Marvel Studios’ VFX Workers File for Unionization
Over a year after an anonymous op-ed published by Vulture called for unionization by the VFX workers in Hollywood, the group has taken its first major step. A supermajority of Marvel Studios’ 50-plus-worker VFX crew signed Monday authorization cards declaring they would like to be represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the union announced on Monday. The workers are asking for an election to be held as soon as August 21.
The group includes Marvel’s on-set production crew, but not the thousands of workers from various VFX houses all over the globe that have been clamoring for fair treatment from Marvel and other major studios for a few years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It’s only a matter of time, however, with unions being now stronger than ever in Hollywood and North America overall. This was also the sentiment of IATSE, the umbrella group that represents the below-the-line workers, including production designers, editors, camera operators, hair-and-makeup artists, etc. VFX workers have been historically left out, but that could be about to change. IATSE President Matthew Loeb said the following in a statement to Vulture, which broke the news:
“We are witnessing an unprecedented wave of solidarity that’s breaking down old barriers in the industry and proving we’re all in this fight together. That doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Entertainment workers everywhere are sticking up for each other’s rights, that’s what our movement is all about. I congratulate these workers on taking this important step and using their collective voice.”
The issue of unionization for VFX houses has been a long-running debate, especially as more and more studios over-rely on them and essentially abuse them, forcing the artists to work overly-long days and underpaying them. Famously, Rhythm & Hues filed for bankruptcy after finishing the Oscar-winning VFX work for The Life of Pi. Earlier this year, Marvel Studios fired Victoria Alonso, who supervised the entire post-production pipeline of the company, after many complaints about her treatment of the artists and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania severely underperformed at the box office, a movie that featured genuinely questionable VFX work.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
