The VES is concerned:
Pointing a finger at the troubling business climate that has plagued the VFX industry for years, the Visual Effects Society sent out an open letter to the entertainment industry Tuesday, charging the VFX workers don't receive proper credit, benefits or working conditions. ...
Fifteen years ago, I talked to an effects supervisor at Disney who thought the viz effx business had become cutthroat, what with congloms putting tentpoles out for bid to the least expensive sub-contractors available. And salaries and working conditions beginning to get squeezed.
A decade and a half on, the big fear among many visual effects employees is runaway production. (Between you, me and the boys in the locker room, regardless of the fear the C.G. pie continues to grow, and work continues to expand in Southern and Northern California. Because studios still have a desire to hit their release dates and maintain some semblance of quality control.)
It's nice that VES is putting out press releases regarding not-great working conditions, but where have they been the last fifteen years? The problems aren't new, and aren't going away anytime soon. And labor unions -- ours included -- have been slow off the dime. Just today we received an e-mail from a member working in visual effects who says the old-timers get the usefulness of being in a labor organization but the younger crowd's attitude is "Eenh. Who needs this?"
It's a cost-benefit construct, you see. Twenty and thirty-somethings need to be convinced that the costs of rocking the boat are less than the rewards of health coverage, pension benefits and structured wage minimums. (For as long as I've been paying attention, lots of C.G. artists have been libertarians, believing that they can prosper on their own ... and unions are for collectivist wimps. We'll see if that holds moving forward. If things get crappy enough, it might not.)
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Many of the founders and members of the board of directors of the ves have climbed to the top being anti-union. Now they're complaining, and will fix it , but only if they're in charge.
I don't begrudge any grassroots effort for better money and benefits. They certainly get the credits suiting them already (often too MUCH).
Industry's (and public's) response to this letter?
WAAAHHHH!
- Many of the founders and members of the board
- of directors of the ves have climbed to the top
- being anti-union.
Chief among them Jim Morris when he killed IATSE Local 16 while head of ILM. (And, of course, he's now the head of Pixar.)
"It's nice that VES is putting out press releases regarding not-great working conditions, but where have they been the last fifteen years? "
Where have you been?
VES has boatloads of problems, but getting more press about this in a day than people have gotten in years is not one of those problems.
You need to be applauding them and seeing how you can use this publicity to help you, instead of sounding in any way bitter.
"Slow off the dime" is like the biggest understatement of the decade.
This was posted over at Deadline Hollywood, and while the post is interesting the comments on the post are educational. Seems that many out there feel that the artists who work in the animation and VFX world are over paid spoiled brats who are whining from the comfort of their Herman Miller chairs, wearing baggy cargo shorts and fan-boy T's while sipping on the free Diet Coke that their employer has provided them. That perception is mostly wrong (my own chair is a Miller knockoff and I'm a Diet Dr. Pepper fan) but it is held by many.
Granted, we are not coal miners or shirt tail press operators but is anyone willing/able to get message out to the public that it takes a large amount of talent and time to get these damn films done? And to the point, will the public even care? My gut tells me that they wont - the economy is still in the crapper and no one is going to want to hear someone making 35.00+ an hour whine about all the OT they are being asked to do while they are losing their home.
getting more press about this in a day than people have gotten in years is not one of those problems
Baloney. The issues the VES have finally highlighted have been talked about for years, and have been regular topics on this blog for several years. There has been a spate of major press coverage about the huge problems in the VFX industry, and it appears to me that the VES is only now making this statement because their silence up to now has been deafening.
Steve has the honesty to acknowledge that TAG has been slow off the dime. That's not bitterness, that's a refreshing candor that one doesn't find often in the VFX industry. Stop being such a partisan.
I work in VFX. Younger co-workers ask me where to get health benefits. Older co-workers can't afford out-of-pocket medical care and have little to show for retirement. Yet I also see a lot of pride and/or fear that would keep many of these same artists from signing a rep card.
It'll be interesting to see where visual effects artists choose to go from here.
Even though I'm not in the VFX field, I'm in the union. I've been at two studios where the artists wanted to go through the process of going union.
The first one was at a small studio, probably about a dozen artists. We got the usual speech about how it's going to cost too much to go union, it's not in the studio's best interest to go union, etc. We didn't get enough votes, so we didn't become union and the studio was able to keep running... for another six months and then they shut down. Obviously, it didn't turn out good for me.
The second time was a much bigger studio, probably about ten times as big as my previous job. We got the same speeches about it wasn't in the company's best interest to go union. We went through the process and ultimately won the election. The studio had turned union, I worked there for another solid 4-5 years, and the studio didn't go out of buisness. In fact, it's currently twice the size when it was non-union. I like to think that all that were involved got some benefit of going union.
The benefits at that small non-union studio were okay. The benefits that I now enjoy are much better since I'm in the union. I have access to health care with little out of pocket expenses. I can contribute to a 401k plan. I'll have a pension and an Individual Account Plan when I retire. Heck, I'll be able to retire because of the higher wages I'm earning and I live below my means.
That vote to go union has positively impacted my life. I hope the VFX artists (both young and older) can unionize and enjoy the same benefits that I'm earning.
Two things seem to be true:
1. Most vfx/animation artists would benefit from going union, rather than staying with their existing studio's benefits and wages.
2. The union generally does a pretty lousy job in messaging, selling itself, and explaining its benefits in concrete, easy-to-understand terms.
Nobody, especially those under 30, really knows or understands what a "defined pension plan" or a "defined retirement account" is. The moment those terms are used, eyes will glaze.
But "an extra $5,000 every year" is something everyone understands. Is THAT something their current employer is offering? Nope.
That's just the tip of the iceberg.
To win the masses, a good PR strategist should look to, frankly, dumb down the message to base, primal, emotionalist terms that everyone can understand. That's how union-busters win THEIR campaigns, and it's how union organizers can win theirs.
Nobody, especially those under 30, really knows or understands what a "defined pension plan" or a "defined retirement account" is. The moment those terms are used, eyes will glaze.
I tell my co-workers that union artists get "three pensions." That usually holds their attention long enough for me to describe the IAP, the defined-benefit plan, and the optional self-directed 401(k).
"I tell my co-workers that union artists get "three pensions."
I'm continuously astonished at how few of my union co-workers (especially those under 40) know that they are receiving about $5000 a year into a retirement account. None of them know it!
I usually don't bother going into the monthly stipend portion of the pension, because it's harder to explain, and I can't use hard dollar numbers.
When your OWN MEMBERSHIP has no idea of the union benefits, let alone outsiders, you have a massive, massive messaging problem. And it hurts all of us, especially those of us who want to see membership grow.
"Stop being such a partisan"
What's partisan about saying both sides have sucked and that neither has the right to complain about each other?
It's touchy attitudes like this that contribute to no progress being made.
Now's a perfect time to instead of complaining about how useless the VES has been (even though it's totally true), to pivot to making the TAG's pitch and being really clear about what's offered. If you're serious about it. Stop whining.
Otherwise, yawn, it's just business as usual and talk.
If you're in LA this will soon be a moot point. Digital Domain is beginning to offer all employees to go to Florida or Vancouver as the subsidies and tax benefits in LA aren't worth it. This is on the heels of Sony Imageworks only offering future jobs in Vancouver as well. I wish there was an animation organization that could tell me how to get active politically in regards to keeping VFX jobs in LA. It sucks to have to move for corporate tax incentives. Goodbye LA.
I am union, and I can't stress enough to vfx artists how important it is to be unionized. I still negotiate my salary, often much above union and vfx scale, BUT I still get all the amazing perks of the animation guild. I had a friend that lost his union gig and he is still using his health benefits a year after. The list of benefits goes on and on. It's a no brainer. Most are feared into the no-union choice at vfx shops. The execs work together and operate mostly at your expense, so don't u want someone in there keeping things fair?
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