As concerns about working conditions grow, IATSE is pushing for VFX artists to unionize

More and more VFX artists are speaking up about low pay and horrible working conditions

By Sam Barsanti  |  December 13, 2022 | 3:34am
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As concerns about working conditions grow, IATSE is pushing for VFX artists to unionize
Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania Photo: Marvel Studios

A few months ago, we reported on a piece from Vulture about the grim working conditions of VFX artists, specifically those who work on Marvel movies—which tend to be very heavy on visual effects, in case you haven’t heard. The piece talked about the concept of a “pixel-fuck,” which is a term that VFX artists reportedly use to describe hyper-specific demands from studios like Marvel where they obsess over every pixel in a shot even if nobody would ever notice and if the studio itself can’t even describe what it is that it wants. Pair high demands like that with Marvel’s tendency to ask for last-minute reshoots, and you have artists saying they’re dealing with 64-hour work weeks and anxiety attacks while on the job.

However, it’s not a problem exclusive to the VFX studios that work with Marvel and Disney, so in the last few months, some members of the VFX community have started pushing for unionization in order to improve their working conditions and prevent major studios with a ton of power from exploiting them. As reported by IndieWire, those efforts took another step forward today with the International Alliance Of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE, the union that represents the behind-the-scenes crew people in the entertainment industry, but not writers or directors) launching a survey today to gather data on pay rates and working conditions for VFX artists.

IndieWire notes that this is the first time IATSE itself has put together an official study like this about VFX artists, and VFX worker and IATSE organizer Mark Patch said in an official statement that, while “VFX is integral to almost every film and television production made today,” the artists “who make VFX possible are among the only film and TV workers not represented by a union today.”

This is good news for pretty much everybody, save for the regular sort of people who hate unions (greedy bosses who value money over people). It might lead to better money and less stress for VFX workers, which is great, but it also means moviegoers can feel less conflicted about how many weeks or months out of a real person’s life it took to make Ant-Man so small or whatever.

 
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