> by someone that had done the opening sequence for a major film

I used to work in VFX (tools programming) and this makes no sense. Major films have VFX crews that number in the hundreds; nobody does anything on their own. Even if they were only doing a credit sequence, that's dozens of people's work over weeks or months.

And "never saw a cent"?? Sure, VFX studios don't get residuals or a percentage of gross, but they do get paid.