As an employee in the visual effects industry, I take interest in topics related to the business. Recently, a fellow named Lee Stranahan posted “An Open Letter to James Cameron” on his website. You can read the letter here. In order for the rest of this post to make sense, you should go read it now.
Have you read it? Great. Just about everything he says in the letter is true. Visual effects are the reason why people go to the movies these days, and yet we get the short end of the stick. I’m glad to see Lee speaking out about this issue.
However, since when is it James Cameron’s responsibility to speak up? If anything, it’s in his best interests for things to remain as they are. I do think that Cameron is sympathetic to the visual effects artists’ situation. In the credits for Avatar, visual effects artists were listed before traditional artists and other film staff, and the significance of that was not lost on me.
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Cameron does speak up on behalf of VFX artists at the Oscars. It would be great for visual effects artists and a generous act on Cameron’s part. For a brief time, it would bring the issue center stage. It would be a news story, and people would talk about how wrong the situation is. And then that would be that, and the news cycle would move on.
The bottom line is, if VFX artists want things to change, we will have to do it ourselves. The movie industry isn’t going to suddenly say, “oh hey, you know what? You’re right. We’ve been treating you like shit. Here’s some health insurance, and some profit sharing, and a retirement program. And we’ll see what we can do about some job security.” If we want those things, we’ll have to take the responsibility on ourselves to get them.
Yeah, I agree Kat. If people truly want better working conditions, they get out there and rally for it themselves- no one is going to hand it to them. This is a business- no one’s going to “do the right thing” until they are forced to. It’s tough though- you need people behind you. I’ve tried to galvanize the troops- the truth is no one cares enough to do anything meaningful, and get behind the issue when it matters. Everyone’s too scared to step on Hollywood’s toes. Plus, despite their strung out states, they are too damn comfortable. Comfortable people don’t revolt. True change is made by the people who ante up, organize and do something about their situation. People who have the gall to stick it out there. I’m afraid the sorry sacks surrounding us just don’t have it in them. So frankly, I feel like they get what they deserve.
Comment by Nowell Valeri — February 7, 2010 @ 10:38 pm
I agree. I’m still amazed watching credits and looking at film schools at the incredible number of silent films that are apparently still being made… That and as my students look for jobs how much of the arts industry is freelance which isn’t the best place for students to transition from fresh out of school to the workplace.
Comment by Christopher — April 24, 2010 @ 4:03 pm