This week Skyline opened in the USA. The film looks like a Hollywood Blockbuster but cost only $10million. While it opened modestly – it still grossed $4.7M on Friday alone. Whatever you think of the film – the significance of this should not be overlooked. This is a VFX house not waiting for the next job, it is Hydraulx owning their own Red MX Cameras – shooting in one of the owners own condo (apartment) and making a major film in under a year. A film that they now own all the rights to and all the IP. Many have talked about visual effects companies creating content, Greg and Colin Strause have done it with their film Skyline. We talk with them about the vfx challenges and the camera and lighting technology that enabled them to do this.
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This is awesome stuff. My good friend Juancarlos Quintana was one of the VFX artists for this film.
Props to the Strause brothers for developing, producing, and making their own feature film.
However, it should be noted that Hydraulx engages in dubious, if not outright illegal, business practices – specifically: misclassification of employees as independent contractors, violation of state overtime time pay laws, and tax fraud stemming from the deliberate avoidance of paying employer mandated taxes.
While we should all commend them on their fine production work, we should also hold them accountable for their unsavory business and management practices which contribute to the undermining of VFX as a viable career. I would hope that fxguide would at least request an official, on the record, statement from the Strause brothers and the management of Hydraulx regarding these issues.
You have left an anonymous allegation against a company.
fxguide, while never wanting to see workers poorly treated, is in no way responding to anonymous allegations. We would no more seek an official denial from Hydraulx as we would from DD, ILM, DNeg or any other company.
It sounds like you feel you have been wronged. We are sorry you feel this way but fxguide is not the solution. We sincerely hope you get compensated correctly, and this matter is resolved but it does not involve fxguide. We neither are or pretend to be the vfx ‘police’. We report news and in any case like this we would always seek fact checking. Something we cant do in this situation.
We do stand behind our stories and we take pride in our ethical and reporting standards.
Mike
fxguide clearly has shown a keen interest in reporting on the labor conditions in the VFX industry, as evidenced by recent articles such as http://www.fxguide.com/qt/3129/iatse-formally-announces-visual-effects-organizing-drive and http://www.fxguide.com/article648.html
I understand your editorial position and recognize that fxguide is not, nor should be, the VFX “police”. However, given that you “take pride in your ethical and reporting standards”, does that not require you to ask of yourselves the degree to which you are helping to promote companies that engage in unethical and/or illegal business activities?
I also understand your reluctance to respond to unsubstantiated allegations in an anonymous post, but why should you NOT ask Hydraulx, DD, ILM, DNeg, et al. if they comply with applicable State and Federal labor and tax laws? Why NOT post another article regarding this topic and just interview these companies to get their response on these issues? Would that not be worthy news to report? (As an aside to this thought, perhaps you could ask the VES if they have any ethical standards and requirements for their members regarding this issue. Wouldn’t that be worthy news too?)
The founders of fxguide are all VFX industry veterans. Most likely you all personally know (and trust) VFX artists who work or have worked for companies that engage in unethical and/or illegal business activities. In other words, you know which companies have reputations for playing it straight and those that do not. I find it disingenuous for fxguide to state that they have no knowledge of the business practices of the companies they report on and that somehow it would be inappropriate to inquire. If this is the editorial stance of fxguide regarding this issue, then certainly “fxguide is not the solution,” it is – sadly – part of the problem.
If you work at a company that you believe is not following labor laws there are very clear paths to report this to the proper authorities. As we reported in the article you referenced the chances are an investigation will be launched and you will win. I am proud of our record on labor issues. We have been working hard to raise awareness of issues, discuss issues with experts and shine a light on situations when they reach a public status (like the Journey to the Center of the Earth workers, which we reported long before it hit traditional media). I’m sorry you don’t feel we are doing enough but frankly there is a point where artists have to bear responsibility and stop accepting terms or abuses that are unacceptable or illegal. We are not a blog.
We will continue our labor series, in fact we are ramping up even more in that area, but if you are looking for us to do investigative pieces or attack our guests when we are doing a story on a film… that will not happen.
I did not suggest that you “attack” your “guests”. It just seems that your efforts to raise awareness on VFX labor issues are ignoring the elephant in the middle of the room: that is, some of your “guests” are engaging in unethical and/or illegal business practices.
As you state, you have discussed this issue with artists, labor and legal experts, union officials, etc. but you have declined to discuss this issue with actual VFX companies. Why? I’m not suggesting that you accuse them of anything. I’m just wondering why you are reluctant to ask them what they think about this issue, say in the context of an article on VFX labor issues.
You say that you are “proud” of your record on labor issues and yet you risk the appearance of being shills for companies that engage in unethical and/or illegal business practices. Sounds like you guys learned your journalistic ethics at the feet of Walter Duranty. Shame.
Anonymous,
I’ve known quite a few people who can verify many of the things about Hydraulx and you are correct in pointing out those issues. Look while other forums shut down some discussions of labor issues, FXGuide has correctly been objective in providing a forum to discuss these issues. I feel that going after FXGuide doesn’t help solve problems.
Ultimately we as artists have to come together and solve this problem. FXGuide can point the problems out without naming names, but we have to solve this.
As previously reported on FX Guide, the IA is forming a VFX Union. Contact them and get your voice heard. The more they hear from vfx artists, the more knowledge they have to formulate what a VFX union needs to do to stop this kind of abuse from further occuring:
[email protected]
Clearly it would be better if every VFX company was completely ethical and never mistreated workers, but there is always a fresh crop of newbs who get talked into rotoscoping all night long with little organization, on deferred rate. Doing these kinds of jobs is all part of paying your dues and learning the ropes as an eager young artist. It’s a free market and if a worker stays working for a VFX house under dubious conditions, it is possible to rack up enough feature credits to get an agent or work at a big house and continue to climb up the ladder. If you are a Senior artist and not able to invoice and collect etc, perhaps you are too new to the game to really be a Sr.
The awful things that you claim Hydraulix did are pretty par for the course when working at boutique shops. Artist owned and run shops are always like a mom and pop shop, they pay when they can. There are all kinds of films, all kinds of jobs and nobody is going to tell you to leave a crap situation. You have to figure out for yourself. Artists should talk extensively in private about the shortcomings of various houses, but it’s confidential because nobody likes a informer or a whiner. If you want to work as an artist, you’ve got to be a friend to the business.
Christian Moreton says:
…The awful things that you claim Hydraulix did are pretty par for the course when working at boutique shops. Artist owned and run shops are always like a mom and pop shop, they pay when they can…
…but it
This is becoming punk politics. Not serious at all.
When an artist takes abuse and works without pay, he’s hurting all of us because producers think it’s the norm and expect us all to take our pants down.
I don’t blame Hydraulix or any company because if you understand how business works, you will come to expect that behavior. It’s like gravity, companies cut corners and strip mine their assets for profit. Always and forever, or they close their doors. Just accept it and you will be much more happy.
It’s up to artist and workers to stand up for themselves and know their rights and anticipate these maneuvers. At least until they have enough experience to work at a solid company with standardized pay and benefits. Artists hold all the power in this game, but they hardly know it.
Punk politics huh?
Only in our business would I see a comment like this, where people defend multi million dollar corporations that underpay and over work their employees.
Pretty sad.
I don’t judge your ideology, I just think it’s completely wrong.
oh, well. Each to his own.
Accusing me of defending unethical behaviour is like blaming the weather man for the rain.
Here are some great texts that will help you understand the business that we are talking about here.
“Hello He Lied” -Linda Obst
“Easy Riders, Raging Bulls” -Peter Biskind’s
“Swimming with the Sharks.” Starring Kevin Spacey.
I couldn’t help but giggle at such a condescending and arrogant response.
Have a nice life Christian.
You’re a very talented artist. Smarten Up.
Pingback: Skyline: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly « VFX Soldier
Business practices aside, a great podcast. Really nice to hear a bit more about production processes. Kind of an fxguide/redcentre crossover.
Skyline is both an important achievement and a cautionary tale. How many of us over the years, stuck in one small part of the production process, haven’t said while staring at our screens “Boy I could write/direct/act better than that”? Well…maybe.
This film is almost unwatchable although it looks great. If this is any indication the MX RED sensor has the ability to make people look sexy. Many thought the original RED couldn’t particularly when it came to skin tones. The fx end also looks great. Problem is, you don’t give a rat’s ass. If only they had spent a few hundred dollars on a better (or any) script consultant. And acting coach. And all the other important and relatively inexpensive pieces of the puzzle that come up short.
But it’s making money. And that’s cool. And (if the allegations are true) now they have some dollars to pay the people that got them there in the first place.
Because of the bad reviews, I’ll wait for Netflix just to study the VFX and camera work.
If what I hear is correct, they forgot the fundamental rule of movie making.
Story is King. Great performances next in line.
This all sounds similar to what happened with “Wing Commander”.
On the other hand, lets hope they learn from their mistakes and try again. Just be willing to spend more on a great writer.
hi Mike & Jeff
this was an absolutely phenomenal podcast – from a technical standpoint and from an industry standpoint – it’s clear our world is in a period of transition and seems like hydraulx has seen and acted on the great opportunity all of this new technology affords us! i did have one question that i don’t think you answered though: one of the most fascinating parts (at least in my opinion) was how hydraulx streamlined their colorspace pipeline – staying scene-referred linear and floating point EXR throughout acquisition and finishing. knowing what a headache it is to work in scene referred linear in flame leads me to the conclusion that most of the heavy VFX lifting was accomplished in Nuke. I know hydraulx has been traditionally a FLAME stronghold… so have they developed a way to work in linear in Flame? or have all those Flames been relegated to commercial finishing work….
thanks again for the great podcast – i’ll be taking the entire company to see the film later this week!
regards,
tim
SUSPECT
Hi Tim,
I had the privilege of being the lead compositor and work with the Bros. on the 16 bit linear work flow and I can say “no Nuke was harmed in the making of this movie”. That’s your cue to laugh. There are always a few gotchas, and for the most part the Flame handled this work very well. It may have handled it to well and In my humble opinion, contributed to the successful completion of the project. I don’t think the movie would have been completed as quick and looked as good without the the power of the Flame. I also cannot fail to mention the contribution, talent, and the professionalism of the team that was assembled for this show. Kudos to all involved. I think what was achieved under the circumstances is pretty amazing.
Scott Balkcom
Scott – thanks so much for the reply and update!!! you guys have always done INCREDIBLE work and have been an inspiration to all of us, but i think you have really topped yourselves this time… great to know you guys are still rocking flame big time as well… we are looking at more and more RED camera footage coming thru the door everyday here – your pipeline sounds like a perfect solution….
congrats on an amazing job again… can’t wait to see what you guys have cooking up next!!!
-tim crean
SUSPECT
Gentleman, Ladies;
Let me first congratulate Hydraulx for their work on this film, but mostly for the idea of creating such endeavour. I am extremely pleased this happened i am sure hoping for such projects to continue, inside and outside Hydraulx.
Compliments however extend to fxguide, which i follow with great pleasure;
However, after listening to the podcast i got caught into reading the comments;
“dubious”, “outright illegal”, “misclassification of employees”, “violation of state overtime time pay laws” are very interesting words, but i would rather avoid them or place them in the right context (A specific topic discussion, maybe?) I can only respond to the anonymous user with my point of view, which is: i am interested in the work, not some VFX union issues nor hydraulx tax evasion strategy (allegedly of course);
Maybe i should leave a little piece of advice: in the VFX industry, we all encountered shady situations, but more or less the answer to it all is: deal with it 🙂
Ciao
It’s sad when anonymous posters claims to be concerned with a companies labor practices, then expects everyone else to do the hard work.
If the poster has facts to back up their statement, write them down and send them to the state labor department. With names, dates, etc…post these “facts” at any of several anonymous blogs around the net and send links out.
If you’re not willing to put the effort in, why should anyone else?
I agree zeke, it IS a sad situation when VFX companies violate state and federal labor and tax laws and VFX artists stay mum out of fear of being blacklisted. And, it IS sad that one of the only ways to cast some light on this topic is by making unsubstantiated allegations via anonymous internet post. However, one uses the tools at hand. Would you prefer silence and putting one’s head in a hole in the ground?
An anonymous internet post is a legitimate form of political speech. It can be likened to a crudely spray-painted graffiti of “FREEDOM” painted on the Berlin Wall. Anonymous, yes. Unsightly, yes – but not as ugly as the Wall itself or the oppressive government that built the Wall. And the mere existence of the message is intended as a symbol of hope and protest: to let people know that they are not alone in feeling that “the way things are must change”, and to give the middle finger to those who would support the status quo.
You are quite correct – SOMEONE should file a complaint with the appropriate government agencies. Today, an anonymous symbol – a call to arms – tomorrow, action.
My guess is that within the next 12 months, Hydraulx will be the target of investigations by the State of California EDD and FTB, and the U.S. DOL and IRS.