By MILLIE TAKAKI
Heralded as a progressive national measure helping high-tech firms-including visual effects and computer animation studios-to deal with a shortage of qualified American workers, the special visa allocation program signed into law last year (SHOOT, 10/23/98, p. 1) has hit a snag in California.
Complaints have surfaced that the California Service Center of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is taking far longer than its counterpart service centers in Nebraska, Texas and Vermont to process H-1B visa approvals for foreign talent. H1-B visas allow firms to hire immigrants for up to six years, provided they are filling jobs due to a lack of comparably skilled U.S. artisans.
According to the INS, California is anywhere from two to six weeks behind the other service centers in processing time. An INS statement read that the government agency is developing procedures "to equalize and maintain processing times … [in order] to ensure a fair process for all H-1B applicants."
But meanwhile, California companies are concerned over losing out on a limited opportunity. The H-1B reform lifted the maximum allocation this year to 115,000 visas. At last count, by the end of February, close to 81,000 H-1B visas had been approved. And the clock is ticking. Some high-tech businesses in Silicon Valley contended that application processing is even slower than the INS is willing to admit, with California lagging as much as two-and-a-half to three months behind the other INS service centers. The fear is that by the time the INS levels the playing field, there will be considerably fewer, if any, available visas for calendar year ’99.
"We’re definitely seeing a dramatic slowdown in processing at the INS [in California]," said John Hughes, president/ CEO of visual effects/CG house Rhythm & Hues Studios, Los Angeles. On the condition of anonymity, execs from a couple of other Southern California-based visual effects shops corroborated Hughes’ assessment. And in one case, a company noted that it has been negatively impacted by the delayed timeline; at press time, that studio was still waiting for approval of a visa for a key artisan who’s needed immediately for a particular project.
As earlier reported, the annual allotment of H-1B visas was upped from 65,000 to 115,000 for each of the next two years (’99 and 2000). The cap then declines slightly to 107,500 in the year 2001, before returning to the original 65,000 limit in 2002. The law was designed as an interim remedy whereby more talent from overseas could help offset a shortage of qualified stateside labor. Both supporters and opponents of the measure generally agree that the long-term solution is to improve arts education and high-tech training so that the U.S. will have a deeper, home-grown talent pool to meet the needs of the digital workplace in the new millennium.
“Smile 2” Tops Weekend Box Office; “Anora” Glitters In Limited Release
Horror movies topped the domestic box office charts and an Oscar contender got off to a sparkling start this weekend. "Smile 2," in its first weekend, and "Terrifier 3" in its second proved to be the big draws for general movie audiences in North America, while the Palme d'Or winner"Anora" got the best per-theater average in over a year.
"Smile 2" was the big newcomer, taking first place with a better than expected $23 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Parker Finn returned to write and direct the sequel to the supernatural horror "Smile," his debut. Originally intended for streaming, Paramount pivoted and sent the movie to theaters in the fall of 2022. "Smile" became a sleeper hit at the box office, earning some $217 million against a $17 million budget.
The sequel, starring Naomi Scott as a pop star, was rewarded with a bit of a bigger budget, and a theatrical commitment from the start. Playing on 3,619 screens, it opened slightly higher than the first's $22 million.
Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation's "The Wild Robot" in its fourth weekend with $10.1 million, bumping it past $100 million in North America. Family films often have long lives in theaters, particularly ones as well reviewed as "The Wild Robot," and some have speculated that it got a bump this weekend from teenagers buying tickets for the PG-rated family film and then sneaking into "Terrifier 3," which is not rated, instead. Either way, Damien Leone's demon clown movie, which cost only $2 million to produce, is doing more than fine with legitimate ticket buyers. It added an estimated $9.3 million, bringing its total to $36.2 million.
"Rumors like that are PR gold," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. "There's... Read More