IBEW, IATSE activity roundup

There has been a lot of activity lately in the effort to organize visual effects. IATSE is holding small meetings around Los Angeles on a regular basis with different groups of artists to present their case why artists should want to be represented by them. IBEW has scheduled another public meeting in Culver City for December 12th. Meanwhile blogs and online forums (including our own) have been very active with this topic. Following is a roundup of some scheduled events and links to key blog posts on the subject.


IATSE has taken the approach of holding frequent small meetings in bars close to a targeted facility where Jimmy Goodman meets with artists. We attended the first of these meetings to observe and found the 25 or so artists who attended very interested in information. VFX Soldier has an interesting post about an upcoming (Dec. 9) meeting for Hydraulx employees that includes a comment he got on his Skyline post that he believes to be from one of the Hydraulx owners. IATSE is also planning a larger open meeting in December, we’ll share details when we get them.

IBEW is using larger publicly announced meetings to spread their message, we got this recently announcing their next meeting:
“IBEW Local 40 will be hosting its’ 4th Informational Meeting for those working in the Motion Picture FX Industry. We will be meeting again at the American Legion Post located @ 5309 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Culver City, CA 90230 Sunday December 12th 1pm. has been selected to accommodate most Brothers’ & Sisters’ work and Holiday schedules. Once again representatives from both the IBEW and Local 40 will be there to answer all of your questions and provide additional information on why the IBEW is …the Right Choice! Everyone who has already signed cards and all the Brothers & Sisters who have attended past meetings are strongly encouraged to bring along as many co-workers that can fit into your cars.”

While we like the direct, personal approach it was clear in the meetings we attended that artists need to have information to review and share with other artists who could not (or would not) attend. Visual Effects artists are extremely wired in and the lack of utilization of the internet to present a clear message is a serious problem. We have open offers to both IBEW and IATSE to do a podcast and/or article where they can present their plans and answer questions artists and companies have. Frankly their lack of desire to do so makes us nervous. While we are happy to help when they are ready to talk we also think they should be looking for professional assistance to build an ongoing online presence using all the tools available, web sites, social networks, videos, etc.

If you are interested in staying up to date with this topic we would recommend:

VFX Soldier’s blog or on twitter as @vfxsoldier

Scott Squires blog or on twitter as @scott_squires

VFX Law Blog – a blog by “CG Supervisor by day, and law student by night.” Also on twitter as @vfxlaw

10 thoughts on “IBEW, IATSE activity roundup”

  1. VFX artist’s need to unionize, VFX shops need to work with the unions to put pressure on the studios to cut down the actors pay. They are grossly overpaid and actors are no longer worth $10-$20 million a picture. Most of that should be provided toward production and post, It’s time to start balancing the playing field, join the union!

    1. Wait… what? The road to salvation for VFX houses and artists is for Tom Cruise to take a paycut? Are you serious???

  2. Thespian,

    The only thing thats going to happen when unionized vfx shops try to put pressure on studios is those studios are just going to send more work over seas. Why would they want to put up with BS from vfx shops when they don’t have to. Thats simple logic. I have to question the intelligence and/or intentions of anyone who says otherwise.

    I would also have to disagree with you on the value of actors. They are usually the one of the main draws of a film. Other than vfx artists turned directors, name for me one instance where a vfx artist on a crew can draw a large crowd to a film. They can’t. It doesn’t happen. The VFX as a whole may help draw people in for which companies do get paid millions. If adding a big name actor to a film and paying him 10 million can add a extra 40-50 million to the films take, it is well worth it to the films backers.

    As was stated in that Hydralux email.. if you want to level the playing field as you say, tax incentives need to be dealt with. This whole idea of a union making things better for artists is a joke. The only thing the unions are going to do is wipe out the remaining field here in LA and send it elsewhere. One only needs to look at what the unions have done for Detriot.

    The quetion these unions need to answer is how they’re going to help keep your jobs here in the US and keep VFX shops from going under with all the new costs that are going to come to the VFX shops.

    Artist need to be working with their employers. Not against them. The more effecient and competitive artists can help make whatever studio they at the more work they’re going to help that company draw in. The more work a place draws in generally the better things get. Unions will have nothing but the opposite effect. They will raise costs for a company making them less competitive. Which in turn will cause them to get fewer jobs, which in turn will cause them to be able to pay less, which will then lead to less qualified people getting hired.

    Any artist with half a brain will avoid the unions. I have a pretty good feeling the majority of artist that will be joining up will be the untalented, washed up artists. The ones that sit around and talk all day, the ones who don’t really know what they’re doing but think they do, the ones who take jobs but completely misrepresent their skills. These are the artists who think they’re being mistreated or treated unfairly.

    Artists in this business need to realize its just that. A business. Be more professional. Get good at your skills. You’ll find that your employers will treat you extremely well and you’ll get paid very well for it.

    Now on the other hand there are bad companies to work for. There are companies that cheat their artist out of pay or try to change deals after they’ve been made. But as an artist you think a company is treating you poorly go somewhere else. If they’re late paying you or stop paying you why continue to work there??? Go elsewhere. That makes no sense to me. You’re not chained to a company. If you’ve got good skills you wont have a hard time finding work elsewhere.

    Tax incentives are everything at this point. That is what is slowly draining jobs for California. Soon there will be very few left.

    Michael

    1. Even with all the tax incentives and cheaper labor overseas, a lot of vfx is still being done in California. It has ALWAYS been cheaper to do work overseas. There is a lot more to vfx than just price.

      Digital Domain has opened a facility in Northern California and is expanding their facility in Southern California. ILM has also opened a facility in Los Angeles.

      Studios choose to do the work here because the quality is good and reliable.

    2. Michael —

      You hit the nail on the head. This notion that VFX shops can just go put pressure on the studio is laughable at best.

      Newsflash — Studios care about bottom line. Period.

      Don’t believe me? Well, look at the quality of films these days, opposed to films in the 70’s etc… when people in charge actually were filmmakers. Studios are all run by accountants now, plain and simple.

      As much as I am Pro-union, doing so in this case will be the proverbial “nail in the coffin” for VFX work in California. Don’t take my word for it — simply look at the VFX companies that have closed up or have had serious issues in the past few years (when globalization really took off) –

      Giant Killer Robots
      Orphanage
      Digital Dimension
      Cafe FX
      Imagemovers
      Pac Title
      Asylum

      …and others. They’re all closed because shows go elsewhere in the world….and that’s without a union. Just think what happens when we do have a union here. Unions work when there’s a boundary (i.e. – The USA). If there is no boundary (i.e. – Global), then there isn’t a chance.

      And forgot about a global union. No one will pay people in some foreign countries as much as they do here. Never.

  3. I think this is all bigger then you might be realizing. What this really boils down to, is a sociopolitical and ethical issue of in-state needs vs. standards of industry and celebrity status quo.

  4. IATSI is trying to do the same thing in Vancouver right now. People with even half a brain know a union is not the answer. IATSI needs to back the @#$# off!

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