Just because you send in your demo reel doesn’t mean that it’s going to be seen by anybody. Even if it does, who says it will be watched all the way through? Most reels are skipped over just because there is one wrong thing on there. We don’t realize that the people reviewing the reels at first may not know much about your industry, or discipline, or the talents you have. They just enter your reel into a database, and when it’s time to hire specific talent, they load up hundreds of reels and for...
Jul 21, 2020•35 min•Ep. 256
People are afraid of being judged but it’s little things that build up over time: For example, if you’re shy, try going out to a bar and talking to people. These are little things you could do to get out of your comfort zone and push through your pain points. It takes trial and error. If it scares you -- that’s good! That means that the more you do this, the less it will scare you. More importantly, you’ll get better at that thing because you’ll have more data to go on. You will know what worked...
Jul 14, 2020•16 min•Ep. 255
This Podcast is in response to someone’s message, “How do I get things done? And how do I stay motivated?” You have to start thinking like a producer. You have to ask yourself the questions, “Where can my time go so I get more bang for my buck? Where can I make the most amount?” It’s about making decisions on where the core of your time goes and what’s your Return On Investment (ROI) is. The more you question these things, the more creative you get. There are different ways you can leverage thin...
Jul 07, 2020•20 min•Ep. 254
Marc Rienzo is a Director, VFX Supervisor and Artist. He has over 20 years of experience of working in visual effects, including for studios like Marvel, Disney, ILM, Weta Digital, Digital Domain, Sony Imageworks, and PDI Dreamworks. He’s been a creative Nuke Artist for 18+ years in both film and commercials. Marc has worked on multiple projects including Spider-Man: Far from Home, Thor: Ragnarok, TRON: Legacy, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Mulan; I, Robot; Beasts of No Nation and many others. H...
Jun 30, 2020•45 min•Ep. 253
There are mixed feelings around the topic of a formal college education versus online courses. Colleges are really expensive and they tend to not be pushing the envelope in terms of what you can do. When you invest in yourself, you want to have access to the best people in the world on any given subject. You want to learn the condensed version of their knowledge in a limited amount of time. Also, it could be cheaper by a thousand times than going to a college. In this Podcast, Allan addresses a ...
Jun 23, 2020•22 min•Ep. 252
Have you ever reached out to someone and asked them for help -- and never gotten a response? This Podcast is about how to get a better result: How do you get people to want to invest in you, especially when they’re busy? When you approach someone, you have to put in the effort to demonstrate that you’ve put the thought into it yourself -- and that you’re committed and that you will see it through. The more you do that, the more the other person is going to come onboard. In this Podcast, Allan ta...
Jun 16, 2020•18 min•Ep. 251
It is so critical to know when you are reaching out to people who are extremely busy. If you put yourself in the other person’s shoes when you communicate with them -- and understand how they’re going to react -- that’s worth its weight in gold. And it helps you communicate better with them, knowing what their needs and problems are. It’s something you have to be strategic about: - How do you get their attention? - How do you get them to read your message? - And most importantly, how do you get ...
Jun 09, 2020•23 min•Ep. 250
Louis Castle Louis Castle is a prolific American video games designer. He is known for co-founding Westwood Studios and for his work on the Command & Conquer real-time strategy series. In 2017, he became the head Amazon Game Studios Seattle. As the co-founder of Westwood Studios, Louis was instrumental in the launch of the C&C series, one of the leaders in the 1990s RTS boom. He co-founded Westwood Studios in 1985. After its purchase by EA in 1998, he held various senior positions at tha...
Jun 02, 2020•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 249
Maxon Computer is a leading developer of 3D software best known for its flagship 3D modeling, painting, rendering and animation software Cinema 4D. Red Giant is a creator of unique tools for editors, VFX artists, and motion designers. In December 2019, the two companies reached an agreement to merge under the media and entertainment division of Nemetschek Group to better serve the post production and content creation industries. Maxon and Red Giant are well known and established in the digital c...
May 26, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 248
Todd Sheridan Perry works in the film industry as a freelance VFX Supervisor / CG Supervisor as well as digital artist, screenwriter, editor and director. He is a classically trained artist, as well as both a traditional and digital animator. His diverse background in video games, film and television has led him to play key roles in projects ranging from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers to Final Destination 5, The Immortals, Men In Black 3, Total Recall, Resident Evil 5 and Avengers: Age of Ult...
May 19, 2020•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 247
Looking back at the beginning of his own career, Allan examines what he should’ve done differently: Instead of sending out his reel over and over, he could’ve been asking for feedback: “I realize my reel sucks. Tell me what an ideal reel would be to you.” The key factor here is empathy. By putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, you’re able to get the most wins. You’re able to start thinking differently: What is it like for them? What are their needs? And what are their pain points? As soon as...
May 12, 2020•11 min•Ep. 246
Looking at other people’s work can be really inspiring. If you’re looking at it from a place of “Where I want to go” -- rather than comparing yourself to everyone else -- you’re going to be fine. If, however, you’re looking at everyone else and thinking, “Why aren’t I there?”, that could be a problem. We shouldn’t compare ourselves to everyone else. You don’t know what struggles they’ve had. You only see the end result but not what it took to get there In order to not get overwhelmed, it’s impor...
May 05, 2020•18 min•Ep. 245
American author, game designer, graphic novelist and screenwriter Jordan Mechner is best known as a pioneer of cinematic storytelling in the video game industry and as the creator of Prince of Persia , one of the most successful and enduring video game franchises of all time. His other games include Karateka, The Last Express, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Mechner began his career as a video game creator in the 1980s in high school in Chappaqua, N...
Apr 28, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 244
How confident are you that your reel is going to stand out of thousands of reels? Where do you stand in that spectrum? This is the big problem: We just send in our reel and we feel that someone owes us a job. And then we get upset when we get rejected. We get frustrated when we don’t get a call. When everyone is applying for the same position on the website, maybe you should be going against the grain. In this Podcast, Allan McKay talks about ways to stand out when applying for a job -- how to t...
Apr 21, 2020•12 min•Ep. 243
There may be things in your life that you find to be a fun hobby. And you think, there is no way in the world to make money at it! And maybe 3D is just a hobby and we tinker with it on the side. But for a lot of us, we call it a hobby because we don’t think there is any chance in the world we could make a living at this thing. A lot of the time, we convince ourselves not to do something because there are so many people out there doing it. So why should we? A lot of times when you think of your h...
Apr 14, 2020•26 min•Ep. 242
In the beginning of our career, we’re really hungry and we want to learn everything: all the tutorials, all the training, we want to learn every part of what we’re doing. However, after we get that first job, everything tends to stop. We think that we’ve made it and we don’t need to continue learning anymore. And a lot of the time, it’s the soft skills that we tend to neglect: Leadership skills, productivity, managing time and business mindsets. It’s only 11% of professionals who continue to see...
Apr 07, 2020•33 min•Ep. 241
Christian Alzmann is a Concept Design Supervisor at Lucasfilm who created the concept drawing for Baby Yoda, along with several other main characters on The Mandalorian . He studied illustration at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Upon graduating he was immediately hired into ILM's Art Department where he eventually became a Senior Art Director. Since then, Christian has worked on numerous film projects including A.I., Men in Black 2, Van Helsing, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars...
Mar 31, 2020•39 min•Ep. 240
Szymon Biernacki is a Freelance Visual Development and Concept Artist based in Poland. He is currently an Art Director at Spa Studios. His credits include being a Production Designer on the movie Klaus. In this Podcast, Szymon shares his insight on becoming a full-time artist, switching careers; the challenges of being a freelancer and working remotely; the hard and soft skills of being a Production Manager; as well as his experience of working on Oscar-nominated animated feature . For more show...
Mar 24, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 239
Corridor Digital is Visual Effects Studio based in Los Angeles. They’re best know for creating short-form viral videos, as well as producing and directing the web series Rush and YouTube Red’s Lifeline. The company has also create tv commercials for companies like Google and Machine Zone. Founded in 2009 by Sam Gorski and Niko Pueringer, the company now produces five YouTube Channels. The Corridor Digital Channel alone has 7 million subscribers. It has won awards at several Streamys, including t...
Mar 17, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 238
Ben Burns is a brand strategist, an award-winning designer and an expert in user experience. As the Digital Director of Blind, he oversees the intersection of design and technology in all client work. He is also the Chief Creative Officer at The Futur. Prior to joining the team at Blind, Ben founded Burnt Creative, a brand experience agency in Richmond, Virginia. He also served on the executive board of the Richmond AIGA chapter as Vice President. He received his BA in Media Arts with a focus on...
Mar 10, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 237
One of the big frustrations that we all have is -- we want more money. Anytime we want a pay bump, we have to wait for our annual review and see if we get a salary increase at our main job. Yet we spend our spare time doing something more creative because we aren’t being challenged at work. We go home to do the work that we find fulfilling in the first place. This Podcast is about is ways to leverage that creative outlet. If you’re already doing something you’re passionate about, here is your ch...
Mar 03, 2020•33 min•Ep. 236
Seth C. Polansky, a contracts, intellectual property and start-up specialist founded his professional firm in 2005. Seth Polansky LLC is a small law firm specializing in art, contracts, corporate, and general personal affairs. Based in Silver Spring, Maryland, Seth Polansky LLC accepts clients from around the world regarding contract, art and IP issues. As an adviser and counselor to business, Seth has repeatedly negotiated successful outcomes with domestic and international entities – including...
Feb 25, 2020•53 min•Ep. 235
The mission of Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies (MARZ) is to deliver feature-film quality visual effects on television timelines by harnessing GPU clusters, game engine technology, AI and senior industry talent. Leveraging these pillars allows us to consistently execute with both speed and quality for our premium television projects. Lon Molnar is the Co-President of MARZ. With more than 20 years of experience, Lon has contributed a vast amount of visual effects to film and television as an artist...
Feb 18, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 234
Matti Haapoja is a YouTuber and a freelance Director of Photography. He has worked with some global brands such as Nike, San Pellegrino, Epidemic Sound, Rhino, and Visit Norway. Originally from Finland, he is now based out of Toronto, Canada. Matti launched his YouTube Channel, originally called Travel Feels, in 2016. Initially, it was a creative outlet to feature his cinematic travel videos. But once he realized that there was a fast growing YouTube filmmaker community, he began sharing his fil...
Feb 11, 2020•53 min•Ep. 233
Vico Sharabani is a Creative Entrepreneur, award-winning Creative-Director, Director, and Producer. He is also the Founder and CCO of The-Artery, a New York based media production company that creates high-end visual content for brands, feature films, commercials, digital experiences, art instillations and more. As one of the most notable Flame artists in the world, Vico is the winner of the first ever Autodesk Flame Award recognizing his vast contributions to the VFX industry over the past 25 y...
Feb 04, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 232
Having unrealistic expectations of yourself -- that everything is going to be flawless and you’re just going to win -- is the easiest way to derail yourself and see yourself as being a failure. It’s these micro wins that we should be celebrating. But how many of us give up on something because we didn’t get traction right off the bat? With that mindset, we’re more likely to set ourselves up to fail. It’s all about perseverance. The people that have success are the ones that didn’t give up. They ...
Jan 28, 2020•15 min•Ep. 231
A lot of us tend to struggle in the beginning of our career. And the thing is a lot of us are clueless as to why that’s happening. You have to start thinking differently. Sending out your reel is just not enough. When it comes to the beginning of our career, it’s about figuring out what else we can do. How can we get that first win? How do we get our foot in the door, no matter what it takes? It’s not about cutting a reel, sending it out and keeping this linear path. It’s about doing whatever it...
Jan 21, 2020•18 min•Ep. 230
Before joining Mr. X, Trey Harrell was a 15-year ad industry veteran. Trey’s forte for balancing the technical with the artistic has garnered numerous ADDY (American Advertising Federation) and New York Art Director’s Club Awards for his work as both an Art Director and Creative Director for broadcast, web and print ads. Trey joined Mr. X in 2010 to work exclusively as the Lead Lighting TD on Tron: Legacy . Supervising the lighting department for many years, he’s been instrumental in re-engineer...
Jan 14, 2020•55 min•Ep. 229
Superheroes, fantastic beasts, dinosaurs of the 21st century, and galaxies undiscovered. Cinesite is an award-winning digital entertainment studio with over 25 years of experience and work on hundreds of film, TV and streaming productions. Its visual effects and animation artists breathing life into filmmakers’ visions. Cinesite’s skilled artists and engineers work closely with filmmakers and studios to achieve the impossible, whether through complex visual effects or conceiving and realizing en...
Jan 07, 2020•53 min•Ep. 228
This is for anyone who wants to get more done in their day or who deals with the frustrations of having a demanding job and family -- and not having enough energy to get it all done. What happens when you have side projects, or if you’re working in a different industry and want to change to another career? Building a reel and looking for work takes time and energy; and a lot of the time, we don’t have any energy left by the end of the day. This Podcast offers some hacks and techniques to get mor...
Dec 31, 2019•31 min•Season 1Ep. 227
