Curious about Outpost VFX

[u/kuchisabishii13]

Hey everyone, as the title says I’m curious about Outpost VFX and whether or not the AVEC tax rebates in the UK have hindered their talent and hiring.

As someone who is lucky enough to be in a mostly self sustaining country in terms of VFX, where we do have tax rebates of our own but that basically means once you find a job as long as you perform well and there’s work, you’ll be employed until you decide to leave yourself. I find it strange that Outpost VFX are constantly looking to hire UK based artists for an immediate start, even when their own artists contracts are ending and they’re open to work.

I say this because myself and a few others have noticed that in the last 2-3 months the recruiter there has put out the same copy and paste recruitment ad looking for Senior Compositors every couple of weeks (this morning I saw the same post that went out last week as well) and each time it gets less and less engagement as I imagine this being probably the 10th copy and past post this year, they’re close to exhausting the talent pool.

I also find it strange that some ex colleagues at Pixo (albeit in different departments) have recently been hired at Outpost VFX and allowed to work remotely from Germany for the entirety of their contract, why are the rules so fixed for Compositors but not other departments?

Also, the same observation of - ‘company X is looking for UK based Senior Compositors for an immediate > Senior Compositors at company X are finishing their contracts and open to work > company X is looking for UK based Senior Compositors for an immediate’ has become a concerning hiring loop I’ve noticed for a lot of London based studios on LinkedIn this year.

Just also wanted to say, this is in no way a slander of the studio, I’ve only ever heard good things about them, I’m just curious to why hiring seems a bit chaotic…

Lunchtime thought dump over, enjoy lunch everyone!

[u/Bones_and_Tomes]

The industry as a whole is pretty "gig-based" right now. Many rely on short contracts simply because they don't have the work lined up after the project they're actively crewing for, this leads to there being and active "churn" in the talent pool. People know their contract is only for a month, so speak to other companies and line up their next contract. Nothing really to do with Outpost (or any other company, to be honest), that's just the way the industry behaves right now. Add into that the rules around tax breaks and you end up with some artists able to work from abroad on one project, but are unable to work on another project that is taking advantage of those tax breaks because the rules say they cannot send or allow it to be worked on abroad.

[u/AbleNeck7520 → u/Bones_and_Tomes]

Yep its happened a few times where I'm at recently. Its a shame as you lose good talent and sometimes end up with someone less suited to the position filling their space.

[u/Proud_Arm2568]

Like bones said, everything is pretty much project based now. I’ve been at Outpost a few times and a project will end, they don’t renew and then they ask you to come back when the project has ramped up again. No point in wasting money and keeping artists on when there’s no work for them to do I guess. But I have found this a lot with them. As for the artist from Germany, again it’ll be project based and maybe part of the project was filmed in Germany 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/Cloudy_Joy → u/Proud_Arm2568]

Or they just couldn't find someone strong enough that was UK qualifying, so decided to take the hit and get someone in Germany they thought could get it done. The reason you might see this more for Comp is because it happens at the end of the show, so the exposure is less - hiring someone who will not qualify for rebate early in a show when they might be engaged for a long time is risky, but bringing someone on when you have a good sense of the finances and the implications of losing the tax credit on this individual is less so.

[u/Proud_Arm2568 → u/Cloudy_Joy]

Nope…. there’s a reason for it. People will find out soon

[u/Apprehensive-Feed-12]

It is my understanding that the avec tax rebates have a threshold for hiring inside the UK. There is a small percentage you can hire from abroad and make the rebate still apply.

[u/Mpcrocks]

The days of multiple project contracts are finished. With all the hoopla of u ion contracts and people expecting huge severance package along with many vfx crew demanding we be treated like the onset crew have gotten there wish . I think we will pretty much only see project based contracts just like all onset crew from here on. As for location specific contracts it will depend on the show for the requirements of where the labour has to be based . For some departments it’s easier to spread there work across multiple projects as a compositor usually is only crewed to a single project so is more reliant on the labour location spend .

[u/Elsby_Comb]

UK operates like this since pandemic. It’s all self- employed and gig based. They don’t hire long term anymore. It’s a mess. Most companies are mismanaged. They prefer to let people go instead of paying them for a week of break. Everyone does it. The Compers need to be in to make an impression on the client, and for tax purposes. To claim that finishing process happened in the UK.