I have made my career in the movies making fancy visual effects. We (as an industry, but also me in particular) are having a tough time of it right now, which is what this card is about. The front is a wry reflection of my job hunting, the back some thoughts about organising efforts within the industry.
As people in a 'creative industry' go, we may not have it as badly as others, and we certainly aren't suffering in the way blue collar workers have been dealt a poor deal over the centuries, but as artists I hope you will understand and sympathise with a group of passionate people who have had that passion exploited and abused. If you want to know more, google "vfx industry crisis".
I send a postcard a day - a project called postcardwala.
You can see them here, and like it on facebook here.
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| sent from: Esher, Surrey, UK. destination: Long Beach, California, USA |
Yesterday was the VFX Town Hall, bringing together hundred of VFX workers throughout the world, though because of the timings Western Europe [largely] missed out, but that's ok. Last night I met with a few VFX people and a representative from BECTU in a London pub to discuss UK VFX unionisation efforts. Anytime you gather people around to discuss anything, even something on which there's broad consensus, people are people so there will be a lot of differences as we, like the blind men touching the elephant, come to different conclusions about the big picture.
The anger and frustration, however, is shared; at the poor project management, the vast amounts of ruinous unpaid overtime that everyone is expected to work, the destructive effects of such hours on the ability to have good health, a family, how it saps the passion from an industry that has otherwise been a labour of love. We have allowed this to happen, we have allowed the downward pressure exerted by the studios to push us further - because of course we will never allow anything to stop us from putting out our best - not schedule, not budget, nothing.
Individually, if one of us says "no", we are replaceable; together, we have power, we have leverage.
"You can blow out a candle, but you can't blow out a fire."
March 17, 2013 at 12:12 PM
This is great Postcardwala! Love that there's a whole story in it. Excellent piece. I can totally empathise with the sentiments. It seems that the same experiences are shared with many other industries. I certainly feel overworked and underpaid
March 17, 2013 at 4:45 PM
Hi Andy,
Many thanks. Yes I think this is not unheard-of in many areas, especially creative ones. One of the things that makes vfx stand out is that it is the reason big movies make hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for the film studios, but that money (even a little bit) doesn't trickle down to the artists. No one expects to get rich doing this job, but everyone would like something resembling a living wage and stability that is in keeping with the kind of profits that our work is responsible for.
Keep fighting!
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