Episode 200 — Interview with Allan McKay Welcome to Episode 200! I cannot believe we’ve done 200 Episodes! I hope you’re getting a lot out of this Podcast. Please also email me if you have any feedback: [email protected]. In this Podcast, I am being interviewed by D2 Conference’s Fabio Palvelli. D2 Conference brings you […]

Welcome to Episode 199! I’m covering the topic of realism in Hollywood VFX films. This Episode came to be from some comments on my YouTube Channel: Someone was asking if the buildings would explode when the dragons from Game of Thrones would hit them with fire. This is something that we deal with a lot, […]

Welcome to Episode 198! This Podcast is about the subject of selling yourself: It’s a different take on how you see yourself and how you apply for jobs. The key things when people apply for jobs are: Building relationships; Having an urgency around applying for jobs in the first place. Here, I take a different […]

Episode 197 — Should Artists Build a Personal Brand? In this Podcast, Allan talks about the topic of branding. As he’s said before, “You could be the greatest artist in the world! But if no one knows who you are, then how are you going to get work?” This Live Stream because with the question: […]

  Episode 196 — Spin VFX Roundtable Established in 1987, Spin VFX is a creative and technically dedicated visual effects studio producing captivating imagery for feature film and television. Over its 30 years of business, Spin VFX has evolved into an internationally recognized studio working with respected Directors, VFX Supervisors and Producers. Its film credits […]

  Episode 195 — How I Would Start My Career in 2019 This is a Live Stream I did a while back. I walked about what I would do differently if I were to start my career again now. I started my career 25 years ago. I’ve been doing 3D for a bit longer than […]

Enrique Torres is an Emmy Award winning artist with an expertise in VFX, character design and concept design. He has a Bachelors Degree from the Art Institute in Media Arts and Animation. In the past 10 years, he utilized his talents by working within the movie, television and game industries.

 Enrique has worked on films […]

  Episode 193 — Soft Skills are the Best Skills This is replay of a Live Stream I did recently on YouTube where I talked about the levers we need to pull to get ahead in our career and maximize our success. This is a subject that I have talked about in the past. The […]

  Episode 192 — Is the VFX Industry Stable? I want to talk about the topic I get asked about all the time: The state of the industry in 2019 and is the industry stable? I want to dive into this subject because it’s pretty serious, at least for me. I want to answer this […]

  Episode 191 — Private Career Intensive In this Podcast, Allan is giving a peak into a Career Intensive Webinar. This is a session that Allan has done recently inside his FXTD Mentorship Course. Normally, these Webinars are private. This is a chance for you to be a fly on the wall — and get […]

  Episode 190 — Alessandro Ongaro Alessandro Ongaro is a CG Supervisor at Double Negative. With almost 20 years of experience, he is presently considered to be among the CG Industry’s top professionals. Alessandro was born in Switzerland and holds a dual Italian and Swiss citizenship. While studying design at the School of Design in […]

Sergio Paez is a Director and Story Designer who got his start working at companies such as Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Sony. He is also a founding member of Storyboard Art, an online visual story community, with both a content creation and educational focus to further techniques in visual storytelling. In 2012, Sergio authored the book […]

Mariana Acuña Acosta is an entrepreneur who is driven by her passion for new and emerging technologies. Over the past four years, her focus has been in VR, MR and AR workflows, cross-pollination of products; the changing landscape of entertainment and the new ways of creating content. She is the Founder of Jolt VR and […]

  Episode 187 — Derek Spears, VFX Sup Derek Spears is an award-winning VFX Supervisor. His career in Visual Effects started with the founding of Cinesite’s 3D department where he was involved with the production of Kevin Costner’s Waterworld and helped develop Cinesite’s 3D tracking system. Over the years, Spears served as the Digital Effects Supervisor on Face […]

A lot of us find out that when we start to learn an new subject, we read up everything and get basic information, often without knowing how to apply it. By having a set goal, the learning becomes more intense and we have apply it all in a context. It allows us to connect the […]

This is a personal essay on how to level up. I don’t think this Podcast is going to be for everyone; and if doesn’t resonate with you, it might not be the right time for you. I want to cut the bullshit and call it what it is: If you want to fucking level up […]

This is an Episode that has been a long time coming. This is easily the one question I get asked every day: How do I get started in visual effects? Where do I turn? I’m overwhelmed: Which software should I study? There are two ways to answer this question: One: The generic way of “Just […]

  Let’s talk about this situation first: Going into a job interview as a creative means that they have seen your work and they like what they’ve seen. It isn’t that they’re coming in to consider you. It means that they’re narrowing down to a couple people. They just want to know if you’re a […]

David Allen is a New York Times bestselling author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, the first edition of which was published in 2001. He is also the godfather of productivity. He has been a management consultant and a productivity expert. In addition to founding his multimillion dollar company based on the […]

The Harmon Brothers is a marketing firm based in Provo, Utah, that has a history of making viral advertising videos. Founded by brothers Daniel, Neil, Jeffrey and Theron Harmon and CEO Benton Crane, the company creates marketing campaigns that are usually the length of an infomercial — but with a distinct sense of humor. Their […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 180 — Goro Fujita, PART II Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 180! I’m speaking with Goro Fujita about his working for Facebook and Oculus […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Watch The YouTube Version (below) Episode 179 — Aaron Sims Creative Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 179! I’m speaking with Aaron Sims, the Founder of […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 178 — Does Art Actually Pay? Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 178! I’m answering the big question: Is there money in art? This Episode […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 177 — Goro Fujita, PART I: Virtual Reality Movie Making Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 177! I’m speaking with Goro Fujita, Artistic Director at […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 176 — Job Email Teardown Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 176! I’m doing the first ever Email Teardown: Reviewing what works and what doesn’t. […]

 ​I hope you’re fired up and ready for 2019. I survived the in-law’s visit and I got full on good wine and not so good chocolate. But I’m so psyched to get back into work-mode, because already I’m working hard on a lot of new content, training and other great stuff I want to share with […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 175 — Noëlle Triaureau, Vis Dev Artist and Concept Designer Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 175! I’m speaking with Noëlle Triaureau. We’re resuming the […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 174 — Goal Atrophy Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 174! Let’s talk about goals in 2019 — and how to set ourselves up to […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 173 — Pixar’s Animation Sup Gini Santos Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 173! I’m speaking with Gini Santos, one of the Animation Supervisors at […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 172 — Eran Dinur, VFX Supervisor Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 172! I’m speaking with Eran Dinur, a VFX Supervisor for Brainstorm Digital in […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 171 — Cinefex Magazine, PART II Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 171! I’m speaking with the writers at Cinefex. This is Part II of […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 170 — Cinefex Magazine, Part I Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 170! I’m speaking with the writers at Cinefex, on the last 40 years […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 169 — Animator and Director Mike Morris Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 169! I’m speaking Mike Morris from The Simpsons and DuckTales. We talk […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 168 — Pixar’s Andrea Goh Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 168! I’m speaking Andrea Goh, a Layout Artist at Pixar. I’m really excited for this […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 167 — Rory McGregor, CEO of cineSync Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 167! I’m speaking with Rory McGregor, the CEO of Cospective, the company […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 166 — Master Negotiator Brandon Voss Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 166! I’m speaking with Brandon Voss, part of the Black Swan Group. His […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 165 — Weta’s Compositing Lead Cameron Smith Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 165! I’m speaking to Cameron Smith, the Lead Compositor who has worked […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 164 — Justin Leduc — Going Viral, Part II Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 164. I’m speaking to Justin Leduc. This is Part II […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 163 — Justin Leduc — Going Viral, Part I Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 163. I’m speaking to Justin Leduc who is the creator […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 162 — Optimized Learning Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 162! We’re going to optimize learning. Before we get into this, we have a lot […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 161 — The Hustler’s Mindset Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 161! This week, I’m making a deep dive into mindset because it’s the glue […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 160 — The First Step to Your Dream Job Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 160! This is going to be a bit of different […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 159 — Interview with the Creator of Jar Jar Binks Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 159! I’m speaking with Terryl Whitlatch about Jar Jar […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 158 — How to Change Careers After 30 Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 158! I’m talking about changing careers — into Visual Effects or […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 157 — The Hyper Focus Method Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 157! I’m speaking with the bestselling author Chris Bailey about his latest book […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 156 — The One Thing More Effective Than Your Reel Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 156! I’m talking about the one thing more important […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 155 — Directors of the Feature Film KIN Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 155! I’m speaking with Jonathan and Josh Baker, the directors of […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 154 — Q & A with Allan McKay Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 154! I’m doing some Q & A. Before we start, go […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 153 — Ryan Connolly — Making of Short Film BALLiSTIC Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 153! I’m speaking with Ryan Connolly from Film Riot, […]

  Click here to listen on iTunes! Get on the VIP insiders list! Check out www.VFXRates.com. Upload The Productive Artist e-book. Allan McKay’s YouTube Channel. Allan McKay’s Instagram.   Episode 152 – More Than One Kind of Demo Reel Hey, everyone! This is Allan McKay. Welcome to Episode 152: Going through the evolution of your demo reel and […]