Visual FX Digital Artists Guild

Good news from Motion Theory. Tina Van Delden of Motion Theory tells us that they are transitioning away from using MBO as an Employer of Record and are moving to a traditionally structured payroll service, absorbing the cost of doing business. They should have everyone up and running on their new payroll system by September 7th 2010.

FXDAG applauds this move and hopes that other studios which employ freelancers follow suit.

Developing story. Looking for confirmation and details on this.

We recently heard that MBO, a predatory Employer of Record, is pulling out of payroll administration for FX and Animation related business. I’ll post more as I confirm the story and find out more information.

Other EOR stories on FXDAG include:

EOR Studios List

Fired from MBO – A True Story with a Happy Ending

Artists fights back against MBO and Yurkor Employers of Record

Organize Employers of Record?

There’s some really good information available on-line regarding salaries in the VFX and Animation industries if you know where to look. Artists often suffer from vast information asymmetry when entering negotiations. Your manager knows exactly how much artists at your facility make but chances are you have no idea. Your manager probably has a discretionary budget for raises and salaries for the year and quite possibly makes a bonus based on the amount of this budget remaining at the end of the year so they have a personal interest in keeping wages and raises as low as possible. The best way to level the playing field and eliminate the information asymmetry is to talk openly with your co-workers about their salaries. People are often reluctant to do this, so perhaps an anonymous poll at your workplace would feel more appropriate. In addition, there are several on-line resources for wage information.

There’s a wealth of wage information on-line if you know where to look. Hopefully the information below will help you in your next negotiation.

VFX Soldier’s Wage Information Spreadsheet

VFX Soldier has a good article about wages and salaries in the VFX and animation industries.

By law, wage information for non-U.S. citizens working under H1-B visas must be publicly disclosed. The data is usually a couple of years behind but still relevant. The most recent searchable data on-line is from 2008 but the 2009 data may be downloaded. The Animation Guild posts their annual wage surveys. Web sites such as vfxConnection post the results of their independent wage polls. Executive compensation is a matter of public record for public companies or companies filing for IPO.

Search the on-line H1-B database at the FLC Data Center

The Animation Guild (TAG) 2010 wage survey

The web site VFXwages is devoted to tracking wages in the VFX industry

vfxConnection has a user poll of rates. You need to register an account with them to access the information

Regarding executives, if the company is public or has tried to go public, the salaries of the company officers must be published by the SEC and can be found in the SEC EDGAR database.

• It can be a bit difficult to navigate for first time users so these tips should help with EDGAR:

1. Enter the company name and hit the “find companies” button.
2. If the company is already public, find their prospectus under form “8-K”. If the company has filed for and IPO but is not yet public, look for a filing under form “S-1a”
3. Look under the heading “Executive Compensation”.

• Here’s an example of Digital Domain’s S-1a filing from 2007 when they attempted to go public.

Summary Compensation Table

The following table presents certain summary information for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007 concerning compensation earned for services rendered in all capacities to us and our subsidiaries by the Named Executive Officers during such period.

Summary Compensation Table for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2007

Name and Principal Position		Year				Salary ($) (1)				Bonus ($) (2)				Stock Awards ($)				Option Awards ($) (3)				All Other Compensation ($)				Total ($)
Mark Miller (4) President and Chief Executive Officer			2007			$	548,097			$	51,600				—			$	149,553				—			$	749,250
Cliff Plumer Chief Technology Officer			2007				524,336				51,600				—				149,553				—				725,489
Ed Ulbrich Executive Vice President			2007				447,116				150,000				—				49,698				—				646,814
Yvette Macaluso (5) Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer			2007				261,231				100,000				—				86,284				—				447,515
Joseph Gabriel Vice President, Business Affairs and General Counsel			2007				282,693				—				—				33,753				—				316,446
Carl Stork (6) Vice Chairman and Former Chief Executive Officer			2007				300,000				—				—				—				—				300,000

The Animation Guild (TAG), Local 839, is having a membership drive.

Contact them now if you work in visual effects and want to see your shop organized!

It’s time to ORGANIZE!

The Guild has embarked on a series of organizing initiatives to bring the benefits of the Guild to workers at non-union employers.

If you are presently working at Wildbrain, Renegade, Moonscoop, Digital Domain, Sony Imageworks, Nickelodeon CG, Rhythm and Hues, Zoic, or any other non-union facility, and if you would like to get benefits under our Motion Picture Pension and Health Plan, drop us an e-mail or give us a call.

We’re looking for information that can help us organize your employer, and we would like you to sign a STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL representation card.

Let us know how we can help you get the wages and benefits you deserve.

• Steve Hulett, Business Representative
• Steve Kaplan, Organizer

VFX Soldier posted a very informative analysis of union benefits and how organizing might actually be a more economical model for providing benefits to their employees.

Read more here: http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/could-unionization-save-vfx-facilities/

Here’s an excerpt:

So how much would organization actually cost? Well according to sources in the IATSE, the national labor organization that The Animation Guild is a part of, a guild employer would have to pay the following for each worker:

• about $4 per hour worked plus about a 6% contribution into the IAP (Individual Account Plan).

I estimate the IAP contribution to be about $6000 a year. If you want to see how that number is calculated go here but lets make an assumption and calculate the amount based on an artist’s salary.

• Assume an artist works 40 hours per week for a total of 2080 hours a year.
• Assume that artist makes $48 an hour for a nice even salary total of about $100,000 per year.

The total amount an employer would probably have to pay to the guild would calculate to be about $14,500 per year. (*Correction – this amount isn’t paid to the guild, it is paid into the health and pension benefits. The only money paid to the guild are the dues paid by workers.) That’s far less than the national average of 30% employers pay to administer benefits.