... In a year of slashed budgets, buyouts and layoffs, Digital Domain's John Textor made a pitch to the city on Monday that business and political leaders are hailing as West Palm's saving grace.
Textor and the city made public what they've been discussing behind closed-doors under confidentiality agreements for months — the proposal to bring a digital animation college, in conjunction with the Florida State University Film School, to the city-owned Tent Site, at Okeechobee Boulevard and Dixie Highway ...
Textor's company, Wyndcrest Holdings, in 2006 bought a majority share of Digital Domain, a visual effects company founded by Titanic director James Cameron. ... Since announcing the creation of the Port St. Lucie studio, Textor had to overcome several hurdles, including allegations from State Rep. Carl Domino that Textor had improperly received $20 million from the state to help fund the studio. ...
Many digital animation jobs are moving overseas, and Textor said his company and other Hollywood studios could work with the school to train and hire young, moderately paid workers. ...
(Let's hope there aren't a lot of interns who end up doing production work for free.)
On a more serious note: some work will go out of country due to cost issues, a lot of work will stay in-country due to quality and deadline issues, and various states will be fighting each other to develop training and infrastructure within their borders.
California will continue to have a large talent pool, deep training, and established studios.
We'll see who prevails over the next couple of decades. My guess is a lot of different parties will grab smaller slices of a much larger pie and see their overall employment numbers rise, even as they lose market share. (That's what's happened in the Golden state, 1970-2010.)
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18 comments:
I love the myth of the "young moderately paid worker". Love it!!! ROTFL!
Many digital animation jobs are moving overseas, and Textor said his company and other Hollywood studios could work with the school to train and hire young, moderately paid workers.
I seriously laughed when I read that. Let me translate what Mr Textor is saying:
"We want free money and free labor."
That seriously made my day. Yes please sir...can I be paid moderately?
Heaven forbid some even attempt to make a film with moderately paid talent - why they might actually turn a profit or something stupid like that...
Digital Domain sometimes does good fx. But they know nothing about creating content---they never have (remember their IPO, when no one was interested? That's why). Students learning from this will be limited in their knowledge--and fodder for being ripped off easily.
why they might actually turn a profit or something stupid like that...
Right! Who wouldn't want the studios to make a profit at the expense of the artists? After all, they're the ones *really* taking the beating here. Those poor producers and studios ..
*rolls eyes and smacks forehead*
Mr. Textor, I'd like you to meet Max Fleischer.
Max, Mr. Textor thinks moving to Florida is a great idea.
Talk to him.
"Who wouldn't want the studios to make a profit at the expense of the artists" are your words Mr. Kaplan. Nobody said that. You have inferred too much. I'm an artist and know it isn't helpful to demonize producers.
Mr. Textor can't say low paid or high paid artists, and he foolishly chose the the word "moderately".
What he should have said was "fairly paid".
Ah yes. The word "fair."
Fair is in the eye of the beholder. What's fair for Party A isn't necessarily fair for Party B.
One way of the other, you are paid what you have the leverage to get paid.
I'm an artist and know it isn't helpful to demonize producers.
I would be glad to stop demonizing producers. I'll wait until they stop breaking the backs of the artists to make their fractional profits.
Fairly paid would have carried a nicer meaning, but is not what was said. "Moderate" and "Fair" carry much different meanings, and I believe the difference was intentional and deliberate.
As an artist, you are surely aware of the need to define and stick to your hourly/monthly/yearly wage rate and how any studio will attempt to challenge that in the negotiation process. As much as I applaud DD for their efforts at remaining profitable, doing so at the expense of the artist isn't the answer.
I take it this is related?
PORT ST. LUCIE — Filmmaker Chuck Williams became the latest big hire to join Digital Domain Holdings at its Port St. Lucie-based facility, the company announced late Thursday.
Williams produced the Oscar-nominated film “Brother Bear”. He has also worked on Disney hits such as “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast.”
“We are overjoyed to have Chuck and his family return to Florida to help re-establish the state as a leading creative driver of family-focused animated feature films,” Digital Domain Holdings Chairman John Textor said in a press release.
The Florida State University film school graduate will work as a producer and director of Digital Domain Holdings’ upcoming feature film projects. Williams and colleague Aaron Blaise applied at the same time. Blaise was hired in May. He co-directed “Brother Bear” and also worked on several Disney films with Williams. The two were interested in working together in Port St. Lucie.
“John Textor had a vision for how he wanted this studio to be made, and it lined up with the kind of films we wanted to make,” Williams said. “They have the track record to be able to do production at the very top level.”
Williams helped the Disney Shorts Department produce 11 Annie Award nominees and two Academy Award finalists. Williams had worked as a creative consultant to Warner Bros. Pictures on the upcoming animated film, “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.” The movie is coming to theaters in September.
Digital Domain Holdings is the parent company of California-based Digital Domain, an Academy Award-winning digital production studio focused on visual effects for feature film and advertising production.
The company is building a 150,000-square-foot digital production studio within Tradition. In 2009, the state and city approved incentive grants worth about $71 million to build the studio.
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Disney veteran Aaron Blaise and Pixar's Karen Dufilho hired for Digital Domain's Port St. Lucie studio
Digital Domain has made two new major hires for its Port St. Lucie studio.
Former Disney veteran Aaron Blaise is the local studio's first director for animated features and Karen Dufilho, previously with Pixar, "is scouting for projects and potential hires, including writers."
According to this report from Variety, Blaise has already started reviewing projects for development locally.
According to IMDb, Blaise has an extensive animation resume including credits in Mulan, Pocahontas, The Lion King, Aladdin, Brother Bear, Beauty and the Beast - just to name a few.
Dufilho produced Jan Pinkava's Geri's Game and Ralph Eggleston's For the Birds. Those both won Oscars for Best Animated Short Film.
John Textor, chairman of the studio's parent, DD Holdings, told Variety that Blaise is a "native Floridian returning home." The studio plans to develop eight to 10 projects with one going into production.
Blaise is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a graduate of the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota.
Digital Domain Holdings, formerly known as Wyndcrest DD Florida Inc., is the parent company of California-based Digital Domain, an Academy Award®-winning digital production studio focused on visual effects for feature film and advertising production. In 2009 Digital Domain Holdings received incentive grants from the state of Florida and the city of Port St. Lucie to support the creation of a 150,000 squarefoot digital production studio, which will focus on animated feature films.
Founded in 1993, Digital Domain has built a legacy of achievement, listing Titanic, The Day After Tomorrow and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button among its more than 75 film credits.
PORT ST. LUCIE — Filmmaker Chuck Williams became the latest big hire to join Digital Domain Holdings at its Port St. Lucie-based facility, the company announced late Thursday.
Williams produced the Oscar-nominated film “Brother Bear”. He has also worked on Disney hits such as “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast.”
“We are overjoyed to have Chuck and his family return to Florida to help re-establish the state as a leading creative driver of family-focused animated feature films,” Digital Domain Holdings Chairman John Textor said in a press release.
The Florida State University film school graduate will work as a producer and director of Digital Domain Holdings’ upcoming feature film projects. Williams and colleague Aaron Blaise applied at the same time. Blaise was hired in May. He co-directed “Brother Bear” and also worked on several Disney films with Williams. The two were interested in working together in Port St. Lucie.
“John Textor had a vision for how he wanted this studio to be made, and it lined up with the kind of films we wanted to make,” Williams said. “They have the track record to be able to do production at the very top level.”
Williams helped the Disney Shorts Department produce 11 Annie Award nominees and two Academy Award finalists. Williams had worked as a creative consultant to Warner Bros. Pictures on the upcoming animated film, “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.” The movie is coming to theaters in September.
Digital Domain Holdings is the parent company of California-based Digital Domain, an Academy Award-winning digital production studio focused on visual effects for feature film and advertising production.
The company is building a 150,000-square-foot digital production studio within Tradition. In 2009, the state and city approved incentive grants worth about $71 million to build the studio.
Steve H.
I have always admired your level headed approach to organizing.
Ah, the free market. If DD does not pay enough to get the talent they need, then they will pay more.
Jeff Massie said...
Mr. Textor, I'd like you to meet Max Fleischer.
Max, Mr. Textor thinks moving to Florida is a great idea.
Talk to him."
---
So, Jeff , are you saying moving to Florida killed the Fleischer studio ? You think things would have turned out differently for the Fleischers if they had moved their studio to Hollywood, CA ?
It wasn't being in Florida that killed off the Fleischer studio, because Paramount was already chomping at the bit to find a way to undermine the Fleischer Bros. and gain control of their studio. They took advantage of the feud between Max and Dave , which would have happened whether the studio remained in New York City , or had moved to Florida , or Hollywood, or Emeryville, CA. (or Greenwich, Connecticut for pete's sake) . Paramount gave the Fleischer's a loan they couldn't repay after "Mr. Bug Goes to Town" flopped and then Paramount took advantage of a "divide and conquer" strategy to get the Fleischer's to agree to hand over control of their studio to Paramount, which worked exceptionally well since Max and Dave had not on speaking terms for many months by then .
But I guess Max and Dave got what they deserved, huh ? Retribution for their union-busting move to Miami , FL.
Actually, Max and Dave discovered that they had to pay premium wages to lure animators to Florida.
I talked to a number of the old-timers decades ago, and many of them got top salaries from the Fleischers. (Way more than what Disney was paying.) It was only way the studio could get the personnel they needed to move "Gulliver" and "Bug" through production.
Long story short: The brothers probably would have stayed in business longer staying unionized in New York than being non-union inf sunny Florida. But who knows? Dave and Max would likely have been at each other's throats no matter where they were.
There isn't any "what would have happened if ..." but only "what happened." The studio went belly up and a facility was set up in New York.
More jobs.
http://www.cosmictoaststudios.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/AdmiralPlumbtree
I hope you're hiring writers...
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