Life After Pi - A short film on the fate of the VFX industry

[Bob Gundu]

I got into the FX industry in 1995. I remember when everyone took great pride in their work. Back then the director did indeed get very involved. Over the years it slowly began to crumble and the FX sweatshops became the norm. I really hope things turn around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lcB9u-9mVE

 

[Kwan Khan]

Sad,
Brilliant documentary and such a shame to see a great VFX go down like that.

 

[paulherrin]

set tiger;
do strike

 

[BRANDON JAMESON]

extraordinary.

 

[Phil Holland]

Rhythm and Hues Studios was a place I called home for 11.5 years.

This studio and the artists who contributed to the many projects over the years are some of the most talented and hardworking individuals in the industry.

John built a company that had a legendary reputation in the industry for being an environment that artists enjoyed working in. Which allowed their abilities to grow and reach further. This was reflected in the quality of the work seen all over the world. There aren't many top tier VFX houses that perform at the level R&H did. Losing this studio negatively effects the industry for years to come. Particularly when it comes to the world of character animation as R&H was considered perhaps the best house for this type of creative and technical work. Everybody put their minds, hearts, and souls into bringing the fantastical unreal concepts into reality.

 

[Bobby Farokhzad]

Very Sad. There has to be a some sort of a compromise between the "fixed bid" model and the "paid by the hour" model. Today's Hollywood will not survive without the VFX people, that's a fact.

 

[ericyoung]

It's a bigger problem than just VFX really. And it's worldwide.

It's globalisation and growing corporate takeover of literally every aspect of our lives, all in order to serve the singular goal of make the most profit, with virtually no regard to how that happens or what bad effects it has.

Strangely, most of the individuals in large corporations are not bad people, and many sympathise as fellow employees, but the aggregate corporate entities have no loyalty to employees, town, state or even country. Unfortunately, this also attracts corporate leaders with similar inhumane values.

Studios could choose to keep more work at home, pay a living wage, and allow more reasonable business models, and still make very decent if reduced profits. But no, profits have to be huge and constantly growing, so of course that doesn't seem to compute for them. And that's even though long term it hurts them too if there are no viable VFX houses of R&H's calibre left.

There is some hope though. I do feel that people are beginning to gather together for pushback on very many issues.

 

[Joe Minuni]

Heartbreaking... Hope lots of people see this.

 

[Brian F Kobylarz]

Transfixed from the start.

Exceptional, thought provoking treatment.
Though I had read or heard much of the story before, this film makes it feel personal.

Thank you for sharing.

 

[mikeburton]

Sad...The model needs to change. I remember when Escape was built for the Matrix in Alameda, CA. Had a lot of friends who worked there and visited many times. Once the sequels were completed they did Constantine and Cat Woman and was supposed to do the Superman rebirth before the original director was plucked or quit (can't remember) and then the film got pushed back. No job equals shutting down shop as Warners wasn't going to float the bill until the next gig. But, this could happen in any business. A series of perfect shit storms and poof...you're no longer in business.
The fixed rate shouldn't be without strict guidelines in the VFX contracts stipulating a project start and completion date. If the studio extends the release date or something happens where they need to re-boot a VFX heavy sequence from the ground up and its going to go beyond the date in the contract, the studio will be liable to pay the remaining balance of the time needed to complete the show. Seems logical, too bad studios are such ass bags.

 

[Louis Maddalena]

Really good documentary and a sad story. Seems the business end needs to change on how VFX is done and how its billed out. Specifically with having the director having a more hands on role in VFX and billing the studio at a per hour basis for work done, or a per job basis as is now but with the possibility for overages or profit sharing.

 

[Grzegorz Gill]

Very informative, thanks so much for sharing.

 

[Peter Lyons Collister ASC]

I shot over40 commercials for R&H and also shot 5 features where they were the VFX house. This doc brought back a flood of memories and it simply is quite sad.

 

[Marc Wielage]

Really good documentary and a sad story. Seems the business end needs to change on how VFX is done and how its billed out. Specifically with having the director having a more hands on role in VFX and billing the studio at a per hour basis for work done, or a per job basis as is now but with the possibility for overages or profit sharing.

The problem with putting limits on the VFX billing is that some studios will just dig in their heels and refuse to sign a contract like that, even though they'd have to do it with any production side of the business. It's the overages and changes that really kill the VFX houses, particularly in the last few weeks of the project where they have to add dozens or hundreds of additional employees in order to make the release dates.

The problem with profit sharing is there's always a risk in taking a loss on the production if the movie bombs. This happened recently to Digital Domain, who had a stake in Ender's Game and gambled badly.

The biggest problem I see is that the people who work in VFX are being terribly taken advantage of, they have no job security, work long hours with little or no benefits, and have no negotiating ability for their wages and working conditions. The only way to solve this is through an organizing unit like a union, and it's a good question as to whether it's too late to implement that in Hollywood. I truly hope the guys with ADAPT can make this happen:

http://www.adaptvfx.org/

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Sad story.
Sad stories have a purpose.

Documentary quote:

"Catalyst for a change"

 

[Björn Benckert]

It's a bit sad but it makes me think the following.

If you are up there bidding for huge top of the world VFX productions with thousands of artists involved then possibly you should have you financial and lawyer situation under control. All these guys talk about in this little film is how great VFX they do, well thats just one part of running a VFX facility, some might see that bit as very important and most difficult but it's actually so that making nice VFX's is more than anything about time and money. If you got those two then usually keeping quality high is a no brainer.

One can easily understand that R&H won the bid to do the VFX for PI by underbidding a handfull of other contenders. And the competition to land a project like that is tough as hell. So it's quite easy to understand that they where bidding far to low for what was demanded by the studio, or even what they wanted to deliver.

So in retrospect one could say that R&H should never made that tiger. It was a very ill decision to jump on the project.


But there is also many other aspects to consider.

As when a project like that is running and the VFX company has started and not finished they have to make sure they have the leverage to call for additional funds if things does not go as planed. As I understand all those big VFX houses are quite scared to upset the big studios and they do not want to pull that rope, and call for more money. But possibly thats a thing they should have consider before driving the whole company down the toilet. So if they started to make that tiger they should not let go of it before they are paid proper. When the process is rolling the post house actually have the upper hand, if they say money is out you are over budget, then the studio needs to thik things over and a: pay up more. or b: take their tiger someplace else... the b option is not so likely since it's years of developing time to make these effects and it would delay the whole production. So if a: the only threat the studio can pull is to say, "then we will not work with you again..." and as a VFX provider sometimes you have to push it to that point. As I understand R&H where more of the happy camper type, that did not fight for more money or pushing the studios. So again thats a financial department error right there.. It's quite simple Sony, Warnerbrothers and the other big players did not grow to that size because of their nice manors and willingness to pay...


Another aspect of making such big VFX work / projects is that if you hire artists not as freelance but as long term then you get them for a far lower price... So one strategy to succeed in that end of post production is to bring on people on long term contracts and then get the dream project, file for bankruptcy when done and cut all the employes over night... And in the mean time take as high salary to your self and your managing director friends as humanly possible. Then you get all the glory from the film done and open up shop someplace else and start to bid for the next big film.... Today it does not take long to open up shop and when somebody like the R&M managers want to do so then they gets all the tax incentives you could dream of and also all those troopers that got laid of are going to come crawling back asking for work and they will be far more easy to negotiate with then they where back at the old office where they all though they where in a safe haven and asked for a pay raise to buy that new car or swimingpool. So filing for bankruptcy and get auctioned out could possibly be the best deal the owners of R&H ever did, basically it makes it possible to start fresh overnight.. no costs for closure. All computers can be bought new, and the old are just handed back to the leasing company that will be standing there with a few thousand outdated pc's and mac pro's... When opening up shop in low tax place and landing the first project they could easily get new leasing and buy brand new MP's for everyone...

So there is far more angles to it all then what is showed in this life after pi move... just saying.

 

[ericyoung]

I agree the VFX houses need to not tie their own hands with their contracts, and need some hardball players on their team to hold out for money to cover overruns & changes, but it'll be a sad, bad day when bankruptcy and screwing your employees/freelancers is the accepted way to survive! :sad:

 

[Tom Hamilton]

A very cynical view Bjorn, but one that is unfortunately spot on. This type of thing is happening in just about every industry out there, driven by short-term/short-sighted corporate greed, no reason VFX houses should be exempt. Welcome to the New Age of Feudalism.

 

[M Most]

Bjorn, I find your posts generally interesting, you're a smart guy. But to be blunt, you know little to nothing about this particular situation. You're assuming things that might be sensible from a European point of view, but just aren't the case. You're assuming that the people involved were ignorant of all the points you are making, when that is not the case. You're assuming that things are simple when they're not. You're assuming that the situation is "fixable" by simply adhering to more strict business practices, when that is just not the case. The situation is untenable, but it is a good illustration of what happens when competition is minimized, entrepreneurial ownership is eliminated (I'm talking about the studios, all of which are now owned by much larger companies), and there is a seemingly endless supply of those who still want to work in the industry despite the financial hardship. That is a recipe for the client dictating the rules of the game, and that's exactly what currently exists. None of the things you're talking about were ignored, and some of what you say is not accurate. As an example, tax incentives go to the studio, not the vendor. When you open up a visual effects studio in Vancouver, you don't get a penny from the government. That money goes to the studios that hire you. The companies that have opened up there didn't do it because it was any cheaper to do the work there, they went because the studios demanded the government handout for work they were doing.

If you're going to criticise, that's fine. But frankly, I would challenge you to start a viable VFX business doing studio feature work and somehow keep it solvent. Because some of the best minds in our industry have been unable to do that, regardless of how strict their business practices have been. The people who run these companies are not pure artists with no business acumen, they are in many cases businessmen who find themselves in a situation that has no real solution, and without the ability to band together to gain some leverage, as the studios do. It's not something that can be fixed by simply being stricter on hiring and contractual policies. It goes a lot deeper than that.

 

[Les Dittert]

VFX companies need to create their own content so that the project can pay for itself. Sadly a lot of the business management at these places are more tech geek than business shark. This would mean a total restructure of film distribution models and the guys that run the current system would literally kill to protect the current model. Taking away film prints ( the 'usb dongle' of the movie industry ) should have made this more possible, but you still need the auditoriums to show the films.

Q: Do overseas VFX workers get paid $50 to $100 / hr ? How are Asian VFX companies doing ?

I also worked for R&H for a short stint. Nice guys.