‘Like being in the military’: embattled VFX artists push to unionize
Visual effects are increasingly relied upon in the entertainment industry with the explosion of content through streaming services, but the people behind this work have reported poor working conditions, including long hours without overtime, low pay, a lack of benefits, intense workloads and productivity demands.
Visual effects (VFX) workers are currently pushing to unionize with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE ), which currently represents over 150,000 workers in arts, media and entertainment.
On the production side, VFX workers often work side by side with many IATSE members, but currently don’t receive any of the protections, compensation and benefits their co-workers receive because they work under a union contract.
Longtime VFX workers on the production side who have worked on numerous high-profile films and TV series requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. Other VFX workers often work for vendors that complete VFX artist work through contracts with studios.
“We are the only major department currently working on every film set in America that is not unionized, is not organized and is not covered by the same general basic agreements and all that entails for every other person on that set,” said one VFX worker. “Every other department has sort of built-in safeguards for everything because there’s an entire system in place to protect people from being taken advantage of.”
They explained enduring extremely long hours of work to rush through production and delivery, including sleeping in the office while working 18-hour days consecutively alongside unionized workers who are paid overtime and higher wages.
The conditions have worsened in recent years, the worker argued, due to
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