Die petisie is gerig aan: Chairpersons of the Committee on Culture and Media: Pascal Reddig, Member of the German Parliament, and Martin Rabanus, Member of the German Parliament

Dear MPs Rabanus & Reddig,

We are the invisible ones in the film industry. When we do our work well, no one notices we were part of the production at all. We create fantastical worlds where there was only a green screen. We give life to digital creatures, superpowers to the superheroes, and build unreal landscapes. We are the ones who make it possible to revive old historic sites, spectacularly blow up buildings on screen, fill stadiums with cheering digital crowds, and ensure that small mistakes on set do not make it into the final cut.

We are visual effects artists (VFX artists).

The crisis that has hit the film industry in recent years has affected us particularly hard. Digital effects are labour-intensive and expensive, and only well-funded productions can use them at scale. Covid and the strikes in the United States shook this key pillar of Hollywood production. Streaming services, all based in the United States and contributing very little in taxation in Germany, have abruptly and permanently reshaped the landscape for films and TV series. The lack of investment in German film has done the rest. More and more often, we are forced into short-time working arrangements. Staff are being laid off in stages, and in many cases companies are ultimately closing down. In 2022, for example, a renowned German VFX studio with an international reputation was bought by a major US streaming service. Shortly afterwards, the company was “restructured”; all German sites were closed, the brand was dropped, and hundreds of VFX artists in Germany were left without jobs almost overnight.

We, the undersigned VFX artists in Germany, therefore ask you to advocate for a statutory investment obligation for streaming services and to support its swift implementation, as envisaged by the traffic light coalition government and originally advocated by Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer.

The stability and predictability that a statutory investment obligation would bring are essential in the current situation. What has been destroyed over the last three years cannot be rebuilt through “voluntary commitments” and empty promises. Film productions and VFX studios urgently need support, not only to prevent further redundancies and closures, but also to give film-makers confidence that there is a future for them in this country. This would allow teams to be rebuilt and endangered sites to stay open. It would also give graduates of German film schools, where significant investment is still being made, the chance to develop their talents here in Germany. Above all, it would give German film culture a real chance of survival.

Please take action while there is still something left to save.

Yours sincerely,

the undersigned VFX artists: