilities are forced to shut their doors and most VFX workers face long hours, no benefits and little credit.
It's time to start talking about the state of the visual effects industry -- where we are, how we got here and what can be done to move the industry forward in a way that's fair and thriving for artists, facilities and the studios.
We've assembled a world class panel with different perspectives and now we'd like to invite you to be part of the conversation. The discussion is open to everyone with an interest in the visual effects industry.
Panelists include
Chris deFaria -- Vice President, Warner Bros. Pictures
Jefferey A. Okun -- Visual Effects Society Chair and visual effects supoervisor
Scott Ross -- Co-Founder of Digital Domain & former CEO of Industrial, Light and Magic
The panel will be moderated by Lee Stranahan, a former visual effects artist and writer for The Huffington Post whose Open Letter To James Cameron: Fairness For VIsual Effects Artists started discussions all around the world.
