Outpost is quickly earning the title of a Sweat Factory and it already has the nickname "MPC By The Sea" assigned to this sad and unattractive "Studio".
I'm not even sure where to begin, there is so much wrong with this company. Here though is a quick list of what to expect for future clients and employees, together with a large, red sign: WARNING, AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
1. Long, unfair, illegal and soul destroying hours.
The Production team and the Editorial team ie, The Coordinators ( NOT the "producers", as they want to call themselves) are working totally unacceptably long hours . When someone leaves at midnight, they are considered to be lucky. There is a handful of people who always leave on time - all of them are friends of the CEO and managers.
ALL the production Coordinators seem to be produce the shows themselves and know so much more about their projects than the Producers.
Projects are left to the Artists and Coordinators to produce, render, comp and deliver while the "management" enjoy a beer or several in a pub from 5pm onwards. They may literally pop in or email instructions and / or check how the shots are going , which is usually never enough or being done quickly enough.
It's an absolute joke and it's not only my opinion. Coordinators, often with little or no experience, are given, sometimes, up to 4 projects at the same time, being constantly told to "make the client happy". I have never heard anyone genuinely praised for their commitment and hard work but I have heard people who are working REALLY hard being told to speed up , don't let the client down etc. It would seem the well being of the Artists is not important.
2. Poor management / production.
Every project now at Outpost is EXTREMELY underbid. VFX supervisors / leads always help the producers with bidding only to see the ridiculously tight schedules a few days later, completely opposite to what was advised by the people who know. The producers are often heard asking "what's the ETA?" seemingly totally clueless about the projects and the challenges involved.
I could write an entire book about the "production" at Outpost and trust me, it wouldn't be a positive review. In short, they are incompetent, deluded, completely unhelpful and bully artists on a daily basis. They don't support the Artists and blame everyone but themselves for missed deadlines , creating a toxic atmosphere of blame, responsibility and failure. Managers jet themselves all over the world bragging about boozing with potential clients while all the real workers are back at the office until the early hours working to ridiculous deadlines. There is NO RESPECT at all for the people who give hours and hours of their own time trying to finish projects made impossible by ludicrous deadlines and too few senior workers.
3. Outpost business model.
Producers only aim is to deliver a project with the biggest profit margin possible. At Outpost, this is achieved by giving huge responsibilities to artists, mainly juniors, interns and students, who HAVE TO stay ridiculous hours to meet their deadlines. VFX supervisors, who run more than one show at a time have their own lists of shots to complete, which results in long hours at the office trying to catch up with a backlog of work. Because overtime is paid only from 10pm (and only 50% of the overtime is paid after 10pm), it's the cheapest way to run a VFX studio therefore why employ another artist to help the team if other dedicated staff are going to stay till 3am for free to finish off the work? Leads are constantly reminded that the responsibility for the project is theirs, thus "washing their hands" of their responsibility of overseeing these vital projects.
There is nobody to go to for support as the "management" are all "mates"; if you do try to explain the difficulties you are likely to be accused of being negative and difficult!!
4. Lack of creativity caused by poor management / producers.
Artists burn out quickly with ridiculous demands and the turnover of really skilled people is very high. They join Outpost enthusiastic and motivated, excited to work where there is a respected work/life balance , only to realize how untrue this is. There is zero creativity involved because there is literally no time to be creative .
Some artists haven't had dinner at home for months. Several talented leads are so overworked and stressed they are thinking of leaving. All the passion and creativity is squashed with every new project with mismanaged schedules.
5. Marketing.
Work - life balance is the motto of the marketing team at Outpost. A way to lure unknowing, genuinely passionate artists into this den of despair. One glance at Outpost's social media posts:
"the beach is only 10 minutes walk"
"work-life balance"
and other marketing gimmicks that are not going to change the way Outpost is talked about in the industry. The CEO keeps repeating in his newsletters he "built the company based on core values of happiness and work-life balance", when in reality 90% of the people here do not have time to see the beach, work-life balance simply doesn't exist and tweets like "we had a blast working on this project" are just marketing lies, patting clients backs.
6. Management.
The management knows very well what's happening, but prefers to please investors and clients instead of cherishing and supporting the people who are actually DOING the work. The CEO is a "great chap" on the outside, joking and smiling all the time when he happens to be on the floor, but in reality doesn't want to take any responsibility for what's happening. The "always open door" policy is just a mask, because in reality he simply doesn't care and doesn't want to get involved. Legs on the desk while browsing another "Which Yacht" magazine - This is a fact!
7. Unlimited Holiday.
Please let this not cloud your eyes - it's a marketing ploy to give away the responsibility to the workers regarding holidays. I have heard many times from the CEO, managers and "producers" addressing ridiculously long working hours: "but you can take holidays, as much as you want". Unlimited holidays is a system which takes away the hard earned 20 or so days of holidays from all the artists. The Outpost CEO should focus more on how to make our lives better rather than consult with psychologists and investors on how to trick us into thinking we are in a healthy, flexible and caring working environment...
