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Two weeks after its U.S. parent filed for Chapter 11 reorganization, a new Rhythm & Hues facility is on course to open in Taiwan, according to Rhythm & Hues Studios Taiwan Co. manager Mike Yang. The exec told Taiwan’s Central News Agency that the new outpost will open in Kaohsiung by the end of March. A 2,640-square-meter facility is in the final stage of construction and is expected to provide space to over 200 local and foreign artists and instructors over the next five years. “Actually, all the studios, including in Los Angeles and at four other locations, are operating,” Yang said, adding that more than 10 parties have expressed interest in a merger or an acquisition of the group. Yang also told the news agency that R&H is looking to expand its business in Canada and Southeast Asia. “I’m sure we can get through the difficulties, as we are still one of the tops in this industry,” he said. On Sunday, Taiwan-born Ang Lee won the Best Director Academy Award for Life Of Pi, on which Rhythm & Hues collaborated.
Rhythm & Hues Facility To Open In Taiwan By Late March: Report
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So the bankruptcy was just a way to fire all of their expensive Los Angeles employees and replace them with cheap foreign labor. John Hughes you never cease to amaze. Instead of picketing the Oscars they should have been picketing outside of John’s Beverly Hills mansion. Is the Legendary, Fox and Universal money going straight to Taiwan? And why Taiwan? Wouldn’t Burma have been more cost effective?
Cost of labor is ridiculously low in Burma but real estate is out of control, more than New York or LA. Plus the internet sucks.
I think it is because the market in China.
I don’t know exactly how it would work.
But as far as I know, in China, they only allow a few foreign movies to play in their theaters. But the movie made in Taiwan is not considered as foreign movies.
Life of pi was one of the foreign movies played in China.
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/tb/tb130204the_simpsons_go_to_t?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kcrw%2Ftb+%28The+Business%29
Talented people are not exclusive to USA. Many East Asian countries, including Taiwan, also have skillful and experienced VFX artists, and when you can get them for a more affordable price, it is only nature that business wants to move out there. Isn’t that also the trend in other industries? The world is big Mr. Gekko and East Asia is more than your stereotypical third world-cheap holiday-backpacker destination.
I am sorry to say that US digital artists had been paid astronomical figures over the decades, and now when economies are falling apart all over the globe shrinking movie attendances – not to mention the unstoppable pirated Blu-Ray movies from China and elsewhere – there is just NO WAY studios would return to the cost of expensive US talent pool, when they can easily get QUALITY talent overseas being paid a fraction of US standard wages. This is globalization at its ugliest to say the least. Sad but irreversible. I worked for Hollywood for over a decade and saw the whole thing fall apart… inevitable.
perhaps, they don’t need 200,000 square feet of space in MDR? isn’t space cheaper in the Valley and wouldn’t that lessen your overhead. perhaps cutting overhead expenses might increase the companies profitability. same thing with DD, perhaps all that space in Venice helped contribute to their downfall. sounds like poor management.
After marching at the Oscars to support my friends who were/are Rhythm and Hues employees, this is disgusting.
Makes me wonder if Ang and John are sitting back, laughing while cracking open bottles of champagne.
And now the other shoe has dropped.
Why spend all that money here when they can train newbies for pennies an hour?
It’s sad that we don’t make anything in this country anymore.
They’re in El Segundo now, actually. Ummm – you’re on the right track, I think, regarding poor management. I am an ex-employee of Rhythm and Hues. I cannot say I saw this coming but, in hindsight, the powers-that-be simply went, unnecessarily, way beyond their means in the form of: many years of free lunch for all and weekly barbecue’s (they may have stopped serving food a few years back), exorbitant health benefits (including laser eye surgery!), a union editorial staff(read: well-paid)when it really didn’t need to be union (no other FX editorials are union), and, finally, many full-time/staff employees who were `grandfathered’ in but had very little (or often absolutely nothing) to do. While all of this is nice and sweet, etc. and made for a great atmosphere, it is not conducive to running a good business (as we, obviously, have now seen).
so i was supposed to feel sorry for a company now sending all their jobs overseas? am i missing something?
No. You were supposed to feel sorry for the hundreds of laid off artists employed there who had no control over a system that was screwing them over.
Outsourcing Hollywood filmmakers SUCKS! My heart goes out to the CG and GFX creators in LA. This is another example of the decline of the American way of life… and a precursor of what more will come to our country and industry.
This is a move to have a new facility in place and train staff while they plan to shut down the north american locations. Bet on it. They are looking at the cheap labour compared to LA & Vancouver.
In hindsight, the VFX protest slogan “Box Office + Bankrupt = Visual Effects” seems a little misguided.
VFX seems to be doing great, hiring more people and opening more new facilities than ever … just not in the U.S.
As another former R&H employee, I would like to comment on Script_Dr’s comments. While I did find some of R&H’s practices to be less than cost effective, I don’t think decent health care is excessive – including eye care, for, you know, ARTISTS, who sort of need their eyes.. It health insurance, NOT free health care. Employees pay into it. The free lunches were also a strategy – in kept employees in house and usually took only a half-hour, as opposed to employees wandering off for 60-90 minutes, as is common.
This is a profitable industry. In fact, so profitable that we compensate artists in the millions for their work. There is a concept out there that “The computer does all the work” and all we do is hit the “Make Dinosaur” button, then the “Render” button, and the work is done. Nothing could be further from the truth. In 20 years I have spent hours and hours in front of the keyboard, often uncompensated for my time, making a LOT of money for someone, just not me. To suggest that the “proper” state of a visual effects artist is essentially a sweatshop offends me.
You’re absolutely right, artists need their eyes. Hadn’t thought about that.
Welcome to the global economy where America’s wage scale bassed on the minimum wage, a minimum wage brought about by the excessive union wage scale, is not competitive. You think it’s bad now wait till the U.S. minimum is raised to over $9 an hour, a %20+ jump by the current Administration.
Burma is not ready for something like that. Maybe in a few years but it would be foolhardy to put your eggs in that basket at this time.
I’ll be a lot more sympathetic to the people losing their jobs to Taiwanese when people show the same concerns for the people who lost their construction jobs to immigrant labor that undercut wages. Nobody cares about those people.
I’m afraid there is little money to be made by the owners at this point – they are moving forward with the Taiwan facility because that value for any buyer of the company. The company is bankrupt and won’t be coming back in any of its old form.
As an ex-R&H employee, laid off with a phone call, I’m horrified to see this happening. In utter denial I thought they laid me off due to chapter 11 and troubles paying their debts. Now I see this. A sinking, terrible feeling in my stomach. I also worked on many shots for Life of Pi.