Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO.
The company is best known for producing the Star Wars films, and has also produced other box office hits, including the Indiana Jones franchise and American Graffiti. It has also been a leader in developing new film technology in special effects, sound, and computer animation, and because of their expertise its subsidiaries often help produce non-Lucasfilm pictures. Lucasfilm is set to move away from films and more into TV, due to rising budgets.[2] They also have a policy of offering no group discounts to their movies, probably for this reason.[citation needed]
On July 8, 2005, Lucasfilm's marketing, online, and licensing units moved into the new Letterman Digital Arts Center located in the Presidio in San Francisco. It shares the complex with Industrial Light & Magic and LucasArts. They are also best known for The Deep Note and THX.
Lucasfilm has collaborated with the Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney Imagineering numerous times to create rides and attractions centered on Star Wars and Indiana Jones for various Walt Disney Parks and Resort attractions worldwide.
Lucasfilm Singapore celebrates its fifth year in Singapore this year, but each of its three divisions - Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts and Lucasfilm Animation - were started at different times. Lucasfilm Animation itself is divided into feature animation and TV animation, with the former only starting operations last year.
International projects like The Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series, the Iron Man 2 movie and games such as Monkey Island 2 for iPad were handled by the team here.
Ms Chau declined to disclose how much the new facility will cost but said the cutting edge facilities will be planned three to five years into the future. The 38,000 sq m building will include a data centre, a 100-seat theatre, retail shopping on the first floor and two underground levels for parking and services in addition to the eight above-ground levels.
'We don't know how big we're going to grow so we always build facilities that are too big for us,' said Ms Chau. 'In the US, we always fill it, and that's what we hope will happen here, but initially we're going to have to bring tenants in while reserving the right to grow as we need to. That gives us flexibility.'
Lucasfilm is undeterred by the higher labour and property costs here than in neighbouring countries because one of the keys to talent attraction and retention is providing staff an environment in which they want to work and live, Ms Chau said.
'The things that were advantages for Singapore when we first started here are still advantages today,' she said. 'What you want is a place that has good intellectual property protection, great infrastructure and - in Lucasfilm's case - is English-speaking.'
The living environment for staff also has to be attractive for them to want to stay with the company, especially in the case of talent that moves to Singapore to work at Lucasfilm.
'We're in the talent business, and Singapore is a safe and great place to live,' said Ms Chau. 'This won't be a low-cost facility, but it's the right place.'
Roughly half of Lucasfilm Singapore's 400-plus staff are Singaporeans, which Ms Chau says is a much higher proportion than the company expected when it first set up shop here and the local talent pool was smaller.
Lucasfilm Singapore's local talent base was partly built up through extensive in-house training and collaboration with the Economic Development Board to help local schools improve the way they taught animation.
Another avenue was its Homeward Bound programme, which encouraged experienced Singaporean animators working overseas to return here.
In return for its efforts, Ms Chau said Lucasfilm gained employees who were happy to have a reason to return to Singapore and therefore more likely to stay with the company, in contrast to expatriates for whom relocation can be an imposition.
Federal antitrust lawyers announced Tuesday that they have reached a settlement with Lucasfilm Ltd., preventing the San Francisco-based motion picture production company from engaging in anticompetitive employment practices.
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The company allegedly sought to undercut the ability of digital animators to work at competing companies and receive full compensation for their skills.
According to federal officials, Lucasfilm had entered an agreement with Pixar that neither company would try to hire away each other’s employees. The companies also agreed to notify each other when making a job offer to an employee of the other company, and that when offering such a job, not to counteroffer with compensation above the initial offer.
RELATED: Our Top 10 'Star Wars' quotes
The action prevented potential bidding wars for certain highly prized animators.
Justice Department lawyers filed a civil antitrust complaint in federal court in Washington on Tuesday alleging a secret agreement between Lucasfilm and Pixar. They also filed a proposed settlement resolving the charges.
“The agreement between Lucasfilm and Pixar restrained competition for digital animators without any procompetitive justification and distorted the competitive process,” said Christine Varney, assistant attorney general in charge of the DOJ's antitrust division, in a statement.
The proposed settlement, if accepted by the court, would resolve the department’s concerns, she said.
The case stems from a broader Justice Department investigation into anticompetitive employment practices at high-tech companies. Similar settlement agreements have been entered into with companies including Pixar, Google Inc., Apple Inc., Intel Corp., Intuit Inc., and Adobe Systems Inc.
Lucasfilm was founded in 1971 by George Lucas. It has produced box-office blockbusters including the "Star Wars" series and the "Indiana Jones" films.
Digital animators with specialized skills are in strong demand in the film industry. But the complaint alleges that Lucasfilm and Pixar interfered with the price-setting mechanism that would have operated in a free market for highly skilled labor.
The proposed settlement would run for five years and prohibits Lucasfilm from engaging in anticompetitive employment practices in hiring and retention of employees.
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Lucasfilm Ltd. agreed Tuesday to settle civil charges that it and Pixar Animation agreed to limit competition for each other's digital-animation workers, the U.S. Justice Department announced.
The settlement is the latest development in the department's ongoing probe of hiring practices in the technology sector.
Pixar, a unit of Walt Disney Co. (DIS), was not named in Tuesday's legal complaint because it was one of six companies that settled similar charges in September, the department said.
The department's antitrust regulators alleged that Lucasfilm and Pixar, rival animation studios, had agreed not to cold-call each other's employees, and further agreed to notify each other when making an offer to an employee of the other company.
The department also said the companies had agreed, when offering a job to a rival's employee, not to counteroffer with compensation above the initial offer.
The agreement limited competition for high-demand digital animators, depriving them of better opportunities and potentially higher salaries, the department said.
Government lawyers said in court papers that senior executives at the two companies reached the agreement no later than January 2005 and applied it to digital animators and other employees.
Company executives later policed the agreement, with Pixar complaining twice in 2007 about Lucasfilm's recruiting efforts, the Justice Department said.
The settlement will bar Lucasfilm from entering into anticompetitive agreements that limit employee hiring and retention.
A Lucasfilm spokeswoman declined to comment. Pixar did not respond to a request for comment.
Pixar's roots trace back to George Lucas' Lucasfilm studio. Lucas sold his computer graphics division to Steve Jobs in 1986, and the Apple co-founder turned the division into Pixar.
Court documents indicate that Lucasfilm did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
The previous settlement announced in September was the first in the department's hiring probe. That settlement prohibits Pixar, Google Inc. (GOOG), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Intel Corp. (INTC), Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) and Intuit Inc. (INTU) from taking certain actions that limit competition for each other's talent.
Those companies also did not admit any wrongdoing.
The Justice Department has been investigating tech-sector hiring practices for more than a year. The department and technology companies have had differing visions of how far employers should be able to go in agreeing to limit the kind of headhunting that can help valuable employees increase their compensation.
The company is best known for producing the Star Wars films, and has also produced other box office hits, including the Indiana Jones franchise and American Graffiti. It has also been a leader in developing new film technology in special effects, sound, and computer animation, and because of their expertise its subsidiaries often help produce non-Lucasfilm pictures. Lucasfilm is set to move away from films and more into TV, due to rising budgets.[2] They also have a policy of offering no group discounts to their movies, probably for this reason.[citation needed]
On July 8, 2005, Lucasfilm's marketing, online, and licensing units moved into the new Letterman Digital Arts Center located in the Presidio in San Francisco. It shares the complex with Industrial Light & Magic and LucasArts. They are also best known for The Deep Note and THX.
Lucasfilm has collaborated with the Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney Imagineering numerous times to create rides and attractions centered on Star Wars and Indiana Jones for various Walt Disney Parks and Resort attractions worldwide.
Lucasfilm Singapore celebrates its fifth year in Singapore this year, but each of its three divisions - Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts and Lucasfilm Animation - were started at different times. Lucasfilm Animation itself is divided into feature animation and TV animation, with the former only starting operations last year.
International projects like The Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series, the Iron Man 2 movie and games such as Monkey Island 2 for iPad were handled by the team here.
Ms Chau declined to disclose how much the new facility will cost but said the cutting edge facilities will be planned three to five years into the future. The 38,000 sq m building will include a data centre, a 100-seat theatre, retail shopping on the first floor and two underground levels for parking and services in addition to the eight above-ground levels.
'We don't know how big we're going to grow so we always build facilities that are too big for us,' said Ms Chau. 'In the US, we always fill it, and that's what we hope will happen here, but initially we're going to have to bring tenants in while reserving the right to grow as we need to. That gives us flexibility.'
Lucasfilm is undeterred by the higher labour and property costs here than in neighbouring countries because one of the keys to talent attraction and retention is providing staff an environment in which they want to work and live, Ms Chau said.
'The things that were advantages for Singapore when we first started here are still advantages today,' she said. 'What you want is a place that has good intellectual property protection, great infrastructure and - in Lucasfilm's case - is English-speaking.'
The living environment for staff also has to be attractive for them to want to stay with the company, especially in the case of talent that moves to Singapore to work at Lucasfilm.
'We're in the talent business, and Singapore is a safe and great place to live,' said Ms Chau. 'This won't be a low-cost facility, but it's the right place.'
Roughly half of Lucasfilm Singapore's 400-plus staff are Singaporeans, which Ms Chau says is a much higher proportion than the company expected when it first set up shop here and the local talent pool was smaller.
Lucasfilm Singapore's local talent base was partly built up through extensive in-house training and collaboration with the Economic Development Board to help local schools improve the way they taught animation.
Another avenue was its Homeward Bound programme, which encouraged experienced Singaporean animators working overseas to return here.
In return for its efforts, Ms Chau said Lucasfilm gained employees who were happy to have a reason to return to Singapore and therefore more likely to stay with the company, in contrast to expatriates for whom relocation can be an imposition.
Federal antitrust lawyers announced Tuesday that they have reached a settlement with Lucasfilm Ltd., preventing the San Francisco-based motion picture production company from engaging in anticompetitive employment practices.
Skip to next paragraph
Related Stories
National Star Wars Day: Our top 10 Star Wars quotes
'Star Wars' films to be rereleased in 3-D
Credit cards: Will US suit against American Express affect you?
The company allegedly sought to undercut the ability of digital animators to work at competing companies and receive full compensation for their skills.
According to federal officials, Lucasfilm had entered an agreement with Pixar that neither company would try to hire away each other’s employees. The companies also agreed to notify each other when making a job offer to an employee of the other company, and that when offering such a job, not to counteroffer with compensation above the initial offer.
RELATED: Our Top 10 'Star Wars' quotes
The action prevented potential bidding wars for certain highly prized animators.
Justice Department lawyers filed a civil antitrust complaint in federal court in Washington on Tuesday alleging a secret agreement between Lucasfilm and Pixar. They also filed a proposed settlement resolving the charges.
“The agreement between Lucasfilm and Pixar restrained competition for digital animators without any procompetitive justification and distorted the competitive process,” said Christine Varney, assistant attorney general in charge of the DOJ's antitrust division, in a statement.
The proposed settlement, if accepted by the court, would resolve the department’s concerns, she said.
The case stems from a broader Justice Department investigation into anticompetitive employment practices at high-tech companies. Similar settlement agreements have been entered into with companies including Pixar, Google Inc., Apple Inc., Intel Corp., Intuit Inc., and Adobe Systems Inc.
Lucasfilm was founded in 1971 by George Lucas. It has produced box-office blockbusters including the "Star Wars" series and the "Indiana Jones" films.
Digital animators with specialized skills are in strong demand in the film industry. But the complaint alleges that Lucasfilm and Pixar interfered with the price-setting mechanism that would have operated in a free market for highly skilled labor.
The proposed settlement would run for five years and prohibits Lucasfilm from engaging in anticompetitive employment practices in hiring and retention of employees.
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Lucasfilm Ltd. agreed Tuesday to settle civil charges that it and Pixar Animation agreed to limit competition for each other's digital-animation workers, the U.S. Justice Department announced.
The settlement is the latest development in the department's ongoing probe of hiring practices in the technology sector.
Pixar, a unit of Walt Disney Co. (DIS), was not named in Tuesday's legal complaint because it was one of six companies that settled similar charges in September, the department said.
The department's antitrust regulators alleged that Lucasfilm and Pixar, rival animation studios, had agreed not to cold-call each other's employees, and further agreed to notify each other when making an offer to an employee of the other company.
The department also said the companies had agreed, when offering a job to a rival's employee, not to counteroffer with compensation above the initial offer.
The agreement limited competition for high-demand digital animators, depriving them of better opportunities and potentially higher salaries, the department said.
Government lawyers said in court papers that senior executives at the two companies reached the agreement no later than January 2005 and applied it to digital animators and other employees.
Company executives later policed the agreement, with Pixar complaining twice in 2007 about Lucasfilm's recruiting efforts, the Justice Department said.
The settlement will bar Lucasfilm from entering into anticompetitive agreements that limit employee hiring and retention.
A Lucasfilm spokeswoman declined to comment. Pixar did not respond to a request for comment.
Pixar's roots trace back to George Lucas' Lucasfilm studio. Lucas sold his computer graphics division to Steve Jobs in 1986, and the Apple co-founder turned the division into Pixar.
Court documents indicate that Lucasfilm did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
The previous settlement announced in September was the first in the department's hiring probe. That settlement prohibits Pixar, Google Inc. (GOOG), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Intel Corp. (INTC), Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) and Intuit Inc. (INTU) from taking certain actions that limit competition for each other's talent.
Those companies also did not admit any wrongdoing.
The Justice Department has been investigating tech-sector hiring practices for more than a year. The department and technology companies have had differing visions of how far employers should be able to go in agreeing to limit the kind of headhunting that can help valuable employees increase their compensation.
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