Last updated on March 17, 2010
March 15, 2010
4:52 pm: This is pretty much breaking news right now, here’s what my source in Toronto tells me: “C.O.R.E. digital pictures just kicked everyone out and locked the doors. They are in receivership”. Aparently the staff was escorted out today.
That’s all I know so far, if anyone has info to share, contact me at mv@canadiananimationresources.ca
5:10 pm: Word I’m getting is, unfortunately, the same sad old story. Apparently the entire staff was pulled into a boardroom at around 3pm today and told the bad news, they were then escorted from the building. It doesn’t sound like it was an issue of no work, but rather, poor management. RBC is rumoured to have pulld the plug on some financing, which sems to have been enough to kill the business. In what is also, sadly, typical fashion in our industry, the now-former employees are owed money.
I’m inviting the Principals at CORE to comment. If anyone knows Bob Munroe, pass on the invite.
Update, 6:15 pm: Correction: Employees were NOT escorted out.
I’ve just received an email from one of those affected by today’s news, here’s what they had to say:
I don’t want to get into too far details as I am not sure what information is allowed to be released. All I can say is that employees were not escorted out but were asked to take their personal belongings and leave the building after the meeting. Obviously no one immediately left as everyone was saying their good-byes. The information provided on the website is fairly accurate. A meeting was called around 3pm to notify employees of the unfortunate news. As I’ve previously stated, I will not go into details of the reasons but Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal Government played a massive role into the collapse of CORE. It is fact that RBC played a role but let’s just say RBC was the company’s last hope into salvaging the company. Obviously, you know how that turned out.
It is an unfortunate event and I’m very saddened by this. I personally was a contract employee and was a not a full-timer. I express my deepest sympathies for those full-timers and for those who have families to provide for. Can you please keep my ID anonymous as I only wanted to provide facts but not too many details.
All I have now to say is,
F–k Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal Government.
I’ll continue to pass on info as I get it.
UPDATE: 10:05 pm
Not much in the way of new information.
My source has told me that this really did take the staff by surprise. They’ve all been working hard on Nickelodeon’s Planet Sheen. There have been rumours of a Marvin the Martian movie coming up on the horizon, supported by visits from WB staffers. Friday was payday, and no one’s been paid. Approximately 150 people are out of work, and their most recent work, and for some, their best, is unavailable for their demo reels.
Thank you to all who have chimed in with comments and well-wishes for the laid off crew. The best I’ve heard so far was from a colleague on Facebook who suggested we put our energies into finding new jobs for these folks. Yes, there are jobs out there. I posted a number of them last week and will continue to post as many as I can find. To any potential employers, send me your info and I’ll do my best to get it posted promptly.
We’ll have to wait, I guess, to hear from the people in the know. A press release is customary in these circumstances, if there’s anyone left to issue it. I’m going to assume that the principals of CORE were indeed doing what they could to keep things going, right up to the last minute. Sadly, that’s why these things come as a big surprise. Management usually has the best of intentions, it’s not often that people who get into this business relish shuttering their life’s work. But they often don’t put enough faith in their staff. Like well-meaning parents, they try to protect us from the truth, the end result being just this, crew getting blindsided and owed money.
The one piece of advice I’ll offer to whoever may still be able to act at CORE is that you please bust your asses to file your former employees’ ROE’s. You have about 5 days to do so. If you can’t pay them what you owe them, and this is the reality, at least leave them able to file for their unemployment insurance. That’s the stand-up thing to do.
Once again, if anyone has any real information to pass on, please do so.
Good luck everyone.
mv@canadiananimationresources.ca
UPDATE, March 17, 2010, 3:25pm: A number of other news outlets are linking directly to this post for continued coverage of the CORE closure. There has been new information over the last two days, including word from a rather high up Toronto source stating that the McGuinty Liberals were prepared to bail out CORE, but had to refuse after further scrutiny of the company. I also have a more in depth account of the original meeting on Monday that Bob Munroe had with the CORE staffers that offers some insight into why my original source felt such animosity towards the provincial government. The foolow up posts can be found here and here. I urge you all to read them before further commentary.
Thanks,
m
‘Beware the Ides of March’….indeed.
This is crazy. Do you have a press report? What’s the official reason?
As far as I know, there’s been no official announcement to the press. I’m reporting word as I hear it from colleagues in Toronto. I’ve just heard from one of those affected by the closure, so I’ll have another update shortly.
we were not escorted out. it was very emotional for everyone at all levels . I will let CORE release a press release.
I can confirm all of the above. My friend was a contract employee working on Planet Sheen for Nickelodeon. She, along with others, has not received her last paycheque (due last Friday) and is very concerned about getting paid for her last few weeks of work.
Very sad news. How many where employed at CORE?
My friend said 150 people were let go today.
So many happy memories from the time I spent there three years ago. Such sad news 🙁
Assuming that CORE is actually in Receivership, then management’s hands are tied. There are strict rules governing which creditors get paid and in what order. And the reality is that employees are unfortunately near the bottom of that list, not the top. If they were unable to meet the most recent payroll, then the only reasonable assumption to make is that BobM was doing absolutely everything he could to find a way to bridge it, sincerely believed that he could do so but something fell through at the very last moment. I’ve known him since he started CORE. He would do no less.
Not sure about this particular situation but I do know the Federal Conservatives have chosen to withhold and restrict provincial film funding in the past year.
[…] short The Spine, and numerous TV shows and features. Canadian Animation Resources has been following the story and reports that at 3pm employees were called into a boardroom and told that the studio was […]
Liberal government? If that were true then wouldn’t more studios out of business in Toronto?
Sorry but Core was run by inexperienced management and they’ve been hemorrhaging talent for quite a long time since messing up the release date for the Wild. Blaming it on the government is quite hilarious.
I wasn’t aware that Dalton Mcguinty owned/managed this company and ran it into the ground. Sad news all around.
I’m sorry to hear about people losing their livelihood – it’s an even harder pill to swallow in this financial climate with fewer opportunities awaiting the now-unemployed.
I’m curious though as to why this is being labeled as the government’s fault? My only guess is that the anonymous source quoted above is referring to CORE not getting some kind of continued tax breaks or assistance? My company doesn’t get that kind of assistance. Most industries don’t get the kind of breaks that the digital industry has been the beneficiary of. I’m by no means a McGuinty supporter, but maybe the bulk of the blame should rest with the CORE management that couldn’t keep a company in the green without relying on handouts?
Maybe someone can shed some light on this detail?
I won’t wax on the whys and wherefores of the closure. Let’s say insolvency as a consequence of conditions effecting any small- or medium-sized homegrown enterprises in this sector. It is true and it is sad to see this wonderful enterprise come to an end, for both the partners and the employees. The output of this amazingly-functional-but-threadbare business defied possibility. It is truly unfortunate that the creditors and power brokers who could have changed this outcome did not do so. They want their cents on the dollar, I suppose, regardless of the consequences to the lives affected. I wish the outcome was different. I am one of those employees wondering what comes next.
My deepest condolences to my good friends of CORE.
The home is closed but the family lives on.
We were all let go, without our last pay, or our demoreel materials…
“I will not go into details of the reasons but Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal Government played a massive role into the collapse of CORE.”
Can anyone elaborate on this comment?
I don’t blame the liberal government or RBC. They’re protecting their bottom line. I lost my studio with over 100 staff about this time last year, RBC pulled the plug on our line, the government wouldn’t step in to save 100 jobs. Plus prior to that, they wouldn’t increase the tax credit to be on par with other provinces, wah, wah, wah.
In the end, it’s no ones’ fault but the CEO. I certainly take full blame in the downfall of Fatkat. We grew too quick and had too much overhead and we couldn’t change quick enough. Core is no different, I’ve watched them grow and cripes the expenses of running a studio in Toronto, man I wouldn’t want to know what they pay in rent.
You need to have constant deals, constant work in the pipeline. If you have a weak quarter or god forbid a loss in consecutive quarters be ready for the bank to call their lines and loans. Because when you’re in the service business, all you have as security is computers that are out of date and some chairs and that’s worth squat to a bank. They don’t like that. If you have a library of IP well now, that’s a different story I’m sure.
To keep a studio rolling, it comes down to sales, and when sales and the prospect of sales is based on how “low you can go” in price compared to the next province, country or now even state in the realm of competitive tax credits. then you’re shit out of luck and it’s a bad business model. At any given time the government can simply change their regulation on their tax credit and almost overnight put you the hell out of business. (insert studio names here, there’ tons of them I’m sure)
You should not keep a massive overhead of facility, staff or pricy liabilities when your business is based (at it’s core, no pun intended) on government subsidies. It was CORE’s turn to learn this. I wonder who’s next? Ubisoft? EA? Starz? Who knows… it’s sad though. Seems tax credits are this industry’s curse. We can’t live with them and we can’t live without them.
My heart goes out to the crew, I hope you get some back cash out of it. Find out who the directors are through a search in the ontario corporate registry. Perhaps you can find the shareholders and communicate with them. Or if they’re a public company, they must publish their financials and a contact resource. Start researching and sending communications. Keeping copies of the correspondence for you and of course the labour board of Ontario. Start a blog for the ex-employees where you all can post resources perhaps.
Best of luck for you and us all,
Gene.
I should mention after reading what I wrote. That to my knowledge Ontario hasn’t changed their tax credit to the worse in quite a while, actually I believe they’re tops in the nation. So excuse my rant on tax credits. I really have no idea why CORE went out of business. Seems like possible production delays on projects or underfinancing of them. But to go directly into recievership on the same day you lay off your staff, well. ahem. that’s something.
[…] is closing it’s doors and it sounds like people are not getting paid for recent work. Follow their posts to get the latest information and here is a link to a search on Twitter. Comments […]
[…] As mentioned at Canadian Animation Resources, computer animation studio C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures has gone into receivership. The studio was created by Bob Munroe, John Mariella, Kyle Menzies and William Shatner in […]
[…] their posts to get the latest information and here is a link to a search on Twitter. Comments […]
I can’t help but feel echo’s of what transpired at Meteor. My heart goes out to all the artists there. This is the last thing they or Toronto needed.
A year ago the McGuinty government gave $23 million to Starz Animation, a wholly American owned company. To my knowledge the Ontario goverment gave nothing to any Ontario owned animation company to develop their technologies. Perhaps if C.O.R.E. had received something, more of a concerted effort would have been made to manage it better and keep it open.
I feel badly for everyone at Core. It is very difficult to watch everything you have worked for come tumbling down around you. As both an artist and studio owner of House of Cool and Red Rover, Core’s demise is something that hits very close to home.
It’s unfortunate that people are quick to lay blame on management or government. I have yet to meet any manager from any studio who are willfully trying to drive their companies into the ground. The surprising end to a company usually happens as management is exhausting every option to save the company. I highly doubt that Core’s management was any different.
As far as the government’s involvement, I have no knowlege of Core’s situation but the Government’s only goal is to create jobs. They will do it through tax breaks, grants etc. but generally only move when we (the industry) tells them what the best course of action is. Typically the Canadian animation industry will push for tax breaks that makes our services cheaper and more competitive. This is good in the short term because it does make our services more attractive. Unfortunately policies like this cannot work in the long term because eventually someone else will do it cheaper and we start under bidding ourselves and eventually the tax credits become an essential part of the business.
If Canadian animation professionals were serious about protecting other studios from Core’s fate they would lobby the government to support original content and distribution so that we can OWN instead of SERVE.
As an industry, the loss of a big player like CORE is not good. They did great things during their time, and had real ambition. We need people like that. We hope all involved move on and prosper. Perhaps building closer ties between companies in Toronto will help prevent or delay these kind of things occuring.
I’ve seen so many shops get squashed in my time. And every one of them wanted to be the best at what they do. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions… or something like that. Point being no one wants the worst, but s**t happens and bad decisions were obviously made somewhere along the way.
Instead of pan handling at Queens Park, The company’s that survive are the ones who stay humble when times are fat, clip coupons, and keep a kitty for rainy days.
It’s unfortunate that so many artists are now dumped out on the street, probably drinking away the evening. Losing CORE is a bad thing, because it has turned what seemed a barely rebounding industry for artists slam back into the dark ages of just a couple years ago.
Anonymouse – Core didn’t mess up the release date. It was Disney’s decision to delay it. And it was on Disney’s dime, not Core’s.
Clearly, this is a complicated situation. Perhaps an outside-of-the-box approach might be an option: At this time, Toronto is abuzz with C.o.r.e. being in receivership. Bob Munroe, John Mariella and Kyle Menzies, consider this: Instead of allowing a court-appointed representative to determine the fate of your company, enter into negotiation talks, as quickly as possible, with other large Toronto-based Animation Studios. Appeal to one or more of them to act as new creditors on C.O.R.E.’s behalf, relinquish a reasonable percentage of future earnings, and present to the Government of Canada/Royal Bank a strong case for how well financed/supported your company can be. You have as assets a series of potentially successful projects on the horizon. A sister company could save you.
Sad to hear about another creative Canadian company closing down. In my opinion, the television production industry needs a major financial overhaul. Producers are creating the content for the broadcasters but we take most of the financial risk. We have to put up our houses and savings (if we have any) to secure loans to pay our crews, have to wait 60 days or more in some cases to get our invoices paid by broadcasters, then wait a couple years to get our tax credits. Banks used let us assign our license fees and tax credits, but now we have to have money in the bank or in real estate or investments to secure the loans. With broadcasters continuing to reduce the number of series and one-offs that they are buying, and even moving some productions in-house, I believe that many small and medium sized Canadian production companies will be out of business in a year. Then the broadcasters will have an excuse to buy MORE American content because our own creators can’t afford to make television programming anymore.
Well put West Coast Producer. We do take most of the risk and then we are limited in what we can recoup. As creatives we accept this as the toll to get our ideas out.
There are Toronto studios that are still surviving and doing well on their own: Yowza, Switch VFX, Nelvana, Starz. .to name just a few. What is their secret for survival that C.O.R.E unfortunately was struggling to achieve to keep their heads above the water? Good luck to the C.O.R.E. staff and hope you find jobs quickly!!!
[…] http://www.canadiananimationresources.ca.php72-4.phx1-1.websitetestlink.com/?p=1371 […]
I really do feel for em! Same thing happened to a bunch of us Aussies in Melbourne, Australia. The company I worked for just decided to stand everyone down, in October last year. Still our union is fighting for our last week or so of owed pay.
Hope in your case though they look after you. Five months later and I’m still waiting.
Hey guys,
Get onto your union quick smart, these guys will do everything in their power to not give you a penny so get organised and be proactive, fight the VFX blight and give laid off employees a fair go!
case example – Meteor Studios, and in Australia (to many to mention 😉
This is very sad news indeed. My sympathies to those that worked there.
I for one am not going to speculate as to the reasons why yet another studio in Canada has bitten the dust.
It sucks when it happens and really sucks when you are owed cash.
I hope that information gets released soon to quell any rumour mongering as that has the tendency of affecting others reputations unduly.
My heart goes out to everyone at C.O.R.E.. It’s a sad day. I have no doubts that John, Bob, Kyle and Ron did their best to keep the doors open. Best wishes!
“Like well-meaning parents, they try to protect us from the truth, the end result being just this, crew getting blindsided and owed money.”
Ok let’s stop this! Animation artist are not children and should not be treated as such. I have been in numerous studios where the artist have been called “children, kids, kiddies” and its not a term of endearment nor respect, it is a plain and simple insult. When professional artist are called Kid by Management whom in a lot of cases has less experience, less education and in a few cases several years younger it’s insulting. Artist should be treated as partners in the production process and nothing less, let’s us stop this belittlement. The staff at CORE should have been informed about the current financial situation and the fact they weren’t is a great injustice. My best is with the crew and I hope they find fruitful employment elsewhere.
Charlie, I’l happily respond to you directly here, as it’s my quote you’re referring to. I want to be clear here that I’m not condoning the practice. In fact, I agree with you whole-heartedly. I*’ve seen this “parental” attitude myself on more than one ocassion. It’s the wrong way to handle the situation. It comes from the best of intentions, but it doesn’t treat the artist with the respect they deserve. Quite frankly, there are plenty of well-intentioned parents that don’t gie their kids enough credit either.
The Canadian and Ontario government seem to have no lack of funding when it comes to bailing out the automotive industries (although their head offices are in the USA).
The Ontario government had no problem providing funding (and taking advantage of a photo shoot) for Starz (whose head office is in the USA).
But when it comes to supporting a really and truly 100% Canadian studio somehow they have no problem saying NO.
Wake up Canada – we’re loosing our talent and business to the USA and to American companies. It won’t be long before we just become another American state.
I say to McGuinty and Harper – this is just another “ARROW” fiasco and you just don’t seem to care about Canadians who are loosing their jobs. You don’t seem to care about Canadian industries. You don’t seem to care about Canadian talent.
Why bother having rules about Canadian Content when the government just won’t support it! The rules & regulations, the laws, tax breaks and the local economy have made it difficult, however lack of government support was the final blow.
There are a lot of people out of work. We’ve lost a Canadian company – it’s just SO SAD!
I guess if it was a car manufacturer or a bigger company that may have given McGuinty media coverage and a photo shoot op. he would have been there as he was for Starz, and the auto industy!
Sad news indeed – but for those who would blame the RBC and or the Government – Enough! The business failed for whatever reasons internally
and to point the finger at others is nonsensical. The Canadian Film and TV business exists like no other in the world – it is still the envy of the world but as such it is one of the laziest in terms of business structures. The constant expectation and feeling of right to tax credits and other funding has created a business model that has companies like CORE failing at days end because they expanded on other peoples coin and not their own. Good luck to you all finding new more responsible homes.
Enquiry,
You are ill-informed! Nelvana is not ‘on their own’, they were bought by a major corporation, Corus Entertainment. Starz is on ‘on their own’ either, the Ontario government gave them buttloads of cash (to the tune of something like 23 million) only just last year, and they aren’t even a Canadian company!
Yes, there are smaller houses that have survived on their own for sure, no argument there. But how is a North American company supposed to compete with overseas companies when they are bidding for projects? Simple answer is… they can’t. So they bid as low as they can, and if they manage to get a production, they then are forced to lowball on their employees’ salaries, and try to cover themselves however else they can, but their expenses still overextend their income. The intention is to keep work coming in, but the result is sinking deeper and deeper into debt, and eventually it all falls down like a house of cards.
I would say the big problem is those companies who are taking the work over to India, Hong Kong, China, etc. They need to keep their profits up, because they are public companies and have shareholders to please. In the meantime, this practice is eroding the industry here at home, and it will probably only get worse as the overall skill level of the offshore companies increases over time.
My heart goes out to everyone from CORE. This is very sad news.
David Cohen at Variety would love to hear the truth from all of you. He was very helpful in getting the Meteor Employees paid, as Variety is read world wide by all of the top influential people in our business and government.
Things like your unemployment, your income tax documents, and registering with the Local Labor Dept can be expedited by getting the facts out there amidst all the confusion.
It’s also important to the industry to register the reasons why you feel the company failed. This is happening too much these days and there are common threads being revealed. Our industry is still very nascent and will only grow in the right direction if we share our lessons with each other. It helps artists worldwide.
Send you comments to:
david.cohen@variety.com
He’s a man of his word and will keep you identity private if you prefer.
Dave Rand
603 501 9271
Sad news for the crew but how can anyone be surprised? How as an industry are we any different from manufacturing jobs that have left to cheaper countries? Service work is a deadend. It’s a perpetual race to the bottom price-wise and we’ll always be undercut. Neither Government or RBC is ultimately responsible for the collapse of C.O.R.E. No responsible business should be maintained by government subsidies. Like most studios they’ve been dipping into that pot since their inception. It’s not a business if it can’t make a profit on it’s own accord. Maybe if they had paid more attention to developing engaging content they wouldn’t be insolvent. Content ownership is king.
To Tony and others – do you work in the industry or personally know anyone who does?
You may not be aware of what is happening and what has happened over the past years and the changes in government policies that used to help protect our Canadian industry. Only a few years ago Toronto was known as “Hollywood North”, and Toronto was a competitive market. There were even plans for a major studio to open by the lakeshore but that too could not happen due to changes in government legislations & policies. While Arnold Schwarzenegger is supporting the industry in California & providing funding/support – our Canadian and Provincial government has been cutting support. I also question why it chooses to help some studios and not others (preferential treatment clearly, but why I wonder?). The TV/movie/animation industry has been suffering for many years because of these changes and the current recession has only made matters worse! Government is choosing to “bale-out” the automotive industry. Check to premier’s web site if you don’t believe me @ http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/gallery/essays.php?essay=8&Lang=EN The government of Ontario invested $23 MILLION in one company only!
There is definitely a bias to bailing out Starz over supporting C.O.R.E. Starz now uses that as a marketing platform, “we have cash from the government so now we can do it for less”.
I was at the Ottawa Animation Festival last October, and one of the senior owners from C.O.R.E was there promoting his services. His message was that he wasn’t in the business of developing his own content. I think that this is where they made a misstep. If you have proprietary IP, no one can underbid your production. It is the harder path to travel, but in the end it has far more value.
I’m honestly dumbfounded by many of these comments. The lifeblood of an animation studio is in having work (or the potential of new projects) for it’s artists.
CORE was running on a bloated budget, one more suitable for a studio working on a feature film. “The Wild” wrapped in 2006, yet CORE was still spending money like they had a feature in-house.
At the end of the day fingers should be pointed internally. Could Shattner or the Liberal Government have bailed CORE out? sure, but why on earth would they willingly throw money at a hemorrhaging company when it’s ownership was too inept to secure new projects?
To all those who worked at C.O.R.E.
That is terrible news, and I wish I was in a position to hire everyone! Sadly, at this stage, I’m self-employed and not yet ready to expand at all.
It’s scary to think that the stroke of a pen from a politician can make changes so swiftly. I’ve been following Canadian arts across the country quite heavily for an entire year for another project, and we’re seeing the same withdrawal of support to some degree in all arts funding. Despite the great job they did for the Olympics, the arts funding in BC has been dropping all year, and I believe it’s less than 70% of what it was two years ago.
Is their any way we can draw attention to this? I know we won’t see a bailout for animation or the arts on the same level as GM received, but people employed in the arts outnumber autoworkers by 5% in Canada. Artists have a more immediate impact on a recession than almost any other profession.
We need to be heard.
If anybody has ideas or might be interested in pursuing something, give me a shout, brent@toonsmith.ca
And in the meantime, I hope you all find work quickly!
First I want to preface this by expressing my condolences to those who have lost their jobs.
I would also like to clarify some of the misinformation in this thread. Starz Animation did not get a gift from the Ontario government of 23 million dollars. They applied for and received a grant near that amount. The terms behind the grant are that the companies who received the grants were to use the money to create new jobs. Ubisoft also applied for the same grant and they were awarded 800 million.
Also this is not a one time lump sum. It is paid out in installments and there are very strict criteria that has to be met in order to receive any of the installments. One of these criteria is maintaining a certain number of employees. Again creating and maintaining jobs.
While Starz is an American company, the overwhelming majority of the employees at Starz are Canadian. The same will be said for the new Ubisoft studio in Toronto. Even though Ubisoft is a French company the majority of the jobs that this grant will allow them to create will be for Canadians.
So regardless of what some poorly informed individuals want you to think, the Ontario government is not the boogeyman and in no way shape or form caused the collapse of CORE. In fact the money that jobs created from these grants will likely create jobs for most of the people who are affected by this anyways. These jobs wouldn’t and wont exist if it wasn’t for these grants and CORE would still be out of business.
end rant. Thanks for taking the time to read my post and I wish all the best to those now looking for employment.
This is a thread full of some fiction and some fact. Unfortunately, parts of it feel like I’m watching TMZ or something.
For anyone that doesn’t know:
1 Tax credits exist in many countries and many industries. If our government doesn’t help out much of the production will be done anywhere else to countries and states that are also providing robust tax incentives. Many U.S. states have made major moves here recently to try and jump start their own economies and several European countries have sweetened their incentives to lure project there. Canada has to do it to play in the game.
2 And Expat, Starz didn’t get a “b-load of cash” – The company received a rigorously structured development package spread out over a 5 year period to help with R & D, infrastructure and to help maintain and possibly grow the headcount at the studio. Long story short, if the company doesn’t perform, they don’t see any money and they go thru an auditing process before they will see any of this money. The company also had to spend a substantial amount of money and time to apply and prove eligibility so it was no hand out as you suggest.
Let’s hope the crew at CORE can land on their feet soon.
That is too sad. Had great time at core once. I really feel for all of them who were involved with CORE.
Why don’t we have a union.