Creative Arts Emmys: ‘Ripley’ VFX Supervisor Urges Support for VFX Workers in Union Effort

“Ripley” VFX supervisor John Bowers urged the television community to support VFX unionization Sunday on stage at L.A.’s Peacock Theater, as he and his team accepted an Emmy for the Netflix miniseries.

How Ian Holm's Return in 'Alien: Romulus' Brings SAG-AFTRA's Digital Replicas Work Into Focus

He asserted that Hollywood is heavily unionized but there is still no broad union for visual effects artists, who don’t have standard protections in areas from wages and working conditions to health care. How to achieve these protections has long been a dilemma in the community. In 2023, the first groups such as the in-house VFX workers at Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures, began to vote to unionize under IATSE.

“Progress is happening, and people are working behind the scenes, and I’m cheering them on, and I wanted everyone else in the room to support that as well,” Bowers continued backstage. “I actually spoke to one of the organizers from IATSE on Friday. They are continuing to work behind the scenes to bring VFX workers under the same roof, under the same umbrella, as are many other categories awarded here tonight.”

How 'Loki' VFX Supervisor Christopher Townsend Created 'Time Slipping' for Season 2

He said that “Ripley,” which won the category for VFX in a single episode, involved the work of 300 artists working across six countries on four continents, which isn’t unusual.

“Ripley” VFX producer Maricel Pagulayan added that this is a “new moment in time where the industry is looking for new ways to use visual effects with AI, machine learning, all of these things, but fundamentally, it’s really the artist … You really have to acknowledge all the people, many people, below the line.”

VFX House Digital Domain Launches Markerless MoCap Facial Tracking System (EXCLUSIVE)