Just The Beginning: VFX Unionizations At Marvel And Disney Likely To Inspire More
Image Source: Escapist Magazine
As fall begins, the momentum from Hot Labor Summer continues, especially as the WGA secured a monumental agreement after months of striking, and it looks like SAG-AFTRA is close to following in its footsteps. There is a massive, growing, labor movement in the US right now, and its effects are spilling into numerous industries. One of the industries taking advantage of the momentum would be VFX artists and technicians. Last month, a first-of-its-kind union was formed and recognized by the NLRB by Marvel VFX artists. Now, as of Tuesday, VFX artists at Disney are following suit. These results will likely continue in a film industry that is ever more reliant on VFX.
VFX artist Mark Patch, who worked on Tenet and has been vocal about the workload they have to endure, agrees. He told Variety that these victories “promise to lead to even more VFX workers seeking union protections.” Furthermore, he said they are working on “…organizing more studios which we hope to announce in the coming weeks/months, but the hope is to try and set an industry standard contract for all work.” It’s a worthwhile goal, as it would give him and his colleagues the same labor power that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have demonstrated.
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IATSE, a union of crew members, artists, and technicians that work to make film and stage plays happen, and represents artists like Patch, seems to be the go-to union to join as the Marvel VFX artists demonstrated. Cael Liakos-Gilbert, a VFX data wrangler, told Variety that this is a decades-long effort, and at the top of their list of needs, what are indeed at the top of most Americans’ needs, are healthcare and pay. Securing benefits like these is difficult without the strength of a union.
While wanting the same things, VFX artists also seek to curb turn-around time and the gig economy that has been their employment standard for some time. Also known as crunch in the video game industry, with the size of the staff in VFX studios, turn-around time is intense, and workers can see days where they work 14 hours with little to no breaks. Patch revealed that there are people who are so burnt out and exhausted, they’ve ended up in accidents on the drive home. Others also hope it will inspire more people to pursue VFX as a career, like Laura Williams, who worked on Ms. Marvel.
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Source(s): Variety
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