VFX Community Raises Awareness with <em>Pi Day</em> Town Hall Meeting

Following weeks of turmoil within the VFX community – including bankruptcy proceedings for visual effects company Rhythm & Hues and a VFX protest at the Academy Awards ceremony in February – a group of VFX artists are organizing an International VFX Town Hall on “Pi Day,” March 14, 2013, to discuss the state of the industry.

“We walked together on Oscar Day. We were insulted together on Oscar Night. We changed our profile pictures to green and raised awareness around the world. Where do we go from here? Let’s get together for an international town hall meeting and discuss it,” reads a flyer for the event.

The Town Hall meetings will be held in cities around the globe, including Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Wellington, New Zealand, and will be streamed live online at vfxsolidarity.org [1].

The meetings will feature a State of the Industry report by VFX supervisor Scott Squires [2], as well as panelists including former ILM General Manager and Digital Domain CEO and co-founder Scott Ross [3], the Animation Guild’s Steve Kaplan [4] and Fantasy II Film Effects owner Gene Warren, Jr [5].

West Coast meetings will each start 7:00 p.m. PDT, with the live Internet broadcast to begin at 8:00 p.m.

Venue locations and details are listed below:

Austin SXSW (begins at 7:30 p.m. local time)
Mister Tramps Sports Club and Cafe
8565 Research Blvd., Austin, TX 78758
RSVP via Facebook [6]

Bay Area
32Ten Studios
3210 Kerner Blvd., San Rafael, California 94901
RSVP via Facebook [7]

Los Angeles
Gnomon School of Visual Effects
1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90038

RSVP via Facebook [8]

Vancouver
Motion Capture Studio (285e)
Intersections Digital Studios
Emily Carr University of Art + Design
1399 Johnston Street (Granville Island)
Enter in the front door of the North Building and follow the signs.
RSVP via Facebook [9]

Wellington
The Jig Lab
4 Bond Street, Level 2 North
CBD, Wellington
RSVP via Facebook [10]

By RSVP-ing on Facebook, organizers will be able to assess an accurate headcount. Questions to the panel can also be asked via Facebook, with those with the most “Likes” being answered by the panel.

For more information and event details, visit http://vfxsolidarity.org/ [1], or follow @VFXTownHall [11] on Twitter.

Source: VFX Solidarity International