Jul 18, 2022

MPC London Eliminates 2022 Increase, Implements Color-Coded Alert System for Troubled Projects

MPC Films, the world's leading VFX and animation studio under Technicolor, held a town hall meeting last Thursday where MPC President Tom Williams announced unpopular changes to its pay structure and telecommuting conditions.

About MPC - MPC is one of the world's leading VFX and animation companies, working on dozens of top Hollywood titles each year, and in 2022 MPC's titles include "Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers" (pictured above), "Elvis," "Nope," "Sonic 2 and Netflix and Disney's "Pinocchio," among many others.

What's changing at the company - MPC has announced that it will eliminate raises and adjust its telecommuting policy in 2022. To that end, MPC will implement a new hybrid program called the RAG system, which will determine how many days an employee must be in the office based on the status of a project they are working on at the time.

How the RAG System Works - The RAG System is a color-coded program that determines how many days per week an employee must be in the office. The colors are based on the status of the project the employee is working on:

A more detailed infographic was published online over the weekend and can be seen below The RAG System is scheduled to go into effect on August 1.

What is the reaction so far - as expected, the response has been mostly negative. With inflation and the cost of living skyrocketing, many see the lack of a raise as tantamount to a pay cut.

A thread dedicated to the MPC announcement on the r/vfx subreddit was the most voted post in the sub on Sunday, with over 175 comments condemning the company and its policies.

Reddit user Samvfx2015 posted:

The poster does not need the amber and green status since all projects are RED TAGged.

Tommy138 posted:

I mean, they already have a bad reputation, they must be losing talented/senior artists at this point. How can they maintain the quality they have been known for ...... Less competent artists -> worse working conditions -> even worse reputation -> even more people leaving ...... and so on:

Funkmasterslap claims to be a current MPC employee, but his tenure seems to be in jeopardy:

This was good timing as he had been at MPC for about a year and was ready to move on.

Many other posts with more colorful language have also been heavily upvoted.

Lingering questions: early reports have not clarified why the raises will not be given this year, whether the changes are just for the UK office or global, who will be responsible for determining the RAG status of projects, etc. Cartoon Brew has reached out to MPC for comment, but has not yet received a response.