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Comment by FirmwareBurner | Hacker News Reader

Question: Why can't this be done for the entire industry like it is for the on-set crew?

My understanding is that on-set crew and actors are hired by a temporary company set up for that movie specifically. When it's done, they're all out of a job and need to find a new temporary company to work for. This makes unionization of the individual temporary companies essentially impossible.

The same isn't true for folks who work directly for Marvel on an ongoing basis.

It's not companies that unionize, it's people.

These temporary movie companies employ writers, actors, directors, electricians etc that belong to unions.

The people can't unionize a company that exists for less time than the average unionization campaign takes to form one.

This is why the writers and directors in Hollywood are able to unionize as an industry rather than per-company. (See, in contrast, the recent Starbucks unionizations; each individual location votes and creates their own union with a dozen or so members.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectoral_collective_bargaining

> Sectoral bargaining was promoted by the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, but struck down and replaced by enterprise bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. Today industries like screenwriting, hotels, and railroads still see sectoral bargaining predominate.

What you just described has nothing to do with vfx at all. Actors and on set crew are already unionized.

> Actors and on set crew are already unionized.

Again, in a special way that is not common in the US, because of the transient nature of movie productions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectoral_collective_bargaining

Actors and crew have things like the SAG that negotiate with the movie industry as a whole, because it's functionally impossible for them to unionize otherwise. If you're a unionized Starbucks worker, they don't negotiate with the coffee industry, they negotiate with management at your one particular Starbucks store, because that store is an ongoing permanent concern.

VFX artists employed by a permanently-existing organization like Marvel don't need this exception. (Ones employed by a transient production company for a single film would.)

Why are you acting like an industry wide union is some exceptional thing that can't happen?

There have been union vfx and animation studios in the past. The industry is broken up into many companies, which is why people talk about unionizing as a whole.

What is the actual point you are trying to make here?

Because it’s easy to shift VFX work to another location. Even a decade ago, VFX studios were popping up almost overnight in Vancouver. All you needed was to rent some space and thin clients. Today we barely need to rent any space.

I think writers already have a Union? Not sure if it’s the same one as the on set crew

There are several unions in film/TV. Writers are usually part of the WGA. Directors have their own, as do editors, producers, cinematographers, etc.

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