Industrial Light and Magic: What is it like to work at ILM?

I worked at ILM on and off for 12 years, starting with an internship in 1992 and ending with some part-time work that concluded in 2004 (including some overlap with both Mary Beth and Josh, above!). When I started at ILM - as an (uncredited) intern working on Jurassic Park! - the computer graphics group was about 40 people, a small rebel band in the midst of a big traditional effects company that was wary of the new technology. I learned a tremendous amount in my first few years from a series of really great mentors - so much that I occasionally felt my Stanford undergraduate education had taught me little in comparison! And I loved the thrill and challenge of coming up with "something nobody has ever seen before." As computer graphics visual effects became more mature over the 90s, the computer graphics department grew to over 800 people, and the traditional effects work transitioned almost entirely from full-time to contract employees. And the challenges I faced were less often about how to make something never seen before, and more often how to do the same thing cheaper, or faster, or with more control. These are important problems, but they were less interesting to me personally. At that point I realized that I really enjoyed the "new" problems more than refining old solutions, and I decided to go back to school for my PhD. My last production role was as a computer graphics supervisor for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Throughout my time at ILM, I worked with some incredibly talented people at all levels of the organization. Many were (or are) indeed overqualified, and underpaid. (I didn't fully realize how out of whack their compensation was until I really went on the open market myself.) Also, ILM, like the entire visual effects industry, is now suffering from market distortion from foreign subsidies, and lack of clout in Hollywood (no union, no trade organization), so as far as I can tell, the situation seems to have gotten even worse. My summary is that ILM is a wonderful place for young artists to learn from coworkers, but it may not be the best place to make a lifelong career.

In my experience, ILM was not a good place to work. I was there during '98-99, and I was in the software group.  We made and supported the tools the artists used to create their effects. The main downsides of ILM were: A lot of people wanted to work there, so the pay was low. The company was very top heavy.  There were lots of senior people in the upper layers and they never left.  So there was little opportunity for advancement. They made poor use of their personnel talent.  Example: a friend of mine worked there who had a graduate degree from the MIT Media Lab.  She did night shift tape I/O. Artists had very little creative freedom.  Movies are big projects, so they require tight control to achieve a uniform style.  In practice, that means everyone does exactly what the visual effects supervisor says.