Pretty much what I saw my short time in VFX. Met one or two people that had come in through games that said that, despite the long hours, vfx life was better. Most people at the companies were in their 20s.
After a while, you normalize it: "Oh, next few months are chill, only on 10 hour days instead of 14s. But still have to work weekends."
And since you're working so much, you're not spending all that overtime, sometimes double-time money. That's the thing vs the hours you see in other industries - at a decent company, you actually get paid for the hours you work. Now, you might have to carry your own healthcare and shit (because that's only for "staff", even if you've worked there for two years every single day) but at least you have a fair bit of money and can maybe up your quote between projects. My architect colleagues regularly put into 70-80 hrs/wk on a not great salary for a highly-trained, highly-regulated profession.
That's great for people right of college that haven't gotten burned out. They don't know anything else and even get off on comparing 'how hard' ('how many hours') they worked.
And, as you said, there are more around the corner. If you get too expensive, you might be pushed out the door. Because the margins in VFX, or so I've been told, are so low. The studios have the companies bid each other to as low as possible, and sometimes you take a loss to get a big project so you can possibly do business in the future.
I think beyond employee unionization (which I never see happening, same in programming) it seems like vfx would need a national trade organization that could help them fight against not only the power of the studios but the outsourcing to Canada and elsewhere.
Anyway, best of luck to you. Just wanted to second your comments and add a little of my own observations. I was only in for 3 or so years when I realized how debilitating and abusive it was and set out very quickly to change things up.
After a while, you normalize it: "Oh, next few months are chill, only on 10 hour days instead of 14s. But still have to work weekends."
And since you're working so much, you're not spending all that overtime, sometimes double-time money. That's the thing vs the hours you see in other industries - at a decent company, you actually get paid for the hours you work. Now, you might have to carry your own healthcare and shit (because that's only for "staff", even if you've worked there for two years every single day) but at least you have a fair bit of money and can maybe up your quote between projects. My architect colleagues regularly put into 70-80 hrs/wk on a not great salary for a highly-trained, highly-regulated profession.
That's great for people right of college that haven't gotten burned out. They don't know anything else and even get off on comparing 'how hard' ('how many hours') they worked.
And, as you said, there are more around the corner. If you get too expensive, you might be pushed out the door. Because the margins in VFX, or so I've been told, are so low. The studios have the companies bid each other to as low as possible, and sometimes you take a loss to get a big project so you can possibly do business in the future.
I think beyond employee unionization (which I never see happening, same in programming) it seems like vfx would need a national trade organization that could help them fight against not only the power of the studios but the outsourcing to Canada and elsewhere.
Anyway, best of luck to you. Just wanted to second your comments and add a little of my own observations. I was only in for 3 or so years when I realized how debilitating and abusive it was and set out very quickly to change things up.