Calif. Visual Effects Industry Struggles in Face of Foreign Subsidies

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.