{"id":578,"date":"2012-12-12T12:16:09","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T12:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vfxpdx.com\/?p=578"},"modified":"2012-12-31T08:03:45","modified_gmt":"2012-12-31T08:03:45","slug":"a-migratory-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vfxpdx.com\/?p=578","title":{"rendered":"A Migratory Workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u00a0might<\/em> be guilty of glamourizing things a little. \u00a0With as many entry level, budding young talent that we have around these parts, I try to respect that innocent gleam in your eye (ah, to be young again) and keep things optimistic. \u00a0Focus on the good, gloss over the bad… \u00a0sure. \u00a0Shields up, Mr. Sulu!<\/p>\n

But as much as you want to give our industry the benefit of the doubt, and think things are all peachy out there – we all know they’re not. \u00a0On the whole, our industry is far from stable.<\/p>\n

I try to remind myself that up here Portland way we’re (for better or for worse) on the fringe, and outside the ring of fire. \u00a0But any of us who’ve been around the block for a few years have seen the gradual decline and tightening. \u00a0Let’s just say we’ve seen better days.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Swifts migtrate and seek shelter in Portland’s Chapman School chimney, each year roundabout September<\/p><\/div>\n

Not without exception, but on the whole we have become a migratory workforce. \u00a0Those of us with experience – how many of your friends are unemployed right now? How many are livin’ la vida freelance, tempting fate without benefits like health insurance? OT? Sick days? \u00a0Waiting in the wings that they might be able to roll off unemployment and get picked up on a new production? \u00a0Working without a guarantee that they’ll be kept on for the next production (or if there even IS a “next” production)? How many have moved within the last 3-5 years, trying to make things better for themselves and their families with the hope of finding more permanent prospects without the gut wrenching waiting game?<\/p>\n

Permanent is becoming a word you rarely hear associated with anything these days. \u00a0Not even 2 show deals. Those core positions are few and far between, and drying up more and more by the day. Powerhouses like Sony Imageworks and Digital Domain are slashing jobs and salaries left and right, cutting staff positions and going to show or contract based model, and many of those contracts are being offered to employees by dangling the carrot out of state or out of the country, as they’re being baited to move where the incentives are so that the company can remain competitive. They’re after one thing and one thing alone – lowering their bids to compete with the others, keep a stable of projects coming in and to somehow squeeze out any profit as they can while their overhead expenses and talent costs remain largely the same. \u00a0VFX comes at a price, and after all of these years there still seems to be a huge question mark surrounding just what that price should be.<\/p>\n

The thing I always come back to is the idea of “normalcy.” \u00a0A VFX studio at it’s core is a very simple operation. It provides a connection between artists that can do the work and clients that want the work done, and tries to make the process as clog free as possible. Why this is getting so complicated and the business end of it is still evolving & shaking out is a complete mystery. It wasn’t uncommon for our parents to have 30 years with a company when it came time to retire. \u00a0Most VFX artists are considered old timers if they have 5 years with a company…\u00a0 you’ve been around “forever.” \u00a0 Yet it’s still the same artists going from studio to studio as doors open and close.<\/p>\n

It’s all fun and games when you’re young, healthy, single, still searching for the city you want to plant roots – but once you make the rounds and figure things out, permanence, longevity, sustainability – these are not easy words to come by.\u00a0 A lot of good artists lives are being compromised by the cheapening of visual effects.<\/p>\n

By now it’s been hashed for years and everyone should understand the root level problems that need to be addressed. \u00a0The big news is that yesterday marked the first time in a while that I felt like we took a step in the right direction, and this is worth a mark on the calendar.<\/p>\n

VFX Soldier<\/a> has put into action the beginning steps of a plan that would fight the production subsidies running rampant in our industry. \u00a0This will launch a feasibility study by a law firm to start weeding through trade agreements and hack through the jungle of red tape with a machete to see if we stand a fighting chance at correcting the giant titanic downward spiral of a mess that subsidies are creating. \u00a0Hopefully this will take hold and kickstart the process that exposes the truth that subsidies are – and I quote – a “race to the bottom.”<\/p>\n