VFX labor issues highlighted at Visual Effects Association honor event – ​​The Hollywood Reporter

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Following the recent vote by Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel VFX workers to unionize with IATSE, the Visual Effects Association Honors Ceremony and Reception held Friday at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles highlighted the need for collective bargaining. The call was met with enthusiastic applause.

Referring to the SAG-AFTRA strike and the recently concluded WGA strike, Bob Coleman, a veteran VFX artist agent and executive at Winner, said, “There has been tremendous damage, but progress has been made between these two guilds.” said. But artists in this room and around the world aren’t doing as well without collective bargaining. And without collective bargaining, there will be no progress for them. He added: “We believe this is one of the greatest injustices in our industry, and we hope this injustice will be corrected.”

Each October, the organization holds a gathering to recognize leaders in the close-knit community. This year, it stars Tim McGovern, who won an Oscar for his VFX work in the 1990s. total recall He was a founding member of VES and received the organization’s Founder’s Award. Lifetime memberships in VES were awarded to McGovern, Coleman, archivist and curator Sandra Joy Aguilar, and producer and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences board member Brooke Brereton. Additionally, McGovern, Coleman, Jeff Burns, Toni Pace Carstensen, Chuck Finance, Shannon Gans, and Ray McMillan were named VES Fellows.

McGovern, who won the Founders Award, spoke about the value of bringing communities together. He said companies and experts “didn’t really talk much” before VES, but at the first meeting they shared a desire to come together. “Nobody” [except VFX pros] We know what the artists go through to achieve these shots.no one [except VFX pros] We know what these companies are going through. ”

He added, “Being in this industry is one of my greatest joys. And the other thing I want to do is support this program.”

That night, the late Samuel Z. Arkoff, Lawrence W. Butler, Wah Chan, Norman Dorn, W. Percy Day, Marcel Delgado, Falcio Edouard, and Edward D. Wood, Jr. will be inducted into the VES Hall of Fame. was selected to enter. Renowned matte painter Harrison Ellenshaw (Star Wars) attended Grandfather Day’s entrance ceremony.

The association also used this opportunity to recognize those who have served as VES section leaders over the years, and announced the release on October 31. VES Handbook for Virtual Productionedited by VFX Producer Susan Zwerman and VFX Supervisor Jeffrey A. Okun.