<p>On the morning of February 24, Technicolor employees got an email that the company’s operations will come to a halt globally. They were also denied their salaries for the month and other allowances like gratuity, according to Eldhose Joy, a senior production coordinator at The Mill, a Technicolor wing.</p>.<p>Close to 10,000 people from across the world lost their jobs. Reports said about 3,000 employees had lost their jobs in India, but an insider put the number at 2,700. The company’s India offices are in Bengaluru and Mumbai. A majority of their employees worked out of their Bengaluru offices.</p>.<p>This has sent shock waves across the AVGC-XR community. “It’s challenging because a large number of people from the same domain are currently jobless. The supply is high and the demand is low,” he shares. </p>.<p>Employees at Technicolor in Bengaluru worked in a cross section of fields like animation, lighting, special <br>effects, graphics, atmosphere and volume metrics, and image rendering for many Hollywood productions. They operated from four studios — The Mill, MPC (Motions Pictures Company), Mikros Animation and Technicolor Games.</p>.<p><strong>Employees left in limbo</strong></p>.<p>Employees say there was no discussion and they still don’t have a clear picture of the situation. Many people thought they could retire at Technicolor, shares Madhurima Dasgupta who worked as a 3D animation artist. She says the company offered high job security and low work pressure. Although she managed to get another job, she is still unable to process the news. “We had a lot of projects lined up. We were completely booked for at least three months,” she shares. </p>.<p>Umang Joshi, also a 3D animation artist who is yet to find another job says, “We all have bills to pay. My wife is in labour right now.” He adds: “At the Indian level, the number of people looking for a job is very high. Someone who was your team member a few weeks ago is your direct cut-throat competitor now.” </p>.<p>Madhurima shares that companies are taking advantage of the situation to get cheaper labour.</p>.<p>According to reports, the parent company had a severe financial crisis and they were unable to secure new investors. This led to the company filing for court recovery procedure in France. </p>.<p>Umang believes it’s a culmination of multiple problems beginning with a financial crunch resulting from Covid-19. This was followed by the SAG AFTRA and Writers Guild of America-led strikes from May 2023 to October 2023, which halted all major Hollywood productions.</p>.<p>He reveals that “it was clear that something was wrong because for more than a year there has been no hike or appraisal”. Cost-cutting measures were another indication. Umang and his coworkers were expecting another round of downsizing after roughly 300 were laid off a few months ago. </p>.<p>Kannada filmmaker K M Chaitanya says, “In the last five years, many smaller units of VFX companies have been emerging. When I make a film, I give more specialised jobs to big companies but smaller tasks, like rope removal, I give to smaller companies. They charge only a fraction of what big companies would. This must be affecting the costing of these big companies. One needs just a computer and a room for these tasks.”</p>.<p><strong>AI’s first blow?</strong></p>.<p>Chaitanya notes that the popularity of AI could be a key reason. “Something like rope removal is a frame by frame job which takes a human hours to do. AI can do it much faster,” he says. </p>.<p><strong>A TRUSTED SOURCE FROM THE INDIA TEAM SAYS…</strong></p>.<p>No member of the India team was forewarned and our efforts to elicit a response from them have failed. India is owed significant sums which would take care of more than employee dues but these are now subject to administration according to the French system. About 400 employees were then taken into a new game’s business</p>.<p><strong>ABOUT TECHNICOLOR<br></strong>Technicolor is a creative services group headquartered in France. It was founded in 1916 as a colour motion picture process. It soon became one of the leading studios for AVGC-XR community for entertainment, media and advertising industries. The company has gone through a change in ownership multiple times. It catered to many Hollywood productions.</p>
<p>On the morning of February 24, Technicolor employees got an email that the company’s operations will come to a halt globally. They were also denied their salaries for the month and other allowances like gratuity, according to Eldhose Joy, a senior production coordinator at The Mill, a Technicolor wing.</p>.<p>Close to 10,000 people from across the world lost their jobs. Reports said about 3,000 employees had lost their jobs in India, but an insider put the number at 2,700. The company’s India offices are in Bengaluru and Mumbai. A majority of their employees worked out of their Bengaluru offices.</p>.<p>This has sent shock waves across the AVGC-XR community. “It’s challenging because a large number of people from the same domain are currently jobless. The supply is high and the demand is low,” he shares. </p>.<p>Employees at Technicolor in Bengaluru worked in a cross section of fields like animation, lighting, special <br>effects, graphics, atmosphere and volume metrics, and image rendering for many Hollywood productions. They operated from four studios — The Mill, MPC (Motions Pictures Company), Mikros Animation and Technicolor Games.</p>.<p><strong>Employees left in limbo</strong></p>.<p>Employees say there was no discussion and they still don’t have a clear picture of the situation. Many people thought they could retire at Technicolor, shares Madhurima Dasgupta who worked as a 3D animation artist. She says the company offered high job security and low work pressure. Although she managed to get another job, she is still unable to process the news. “We had a lot of projects lined up. We were completely booked for at least three months,” she shares. </p>.<p>Umang Joshi, also a 3D animation artist who is yet to find another job says, “We all have bills to pay. My wife is in labour right now.” He adds: “At the Indian level, the number of people looking for a job is very high. Someone who was your team member a few weeks ago is your direct cut-throat competitor now.” </p>.<p>Madhurima shares that companies are taking advantage of the situation to get cheaper labour.</p>.<p>According to reports, the parent company had a severe financial crisis and they were unable to secure new investors. This led to the company filing for court recovery procedure in France. </p>.<p>Umang believes it’s a culmination of multiple problems beginning with a financial crunch resulting from Covid-19. This was followed by the SAG AFTRA and Writers Guild of America-led strikes from May 2023 to October 2023, which halted all major Hollywood productions.</p>.<p>He reveals that “it was clear that something was wrong because for more than a year there has been no hike or appraisal”. Cost-cutting measures were another indication. Umang and his coworkers were expecting another round of downsizing after roughly 300 were laid off a few months ago. </p>.<p>Kannada filmmaker K M Chaitanya says, “In the last five years, many smaller units of VFX companies have been emerging. When I make a film, I give more specialised jobs to big companies but smaller tasks, like rope removal, I give to smaller companies. They charge only a fraction of what big companies would. This must be affecting the costing of these big companies. One needs just a computer and a room for these tasks.”</p>.<p><strong>AI’s first blow?</strong></p>.<p>Chaitanya notes that the popularity of AI could be a key reason. “Something like rope removal is a frame by frame job which takes a human hours to do. AI can do it much faster,” he says. </p>.<p><strong>A TRUSTED SOURCE FROM THE INDIA TEAM SAYS…</strong></p>.<p>No member of the India team was forewarned and our efforts to elicit a response from them have failed. India is owed significant sums which would take care of more than employee dues but these are now subject to administration according to the French system. About 400 employees were then taken into a new game’s business</p>.<p><strong>ABOUT TECHNICOLOR<br></strong>Technicolor is a creative services group headquartered in France. It was founded in 1916 as a colour motion picture process. It soon became one of the leading studios for AVGC-XR community for entertainment, media and advertising industries. The company has gone through a change in ownership multiple times. It catered to many Hollywood productions.</p>