Digital Domain’s John Textor Brags to Investors about Exploiting Student Labor Uncategorized

By Rawls — Mar 29, 2012, 03:12 pm EDT

Digital Domain’s John Textor Brags to Investors about Exploiting Student Labor

I read this posting today on CartoonBrew by Amid, and just HAD to re-post it here on CG Hub, for the very purpose of informing you all about some of the things going on out there in the animation/entertainment world and to hopefully make some of you aware so you don't fall victim to these vultures.  Feel free to leave your enlightening and enraging comments below and discuss with fellow CG Hubbers, or you can also join the comments over on Cartoonbrew.

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Digital Domain CEO John Textor envisions big things for his company’s new feature animation studio in Port St. Lucie, Florida called Tradition Studios. While we’ve written about the studio’s ambitious feature film plans, what wasn’t known until recently is how Textor intends to create the films. His plan is to convince students to pay Digital Domain to work on its films for free.

The blog VFX Soldier has obtained a speech that Textor gave last November to investors in which he revealed how the company’s new animation school Digital Domain Institute will be integrated with the Tradition studio. Textor told the audience:

Classes starting in the education space, what’s interesting is the relationship between the digital studio and the college.  Not only is this a first in a number of ways that we’ve talked about, but 30% of the workforce at our digital studio down in Florida, is not only going to be free, with student labor, it’s going to be labor that’s actually paying us for the privilege of working on our films.

Now this was the controversial element of this and the first discussions with the Department of Education, ’cause it sounds like you’re taking advantage of the students.  But we were able to persuade even the academic community, if we don’t do something to dramatically reduce costs in our industry, not only ours but many other industries in this country, then we’re going to lose these industries .. we’re going to lose these jobs.  And our industry was going very quickly to India and China.

Students, in other words, will pay up to $105,000 for the “privilege” of working on Digital Domain’s features, the first of which will be The Legend of Tembo. As VFX Soldier points out, “It’s one thing to work for low pay, it’s another thing to work for free, but it’s unfathomable to be expected to pay to work for free.

If all of this sounds a little fishy, that’s because it is. The Animation Guild in Los Angeles is exploring whether Digital Domain might be in violation of state and federal labor laws. They’ve tried to communicate with multiple Florida government agencies, including the state’s Department of Education, with no luck yet. Federal labor laws, however, would appear to be in favor of artists as they clearly stipulate that interns cannot “perform productive work” (i.e. work on the production of a film) without being compensated with at least minimum wage and overtime pay. (Minimum wage, by the way, is $7.67 per hour in Florida.)

As animation education programs proliferate around the United States and competition intensifies for a finite number of jobs, studios find themselves in a position to exploit young artists more aggressively than ever before. Whether it’s Titmouse relocating its studio nearly 3,000 miles away to avoid paying its employees union wages or Digital Domain making people pay to work on its films, there are plenty of legal loopholes that studios can exploit to save a buck on the backs of their production crews. And some studio CEOs are so proud of themselves that they’ll publicly boast about how they’re getting away with it.

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  • TalkMGMT

  • TalkMGMT

    May 02, 2012

    The landscape of the VFX industry have changed and Post/VFX facilities needs to adapt. The companies used to treat artists like gods; there was plenty of employment opportunities available for the artists. Unfortunately, those days are fading away and we have a new challenges facing the Media & Entertainment Industry. The reduction of hardwares and softwares prices has push down the entry barrier and filled the VFX industry with a increasing number of boutiques & facilities fighting to get work on the same projects; at the same time, the profit margins of those vendors are shrinking. Let’s be honest , the piece of the VFX “pie” is not getting any bigger, and new business opportunities can only come from innovative ideas, and effective project management.

    Whether you like it or not, it’s a simple business decision for Digital Domain to open the DD Institute with limited risk (Thank’s to the Florida State Subsidies) to increase their revenues streams while building hype around the recent IPO. Let’s explain a bit more the motivation around the recent Digital Domain Media Group strategic moves, including the DD Institution in partnership with The Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts.

    Full story here: http://talkmgt.com/blog/2012/05/01/the-dd-institute-part-of-ddmg-financial-objectives/

  • Luneder

  • Luneder

    Apr 06, 2012

    Also a for-profit school, 100% of the for profit schools are scams, they all take advantage of the students by over charging by more than three times a non-profit for sucky education. Then they find new ways to make money off of the student once enrolled under the pretense that it is work force training, I wouldn't be surprised if this guy was friend with the owner of the Art Institute chain of for-profit schools who are well known for over charging for their so called education. Just watch this video http://video.pbs.org/video/1485280975/ (might take a min to load), if they keep growing the future of the art industry will definitely be dark.

  • Sucthis

  • Sucthis

    Apr 06, 2012

    Wonder of Textor is willing to work for free? This is nothing less than the typical blood-sucking parasitic behavior so common to this country and any artist who concedes to slave labor is delusional if he/she thinks they are building a resume for working for nothing. All this does is bring down wages and guarantees ongoing abuse. Once they've had you for free do you really think they will be willing to pay a respectable wage the next time around? (Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free). If I wanted to make minimum wage for the rest of my life I would take a job at McDonalds and not bother to spend over $100k for an education. Textor is scum.

  • Everett

  • Everett

    Apr 02, 2012

    I am really weary of Capitalism-Bashing.
    If we lived in your Utopian society, there would be no advertising illustration (My field) there would be no video game trailers, nobody would buy our work; and there would be no work for us.
    People who've busted ass to be successful artists would get paid the same as people who just decided they're artists on a whim, or worse, and most likely, we wouldn't be able to be artists at all!

    Despite what artists always try to convey, WE ARE CAPITALISTS!! We sell our work on streets, in Galleries, through representatives, and agencies. We work for companies, and buy each other's work, We make money, that's just what we do. Like it or not we all want to be successful.

    This whole "Traditions Studios" thing will never see me signing up, but that's just it, nobody's being forced to participate, if people are willing to do it, and think it'll help them in the long run, good on 'em, I wish them well.
    -People take unpaid internships all the time, and many people view that as exploitation as well, but if you go into it knowing what it is, and are willing to take the hit for the experience, you AREN'T being exploited.

    Last edited by Everett; 02-04-2012 at 09:16 PM

  • jlk

  • jlk

    Apr 01, 2012

    I don't know about the capitalist bashing, I see this as more of an ethical problem in that there are people that want to make money by taking advantage of others misfortune or naievty (both even) and exploit it under the premise that they are some how helping. This is deluded. The problem to me seems to be people having no clue when they're behvaing like dicks worse still knowing that they're being dicks and boasting about it.

    There is absolutely nothing wrong with trying reap the rewards/make as much money from something you have created.

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