VFX Labor Issues Addressed at Honors Event: “Without Collective Bargaining, There Will Be No Progress”

Following the recent votes by VFX workers at Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel to unionize with IATSE, a call for collective bargaining received enthusiastic applause during an intimate Visual Effects Society Honors ceremony and reception Friday at Los Angeles’ Skirball Cultural Center.

Referencing the SAG-AFTRA strike and recently ended WGA strike, honoree Bob Coleman, a veteran VFX artist agent and exec, said “a lot of damage has been done, but progress has been made for those two guilds. But the artists in this room and artists all around the world have not fared so well without collective bargaining. And without collective bargaining, there will be no progress for them.” He added, “I believe this is one of the greatest inequities in our industry, and I hope this inequity can be righted.”

Each October, the organization holds a gathering to recognize leaders in its close-knit community. This year, Tim McGovern, an Oscar winner for the VFX in 1990’s Total Recall and a VES founding member, accepted the organization’s Founders Award. Lifetime VES membership was bestowed on McGovern, Coleman, archivist and curator Sandra Joy Aguilar, and producer and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences governor Brooke Breton. Additionally, McGovern, Coleman, Jeff Barnes, Toni Pace Carstensen, Chuck Finance, Shannon Gans and Ray McMillan were named VES Fellows.

Accepting the Founders Award, McGovern discussed the value of bringing the community together. Before VES, he said, companies and pros “didn’t talk much,” but, at their first meeting, they shared a desire to unite. “Nobody [except VFX pros] knows what artists go through to make these shots happen. Nobody [except VFX pros] knows what these companies go through.”

He added, “Being involved in this industry is one of my greatest joys. And the other thing I love doing is helping this program.”

During the evening, the late Samuel Z. Arkoff, Lawrence W. Butler, Wah Chang, Norman Dawn, W. Percy Day, Marcel Delgado, Farciot Edouart and Edward D. Wood, Jr. were named to the VES Hall of Fame. Noted matte painter Harrison Ellenshaw (Star Wars) was on hand for his grandfather Day’s induction.

The society also used the occasion to acknowledge long-time VES section leaders and to highlight the Oct. 31 release of The VES Handbook of Virtual Production, edited by VFX producer Susan Zwerman and VFX supervisor Jeffrey A. Okun.