Aug 20, 2011
Production Problems : Solving the industry Crisis with Management, not with a Union
Three months ago, Eric Roth, the executive director of the visual effects society have posted on the VES website an open letter to the VFX and to the entertainment industry. The letter talked about the problems the industry is currently facing including the outsourcing of specialized work, the lack of recognition for accomplishment of VFX artists, the working conditions of some artists to meet deadlines and so on… Their solution a VFX union, but the current situation this industry is facing is not unique and has been seen in many other economic sectors of our society, so a union might not be the best solution, we think we should start by having a better management. We just need to remember the textile industry leaving the U.S. to come up north to Canada and after that, 15 years ago, they again left the Canadian soil for other countries such has Guatemala and China.
State of the Entertainment Industry: Maturity
The evolution of an industry goes through (Introduction, Growth, Maturity & Decline) When an industry reaches the maturity, it usually faces different type of new challenges and changes as part of the evolution in the economic sector, the biggest challenges are; increase in the competition (more actors are popping out in the same market) which result in lower prices and the drop in revenues (both gross and net). To survive and prevent a decline they must now give greater importance to performance, lower cost of production and a greater efficiency, all to face the new economic context. It’s exactly what’s happening to the entertainment industry.
The seven giants film distributors who assigns the shots wants the work to be of high quality, produce quickly and at the lowest cost they can get. The increase in the number of vendors and the drop in hardware prices has driven the price down and the competition up: two big factors that are now affecting this industry.
Union for the artists
I’ve heard some people who were preaching to establish a VFX union. The problem at this current state of the industry is that the cheaper vendors (China, India, Korea, etc.) have now the skills to produce, deliver good and affordable quality work. If a union is created, it will be endorsed by the USA, Canada, UK, France, NZ and Australian workers. The work will simply slide even more into the cheaper countries because they will not endorse this new union to make sure their competitive advantage (cheap labor) is still attracting U.S. and international producers. The following countries (USA, Canada, UK, France, NZ and Australia) all have established tax credits programs and still can’t retain all of the productions on their soils.
Better management could benefit everyone
Entertainment industry is filled with various departments, processes and vendors. The business process is currently been over-seen by different type of managers with different backgrounds. Only a good manager will have the conscience to plan in advance the production process to guide everyone through each production stages. They now need to place extra padding, find creative solutions and limit the number of change orders to make sure the film vendor doesn’t lose money (and we’re not talking about making money). The problem is that expectation are high and vendors does not want to displease the client.
“We give them a very good service, we even give them more than what they ask for and we hope to catch-up on the next job.”
But sometime the next job doesn’t come quick enough or it comes, but again without any chances of making profits and sometimes it just doesn’t even come at all.
Since most managers in the entertainment industry comes from the artists based and level up to manager after getting years of experience, they may not have all the necessary resources and skills to offer great managing performances. They usually have a strong artists perspective, but they sometimes lack in term of management skills. We’re not saying they can’t become good manager, we think they can, but they need a quick access to important information to get the work line-up easily for everyone in the pipeline.
This situation is putting even more pressure on the managers. They can no longer put the problem on the artists, they cannot longer dig in the money “padding” because they have no more padding on today’s production and they can’t lower the quality they’ve promised to the clients. They need to be well trained and have the quick reflexes to request money for change orders and to flag the problems ASAP.
Bad management lead to a decrease in performance, raise of stress on the artists, lost of faith in leadership and reduced passion and enjoyment for the work.
This is why industry managers need strong project management skills, to be able to stay competitive and satisfy client’s needs, met deadline without squeezing the artists and to make sure the company generates profits; because if there is no profits or even worse if there is losses, the business will eventually put the key in the door or end up in bankruptcy, as we’ve seen lately.
To be able to accomplish his role, the managers need to be supported by a strong information, communication and business process collaborative tool. It start from the beginning of the production (script breakdown) until the end of the production (distribution). Everyone needs to be able to collaborate in the production process, including the managers, the artists and the vendors.
It could help, for example VFX studios to stay competitive when bidding for a project. The industry should start to take in consideration creative management in the bidding process, creative management is a very effective approach, having VFX studios being part of the project since the beginning will result in a high quality work well polish at a lower cost.
Solving the industry Crisis with Management, not with a Union
A union would only protect the artists working conditions, but would not guaranteed more jobs, compare to management which would in the end benefit everyone, stronger management as proven over the past his value. Artist would get workable conditions and company would stay competitive by having better performance, efficiency which would result in higher productivity and some profits. All of this while offering high quality of work to clients at a lower cost and done within deadlines. Instead of focusing on a union, look at the management structure in your company and see if there’s any change that could be done to give all the right tools to your managers.
Management is not the only solution, but it could be a big step into resolving the problem.
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