<p>Yes but your salary is going to have to be pretty high, speaking as someone who’s done that. Carrying your own health insurance alone can be a huge financial cost so you want to have all your cards and expenses in line before negotiating that independent contractor salary.</p>
<p>The problem with these FX/animation jobs is one similar to other art jobs that become seen as a desirable kind of employment with possibility of large salaries at the end (re the video production I mentioned). Once they become what we used to refer to as “glamour” jobs meaning highly desirable for either the cache and/or possibilities down the road the labor pool increases. You suddenly have a large pool of highly talented people trying for the same number of jobs, hence lower salaries, unpaid overtime, no benefits. Everyone is willing to work very very hard for very little just to get a foot in the door.</p>
<p>Unless there’s a union involved the companies are willing to take advantage of this talented, dedicated labor pool holding the carrot of possible plenty in a few years out. It’s not that it’s not worth doing if you can afford it but it’s a not exactly a new phenomenon. This is why you’ll find that most technical areas that are established have unions, which are usually brought in after everyone is burnt out and sick of working for zippo in a new area. Then it gets hard to get entrance into the union.</p>