www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/bad-cgi-films-movies-why-call-of-the-wild-cats-sonic-the-hedgehog-dolittle-a9355466.html

“When something in the design goes wrong, creating a furry Lovecraftian horror who repulses the human eye, all the blame lands on the VFX. And when something goes right (like Sonic’s cuddlier redesign) the team sees no reward, not even job security.”

“Those who work in post production are “much more vulnerable than almost any other industry”, “No one has job security, not even the higher-ups. No one knows where they’re working next year, or three months from now. The industry is in a race to the bottom – everything has to be done quicker and cheaper than the last project. And we’re treated as a disposable short-term workforce.”

“The infamous “crunch” which animators have blamed for rushed work like Cats is a reference to “crunch time” – the period before a film’s release where artists have to work staggering amounts of overtime in order to get a job done before the money runs out. The instability of the VFX industry, and the inconsistency of the work it produces, may be due to these tight schedules.”

“Unpaid excessive overtime is the default,”“Some places are better than others. But generally speaking, when you get a contract somewhere big in London like ILM, the first thing you get is an overtime waiver. At the minute, EU rules limit how much overtime employers can ask for, so workers have to waive their own rights before they begin. These companies plan for unpaid overtime in their spreadsheets before they even start a project.”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canada-is-no-longer-one-of-the-richest-nations-on-earth-country-after/

“… the problem with Canada’s economy is not cyclical, but secular; not one of utilization, but capacity. It is not so much that growth is temporarily below potential as that potential growth has slowed to a crawl.

More to the point, the economy is now growing slower than the population, which is why per capita GDP is now falling. And it’s per capita GDP that really counts, as far as living standards are concerned.

They are no longer one of the richest countries on Earth. Among the richer countries, they are on course to being one of the poorer.

The economist Trevor Tombe has shown that Canada’s richest province, Alberta, would rank 14th among U.S. states. The poorest five provinces now rank among the six poorest jurisdictions in North America. Ontario ranks just ahead of Alabama. British Columbia is poorer than Kentucky.”

www.bbc.com/news/technology-44351214

https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/wga-response-studios-not-quick-strike-1235697413/

The two sides remain at odds on items across the board, including streaming residuals and a higher minimum tier for TV writer-producers

The WGA wants to tie streaming residuals to the popularity of a show, but streamers had adamantly refused to share such viewership data.

The WGA is also seeking a provision that would allow its members to honor other unions’ picket lines.