VFX Protest. Help support vfx artists

I'd like to pause for a minute to bring to light the recent VFX protests and connect with all of you about it. I know some may think they don't know anyone who is effected by it...but actually, if you know me, you do!

The protest is generally VFX artists wanting better pay, better union contracts and more job security..like other jobs. What many people don't understand is the art industry is hard to get a proper contract like you would at macdonalds lets say! We get shorter term contracts that may lead to our sudden "departure" from the studio, after the game/movie/show is completed and many artists who choose to make this their industry of choice go through this every day. It started just recently because of the artists being fired who brought together the vfx for life of pi, which as anyone knows was the bulk visual sense of the movie. However, this effects vfx artists every day.

What we generally want is the same standard contracts anyone gets, whether we work from home or not. It's a long process but maybe we can start getting some more support as the artists who bring to you the beauty in the entertainment world.

It's a positive thing to go green, showing your support.

Some links that help explain why we are going green - www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbi…
and - www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02…

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A more personal explanation...

2 years ago I worked for a studio in Toronto. Myself, Rhonda and Jackie were the VFX team for the studio and did all the work on compiling their pilot episode for a tv series. We stayed long hours, overtime, and slaved over getting all the work done. We had contracts, and when it came time for payment we were all fired. That pilot show got them a 24 episode contract with a tv network, and made them a ton of money. We faught hard and it took months of court battles to finally be paid only half of what we were promised. Corporation went on to make a lot of money, while we were out of a job. This happens all the time for artists in the vfx/animation/game industry every day. Work long hours, designing the whole visual side of the project or the entire game for our publishers/company and sometimes we get the shaft.

We're not looking for people to feel sorry for us, all we are looking for is some support to help spread awareness around for the artists in the VFX industry. By going green on facebook or anywhere you show this support and it means the world to us <3

We are also not talking about every studio. There's many studios already fixing and shifting their contracts around to better support the artists they hire and are good to us. There are still some, like the life of pi vfx team sadly got told that do not. Even if you don't like the movie, you can appreciate the hard work that went into bringing it to life, especially using a vfx tiger and still look realistic <3

thanks for listening everyone. this is a situation that continues to effect mine and many of my friends lives on any given basis. We appreciate everyone's support and love, and we will keep trucking on

Here is a great explanation written by a talent VFX artist Read if you want the full story <3

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From fellow VFX artist Rob Baldwin:

"So, for those friends and family that are out of the VFX loop, here's what happened today:

There was a VFX march at the Oscars, to shine some light on what's been happening in our industry.

My guess is word of that got to the directors of the Oscars and they got skittish.

As the awards for Best VFX were being presented, some jokes were made by the cast of the Avengers, either as an attempt to diffuse the situation, or to make fun of the nerds in the back room. I'm unclear as to which was the intent, but either way it was awkward.

Bill Westenhofer and the crew from Rhythm and Hues, won for Life of Pi. As soon as Bill started to mention R&H, the latest casualty in the VFX race to the bottom, they cut him off like so much a political activist, or anybody else using the bully pulpit of the awards as an awareness tool. He should have lead with it, as some folks might have interpreted events as, "Oh, he was just running over his time!" They played him off with Jaws. How cute.

He hadn't. What was telling is that they cut his mic and cut away, first to the audience and then to a bewildered Seth MacFarlane. He had been silenced.

What's different in this case, is that these guys had just won the VFX Oscar! Now they're outta jobs and the FX facility is bankrupt and in danger of closing, like so many other FX facilities.

Directly because of the producers, directors, and studios IN THE ROOM. It's deplorable.

Artists have been sent home WITHOUT PAY, and without any kind of benefits for them or their families. This time it's R&H and yeah, they just did some really great work that just won the Oscar for the VFX and for the Director of the movie, so a light was to be shone on the situation. (The Director, by the way, failed to mention them, even though the Digital Tiger was a significant part of the film.)

It's actually happening all over. Digital Domain, just had it happen. They're still recovering, and who knows what will happen in the long run. Pixomondo (VFX Oscar, 2012) just shut down their London and Detroit facilities today. The Mill, Double Negative and even ILM are having staff laid off, transferring staff overseas and between facilities, and generally leading their artists, animators, engineers, technicians and programmers into a state of constant economic migration, and fiscally indentured servitude.

All because the people sitting in the room tonight, at The Oscars: the Producers, Directors, and Studio Executives - all feel that Visual Effects, the one thing in common with all of the top grossing movies of all time, are too expensive. The highly talented people who create these profit avenues for the studios are disposable commodities, and are not to be paid fairly.

It's wrong. It's got to stop."