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Actually, it wasn't whining. It was sarcasm. As in, these fools trying to unionize the local industry are going to do more damage than good. The working conditiions in the industry are the same wherever you go. Thier pious attempt to create a VFX utopia will be cutting thier nose to spite thier face. I love working overseas, but the people trying to make this union ARE the whiners complaining about how bad they have it.

Would you like a little Cheeze with that WHINE?? The VFX biz is GLOBAL, Tax incentives are legal. Period. If California can't afford to pony up with tax breaks and you're a VFX artist, get ready to live in London or Wellington or Vancouver (or New Mexico, a recent hotbed of VFX migration)...or down the road, India or China. Much like all the "runaway film shoots" have shown, relocating not just overseas but to other STATES in the country (New Mexico, Louisiana etc), movie shoots and VFX post goes to areas where they can get Good Work Cheaply, California's "Sense of Entitlement" ("the movie/VFX industry has been here 100 years, it should ALWAYS be here and allow me to live the same cushy lifestyle as my parents who were also in the biz") notwithstanding. London, Wellington and recently Vancouver (the VFX Oscar nom for "District 9" were almost exclusively Vancouver based/owner operated VFX companies) all do EXCELLENT work for less. It's not just the tax breaks...the artists in those cities generally make less (their actual "take home pay" that isn't affected by tax incentives). Their pay is still generous but generally lower than LA...and London and (arguably) Vancouver are MORE expensive cities to live in than LA. Maybe you artists are just greedy and should CUT YOUR RATES? Your whining sounds like a parroting of the LA set crews whining about needing tax breaks back in the 80's and 90's...but the complaints of Key Grips whining from their million dollar houses in the hills rang hollow when MANY other industries in California were hurting much worse and the average income of workers in those industries wasn't well into 6 figures. Unlike a factory worker, at least talented VFX artists can move to other (very nice) cities and continue to ply their trade and make good money!!! You film biz types are all whiny self important crybabies and "the rest of the world" (especially in this economy) is SICK of hearing your pity party belly aching!!!!

In the early 90's, 1993 to be exact, several unions tried to get the fledgling CG world to unionize. I know, I was there trying to make it happen at one of the big vfx houses at the time. The CG artists wanted nothing to do with it, becoming unionized, as they were being paid big money and getting a lot of perks. They thought that the ride would never end. Well it has ended, a while ago, and a number of those vfx jobs have left the country and won't be coming back. So they had their chance and turned it down.

If they ever should become unionized all that will serve to do is drive the last medium and small vfx houses out of business and the remainder of the work overseas.

VFX is not the only part of our industry or country suffering from the devastating cost of outsourcing a.k.a. shipping jobs overseas. Its a problem for every industry and every state of the union. The business world has to systematically change the way they do business.

I disagree with Nathan about IATSE's unionization of visual effects. I think it will be great for every VFX artist to have to move to the UK, NZ or Australia to practice their profession. But at least every day of VFX overseas is filled with reasonable hours, fair wages and incredible benefits, right? And no one ever, ever sleeps at the office for months to finish a high profile project. And in the event that you do, Peter Jackson personally places a mint on your pillow and wishes you a pleasant night's sleep. All I know is, when the union does form, I want it to be run by high paid Inferno artists, who know the true strife of the workers in the trenches. Cry to the heavans for thier inhumn wages of $100+ an hour!