{"id":53133,"date":"2015-03-31T10:00:45","date_gmt":"2015-03-31T15:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=53133"},"modified":"2015-08-24T11:05:22","modified_gmt":"2015-08-24T16:05:22","slug":"life-after-life-after-pi-the-vfx-industry-one-year-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/life-after-life-after-pi-the-vfx-industry-one-year-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Life After &#8216;Life After Pi&#8217;: The VFX Industry One Year Later"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 id=\"has-anything-changed-in-the-year-since-life-after-pi-exposed-the-business-model-issues-facing-vfx-houses-like-rhythm-and-hues\">Has\u00a0anything changed in\u00a0the year since<em> Life After Pi<\/em> exposed the business model issues facing VFX\u00a0houses like Rhythm and Hues?<\/h2>\n<p>Released\u00a0in February of 2014, the documentary\u00a0<em><a title=\"Life After Pi IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt3560628\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Life After Pi<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>chronicled the demise of major VFX studio\u00a0<a title=\"Rhythm and Hues Home\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rhythm.com\/home\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Rhythm and Hues<\/a>\u00a0due to the\u00a0<strong>non-sustainable practices existing between VFX houses and movie studios<\/strong>. Did the issues exposed in <em>Life after Pi<\/em> lead to positive change in the VFX industry? Let&#8217;s take a look at what we learned in the doc and what lies ahead. For your reference, here&#8217;s <em>Life After Pi<\/em>, directed by visual effects art director\u00a0<a title=\"Scott Leberecht IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0495620\/?ref_=tt_ov_dr\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Scott Leberecht<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9lcB9u-9mVE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Billing and Predicting are Never an\u00a0Exact Science<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Every time a\u00a0bid is created for\u00a0a client you<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>have to look into a\u00a0crystal ball. Several years ago <a title=\"Debra Kaufman Author Page\" href=\"https:\/\/leaders.creativecow.net\/leaders\/kaufman_debra\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Debra Kaufman<\/a> wrote <a title=\"VFX Crossroads: Causes &amp; Effects Of An Industry Crisis\" href=\"https:\/\/library.creativecow.net\/kaufman_debra\/VFX_Crossroads-1\/1\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">in an article<\/a> on <a title=\"Creative Cow Home\" href=\"https:\/\/www.creativecow.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Creative Cow<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>VFX facilities have operated for years without standardized contracts and viable bidding practices. They have been and continue to be vulnerable to changes in technology and studio policy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As <em>Life After Pi <\/em>asserted,<em>\u00a0<\/em>many VFX studios use a process known as a\u00a0\u2018fixed bid\u2019. This means each bid is constructed based on the production company\u00a0<em>(<\/em><a title=\"Universal Home\" href=\"http:\/\/www.universalstudios.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Universal<\/a>, <a title=\"Disney Studios Home\" href=\"http:\/\/waltdisneystudios.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Disney<\/a>, <a title=\"Warner Bros. Home\" href=\"http:\/\/www.warnerbros.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">WB<\/a>, etc<em>.)<\/em> giving the VFX studio a rough \u2018blue print\u2019 of the film. So, essentially the production company is saying, \u201chere is what we want to do, and we know changes are inevitable, so you\u2019ll need to account for those changes and include them in the bid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is a lot of estimation and guesswork that goes into trying forecast the future for a bid like this. Right off the bat we should see that using a bidding system such as the current fixed system is <strong>not a solution for large scale VFX projects<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-54073 size-full\" title=\"VFX Crew\" src=\"https:\/\/pbblogassets.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2015\/03\/VFX-CREW.jpg\" alt=\"VFX Crew\" width=\"920\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/VFX-CREW.jpg 920w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/VFX-CREW.jpg?resize=300,163 300w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/VFX-CREW.jpg?resize=768,417 768w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/VFX-CREW.jpg?resize=277,151 277w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/VFX-CREW.jpg?resize=359,195 359w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/VFX-CREW.jpg?resize=543,295 543w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/VFX-CREW.jpg?resize=865,470 865w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/VFX-CREW.jpg?resize=560,304 560w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/VFX-CREW.jpg?resize=150,82 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px\" \/>Image from\u00a0<a title=\"Western Post Home\" href=\"http:\/\/http:\/\/www.westernpost.com\/services\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Western Post<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"2-the-problem-with-cost\"><strong>2. The Problem with Cost<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Next up is the cost of\u00a0creating visual effects. At present, VFX are more than likely going to be one of the most or<strong><em> the\u00a0<\/em>most expensive item on a budget sheet.<\/strong> Unfortunately that cost wont go down, because in order to house the people, hardware, and software needed for VFX work, it will cost large sums of money.\u00a0<a title=\"Mike Seymour IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm1921346\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Mike Seymour<\/a>, co-founder of <a title=\"fxguide article\" href=\"http:\/\/www.fxguide.com\/featured\/a-way-forward-for-the-vfx-industry\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">fxguide<\/a>, said in a recent article:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The early days of the studio system looked much like all the big VFX companies which are folding on a daily basis. They would build huge sound stages, buy expensive equipment, hire employees (actors, directors, tech) and keep them on staff year round to produce movies. The problem was, when they <strong>weren\u2019t producing movies, they were wasting money.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This dead money can happen two ways for the VFX studio. One <strong>is not having work<\/strong>. When you&#8217;re in between projects or bidding on a new project, there is a lot of dead money out there with no revenue coming in. A way to fix this is to have the VFX studio maintain a much smaller staff that consists strictly of managers and directors. You then contract work out and create a bidding process for contractors to come in and work on specific projects while reducing your overhead cost considerably.<\/p>\n<p>Another way VFX studios have dead money is the<strong> overages on current projects<\/strong>. As expressed in\u00a0<em>Life After Pi,\u00a0<\/em>VFX studios have to complete several revisions which takes them beyond the time and material budget in the fixed bid. So the tab for all of this extra time spent on revisions is being picked up by the VFX Studio. So, the real question is <strong>why are VFX studios having to process so many\u00a0revisions in the first place<\/strong>?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-54069 size-full\" title=\"Lord of the Rings Creative Team\" src=\"https:\/\/pbblogassets.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LORDS.jpg\" alt=\"Lord of the Rings Creative Team\" width=\"920\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LORDS.jpg 920w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LORDS.jpg?resize=300,163 300w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LORDS.jpg?resize=768,417 768w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LORDS.jpg?resize=277,151 277w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LORDS.jpg?resize=359,195 359w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LORDS.jpg?resize=543,295 543w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LORDS.jpg?resize=865,470 865w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LORDS.jpg?resize=560,304 560w, https:\/\/vip-go.premiumbeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LORDS.jpg?resize=150,82 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px\" \/><em>Image of Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor from\u00a0<a title=\"The One Ring\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">theonering.net<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"3-lack-of-visionary-leadership\"><strong>3. Lack of Visionary Leadership<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As a filmmaker and visual effects artist, I agree with\u00a0<em>Life After Pi<\/em>&#8216;s assertion about a lack of\u00a0visionary leadership. More times than not, I hear VFX supervisors talk about the lack of face time with the director. It&#8217;s hard to complete anything on time when there really isn&#8217;t any one-on-one time with the director. The smart move for directors would be to <strong>bring the core VFX team in during pre-production and keep a running dialogue going throughout production<\/strong>. By treating\u00a0the VFX team as an invested collaborator,\u00a0<strong>you reduce revisions by a large margin.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Kristy Barkan Profile\" href=\"http:\/\/vfxg.org\/profile\/KristyBarkan\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Kristy Barkan<\/a> made a great observation in her <a title=\"What&#039;s Wrong with the Visual Effects Industry?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.siggraph.org\/discover\/news\/whats-wrong-visual-effects-industry\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">SIGGRAPH article<\/a> when she quoted the film saying:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #222222;\">Studios would not permit a director to shoot for a week or two on set, and then say &#8212; &#8216;Eh, tear down this set and build a new set.&#8217;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A great example of this type of collaborative process is the relationship between <a title=\"Peter Jackson IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0001392\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Peter Jackson<\/a> and <a title=\"Richard Taylor IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0853050\/?ref_=fn_al_nm_2\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Richard Taylor<\/a> of <a title=\"Weta Workshop Home\" href=\"http:\/\/wetaworkshop.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Weta Workshop<\/a>. Jackson has always been good about getting Richard and his team involved early in the process. This is an approach that <a title=\"George Lucas IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000184\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">George Lucas<\/a> had with <a title=\"ILM Home\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ilm.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">ILM<\/a> and the <em><a title=\"Star Wars IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0076759\/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Star Wars<\/a><\/em> franchise.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0BYovvLhy7A?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"4-who-exactly-have-we-lost\">4. Who Exactly Have We Lost?<\/h3>\n<p>As of 2015, each one of the fifty highest grossing films have used some form of visual effects. Nineteen of the top fifty earned\u00a0<strong>more than one billion dollars<\/strong>. Surprisingly, several of the studios that worked on many of these projects are no more. In fact, betwen 2003 to 2013, twenty-one VFX studios either\u00a0<strong>declared bankruptcy, restructured,\u00a0or closed their doors for good<\/strong>. This list includes Rhythm and Hues,\u00a0<a title=\"Digital Domain Home\" href=\"http:\/\/www.digitaldomain.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Digital Domain<\/a>, and <a title=\"Modus Article\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/modus-fx-closes-doors-100-people-laid\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Modus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1970s and 80s, hot on the heels of\u00a0successful VFX-heavy films like\u00a0<em><a title=\"2001 IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0062622\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">2001: A Space Odyssey<\/a><\/em> and <em><a title=\"Star Wars IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0076759\/?ref_=nv_sr_2\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Star Wars<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0there were four VFX powerhouses:\u00a0<a title=\"Apogee info\" href=\"http:\/\/en.memory-alpha.org\/wiki\/Apogee,_Inc.\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Apogee<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"Boss Film Studios wikipedia\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Boss_Film_Studios\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Boss Films<\/a>,\u00a0<a title=\"ILM Home\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ilm.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">ILM<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0<a title=\"Dream Quest IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/company\/co0042356\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Dream Quest Images<\/a>. Today,\u00a0only ILM\u00a0still exists. At present, VFX companies are <a title=\"Hollywood Reporter Article\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/behind-screen\/sonys-vfx-house-imageworks-moving-707582\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">relocating<\/a> due to increased tax incentives outside of Hollywood. Because of this, artists are having to uproot their families and move to new cities regularly.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Studio Daily Article\" href=\"http:\/\/www.studiodaily.com\/2015\/02\/vancouver-expands-vfx-tax-credits-cover-post-production\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Bryant Frazer stated in an article for StudioDaily<\/a> that the current landscape is, &#8220;<span style=\"color: #3b3b3b;\">leaving many U.S. VFX artists out of work, in transit to new Canadian offices, or leaving the industry entirely.&#8221;<\/span> Scroll down to the bottom of <a title=\"Shuttered VFX Houses\" href=\"https:\/\/library.creativecow.net\/kaufman_debra\/VFX_Crossroads-1\/1\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">this Creative Cow article<\/a>\u00a0by <a title=\"Phil Feiner IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0270711\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Phil Feiner<\/a> for an\u00a0eye-opening list of VFX houses that have shuttered since 2002.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"5-how-to-stop-the-bleeding\">5.\u00a0How to Stop\u00a0the Bleeding<\/h3>\n<p>Many industry insiders have different opinions on how to curtail the financial issues facing VFX Studios. Many have called for <a title=\"Hollywood Reporter article \" href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/vfx-town-hall-urges-trade-429245\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Unions or a Trade Organization<\/a> to help level the playing field, but each one of these come with their own set of obstacles &#8211; and <a title=\"Hollywood Reporter Article\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/behind-screen\/vfx-trade-association-dissolved-ends-764724\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">in the case of the Trade Organization<\/a>, fold because of lack of funding.<\/p>\n<p>The first right step might be<strong>\u00a0adopting a time and materials model<\/strong>\u00a0over the problematic fixed bid method, as suggested by <a title=\"A Way Forward for the VFX Industry\" href=\"http:\/\/www.fxguide.com\/featured\/a-way-forward-for-the-vfx-industry\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Mike Seymour in his article on FXGuide<\/a>. The time and material model is\u00a0often used in other professional industries like construction, architecture, and design. The model is easily explained: <strong>a buyer pays a contractor based on work performed.<\/strong> All time and material spent constructing said work is covered by the buyer.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Magnopus - VFX\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/new-vfx-firm-magnopus-sets-672691\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Magnopus<\/a>\u00a0is one such VFX studio that is utilizing this type of business model. Heading up this venture are\u00a0<a title=\"Rodrigo Teixeira IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm1739165\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Rodrigo Teixeira<\/a> and <a title=\"Alex Henning IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm1639884\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Alex Henning<\/a> whose credits include<em> <a title=\"Shutter Island IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt1130884\/?ref_=nm_knf_i1\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Shutter Island<\/a><\/em>, <em><a title=\"The Amazing Spiderman IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0948470\/?ref_=nm_knf_i3\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">The Amazing Spiderman<\/a><\/em>, and\u00a0<em><a title=\"Star Trek Into Darkness IMDB\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt1408101\/?ref_=nm_knf_i3\" target=\"_blank\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Star Trek Into Darkness<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0among others.\u00a0Seymour weighs in on Magnopus&#8217;s chances of success:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The team have worked both sides of the fence, supervisor and supplier, they know all the top studio production executives and many extremely influential directors. In other words, if anyone can pull it off these guys can.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Given the fact the\u00a0MAGNOPUS has already had success working on projects using this model,\u00a0<strong>a solution to the financial pitfalls of the VFX industry<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>may finally be at hand. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Are you working in the VFX Industry? Do you have thoughts on what might turn things around?<\/em><em><br \/>\nLet us know about your experiences in the comments below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Has anything changed in the year since &#8216;Life After Pi&#8217; exposed the business model issues facing VFX houses like Rhythm and Hues?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":53742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3843,715,3293],"tags":[3012,857,1166,3912,1228,3589,473,3825],"class_list":["post-class-post-53133","post-class-post","post-class-type-post","post-class-status-publish","post-class-format-standard","post-class-has-post-thumbnail","post-class-hentry","post-class-category-filmmaking-2","post-class-category-industry","post-class-category-premiumbeat-news","post-class-tag-ilm","post-class-tag-industry-2","post-class-tag-industry-news","post-class-tag-life-after-pi","post-class-tag-vfx","post-class-tag-vfx-houses","post-class-tag-visual-effects","post-class-tag-weta"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.5 (Yoast SEO v21.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Life After &#039;Life After Pi&#039;: The VFX Industry One Year Later<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Has anything changed in the year since Life After Pi exposed the business model issues facing VFX houses like Rhythm and Hues?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/life-after-life-after-pi-the-vfx-industry-one-year-later\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Life After &#039;Life After Pi&#039;: The VFX Industry One Year Later\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Has anything changed in the year since Life After Pi exposed the business model issues facing 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