‘You’re not allowed to have a husband or a partner or kids when you work for Marvel’: VFX artists have had enough of the ‘live at work’ mentality

Working in the visual effects department for Marvel Studios sounds like a living nightmare, at least if the repeated tales of woe emerging from behind the scenes are any indication. Funnily enough, the put-upon VFX workers are in the process of unionizing, and it’s easy to see why.

Another deep dive from Rolling Stone has brought even more issues to the forefront, with WandaVision coordinator Mark Patch offering a damning indictment of the sacrifices the creatives are supposed to make for the sole purpose of delivering a mass-marketed comic book adaptation to the masses.

“It was ‘live at work,’ From the second we woke up in the morning until midnight. We’ve seen [that] the lack of guardrails and protections has created an environment where the employer has unlimited control of our whole lives.”

In an even more shocking development, an effects producer who wished to remain anonymous revealed that whole interviewing for a role on Black Panther, they were asked repeatedly about their marital status, plans to have kids or not, and their husband’s occupation given that one of the requirements of the production was working abroad. In the end, she didn’t get the gig, and was suspiciously offered a lower-level local one instead.

“You’re not allowed to have a husband or a partner or kids when you work for Marvel or in visual effects? That’s ridiculous.”

As MCU veteran James Dornoff put it; “The comeback is, ‘Well, you’re going to be on a Marvel project and that’s gonna be really good for your resume’,” but that’s not really fair recompense for being overworked and underpaid. Hopefully the company sees sense, and pays these people what they deserve.