California visual effects firms facing a bleak landscape (more jobs lost overseas)

By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times
February 1, 2011


For 11 years, Nathan McGuinness ran a successful visual effects house in California. His Santa Monica company, Asylum Visual Effects, created the World War II submarine battle scene in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," the flying dragon straddled by Nicolas Cage in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and the bionic anatomy of Sam Worthington's character in "Terminator Salvation."

But the impressive credits, along with an Academy Award nomination, couldn't keep his business afloat. Unable to cover even the rent, McGuinness closed shop late last year, laying off nearly 100 workers.

"We were a good company, we were efficient, we did our jobs well, but we just couldn't compete with the overseas markets," the Australian native said.

California's visual effects industry, which pioneered the use of computers to create and manipulate images in live-action films, is under siege.

Half a dozen visual effects houses have shut their doors in the last three years, including three in Los Angeles County, pushing hundreds of visual effects artists out of high-tech and skilled jobs that pay $75,000 to $150,000 a year. Los Angeles County, where the visual effects industry has been concentrated, has seen more than 1,000 jobs in the visual effects and post-production sector vanish over the last decade, according to state employment data.

more

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-visual-effects-20110201,0,3461953.story

I guess we are just too stupid and uneducated to compete, at least that is the story we are being fed....

Freeptard Logic - kinda like Freeptard Math