If you read one article on the VFX industry this year then you might want to check out Film Works LA interview with VFX facility Rhythm & Hues. In my opinion it’s the article of the year because it reveals so much inside information about the business:
More interesting yet, Berger said Rhythm & Hues could often match a bid from Vancouver for the same money even using his California artists. “But what has happened in recent years with many studios,” Berger said, “it’s easier to understand the tax credits than it is to understand a discounted price.”
Think about that. No matter how efficient or competitive your VFX facility is, you are at the complete mercy of a government offering a subsidy. Even with a huge 35% subsidy in Vancouver, California VFX can still be competitive which is something I’ve said for a long time. I’ve seen people lose their homes, their families, and their careers over something so absurd.
Simply put this is why subsidies violate many trade agreements. They are a form of protectionism that create a barrier to market economics.
You can read more at Scott Squires blog.
Soldier On.
The very next day R&H lays off more people at their LA building. Congrats!
I was surprised nobody said this earlier. R&H put itself in a much better light then they actually should. They’ve laid off tons of people and are shipping people off to Vancouver.
“R&H put itself in a much better light ”
standard business practice really- positive coverage to cover up reality.
Was about to ask if anyone had heard about that as well. So much for Perma-lancers…
Hope things improve soon…
Note how Berger reaches all the way back to 1999 to demonstrate how California jobs have grown. This is deceptive, as this most likely predates the merger with VIFX (also in 1999), much less the opening up of facilities in Malaysia, Canada, Taiwan and India. How about a comparison between today and 2006 when the outsourcing (and California staff layoffs) started to really take effect? Or some indication how many of these “employees” are temporary project hires? Even the staff photo at the top of the article is a work of fiction that has obviously been digitally patched together.
Your posts are always so california slanted, they hardly represent the industry as a whole. “I’ve seen people lose their homes, their families, and their careers” in Vancouver too when work leaves the city. We’ve traveled the world following the work, we’d like to work in our home city as much as LA does.
Well they’re California slanted because the studios producing movies are California based. And the VFX houses opening up in Vancouver are California based too. And a great many VFX artists are coming up from California too (VFX artists from across the world who have settled here)
The only the thing Canadian about it are the Tax incentives being paid out the the Studios.
[...] after last week’s post on Rhythm and Hues, rumors went around on Friday that around 200 non-staff VFX professionals were let go or asked to [...]
[...] VFX Soldier – Film Works LA Interviews Rhythm & Hues [...]
[...] that offers unlimited amounts of corporate welfare. Rhythm & Hues admitted that it could bid VFX projects with unsubsidized talent in California, yet producers are so fixated on getting a rebate that they are forced to do the work in [...]