As an engineer for the past 30 years, I’ve worked as an salaried employee, an hourly contractor, a fixed price project consultant and ran my own small business. In my early years as a salaried worker the companies expected long work hours when there was a crisis. Eventually I realized that some of those companies made sure there was always a crisis.

I began to feel abused so what did I do? Did I join a union? Did I organize the other engineers and demand better working hours? No. I just found another job … or created one … and it usually paid better.

Nobody can abuse me without my cooperation. So that’s the part I just don’t understand. If you’re being abused, quit. Want to help your fellow abused workers, quit. If the company doesn’t change it’s ways then it will be unable to hire good people.

In fact that happen in a company I had to leave. It got such a bad reputation they couldn’t hire anyone local. They had to bring people in from other states, who often left after the minimum time to avoid paying back the moving allowance.

The problem I have with organizing and unions is they want to tell you what’s right and what’s wrong. I think I should be able to decide that for myself. I do agree that a guild might be useful. The guild could keep a list of the companies that are okay to work for and those that fall short.

As far as the work going out of the USA, I’m in favor of free markets. Some years ago I worked for Motorola. They outsourced my job to a company in India. It took me eight months to train my replacements.

Some in the company said it was unpatriotic for Motorola to send the work out of the country. I ask if it was unpatriotic for an Indian citizen to buy Motorola products?

I think Us movies bring in a lot of revenue from foreign markets. Why shouldn’t they be eligible to work on those same movies? (Not that anyone here said that they shouldn’t. I’m just anticipating based on what I’ve heard in other venues.)

You could always start your own studio and show the world how to treat those workers. Lead by example. Many of the costs have come down. There are new ways to distribute media. (Light a candle instead of cursing the dark.)

Yes, I realize this would be very hard … and I admit it’s unlikely that I have what it takes to do it. But if you do, give me a call. If you treat me right I’d work for you

Peace,

Rob:-]

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Gandhi

For what films?

In the US, the main crew base are often members of I.A.T.S.E. or International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees. I’m a member of local 484 in Texas. But I didn’t start out that way.

The complaint about mistreatment to Mr. Cameron is no different than any other craft working in the film industry back in the 80′s or even today. Location film making by the studios became prominent in the 80′s and most states didn’t have any sort of union representation. Crew members would work a 24 hour day and get no over time, or double time.

In one case, we didn’t even get straight pay. The crew had to accept a crisp $100 bill for 4 weeks of overtime, which amounted to less than a $1.00 per overtime hour.

We still have assistant directors in Texas who are not represented by a union working 18 hours days without lunch. I was just asked the other day to forgo per diem and housing as a distant hire, which equals about half of the low budget daily wage.

VFX is threatened with India, and US crew members are threatened with Canada and Prague. In our case, Canada has been winning productions for the past several years. Canada makes this all cyclical, because Canada is winning productions because of their VFX advancements

Besides recognition translates into power which ends into money. So basically more recognition to visual effects artists means more power which consequently will lead to pricier vfx. And pricier vfx means less money for other bits of a film or higher budgets that end up increasing the risks involved. Directors don’t like risky projects that much because if things go south studios will put them in the fridge, and studios like them even less.

But VFX professionals have a additional problem in all that. Most are not directly attached to the film production it self in terms of money, but attached to a company that is charging the production of the film. So, pricier vfx do not automatically translate into more smiles on the pockets of vfx artists. In the end I doubt the equation would change that much in favor of artists.

I think it’s way too late for this, ten or more years late in fact. With the current economic situation it’s the wrong time to start to demand more.

There is a whole bunch of things that are wrong when it comes to the vfx business and the way it’s artist deal with things.

But I do agree that the credits order are way out of place when it comes to vfx artists. In films that are completely vfx oriented like 2012 the names of vfx artists should be right on the top. Specially since in those cases all that is left from the film is post work (vfx, grading, editing, etc).

Anyway… I doubt Cameron will get involved into this.

The answer here may be, I think, a kind of tax regulation: if you are a producer in the US and you find a sweatshop in China, for instance, ready to do some work for 1 peanut – it’s OK to pay them their peanut… but then you have to pay 2 peanuts taxes for using foreign labor. The tax should be equal to the extra profit of purchasing work abroad, that’s the idea.

Unions are not the answer here – artists need to know their rights under the law and speak up for themselves, and we also need to stop saying ‘yes’ to every damn thing (illegal # of hours in a work week, unpaid overtime – this is illegal in Canada and I’m sure in the US, etc).

as for getting points on a film – insanity…do drivers get points? caterers? builders?

In short, they ARE looking to exploit. They don’t have a problem with their shoes being made in sweatshops, they won’t have a problem with their roto jobs being done in them either.