Unionisation at MPC!

BREAKING NEWS! The VFX branch of BECTU has given formal notice to MPC's management that the Compositing Department at MPC are unionising, and will be applying for union recognition.Yesterday (2nd Dec. 2015), MPC responded to this, and called the entire comp department (over 130 people) into a short meeting. They announced that the company had received a petition from BECTU for recognition of the union for the comp department. They announced that they will begin negotiations with BECTU, and that they intend to fight this bid for union recognition. They took no questions, and made no attempt to justify the excessive unpaid overtime in the VFX industry, or other issues that have made this recognition bid necessary.What does this mean? It means IT’S ON! Yes – this is really happening!Whilst MPC's announcement that they intend to dispute the bid is somewhat disappointing, it's no surprise either, and we were prepared for this. It came across as more of a delaying tactic than as a legitimate issue. We’ve got a fight ahead of us – but it’s a fight the union has fought before, and can win again. In gathering so many VFX workers and making this something that the VFX companies can no longer ignore, we've already achieved a major victory!We need you! To all VFX workers here in London that have been quietly hoping for something to happen, well… THIS IS IT! Now is the time to get on board! This is our best and only chance at finally getting the change our industry so badly needs.We've been overwhelmed with hundreds of responses to our VFX petition, from every corner of the UK VFX industry. Now is the time to act.We would like to invite all VFX workers in all departments at MPC and other VFX companies in London to get on board. If you want to see change in our industry and you're interested in getting something going at your company or your department, then get in touch - we'd love to help.This is our moment! This is what we’ve all been working for! Join now and help finally change the industry for the better.

Come to the Thursday VFX Lunchtime Meetup today, 1:00-2:00 in the food court at The Plaza, Oxford Street to find out more! We've got lots to talk about! Look for the green flag!

Watch this space and @VFXUnionUK on Twitter for all the latest updates on this exciting and rapidly developing situation!

Thursday VFX Lunch Meet - We have lift off!

Have you been sitting the whole vfx union thing out until you can see something happening?, Well, the wait is over! Incredibly exciting, paradigm shifting things are happening here in London's VFX Industry! Come to the Thursday VFX Lunch Meet to find out all about it and how YOU can become a part of it!

The VFX Lunch Meet

every Thursday @

The Plaza 120 Oxford Street, W1D 1LT

in the food court from 1:00-2:00!

Visual effects BECTU members and people who work in visual effect are meeting up every Thursday to talk about the union and issues that are interesting to people who work in the VFX here in London. This is a chance to change our industry from the ground up by connecting with like minded people and creating our own grassroots movement. 

Please come and join us every Thursday from 1:00-2:00. All are welcome.

Look for the green flag!

Yes indeed... It's all kicking off!

UK VFX Union exploding (in a good way)

The Thursday VFX Lunch Meet is going stronger than ever! If you haven't been to one yet, you're missing out! Since we started doing this every week, more and more people are coming along and membership in BECTU is exploding!

Now that the summer weather has well and truly left us, we needed to move the weekly meet up from the Jurassic Church to an indoor venue, and we think we've found the perfect place!

Come join us for lunch and a chat every Thursday from 1:00-2:00

the food court @

The Plaza

Oxford Street

We've been trying out the meeting at the Plaza for a month now and it's turned out to be a great place to do this. It's central. It's free. There's lots of room. There's food there if you want to buy something or you can bring your own if you like. Easy peasy!

The Thursday VFX Lunch Meet is a terrific opportunity to network every week with BECTU members and other vfx people curious to know more about the union. This meet up is for absolutely everybody interested in improving the Visual Effects Industry for the better

One reason the Visual Effects Union has been slow to take off in the past is because we never had an opportunity to get together to meet and talk to each other regularly.

The Thursday VFX Lunch Meet has changed all that! This is really working! Lots of people show up every week to talk about what's happening in our industry (and there's a lot happening right now!). Interested? Come by this Thursday and say hello. Bring a friend.

Look for the green flag!

Thursday VFX Lunch Meet

It's the VFX Lunch Meet every Thursday at The Plaza 120 Oxford Street, W1D 1LT in the food court from 1:00-2:00!

Visual effects BECTU members and people who work in visual effect are meeting up every Thursday to talk about the union and issues that are interesting to people who work in the VFX here in London. This is a chance to change our industry from the ground up by connecting with like minded people and creating our own grassroots movement. 

Please come and join us every Thursday from 1:00-2:00. All are welcome.

 Look for the green flag!

VFX Lunches in the Park

Just a reminder that we will be continuing our lunch time meet-ups in St. Anne's Churchyard. The forecast for tomorrow says chance of rain. If it does rain we will move into the Plaza Food Court Area on Oxford St.  We will make the call 30 mins before hand if it looks like rain and I will tweet the move to the Plaza. Fingers crossed for the to sun win out. Our original initiator of the meetings is away, so instead of a green flag please look for someone in a green jumper and a big smile!Come on out and meet up to discuss the latest industry news and meet other BECTU members. We will also have more flyers if you'd like more to distribute or haven't gotten a chance to see one yet.

1:00-2:00pm Thursday at

The Jurassic Church

(St. Anne’s Church Courtyard, Wardour Street)

 Hope to see you there!

Thursday Lunchtime VFX Meetup!

1:00-2:00 Thursday at The Jurassic Church

(St. Anne's, Wardour Street, nr. Shaftesbury Ave.)

No doubt about it, the weather sucked last Thursday. Right around 1:00pm, the heavens opened and the downpour came to dampen our lunchtime meetup. D'oh! We had leaflets and everything!But all was not lost. One of our gang had the brilliant idea of moving at the last minute to The Plaza on Oxford Street and a quick Tweet later, the now legendary Thursday Lunchtime VFX Meetup went ahead unabated in new and dry surroundings!Some regulars were there and some new people came by to pick up a leaflet or two (hundred) and it all was quite nice having real chairs to sit on and everything. We've decided from now on that if the weather sucks, we move to The Plaza foodcourt. Always good to have a meetup-backup plan!So this week the weather is looking better and the Thursday Lunchtime Meetup is on track for another good turnout. This is the place for all you VFX BECTU members and people who work in visual effects to get together and talk about the industry and what difference you think a union might make. Will you join us?What the hell? Come by and check out what all the fuss is about! Grab something to eat and and pop 'round to meet up with fellow VFX people at... 

1:00-2:00pm Thursday at

The Jurassic Church

(St. Anne's, Wardour Street)

Look for the green flag!

We are going to be here this Thursday and every Thursday to help connect and motivate people who work in London visual effects! 

See you there! Bring along a friend! Make new friends! Take away some leaflets!

This Thursday... Leaflets!

Thanks to everyone who came last week to the Thursday VFX lunchtime meet up!Wow - This is really taking off! There were some terrific regulars who showed up and a whole lot of new faces too! Great to meet new vfx people who care about the issues that we all think are important to the visual effects industry here in London and all over the world.Unpaid overtime is still the number one talking point for everybody at the meetup, so this Thursday, be sure to show up because we'll be passing out some leaflets about this big issue. Everybody who comes along for the Thursday lunchtime meetup can take away a stack of these leaflets to pass out to friends and colleagues. And THAT my friend, is what's called action!So why not grab some grub and shoot the breeze this Thursday with some other vfx people who want to change things for the better!Thursday 1:00-2:00pmSt. Anne's ChurchyardWardour Street (nr. Shaftesbury Avenue)Look for the green flag!Slowly but surely, visual effects people here in London are beginning to realise that this ain't gonna happen all by itself. We ALL need to get involved and make a difference or we will never move forward.Spread the word... bring a friend...See you there!Follow us on Twitter @VFXUnionUK

Soho VFX lunchtime meetup

Something’s been happening in Soho for the last month or so. Every Thursday from 1:00-2:00 we gather in the courtyard of St. Anne’s Church (a.k.a. “Jurassic Church” on Wardour Street nr. Shaftesbury Avenue) for an informal vfx lunchtime meetup.

Visual effects BECTU members and people who just work in visual effect are meeting up every Thursday to talk about the union and issues that are interesting to people who work in the visual effects industry here in London.

It started small with just four of us about a month ago. There’s dozens of us now and more people join us every week. Come along and help us keep the momentum going!

Let’s face it… because we are organising quietly at the moment, the visual effects union movement looks (to non-members) like it has stalled out. Everybody is waiting around for something to happen and it ain’t happening. The problem is that the visual effects union is like a secret society that’s so secret, even the members don’t know who’s in it or what’s going on. This is a chance to change that from the ground up by connecting with like minded people and creating a grassroots movement ourselves. 

It’s already happening. Please come and join us every Thursday from 1:00-2:00. Bring a sandwich or some sushi and just have a chat. All are welcome.

Look for the green flag. 

Unbelievable, unwatchable and unavoidable?

A recent article on cracked.com titled: 6 Reasons Modern Movie CGI Looks Surprisingly Crappy has been making the rounds on social media recently. I've seen people sharing it with myself and other visual effects artists and including comments along the lines of "told you so" and "sort it out!".As a visual effects artist, I can't help but feel like they're calling us the bad guys, but is that really true?In a response to the latest VFX Blockbuster behemoth Avengers: Age Of Ultron, the article claims that a significant and growing percentage of the public is weary of the big visual effects driven films today. The article goes on to list reasons like the tendency for blockbusters to ignore the laws of physics in big action sequences (unbelievable), ubiquitous and over the top orange and teal grading palette (unwatchable) and a general criticism for the overuse of CG for absolutely everything, everywhere (unavoidable).The author occasionally channels Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) in Jurassic Park when he said: "(they) were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."To be fair, I agree with a lot of the sentiment of the article. Even as a film visual effects artist for whom it is in my best interest to see more visual effects in movies, as a film lover I'm almost always in the "less is more" camp when it comes to the tricks of my trade.The bottom line: We shouldn't blame the visual effects artists for the excesses of the studios. The studios who make these crazy visual effects bloated blockbusters are first and foremost in it to make money (art comes a little further down the list for them) and they have observed that more often than not, lots of visual effects = lots of money at the box office. It makes sense that they're going to shoehorn in more and more visual effects chasing that lovely filthy lucre.As long as the visual effects heavy blockbusters keep bringing in the lions share of the unprecedented billions at the box office during this "golden age" of studio profits, they are not just going to stay the course, they are going to turn it up to Eleven.