Back in December I wrote that Sony Pictures Imageworks, one of the major visual effects houses that does the effects you see in movies, like the Spiderman films, had been shifting jobs out of the country to Vancouver, where Canada offers the studios generous taxpayer funded subsidies. In addition, in Canada workers don't see overtime until the 11th hour of the day. This has been happening for quite awhile, and most studios have followed suit, or alternatively, been driven into bankruptcy because it's impossible to compete against subsides in Canada, or other overseas business practices that would not be allowed here. At the time, I was employed and merely a bystander.
Now, despite 16 years of experience, I'm updating that initial report to include my own unemployment, and sudden inability to find work. Sony is now attempting to shift ALL visual effects work to Canada. All of the major studios have followed to some extent. Rhythm and Hues went through bankruptcy in April. What was once a thriving, highly-skilled and highly-paid career path is now so much dust. Bloomberg Businessweek reports the same:
http://www.businessweek.com/...
Some suggest that America needs to offer larger subsides to counteract this drain. But that, as we all know, is counterproductive. Offering the studios American subsides simply drains our own tax base, as the Canadian people are slowly realizing is the net benefit on their own resources. What has to happen is some mechanism that heavily taxes studios who do this, to the point that it becomes MORE expensive to outsource our jobs. As it should be in any field that finds itself under outsourcing attacks. Given our current congress, don't hold your breath.
In the meantime, if anyone has a job for an Academy Award-winning visual effects team member....