Industrial Light & Magic Reviews

Cons

No downside, really, really, really.

Cons

One single person is in charge of all aspects of your project, and this is the Visual Effects Supervisor. While this person is extremely talented with many years of experience and accolades to their credit, most often this individual is drunk on power. Workers are either directly targeted or witness to shame and humiliation and continual feelings of being less-than, at the hands of this individual. This is especially as deadlines approach. It is very out of control in this regard. Work hours will often extend well past midnight, especially so for projects with an extremely high profile and a deadline which is locked in. Because many people and managers who work at ILM have been there for almost their entire careers, they are often not aware of how negative their work environment is. It is unfortunately seen as normal. Indeed, infractions that in any other work environment would be considered for termination are at ILM, merely compared to previous ILM times, before #metoo, where things were very, very bad. In this regard, the culture has an almost, "back in my day..." war story element about it as a means to minimize current infractions. Managers are not aware that this only deepens the current problem. Pay is well below the industry standard - by 35% or more. Internally I have heard this referred to as the "Star Wars tax." You work on content that is truly beloved around the globe. The price you pay is in your take home pay.

Cons

- The work is boring and is going to get taken over by AI asap - Low pay for the Bay Area - I was promised remote work and now we have to go back into the office - I was promised a promotion 3 to 6 months working at the company and that did not happen - ILM hires a bunch of people for low-level jobs with the expectation that they will burn out and leave the company. They burn through people to make their bottom line.

Cons

The work can get really hectic

Cons

office politics sometimes are difficult

Cons

low pay for san Francisco Lack of diversity besides Asian and White. Though they preach diversity, inside the company the diversity is severely lacking. Most employees of color are at the bottom position and most end up leaving or getting fired within a year. Very unwelcoming environment. Very demeaning and "shut up and work" type environment. No opportunity to move up.

Cons

low pay and bad hours

Cons

-Sad to say it is a stepping stone but as we all know it takes dedication to keep up with this life work balance. Which wears you down when you do it for many years. -In between shows you are likely to have a unpaid leave since there are not as many projects coming in as it use to. (San Francisco) -Office is under constant change and shrink a lot. Most of the legends left the office already so there is a small team left. ( San Francisco) -The compensation is not competitive with SF salaries.

Cons

Long hours, but that's normal for the film industry

Cons

Big company, increased globalization causes "key" roles to become less distinct.