The Cost Of Living In Vancouver

One of the big fallacies is that VFX is going to “cheap” places like India and China. It makes sense at first: The cost of living is extremely low in emerging markets and therefore the cost of labor is cheap. However we haven’t really seen a dramatic presence there.

What I have observed is that VFX is going to places where the cost of living is very expensive: London, Vancouver, Sydney, Singapore. Of course there is New  Zealand which is relatively cheap but ironically Weta pays some of the highest rates in the biz. Of course I argue the reason for all of this is subsidies that the US studios want to take advantage of.

Many here in California are asked (okay, coerced) to make the move. A reader sent me an email going over some of the costs of living in Vancouver. It’s not cheap:

Enter SpiUnion

Imageworks’ formerly proposed New Mexico facility.

Cartoon Brew posts:

A group of artists at Sony Pictures Imageworks is leading a push for change at their studio that could have big ramifications for the rest of the vfx industry in Los Angeles. Their goal is to unionize Imageworks, and they are promoting their cause publicly through the SpiUnion blog, as well as Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Animation Guild reaction here.

The most common argument against a union at Sony is that “if we go union, they’ll just go away.”

My reaction? Isn’t that what they’ve been trying to do forever?

Spain Cuts Film Subsidies 36%

Austerity happens:

Days after a general strike and in the midst of deep austerity measures to attack the fiscal deficit, the Spanish government announced Tuesday the Central Film Protection Fund will plummet by 36%, cutting $63.7 million from the 2012 budget.

Even though these subsidies aren’t available for US Studios, it’ll be interesting to see how the EU navigates new proposals on subsidies given the current recession in Europe.

related posts:

Europe Proposes Film Subsidy Cap

The European Film Subsidy Trade War

 

What’s Good For The Goose Is Good For The Gander

If any of you were long time readers you probably remember there was a great blogger who called himself VFX Law, an anonymous production side CG Supervisor by day and law school student by night who wrote some great posts with insight into the VFX Industry.

One of his memorable posts was about who were the big decision makers at the studios. If my memory serves me right they are Warner Bros’ Chris De Faria, Disney’s Art Repola, Sony’s Neal Moritz, Marvel’s Victoria Alonso, and a few other kind people that we all have loved through the years.

Is The US VFX Industry Dead?

Self-proclaimed Ex-VFX Labor advocate David Stripinis tweeted that he was amused that I didn’t respond to his latest post. Sorry I couldn’t respond but I was a little busy. However, as you can see his post is getting a lot of feedback.

When Stripinis was pro-VFX labor he routinely chastised those in the US for fighting a “lost war” as he called it because it’s over for US VFX and its all going to India and China:

It’s not that I don’t think the time has come.  I think the time has come and gone.  The boat has sailed.  Elvis has left the building.  Pick your metaphor.

The labor market for VFX has only gotten worse in the past year.

While we are all entitled to an opinion based on personal observations, but it best if we base that opinion on the facts. Has the US VFX industry been injured? Yes, but it’s far from dead.

DD CEO John Textor: “Free Labor Is Much Better Than Cheap Labor”

Welcome to a VFX world with no rules:

Previous posts on this issue:

The “Paying To Work For Free” VFX Business Model
Questions And Reactions: Paying To Work For Free
LA Times Report On Digital Domain Institute

Soldier On.

LA Times Report On Digital Domain Institute

LA Times reporter Richard Verrier has an article out on Digital Domain Institute:

“Find me another visual effects company that is as committed to growing jobs in North America as Digital Domain,” Textor said. “If this is taking advantage of kids, I wish somebody would have taken advantage of me when I was in school…. For $28,000 a year, you get an FSU degree and get to work at one of the leading visual effects companies in the world.”

Thank You Jeffrey Katzenberg

A while ago I posted a thank you to Michael Bay for his campaigning effort to recognize the VFX professionals that worked on his latest Transformers film.

This week Cartoonbrew posted a video of a CNN interview with DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. You should watch the whole thing but this quote was the most important and future leaders should take note:

The thing that I have learned, and I only wish that I knew it twenty-five or thirty years ago, which is to honor and celebrate, recognize and reward your employees and their work—is a fantastic business strategy. If they love their work, they love coming to work, they will strive to do great work and you’ll succeed.

The timing of this couldn’t have been better. It comes on the heels of my post on a business strategy by Digital Domain to have 30% of their work done for free by having students pay for the privilege to work on films.

Questions And Reactions: Paying To Work For Free

High School Students Express Excitement Over Digital Domain Institute

“I think tomorrow’s post on my blog is going to make some jaws drop.”

That’s what I said on twitter when I was sent the audio for my post on Paying To Work For Free. There’s been a huge reaction:

Animation Guild Membership At 25 Year High

Animation Guild membership over the last 25 years

So the usual argument you hear goes something like this:

If we unionize the work will eventually all go away.

I always wondered if that was actually true. Last week The Animation Guild’s Jeff Massie posted some stats on current membership numbers. I asked if he could post stats on total membership as far back as possible.

Mr. Massie kindly compiled those stats going back 25 years and posted it in a graph on TAG’s blog. I’ve copied it and posted it above.

What it shows is that TAG membership is at a 25 year high with just under 2,700 professional members: That’s a growth of more than 200% over 25 years.