You may have seen a few articles about the recent uprising against movie studios causing VFX companies to go bankrupt. You may even have seen people changing their Twitter and Facebook avatars to the green screen seen on the right. These icons are indications of support for a very big upheaval happening in Hollywood. Bankruptcy, Hollywood Studios, Rhythm and Hues, and the future of our movies are all tied up into a somewhat confusing mix of emotions, business practices and the Oscars.
So what in the world is happening?
I'll attempt to break down the issues and give you a clear picture as to what is really going on.
At the Oscars, "Life of Pi" won multiple awards, and one specific award was for the visual effects. The effects for the movie were created by the studio Rhythm and Hues, whose credits also include "Django Unchained," "The Hunger Games," "Snow White and the Huntsman," "X-Men: First Class," "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief," "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," "The Incredible Hulk," "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," "Alvin and the Chipmunks," and the upcoming Percy Jackson and Hunger Games sequels.
Pretty Impressive, right? It's fairly well known that Rhythm and Hues works their behinds off, including nights and weekends, for the effects we enjoy in the adaptations of our favorite books and family movies.
However, Rhythm and Hues recently announced that because they were making so little money off of these movies, that they are declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They have already laid off 200 of their spectacular workers in an attempt at reorganizing the company.
Companies declare bankruptcy all the time. Why is this different?
It's different because it's the symptom of a larger problem with the way Hollywood is treating effects companies.
During the 2013 Oscars, employees from Rythm and Hues protested outside of the event. In a very, very odd occurrance which has everyone scratching their heads, when Bill Westenhofer, one of the VFX supervisors for Rhythm & Hues was giving his acceptance speech for the "Life of Pi" award for best Visual Effects, he was cut off just after the 43 second mark with the theme song from "Jaws."
People noted this because other acceptance speeches which surpassed the 'mark' were played the music. However Ang Lee's acceptance speech for the same movie, which lasted 158 seconds, was not cut off. Many who worked at the company felt this to me a kick in the pants from those in charge of the event, and from Hollywood in general.
Rhythm and Hues isn't the only company feeling the sting. Pixmodo, the company in charge of visual effects for "Hugo," has had to recently downsize to stay afloat. What is causing this crunch? Is it the economy? Is it the government?
Many companies are claiming that it's the pressure given by studios to produce better work for less money, throwing them into financial distress and bankruptcy, and in doing so, causing ripples within the industry as a whole.
A similar instance occurred with the Writer's Guild strike against studios for more money and better benefits. After the strike, which affected nearly every tv show and movie in Hollywood, the demands were met by the studios and the writers went back to work. The difference between the Writer's Guild strike and these protests is the lack of unionization in the visual effects industry. This means that anyone working in visual effects is at a disadvantage, because they are now faced with the inability to demand better work environments due to the plethora of visual effects 'artists' with half the training who are willing to work for half the price. Couple that with the outsourcing to foreign countries for processing of effects, and the problem grows into a very unsavory business environment for everyone involved.
What were seeing now is the industry attempting to gain ground and establish footing with the movie studios, and beginning to demand better wages for themselves and others in the industry.
Time will be the tell as to the outcome of this. However, keep in mind that your favorite movie was created by someone at these companies, and that these same people are fighting for a better work environment.
