An Open Letter to Ang Lee
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- instrmntl
An Open Letter to Ang Lee
by Phillip Ray Broste on Monday, February 25, 2013 at 1:47am ·https://www.facebook.com/notes/p…
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Dear Mr. Lee,When asked about the bankruptcy of Rhythm + Hues, the visual effects house largely responsible for making your film "life of Pi" as incredible as it was, you said:
“I would like it to be cheaper and not a tough business [for VFX vendors]. It’s easy for me to say, but it’s very tough. It’s very hard for them to make money. The research and development is so expensive; that is a big burden for every house. They all have good times and hard times, and in the tough times, some may not [survive]."
I just want to point out that while, yes R&D can be expensive and yes it takes a lot of technology and computing power to create films like yours, it is not computer chips and hard drives that are costing you so very much money. It is the artists that are helping you create your film.
So when you say “I would like it to be cheaper," as an artist I take that personally. It took hundreds of hours from skilled artists and hard-working coordinators and producers to craft the environments and performances in life of Pi. Not to mention the engineers that wrote all of that proprietary code and build the R+H pipeline. That is where your money went. I'd say, judging from the night you just had, you got one hell of a deal.
Incidentally, those were the same gorgeous sunsets and vistas that your DP Claudio Miranda took credit for without so much as a word of thanks to those artists. And the same animated performances that helped win you the best director statue. Nice of you to mentionthe pool crew, but maybe you could have thanked the guys and gals who turned that pool in to an ocean and put a tiger in to that boat?
It was world class work, after all. And after a fabulously insulting and dismissive introduction from the cast of the avengers, at least two of whom spent fully half of their film as a digitally animated character, R+H won for it's work on your very fine piece of cinema. And just as the bankruptcy was about to be acknowledged on a nationally-televised platform, the speech was cut short. By the Jaws theme.
If this was meant as a joke, we artists are not laughing.
Mr. Lee, I do believe that you are a thoughtful and brilliant man. And a gifted filmmaker. But I also believe that you and everyone in your tier of our business is fabulously ignorant to the pain and turmoil you are putting artists through. Our employers scramble to chase illegal film subsidies across the globe at the behest of the film studios. Those same subsidies raise overhead, distort the market, and cause wage stagnation in what are already trying economic times. Your VFX are already cheaper than they should be. It is disheartening to see how blissfully unaware of this fact you truly are.
By all accounts, R+H is a fantastic place to work; a truly great group of people who treat their employees with fairness and respect. Much like Zoic Studios, the fabulous company that I am proud to work for. But I am beginning to wonder if these examples of decency will be able to survive in such a hostile environment. Or if the horror stories of unpaid overtime and illegal employment practices will become the norm, all because you and your fellow filmmakers "would like it to be cheaper."
I for one won't stand for it. Please join me.
Warmest regards and congratulations,
Phillip Broste
Lead Compositor
- instrmntl0
People who work on computers get shafted, regardless of the industry. A friend and I were just speaking of how the development culture is terrible, ie, expected to work late hours, absorb new technologies thru r&d, etc etc.
Let the good times roll!
- sometimes true, sometimes not true..if everyone wants your job, and CEO thinks you're interchangeablevaxorcist
- if CEO thinks people who work on computers are interchangeable,then you're viewed as an expense, not an aset... = CUT HERE....vaxorcist
- asset then the beancounters see you as something to cut to the bone, not as something to cultivate....vaxorcist
- That is why I stopped working on Computers.eryx
- instrmntl0
VFX Company Rhythm & Hues Protested Last Night's Oscar Ceremony
When VFX supervisor Bill Westenhofer accepted the award for Life of Pi last night, he was ominously played off the stage by the Jaws score and abruptly cut off just as he was beginning to tell the audience about the current situation. "Sadly, Rhythm & Hues is suffering severe financial difficulties right now, and I urge you all to remember..." and that was all he could say before his microphone was turned off. I'm not implying there was a conspiracy to cut his speech short in order to silence him, but it was just bad timing and it sucks he couldn't use that platform - with a billion people watching around the world - to at least illuminate the issue for everyone.
- albums0
Wait a second, whose fault is it if you can't stay in business?
If you're making deals that can't sustain your business, the client shouldn't be blamed, that's just bad business.
- He's not blaming the clients, he's blaming those in control of the money for nickel and diming the VFX studios.zarkonite
- Weyland0
Not only Hollywood, VFX houses around the world are suffering because of (mainly) cut advertisement budgets, I feel for R&H's message but it's the former overcharged economy that made them huge and now it's time to scale down again, just like everywhere else
- like movie tickets. ill go to the ritz but mainline cinema is bleeding.teh
- i_monk0
Stop offering (and delivering) services you can't turn a profit on.
- uuuuuu0
I can appreciate the point but it seems like he's just picking something to complain about. OF COARSE Lee wants it to be cheaper its not like he's saying "I want the artists to work more for less" he's just saying it would be preferable to keep costs down but you can't because of RnD and associated costs. He's just saying its hard for VFX companies to make money and IT IS.
Also, fucking everyone gets cut short at the Oscars. If they wanted to make sure they got that part about the company's financial difficulties they should have cut to the chase. That guy went on and on before that part and there were other speakers too if I remember correctly, they should of known.
- I guarantee you that Mr. Lee's per diem is three times what the artists make for a salaryFawnDog
- They will never cut costs above the line
FawnDog - Lee doesn't work for RandH. He is a filmmaker, I don't know but I'm sure he appreciates what the digiartists do but he doesn't manage the companyuuuuuu
- ...manage the company.uuuuuu
- i_monk0
Instead of protesting the Oscars, they should have been meeting with lawyers for a class action lawsuit against the people who knowingly ran the company into the ground by charging less than break-even rates.
- antimotion0
- son?mathinc
- tru datutopian
- haha I like some of his work but this is fucking funnyanimatedgif
- 74LEO0
Is it R&D or R&H?
Shame but people may just stop taking their kids to the movies. Its hardly an experience and movies are expensive, smell, loud and personally I like to lay down and sprawl out when I'm watching a good movie.
- uuuuuu0
^^R&H is Rhythm and Hues the VFX company that worked on Life of Pi. R&D is 'research and development' that Lee is saying is so expensive.
It is pretty cheap Lee never mentioned them in his speech considering their huge role in the film.
- i take back some of what i said above because he does seem unappreciative of what they douuuuuu
- uuuuuu0
its not really Lee's fault they tanked but R&H basically made the movie, I am surprised these big VFX houses don't get a cut considering their creative input. Or do they, anyone know? Digital Domain was practically a co-producer with Disney on Tron, why do they have financial difficulties? You'd think that would make them rich.
- like isn't a small cut of a billion gross enough to cover the difference in rates and R&D? or are they shut outuuuuuu
- this might have something to do with it: http://en.wikipedia.…monNom
- uuuuuu0
A lot of these VFX companies exist almost exclusively for R&D. Its like NASA, they go to Mars and they end up developing all sorts of new technology that can be used in other industrial and commercial applications. But I don't understand why they can't capitalize on all this, instead they just seem to get paid for the costs then wind up taking a hit because of over expenditures.
- twooh0
^ yes and no. films these days are constantly raising the bar on what can be done, so it's completely necessary. Like NASA, their budgets keep getting lowered, every year. It's why they hardly have any manned missions. DD once owned Nuke exclusively until The Foundry came in and bought it from them. So yes, while your analogy is correct, none really exist for the sole purpose of R&D, as far as I know.
- instrmntl0
I imagine its must like the ad world. The bigger the company, the less they have to pay for work. Take Coke or Nike. They pay terribly. The reason is that if agency A doesn't accept for a small amount, there's thousands of other agencies that will take that budget in a second. This story really is larger than just the FX industry.
- monNom0
I can't find anything that says how R&H actually got screwed, other than being priced-out by overseas competition/tax incentives. Was there lack of payment or something on one of these big movies?
