The news that Sony Imageworks is headed to Vancouver -- taking roughly 300 jobs with it -- is just the latest in a string of depressing headlines for Los Angeles visual effects workers. Nearly two dozen VFX firms have closed or gone bankrupt in the last decade. A film subsidy bill working its way through the state Legislature would give qualifying VFX houses a 20-25 percent tax credit. But the industry doesn't have a union to fight for it, and it's up against big Hollywood studios. California companies are having a hard time competing with foreign subsidies that can pay up to 60 percent of visual effects costs, a savings studios can't overlook. The result has been the scattering of California's VFX community, with artists forced to chase jobs, often overseas.
Calif. Visual Effects Industry Struggles in Face of Foreign Subsidies
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