Animators roast Sausage Party bosses
Producers of hit comedy deny allegations of workplace abuses and unpaid overtime
The movie was about a sausage who finds out he’s headed for the barbecue, but some of the animators who made it are saying they’re the ones who got burned.
A dispute between animators and the Vancouver producers of the raunchy comedy hit Sausage Party has turned a light on the larger situation facing workers at Vancouver’s more than 60 visual-effects and animation companies.
Visual effects and animation artists are the only non-union players in B.C.’s heavily unionized film industry. Everyone on a live-action film set, from the director to the person pushing the broom, is covered by a union contract, while the thousands of artists who add digital effects to those films aren’t.
So while the 120 animators who worked on Sausage Party did so without a collective agreement, the actors who voiced the movie’s characters, including star Seth Rogen, were covered by a union deal guaranteeing overtime provisions and minimum rates.
The issue came to a head after Sausage Party’s release Aug. 12, when a letter was made public that had been sent by 30 animators to Nitrogen Studios, the movie’s Vancouver-based producer. The letter, sent during production in December, complained of animators being coerced to work unpaid overtime, and other fear tactics. Nitrogen has disputed those complaints.
“We take these allegations very seriously,” Nitrogen president Nicole Stinn said in an email. “Nitrogen Studios followed all employment regulations, so the claims being made against us are unfounded. Nitrogen also fulfilled all of its contractual obligations with its employees. These allegations are without merit.”
The claims and counter-claims drew international industry attention, and reflect a situation facing animators and digital effects workers around the world. In Britain, that country’s largest film union is trying to organize animators, while in Vancouver, a media union has filed a third-party complaint against Nitrogen with B.C.’s Employment Standards Branch, alleging that overtime must be paid under B.C. law.
“I feel like we’re just warming up,” said Unifor Local 2000 vice-president Jennifer Moreau, who filed the complaint.
She said animators were reluctant to complain publicly, fearing for their job prospects in an industry where workers go from contract to contract.
“We did talk to one animator, off the record, anonymous, who corroborated most of the complaints,” Moreau said.
According to a survey last year by HR Tech Group, an association of human resources professionals from Vancouver’s major tech companies, digital animators with a couple of years experience can expect to make $58,000 a year, with senior digital animators pulling in $93,000 plus bonuses.