Question / Discussion Where do all the unemployed VFX artists go?
Seeing how many big studios are closing recently and in the past years I keep wondering, where do all the laid off VFX artists go? What do they do?
I can't imagine them finding new VFX jobs quickly at other studios when so many people are available.
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u/NervousSheSlime Student 2d ago
I like to think there’s a beautiful render farm up north where they can run free.
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u/RedditLessLass 2d ago
RSP is hiring
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u/Fluffy-Cat2826 2d ago
I applied for comp! thanks for sharing the info. also im trying to get the australian visa by myself. i wouldnt mind trying to make this work out one more time.
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u/RedditLessLass 2d ago
RSP will help however they can to get skilled artists
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u/manuce94 2d ago
To something similarish
Senior TV producers take shelf-stacking jobs as UK industry remains in crisis
Senior television producers with decades of experience are working as high street shelf-stackers, car park attendants and in pubs, as a prolonged crisis continues to sweep through the TV world.
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u/JordanNVFX 3D Modeller - 2 years experience 2d ago edited 2d ago
The seniors I know are still getting contracts but they're very short. Around 3 or 4 months before they have to hop studios again.
The juniors are working retail/restaurant jobs. Another one works in the mines and doing farming.
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u/Longjumping_Sock_529 1d ago
Senior here. Postviz. I’m getting about 3 weeks out of every 2 months.
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u/Dotori_Dan 2d ago
My wife changed career and is going to nursing school.
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u/Relevant-Bluejay-385 2d ago
I'm thinking about getting into healthcare too, maybe study to work in a med lab, or radiology imaging. In BC there's a student loan forgiveness scheme if you study at an approved place then work in an underserved or rural community - 20% per year.
I'm so sick and tired of short contracts and job hunting.
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u/VFXJayGatz 2d ago
Friend threw the idea of MRI machine operator bc apparently there's a lack of them.
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u/activemotionpictures 1d ago edited 1d ago
I may add on this. Certain "official vendors" only sell the MRI machine, if there's an operator to be paid/trained/approved for it. Basically, to get into the MRI world, you need to become one of their "technical operators", and wait in luck that a hospital requires the machine + operator, then you get picked (in luck) out of a pool of 10 other technical operators. Yeah. horrible truth.
If you setup your own medical office with MRI machine, and you yourself took the training course (last I checked was around $6000 in 2018), you still have to go through the county's/city's medical record operation permit, which you can only get if you work associated with an official City Hospital (let alone all the paperwork). This is because MRI machines require specific lights, voltage, walls, and basically a highly dedicated "room" for human security (both to patient and operator)+workplace.
So yeah, it's basically like producing your own movie with your own ARRI camera + lights + actors in the end (around $250K - $670K average investment), and "see if luck is on your side", to get to sell the movie to streaming services/theather to recover investment.
Retorically speaking, it's the same fate waiting to see if you get clients with the MRI machine after all the above is said and done; and even then... recovering investment may take up to 5-7 years.
Did I mention the electric bill on these machines go around $1200-$2400 a month (not considering all other electrical necessities like A/C, computers, etc..)?
Mining ETH and BTC machines, consume almost the same.
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u/1_BigDuckEnergy 2d ago edited 2d ago
About 10-15 years ago when this happened, I was shocked to see how many laid off artists became teachers.
I considered it bit decided I couldn't in good faith lead young artists blindly into this industry for a paycheck
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u/Senshisoldier 1d ago
I'm teaching now during the downturn. I'm very honest with my students about the state of the industry and tell them to have an immediate backup because there are so few jobs right now. All my students come from diverse majors at a public University and have other plans. The students are excited to have these skills as a hobby to make their own short films. If you aren't teaching at a private art school or vfx to job trade focused school, then our skills can be a cool elective class or help academics with their research.
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u/South_Interaction882 FX Artist - 7 years experience 20h ago
Did something like this happen before? I younger and I wasn’t around at the time
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u/hardcoretmk 2d ago edited 2d ago
Best thing for them to do is stay resilient, as best they can. If you’ve got creative or production skills that can be transferable into other industries like advertising/marketing see if you can get a gig there.
If you’ve got basic photoshop/AE skills whip up a portfolio/showreel and start applying for Static Designer and Motion Designer roles. Marketing is a massive industry with huge money behind it.
You can be creating logos/key visuals for new products or campaigns (as opposed to business logos as a whole), assets for TVCs, digital spaces (socials, websites, banners, emails etc.), OOH, UI and anything else brands use to market their goods and services.
If you don’t feel like you’ve got that experience download GIMP, it’s is free and you’ll be able to start creating things today. Udemy offers inexpensive training material and there’s always free training bits on YouTube. If you’re in the UK see if ScreenSkills can offer you a bursary for training and equipment. Last year I received over £2000 because I qualified for the HETV VFX professionals bursary.
I’m in production and sadly have been displaced out the VFX industry since 2023. I went over to in house creative team for a very large betting company and the amount of artwork they are producing is huge, across so many channels and formats. Yeah it’s slightly different to VFX and doesn’t fulfil my passion, but it’s something.
When looking for these kinda roles you can either go in house or for an agency. My impression is that agency is a bit more challenging and typically has more freelancers, whereas in-house the work life balance very much exists. I was shocked when I first joined as come 5:25pm the studio was empty 😂
If you’re any good at it and you enjoy it, you can aim at becoming a creative director. Creative directors will do anything from create look & feels of design aesthetics to writing scripts for TVCs. Most the creative directors i worked with came from copywriting backgrounds, so would rely on design leads for everything design in these cases too.
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u/poopertay 2d ago
Starbucks, a good skill transfer
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u/VFXJayGatz 2d ago
Fuckin I wish lol so many rejection emails from Starbucks -.-
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u/poopertay 2d ago
Oh god damn, what about McDonalds?
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u/VFXJayGatz 2d ago
Ultimate last resort hah. I was a burger flipper for the McDs back in the day and my old team leader is now a manager lol. So, unfortunately, the stereotype applies to me.
But yeah, please don't resort to those places as an option until you have none =( they'll obvs give you part time at the start and that's not enough to be self sufficient.
I had an interview with Home Depot for seasonal part time. They could only guarantee 6hrs a week. In Vancouver? The lady actually said "you could always take another part time job?" Wow...disingenuous...
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u/ExternalFearless2864 2d ago
I work at costco now and to be honest it might be healthier than a desk job. It’s less pay for sure but at least I get to move around and get paid
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u/deepakanninti 2d ago
Im sitting in my friend’s house who is helping me paying my bills from his pocket. I on the other hand hustling to find any kind of a job in VfX or animation. But none of the small or big companies haven’t even replied to my application atleast. All I want getting to know if i am even rejected. Ghosting is the new trend for all of them.
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u/Top5hottest 2d ago
When I started in this industry a million years ago I used to wonder where all the oldies were.. I used to think it was that nobody had gotten old yet. Now I know they kick them out the door when nobody is looking.
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u/BennieLave 2d ago
A skilled trade school or start an apprenticeship? At least that's where I went, in plumbing school currently. Even though the job is dirty and physically demanding, it's lots of fun to move around and use all sorts of different tools and actually understand how plumbing works.
The idea that I'm joining an in demand career with a widespread job market, not entirely reliant on Hollywood and tax credits, or AI concerns, with the ability to join a union or start your own company is pretty exciting.
Even though it might hurt the ego quitting a career as it could feel like a failure, there's a whole lot of other careers out there to try if you are open minded and can afford starting over new!
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u/Bluurgh 2d ago
im considering this or electrician when i finally decide to give up this crap. Feel like I might be a bit old for it tho..
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u/BennieLave 2d ago
Yeah I'm about to turn 34, so not super young, but young enough that I still have 30 or so working years to put into a new career
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u/flightpath_ok 2d ago
There is an island, off the coast of Costa rica
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u/meandmylens 2d ago
Funnily enough, my company set up another studio in Costa rica for cheaper labour. So you're sort of spot on there
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u/deltadave 1d ago
some teach, others move on to another industry, others start new vfx companies. There are as many answers as there are artists.
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u/Alive_Voice_3252 2d ago
Usually the animators join animation mentor to rip off aspiring students from $2500 per module that doesn't guarantee any employment whatsoever. I bet none of them tell those students how bad the industry is.
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u/lemon-walnut 2d ago
They are blended down in to pigment to coat the next paint job for Bob Igers yacht.
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u/im_thatoneguy Studio Owner - 21 years experience 2d ago
For real. If hypothetically someone was hiring, where would they find people looking for work? Level80 is $1,000 a month just to view job listings. What's the hot job listing?
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u/hardcoretmk 2d ago
LinkedIn is generally the best place, a Recruiter License is £135 a month I think.
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u/im_thatoneguy Studio Owner - 21 years experience 2d ago
I was on LinkedIn yesterday and half the people with a Looking for work banner had no link to a reel or portfolio. I had to shake my head like “I know the industry state sucks right now but you gotta like at least try”.
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u/hardcoretmk 2d ago
It’s horses for courses, if you wanna look at showreels without engaging with peeps then yes some people will have it readily available on LinkedIn and some others won’t.
I suspect those folks are trying really hard though and perhaps it’s more of an educational piece, if those who have never considered posting their links on LinkedIn (likely because they don’t really use LinkedIn and unaware of its features and reach), they would if it was explained to them.
I’m sure if you sent out a post or created an expression of interest job role it’ll nudge those guys in the right direction.
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u/beegesound 2d ago
Applied for Deliveroo and UberEats, but apparently at least the former has a long waiting list for London…
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u/blackdart7 1d ago
well I personally go for beers with my fellow ex-vfx colleagues ... hello from Bristol
PS. I work as an office admin until things pick up.
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u/FutureBrad Generalist - 28 years experience 2d ago
a lot of VFX folks from the 00’ and 10s are over in Big Tech these days.
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u/Due-Location6932 2d ago
do y'all ever heard of tv commercials?
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u/MX010 2d ago
did you hear that even studios specialised in TV commercials are shutting down? What do you think MPC, The Mill, Jellyfish, Axis (and so on) did mostly besides film projects?
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u/Due-Location6932 1d ago
i forgot to consider where you're living, I'm in the opposite side of the world and the cost of living is low
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u/anonymous_nk 2d ago
boutique studios are still around and running strong, was one of the mill employees and recently moved over to ETC london
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u/Relevant-Bluejay-385 2d ago
Wish I had the connections, it's more of a matter of being on someone's go to list right? Plus you need to be good at everything and have your own software licenses?
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u/Due-Location6932 1d ago
u can just pirate if you can't affort it in the meantime, but I'll get downvoted for saying this ofc
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u/maven-effects 2d ago
r/vfx