Digital Domain’s John Textor Brags to Investors about Exploiting Animation Student Labor

[abelenkpe]

Digital Domain’s John Textor Brags to Investors about Exploiting Animation Student Labor

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/cgi/digital-domains-john-textor-brags-to-investors-about-exploiting-animation-student-labor.html
Digital Domain CEO John Textor (pictured above with his wife) envisions big things for his company’s new feature animation studio in Port St. Lucie, Florida called Tradition Studios. While we’ve written about the studio’s ambitious feature film plans, what wasn’t known until recently is how Textor intends to create the films. His plan is to convince students to pay Digital Domain to work on its films for free.

The blog VFX Soldier has obtained a speech that Textor gave last November to investors in which he revealed how the company’s new animation school Digital Domain Institute will be integrated with the Tradition studio. Textor told the audience:

Classes starting in the education space, what’s interesting is the relationship between the digital studio and the college. Not only is this a first in a number of ways that we’ve talked about, but 30% of the workforce at our digital studio down in Florida, is not only going to be free, with student labor, it’s going to be labor that’s actually paying us for the privilege of working on our films.

Now this was the controversial element of this and the first discussions with the Department of Education, ’cause it sounds like you’re taking advantage of the students. But we were able to persuade even the academic community, if we don’t do something to dramatically reduce costs in our industry, not only ours but many other industries in this country, then we’re going to lose these industries .. we’re going to lose these jobs. And our industry was going very quickly to India and China.

Students, in other words, will pay up to $105,000 for the “privilege” of working on Digital Domain’s features, the first of which will be The Legend of Tembo. As VFX Soldier points out, “It’s one thing to work for low pay, it’s another thing to work for free, but it’s unfathomable to be expected to pay to work for free.

(more at link)

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(clip of Textor bragging about free student labor)

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I just want to say a big FUCK YOU to the society that applauds this. We're so worried about losing work to China and India because we have no policies to keep good paying jobs in country that we're willing to indenture students through student loan debt, using them as free labor so they can what? Graduate into a business that is so insecure that it might go overseas? I'm sure this will do wonders for helping existing professionals negotiate salaries too. It's not like many other studios are encouraging their workers in the US to move overseas or lose their job. Think about that....leave your own country or go without work. So I know, let's convince a lot of young kids to take on massive debt, labor for free for an industry quickly disappearing. Thank you United Corporate States of America! Your effort to hollow out what once was a great country is almost done.

[tinrobot]

1. So they get the labor for free to create the content.

Then, when you watch the content for free on the internet, it's branded as piracy and they take you to court.