“Sausage Party” Decision Could Mean Animation Party In Canada Would Be Over

This could cause some stuff to go down sooner rather than later.

Canada Union Local Unifor 2000 complained to the British Columbia Employment Standards Branch for unlawful overtime practices from Nitrogen Studios during the production of Sausage Party. Nitrogen Studios, which was recently acquired by CineSite, will have to pay $500 despite alleging a defense that tried to frame the animation production company as a high-tech company which some courts would maybe have seen as an exclusion. That didn’t fly, and instead, CineSite has to make back pay for overtime hours worked on the hugely successful adult animated CG film starring Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, and others.

Our Take

A bunch of the American-based animation companies outsource their animation production to Canadian companies who use a lot of the similar aforementioned practices. With this win, the “let’s throw everything to Canada” party may come to a screeching halt and could see production being sent to alternate countries who aren’t as subject to unions and standards practices.