Year: 2020

www.awn.com/news/siggraph-2020-canceled-event-moving-virtual-conference-format

SIGGRAPH 2020 is the latest is a growing list of animation, VFX, and gaming-related events to cancel or otherwise postpone their 2020 editions, including Comic-Con, Annecy, FMX, ITFS, MIPTV, and GDC.

www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/dneg-asks-global-staff-earning-over-43200-to-take-a-three-month-pay-cut-exclusive-190133.html

This policy applies to all its locations, including London (where it is headquartered), L.A., Vancouver, and Montreal.

A statement put out by the Animation & Visual Effects Union (AVU), a branch of BECTU, describes DNEG’s proposal as, in some cases, a “take-it-or-leave-your-job” package imposed with “very short consultation deadlines.” Affected staff have been given two weeks to respond to the proposal; the deadline is April 30. Reductions will take effect on May 1, and the arrangement will be reviewed in three months.

The union is calling on DNEG to convincingly demonstrate to its staff that the cuts are necessary. It wants the company to give “a detailed overview of their financial position to workers before requesting cuts,” and to give staff time “to access independent advice to interpret such information so that they can understand the way the burden of this issue is being shared between staff and shareholders.”

www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/business/abigail-disney-furloughs-bonus-pay-coronavirus-trnd/index.html

In a Twitter thread Tuesday, the outspoken family heiress slammed Disney’s decision to furlough theme park employees after the company paid dividends to shareholders and gave executives big bonuses.

www.awn.com/news/marvel-lucasfilm-pixar-other-disney-units-hit-furloughs

“An undetermined number of employees at Disney production units including Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Searchlight, will be furloughed as of April 19; reports noted marketing and distribution departments were hit the hardest, as the studio’s feature film release calendar has been thrown into disarray.”

“…with no clear indication of when we can restart our businesses, we’re forced to make the difficult decision to take the next step and furlough employees whose jobs aren’t necessary at this time. The furlough process will begin on April 19, and all impacted workers will remain Disney employees through the duration of the furlough period. They will receive full healthcare benefits, plus the cost of employee and company premiums will be paid by Disney, and those enrolled in Disney Aspire will have continued access to the education program. Additionally, employees with available paid time off can elect to use some or all of it at the start of the furlough period and, once furloughed, they are eligible to receive an extra $600 per week in federal compensation through the $2 trillion economic stimulus bill, as well as state unemployment insurance.”

variety.com/2020/film/news/skydance-media-john-lassiter-ilion-studios-1234571810/

The acquisition gives animation chief John Lasseter control over all aspects of production. Skydance and Ilion, both of which are privately held, did not disclose a purchase price.

The deal will give Skydance roughly 500 employees across two continents. It comes as Lasseter is trying to transform the company into a major force in animation. That transformation has been bumpy, at times, primarily because Lasseter’s hire was controversial. Lasseter, the major creative force at Pixar and Disney Animation, was ousted from the company in 2018 amid allegations of sexual misconduct with employees.

www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200403-why-cinemas-will-bounce-back-from-the-coronavirus-crisis

“Theatres are closing around the world… No one knows when projectors will be fired up again… Chinese theatres shuttered when the virus hit. In mid-March, an attempt to tentatively start opening cinemas again after the easing of the lockdown saw distributors refuse to release new films and audiences stay at home.”

“Compounding the misery for cinema owners is the fact that film studios have responded by putting films only very recently released in cinemas online.”

“The consequence of all this is that studios may wonder why they’re sharing revenue with exhibitors if they can get a bigger cut by going straight to homes. Indeed, while cinemas are on their knees, streaming platforms are profiting.”

“A century ago, there was even the worry, as there is now, that cinemas would be permanently shut down by a virus. From 1918 to 1920, the so-called ‘Spanish Flu’ took the lives of 50 million people worldwide”

“[But] The British government saw cinema as an essential tool for public well-being. “Cinema was the major leisure activity – it kept people occupied, and it helped keep them calm. It also kept them out of the pubs!” says [film historian Lawrence] Napper. The British government saw cinema as an essential tool for public well-being.”

“[all this] should give us cheer to note that while the film industry in America was certainly impacted, it did not suffer overall but rather changed shape – and in fact flourished even further.”

“Film writer Richard Brody recently noted ….Many smaller companies went out of business, and the resulting shakeout led to a consolidation that made the big ones bigger, creating the studios that became the masters of production, distribution, and exhibition together; the flu, combined with the end of the war, gave rise to the mega-Hollywood that’s being duplicated again today.”

“World War Two was also, against the odds, a time in which cinema prospered. Many countries, including Britain, saw the cinema as a propaganda tool: a place to give information and boost morale”

“Pre-pandemic, there were already signs that the culture of cinemagoing was starting to crack under this {streaming culture] pressure”

“However in the new Coronavirus-afflicted world, the battle with streaming platforms seems like relatively small fry.”

“The effect of the virus has already been to make things that seemed unimaginable a month ago a reality. Hollywood studios have joined Netflix in breaking the theatrical window. ”

“And given that blockbusters rely on huge marketing campaigns, it’s unlikely that studios will want to take an immediate risk with their bigger titles when cinemas do eventually re-open – before they are sure if audiences are ready to embrace cinema again.”

“But for all the sense of impending doom, history suggests that cinema will adapt and bounce back. Crowds flocked to the cinema after the 1918 pandemic, and videos only made people more interested in cinema, not less. After several weeks or, more likely, months cooped up indoors, watching films on our television sets and computer, the experience of seeing a film in cinemas the way they were meant to be seen will be all the more magical”

www.cnbc.com/2020/04/03/katzenberg-film-industry-ready-to-embrace-at-home-viewing-theaters.html

“Katzenberg’s comments come at a time of disruption for the film industry due to the coronavirus. Movie theaters across the country have shut down, causing studios to adjust their release lineups.”

“Katzenberg used a sport analogy to describe where the movie industry was headed, arguing the embrace of in-person sports and TV broadcasts has been successful despite hesitancy decades ago.”

“Katzenberg’s latest venture is Quibi, a mobile-focused video streaming service that is set to debut Monday.”

“Viewers no longer have frequent stretches of 30 to 40 minutes to watch uninterrupted content, even though they consume 70 minutes of short-form content a day, Katzenberg said. They can use moments of downtime to watch chapters of serialized content in shorter increments of 10 minutes or so.”

“While Katzenberg acknowledged — somewhat humorously — that success in the venture will be “somewhere between improbable and impossible,” he said that Quibi would be “skating to where the hockey puck is going,” rather than pursuing the type of hour-long television shows that everyone else is chasing.”

quibi.com/

www.shootonline.com/news/pandemic-production-prospects-possibilities-concerns

“For many, production has stopped in its tracks due to the coronavirus pandemic. ”

“Others have stepped up their in-house activity, tapping into their homegrown production and post capabilities.” [Or working from home]

“While losing the physical proximity and communal nature of collaboration, creatives and artists have managed to stay connected through technology”

“While some projects have “completely died,” said Gavin Wellsman [a creative director at The Mill in New York], others are still in the pipeline and have adapted to a world where social distancing is imperative and live-action production as we’ve known it is no longer feasible at the moment. Clients are turning to visual effects, CG and other options.”

“Still, much work has fallen by the wayside. And many projects don’t translate properly from live action to another [full CG] discipline.”

“London-based independent production house MindsEye launched HomeStudio…. HomeStudio brings together a lineup of directors who have their own equipment, DPs with studio space, and stop-frame animators who can turn out content in this period of imposed self-isolation. This isn’t a roster of talent that a company has signed in the traditional sense; rather it’s a collection of talent that’s being made available to agencies and brands.”

“However, ingenuity, imagination and improvisation can only go so far when production and post companies are suffering from poor cash flow, a situation which is exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. …many companies would settle for–or at least welcome with open arms–getting paid in a timely fashion by marketers and ad agencies for services already rendered. ”

“In a live poll of over 500 AICP member participants during a Zoom Town Hall last month, the issue of outstanding receivables was the most immediate concern. It was found that 28% of companies reported that they are owed in excess of $1 million, while 23% are owed between $500,000-$1 million and 34% are owed between $100,000-$500,000. The members were also polled on how late these payments are: 29% reported that payments are 45 or more days late (per their contracted terms), and one-third are 30-45 days late. Extrapolating across the industry, conservatively, this is well in excess of $200 million.”

“Matt Miller, president and CEO of AICP: A healthy production and post community is integral to the overall economy’s recovery once we are clear of the pandemic. Production and post talent will be needed to help brands connect with the consumer marketplace and bring it back to life. It’s thus in the interest of [all] marketers and agencies to do what they can–and should do–to contribute to keeping the production and post sectors whole. “