Relocation
A bit about the relocation from Phoenix to Los Angeles
Any good visual effects artist will eventually end up in Los Angeles, even if the stay isn't always permanent. After several years of working on projects coming out of LA, but still living and actually doing the work in Phoenix, and after fighting to stay afloat in the struggling market (successfully, I might add!), we've decided to pack up shop and move ourselves and our company to the greater Los Angeles area.
I've currently been working in Burbank, for Morningstar Entertainment for the last two weeks. We are working on two shows. One, which is in its second season on Spike TV, Deadliest Warrior, and the other, Death From The Skies, which is still in development for the Discovery Channel. I am pleased to say that my experiences as a generalist in Phoenix have quickly begun to pay off, since my broad skill set and advanced knowledge are proving themselves endlessly useful to Morninstar.
Los Angeles is full of specialists, so fully functional generalists are a bit of an oddity to them. While other parts of the country are primarily absent of specialist, because their respective industries are too small to support limited talent. The advantage that I'm finding myself in stems from the fact that outside of LA, you'd better be good at everything if you want to survive. Here, you only have to be good at one thing, or (on the flip side) not very good at everything else to make a good living. However, times are changing and LA is starting to see the economic advantages of hiring generalists in positions that used to be filled by a whole bunch of specialists.
While I always mourn for the death of an industry, I'm also quite hopeful and encouraged by the fact that my kind are slowly becoming the norm. This leads me to believe that I may be more valuable than I originally anticipated. I'm positive that the future will be quite bright over the next year.
So, what does this mean for Sleep Deprived Films? In the short term it means that I will be working primarily on contract jobs, taking regular "9-5" gigs over the next few years. I will be keeping SDF opened in the background. The eventual idea is to build up enough contacts and contracts to re-open SDF full force as a bona fide, fully staffed visual effects house here in the greater Los Angeles Area.
Keep your fingers crossed and wish us luck!
Thanks, and I'll talk to you all again soon.
Adam Benson
