Hollywood finds itself in the midst of a period of time in which professionals within different facts of the industry are hoping for change. As we speak, both the SAG-AFTRA actors and WGA writers strikes are in motion, and it’s unclear as to when they might end. Visual effects workers are also aiming to improve the workplace, and that’s specifically true when it comes to those who work at Marvel Studios. The employees are currently seeking to unionize and, amid that campaign, some shared some alleged details on what it’s like working for the entertainment company. They hold back their thoughts, with one person even weighing in on how the workflow has purportedly turned it into “the McDonald’s of content.”
As it stands, over 50 of Marvel’s VFX experts have taken steps to gain representation from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. The labor union provides counsel for more than 150,000 tech workers and craftspersons across the industry. Ultimately, employees want better wages, more reasonable hours and other benefits. IATSE visual effects organizer Mark Patch tells IGN that the ongoing Hollywood strikes served as a major source of motivation for his colleagues to ask for improved working conditions. Patch – who said he worked 18-hour days as a coordinator on WandaVision – also opened up about theD Disney-owned studio’s increased production output and how its allegedly impacting VFX workers:
When you're turning a 90-minute movie into a 10-hour feature basically, you're doing 10 times the amount of work within the same, or even sometimes a shorter period of time. Particularly from Marvel, we certainly have seen since COVID and streaming the amount of demands on our time and mental and physical health just explode.
Many of those who are Disney+ subscription holders no doubt know that the platform has produced a plethora of Marvel Cinematic Universe-related content since 2021. That’s all arrived in addition to the typical slate of films that are released yearly. As IGN calculates, Phase 4 has a total runtime of 60 hours, which amounts to more than the first three phases combined. The news outlet spoke with another employee, Gabrielle Levesque, who’s worked on MCU titles before and after the streaming service’s launch. The Spider-Man: Far From Home and Avengers: Endgame crew member likened the more recent system of work to the aforementioned eatery:
What you're expected to do each day and how the shows are run, it definitely feels more like a conveyor belt nowadays than necessarily each project being given its own thought and time. As opposed to now where it's like, ‘well, this is coming up and now we have to do this, and this is coming up, we have to do this.’ It really becomes like the McDonald's of content.
She seems to be conveying that not enough time and care is being put into each individual production and that instead, the goal is to get them completed as quickly as possible. While we can’t completely substantiate the claims, it is true that some fans criticized the visual effects in some recent MCU offerings. 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder was chastised as was this year’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Another worker claimed the CGI for the threequel suffered because some of its resources had to be allocated to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Nevertheless, there’s seemingly been satisfaction with work on other films. During an interview with CinemaBlend, a Black Widow team member discussed a scene they wish there had been more time to work on.
The alleged unsatisfactory working conditions for VFX workers reportedly aren’t limited to those who just work on MCU fare. DC’s The Flash was also critiqued for its CGI, which was addressed by the director, shortly after its release earlier this summer. A visual effects artist contributed the “poor” effects to the collaboration process between the effects companies and entertainment studios.
According to Mark Patch, Marvel employees truly began to form a “grounded plan” for unionization in 2022, and they now appear to be moving full steam ahead. It remains to be seen whether the efforts of him and his peers are ultimately successful. What’s apparent now, though, is that they desire a work environment that doesn’t mirror that of a fast-food chain.
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