

Ailing f/x sector spotlights creaky tentpole foundation - bsenftner
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118066191

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jpdoctor
> _"They know what our margins are and they won't let us make any money," he
> said._

Wow. When you depend on your customers to "let" you make money, you simply
don't have a business.

Come back when they _need_ your service, and then force them to cover your
expenses with some profit thrown in. Until then, go do something profitable.

~~~
gamblor956
Studios _do_ need their services. FX uses to be a _huge_ margin industry,
until it became marginalized.

However, there are now so many competitors in the market, domestic _and
foreign_ that margins are thin or non-existent.

In a nutshell, it's what is going to happen to the tech world when programming
skills become marginalized.

~~~
pessimizer
No, studios _don't_ need their services because there are now so many
competitors in the market, domestic and foreign.

I don't need the services of Nobu, but that doesn't mean that I don't need to
eat.

~~~
gamblor956
Studios do need their _service_. They don't need _them_ to provide that
service.

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MrScruff
This is a fairly accurate depiction of the current state of the industry. It's
fair to say that it's difficult to think of a good reason to stay in vfx other
than that the work itself is so darned enjoyable.

~~~
bsenftner
Yeah, I spent 7 years at R&H. Stayed because I loved the work. I left because
the work demands require your entire being, day and night, leaving you no life
at all.

~~~
cadr
Why is that? It always seems the case that vfx eats up everyone time, but it
always seemed to me that it was that projects were terribly managed, and if
they weren't, this wouldn't be as much of an issue.

~~~
bsenftner
It's a death of a thousand cuts: "We'll fix it in post", shots created by
compositing multiple shots together (with different camera and lighting) and
your job is to add the VFX and integrate it all so it looks realistic and
natural, being informed the director has changed his thoughts about 1/3 of the
film, that other vender working with us just went belly up and here's all
their work with no deadline adjustment, coworkers crumbling and their work
being distributed among every other surviving team member,
wife/child/significant-other begging you to come home while they are awake
just once...

