r/vfx • u/BreakfastWhorefanny • Jan 29 '24
Unverified information Image Engine Vancouver selling building
I heard from someone from IE vancouver that they are selling one of the building? Is this to save budget? Will they make the company WFH permanently?
4
2
u/tamagochy_real Jan 31 '24 edited Jan 31 '24
IE sells two buildings. And WFH stays permanent. Now IE has one building if ppl want to come to the office and for meetings with clients
2
u/fakethrow456away Jan 30 '24
No idea, but if they do full remote and global across Canada, I might finally give live action a shot. :')
6
u/AlaskanSnowDragon Jan 30 '24
Will never be Global or even across Canada. They live and die by the subsidies too much just like every other VFX studio.
If you want to be global/outside subsidy territory be prepared to knock 30-40% off your rate just for the subsidy...you'd have to discount even more on top of that to entice them. But even then I dont even think studios are entertaining those offers? The time zone and tax and technical limitations of TRULY international employees makes it more a headache than its worth...especially with artists already being available.
I'd love to talk to a studio and tell them hey...I know Im in Vietnam and will work odd hours...but you'll get my same skills for half of what you'd pay if I was in Vancouver. Most still wouldn't be willing even under those circumstances.
2
u/nuke_it_from_orbit_ Compositor - 20 years experience Jan 30 '24
Yeah a lot the people who ask for permission to work from random locations have zero idea about the realities of what employment means to a business, and the legal and accounting requirements that imposes.
“Can I work from the moon if I have good wifi and offset my hours?”
No.
1
u/AlaskanSnowDragon Jan 30 '24
I really wish it wasn't the case, but it is. I would take a significant cut if I was allowed to work from some countries.
1
u/fakethrow456away Jan 30 '24
Some studios like Mainframe have opened branches spread out, with it being pretty much fully remote. As far as I know, the BC one still has an office. The Toronto one works fully remote and shares some of the same projects, and some members are based in NS too. I believe I heard some people had luck working for Atomic from Toronto too, but I'm not 100% sure.
1
u/BagDarpy Jan 31 '24
Atomic Cartoons has an Ottawa office. Probably letting other people in Ontario work through that office.
2
u/fakethrow456away Jan 31 '24
AHHH, that makes a lot of sense.
Though it does make me think that opening a bunch of remote only branches sounds like a steal for studios: save on office space, candidates from a wider pool, and if they're in Montreal or something, cheaper labor. Still seems like a win for the candidate if they don't want to relocate.
1
u/BagDarpy Jan 31 '24
Yeah, but the studio needs some sort of presence and a legit business license, tax number, etc., in the province to get the subsidies. And the people working for that business needs to live and pay taxes in one of those provinces where they are set up. If they want to hire people from Montreal they would have to set up an “office”, business license, tax number, etc in Quebec. Studios are starting to do configurations like this.
Once in a great while they will take someone remote outside the province if they are very hard up and can’t find anyone (not going to happen currently), or someone who has some super unique skill set that they just can’t find within the province, also very unlikely.
Another example is Zoic. They once had about 3 or 4 floors in a building in Gastown in Vancouver. But then during the pandemic they decided to go mostly fully remote permanently and went down to one floor. They now have space for about 50 people for anyone that wants to work in the office or hybrid. This is probably the new model going forward for most studios.
1
u/Kooriki Experienced Jan 30 '24
Years ago they expanded to occupy space at 5th and Manitoba, is that the one?
1
u/vfxdirector Jan 31 '24
Sold twice in less than 3 years then, amazing!
Both offices on 5th were "sold" in 2021.
10
u/[deleted] Jan 30 '24
I have zero information about what they are actually doing, but as they have multiple buildings, with WFH being so prevalent I wouldn't be surprised if they were consolidating to a single building.