The Animation Guild belives that artists may have recourse to recover these lost wages.

If you have worked at or are currently working at The Mill in Santa Monica, The Animation Guild is interested in speaking with you. Contact Steve Kaplan at the Guild at  (818) 845-7500 or skaplan@animationguild.org.

From The Animation Guild Blog:

http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/latest-vfx-scam-artists-paying-all.html

The Mill has engaged Yurcor to act as the Employer of Record for the artists they employ. Officially, artists work for Yurcor and are “loaned out” to The Mill. Yurcor is therefore responsible for the reimbursement to the artists for their work time at The Mill.

The Mill explains this has allowed them to:

“meet compliance requirements and improve administrative support to [their] valued freelancers.

By using Yurcor’s services you gain W-2 status and many of the benefits and services of a full time position while keeping all the career freedom and tax savings of a 1099 freelancer.”

A full-time employee keeping the “freedom” of a freelance employee sound to good to be true? It should. Its also illegal.

To give that feeling of freedom, Yurcor not only withholds the traditional payroll taxes employees are responsible to pay (Fed Income, FICA, CA Income and SDI). They also withhold the employer portions of FICA, FUTA, California state unemployment insurance (UI), and the employer workers compensation insurance.

Let us know if you’re working at a studio that employs you through an employer of record and makes you pay the taxes typically reserved for employers or real 1099 contractors. We’ll get the word out and hopefully things will change.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118044078/

In less than a year at least a half-dozen artists were chasing a producer for $50,000 in unpaid wages, while Maxsar Digital was forced to close. Production incentive programs can lure legitimate productions and bring a lot of money into the state. But they can also attracts bottom-feeders who can tap into the state’s allotted funds.

If you’re working for a company and they are late with a paycheck for _ANY REASON_ don’t hesitate to walk out. It doesn’t matter if your supervisor begs and pleads with you to help “the team” because what they are really doing is helping themselves at your expense.

No Pay = No Work

The only leverage you have over your employer in this situation is the unfinished work. Once the work is finished you have little bargaining power.

Don’t let yourself get manipulated.

http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/confessions-of-union-buster.html

http://effectscorner.blogspot.com/2011/05/vfx-business-models.html

http://effectscorner.blogspot.com/2011/06/working-directly-for-studios.html

2008: Unpaid Digital FX artists seek back pay of $1 million from Discovery Communications and Evergreen Films
http://www.fxguide.com/featured/labor_series_part_one_unpaid_artists/

2010: Fake Studio Fails to Pay Workers
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023071?refcatid=3691&printerfriendly=true

2011: Lumiere/Meteor VFX Bankrupt Again?!
http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/lumieremeteor-vfx-bankrupt-again/

Unfortunately the Chinese and Indian definition of “open source” is pretty much the same as the American definition of “software piracy”.  The use of “Crack” across Asia is epidemic.

The “commodity” FX production at bargain basement prices in outsourcing hot-spots around the globe is often done on cracked software. If the Asian studios paid the same prices for the software they’re using as US studios they would not be able to compete at the level and prices we’re seeing. Many of the studios in China and India would not have opened in the first place since few of them had the capital required to build any sort of infrastructure.

Of course, piracy isn’t limited to Asia. I’m sure there is a percentage of American and European companies engaged in similar practices but US companies operate under the threat of audits from the MPAA and BSA. No such threat exists in Asia to enforce proper software licensing. It appears as if the studios and people who manage out-source sub-contracts are only too happy to turn a blind eye to the problem, impacting the ability of studios with legitimate business practices to compete.

It might level the playing field if there was some pressure from existing unions and trade groups to get an agreement from film production studios and out-source managers to audit their sub-contractors for pirated software. There is simply no motivation for Chinese or Indian studios to run legitimate software licenses and many of them would go out of business overnight if forced to comply.

I’d like to see this issue addressed by VES 2.0

In light of the great turnout for our last picnic at the beach (in spite of the fog rolling in), numerous shout outs during awards season acknowledging the important role Unions and Guilds have played in advancing the careers of the winners, pilot season, increased traffic in the blogosphere (and the soon-to-be-unveiled IATSE sites) we will be holding another picnic on Sunday March 13 at 1:00 pm at Johnny Carson Park in Burbank. The park is located on Bob Hope Drive, equidistant between Alameda and Riverside Drive, just to the east of NBC.

The IATSE is specifically inviting visual effects artists working at Warner Bros., Disney, NBC/Universal, Stargate, and all independent visual effects studios in the San Fernando Valley/Burbank/Glendale/Pasadena area. Artists working at the six major motion picture studios should be aware that by signing a union authorization card, and the IATSE achieving majority status at your employer, the IATSE BASIC AGREEMENT would automatically go into effect. That’s why we really want to see YOU there.

If you have friends who live or work in the San Fernando Valley, or at any of the Major Studios, please let them know that we really want to see them there. There will be a simultaneous meeting in Vancouver and we hope to coordinate our requests for recognition to eliminate any incentives for employers to move work from the US to Canada.

Should you have any questions, you can contact the IATSE at jgoodman@iatse-intl.com

You can find the location of the park at this link.

Attention All Visual Effects Practitioners in Southern California:

IBEW Local 40 will be holding its’ 3rd  Informational Meeting for those working in the Visual Effects portion of the Motion Picture Industry.
This historic meeting will be held on Sunday November 7th 1pm. at The American Legion Hall located @ 5309 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Culver City CA. 90230.
Representatives from both Local 40 and the IBEW will be there to answer questions and provide additional information on why the IBEW is …the right choice.
Everyone that has attended past meetings are encouraged to bring a co-worker with them to receive this relevant information.

In Solidarity,

Dave Grabowski
IBEW Local 40
Business & Membership Development Rep.