Kim Thompson Steel

Kim Thompson Steel grew up in the suburbs of Toronto. As a kid she loved drawing and Saturday morning cartoons. She studied traditional hand drawn animation at Sheridan College. A fortuetous studio visit from Steve "Spaz" Williams led to a Summer internship at ILM in 1992 just as Jurassic Park was gearing up. She later returned to ILM as an employee in the commercials division. She also worked on numerous feature films including; Men in Black, Flubber, a couple of the Star Wars prequels, AI, Galaxy Quest, and some of the Harry Potter films. Today she lives in Marin with her family and runs her own business. https://kimthompsonsteel.com

Guy Hudson, Kim Thompson Steel, and Sandra Scott in ILM Commercials back in the mid 90’s.

Indira Guerrieri

Indira Guerrieri (named after Indira Ghandi) was born in Rome. Her parents were both deeply involved in the arts. Her father even worked on the script for the classic Italian Neo-Realist film "Bicycle Thieves". She attended university in the US, eventually earning an undergraduate degree in Art History. She returned to Europe and worked for a time on a PaintBox system at a local company. When an opportunity to sign up for the Erasmus Programme in the EU came up she signed on and learned a host of computer graphics skills. She worked for a time with SoftImage doing demos and training and eventually landed a job at ILM on Casper as a Technical Director. Her career has taken her all over the world on all kinds of commercial, film, and special venue projects. Today she lives in California and works remotely with a team in New Zealand. It was so much fun catching up with Indira and hearing about her amazing journey.

Indira suited up to serve as a background extra for a shot in the Mummy.

Ed Kramer, Indira, Vince Tascano, and Eric Krumrey all ready for some Mummy extra action at ILM.

Indira’s old student ID card.

Amelia Chenoweth

Amelia Chenoweth grew up in the East Bay. After high school she attended Brown, graduated from RISD, and had a very brief stint in grad school at Art Center. She began her career at Chaos in San Francisco where she was hired to work as a technical director. She was later hired to work on Casper at ILM. She's also worked for Weta Digital in New Zealand, Sony Imageworks, and Pixar. Amelia shares her story of working in the industry from a young age. Her many credits include; Casper, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Contact, Deep Impact, The Mummy, The Frightners (at Weta Digital), Men in Black 2, the Pixar short Lifted, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Super 8, Star Trek: Into Darkness, and Black Panther. 

She's been a great friend for 25 years and it was a blast catching up with her. 

Wes Takahashi, Lisa Todd (on the RZ350), Amelia Chenoweth, and Mark Chu leaving Skywalker Ranch after lunch and headed back to ILM on Kerner.

Amelia, Christophe Hery, and colleagues in the courtyard at Kerner.

Amelia

Kurt Nellis

Kurt Nellis joins me this week to talk about his career in visual effects and games. Kurt's credits include; Matrix: Revolutions, xXx: State of the Union, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and King Kong. Kurt shares his story and how he broke into the industry. He's worked at ESC Entertainment, ILM, and Weta Digital. A few years back, he transitioned to working in games at Bungie in Washington state. We discuss the state of the industry and the exciting fusion of visual effects and games.

Kurt and Yoda getting it done.

Dave Carson

Dave Carson first got into movies as a kid watching the inspiring work of Ray Harryhausen in films like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. He joined ILM in the late 1970's to work on the original Empire Strikes Back as a model maker and storyboard artist. That initial job opportunity developed into a full-time position where Dave went on to work on numerous films including; Dragonslayer, Return of the Jedi, Star Trek 3, Goonies, Enemy Mine, Young Sherlock Holmes, Willow, Witches of Eastwick, Hook, Jurassic Park, Casper, and Titanic (to name just a few...). In the mid 1990's Dave served as Visual Effects Supervisor on the Special Editions of Empire and Jedi. He eventually left ILM and went to work at Electronic Arts where he spearheaded groundbreaking work bringing a visual effects and cinematic sensibility to multiple game projects.

Dave's career is a master class in the history of visual effects and the development of new techniques and tools. He approaches all his work with the eye of an artist and shares some great memories from his incredible career.

Dave in the creature shop at ILM sculpting a mask for Return of the Jedi.

Mike Corcoran

Mike Corcoran is one of the funniest people I know. He and I started at ILM around the same time in the early 1990's. Mike shares his story of becoming a creature TD and how he worked hard to maximize every opportunity. With great managers and mentors he's travelled all over the world working on some amazing projects including: Mission Impossible, Mighty Joe Young, King Kong, Tin Tin, Prometheus, Black Panther, and many others. Most recently Mike was hired by DNEG as Global Workflow Architect (Creatures). Mike and I have a bourbon infused chat about the old days, old friends, classic cars, music, and the often wild journey of an accidental career in visual effects. 

Mike and Darth sharing a moment.

Mary Payne

Mary Payne started her career as an intern at Skywalker Sound working with Randy Thom. She later came to ILM and worked her way up from computer graphics production assistant to lighting technical director. Today she lives, most of the time, in mainland China working as Executive Producer at BASE where she recently wrapped up work on their feature animated film, Wish Dragon. Mary shares how she worked her way up by diving in head first and learning new skills at every step.

Mary in the Technical Assistant trailer talking shop and helping to get shots across the finish line.

Young Mary way before her days at ILM.

Stefan Dechant

Stefan Dechant started at ILM as an intern in the art department. His career trajectory is a wild one and takes him from ILM to a highly successful career working above the line as a Production Designer.

Stefan talks about working with Rick Carter and how networking and professional relationships have kept him gainfully empolyed on numerous film projects including; Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump, Waterworld, Jarhead, Avatar, Kong: Skull Island, Pacific Rim: Uprising, The Tragedy of MacBeth, & Pinocchio (to name just a few). 

Talking with Stefan was a blast. His affable, humble personality and enthusiasm for his work comes through in this fun and informative conversation. 

George Hull, Mark Moore, & Stefan Dechant (eyes closed) in the art department at ILM April 14, 1995. Apparently belts were a must have part of the uniform.

Ed Kramer

Ed Kramer started his movie and television career using an analog video computer called Scanimate, and later worked as a sequence supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic. His film credits include: The Mummy, Galaxy Quest, The Mummy Returns, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Twister, and Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man’s Chest. Today Ed lives in Colorado where he teaches computer graphics and is working on a feature documentary on the early days of CG entitled, Wizards of Hollywood.

Ed working with Indira Guerrieri on the scarab beetle sequence in The Mummy (1999)

Miles Perkins

Miles Perkins grew up in Berkeley, California. He starting playing the bass in elementary school, later playing in various jazz combos and eventually with his own band, Mingus Amungus. He studied philosophy at UCLA and got a job working nights at Skywalker Sound. After college he began work at ILM in San Rafael and eventually became the Director of Marketing and Communications. When Lucasfilm was purchased by Disney, Miles took on the job of Head of Corporate Communications during the transition. Today Miles works at Epic Games leading business development for the Unreal Engine for use in virtual production. Our chat is dynamic and wide ranging, diving deep into creativity, philosophy, inspiration, motivation, personal connections, and the universal power of narrative. 

Miles hanging out with fellow musicians in the cantina.

Miles with Cuba Gooding Jr. during the press tour for Red Tails.

Playing chess on the Falcon with Artoo.

At the White House with Dennis Muren, George Lucas, Cliff Plummer, & Chrissie England.

With Al Roker at ILM in the 90’s. VFX Supervisor John Berton in the background.

In the hall of ILM’s Presidio location with a couple of troopers.

Miles at the Palace of Fine Arts with Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee.

Patricia Rose Duignan

Patricia Rose Duignan (Rose) worked on the original Star Wars at ILM after having been introduced to George Lucas by John Dykstra back in 1975. She’s had an amazing career helping to bring some incredible projects to fruition. After graduating from Stanford she began a long and illustrious career. Her credits include: Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica (1978), and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. She co-authored the 1996 coffee table book, Industrial Light & Magic: Into the Digital Realm, has served on the board of directors for the Visual Effects Society (VES), and has spent several years working to create dynamic and robust mentoring programs for young women and people of color to get involved in the visual effects business.

Rose, hard at work on Star Wars. Bruce Nicholson on the left and George Lucas on the right.

Rose posing with George Lucas in the archives. Photo by Terry Costner.

Mo Husseini

Mo Husseini was born in Egypt, grew up in Jordan, attended boarding school in the UK, and moved to the San Francisco bay area in the late 1980’s. He attended classes at UC Berkeley, apprenticed with various filmmakers and artists, and eventually landed a job at ILM in the commercial editorial group. Mo shares his stories of luck, the generosity of others, the Dunning–Kruger effect (uh-oh), and his amazing post-ILM career. Plus, he’s a super smart and kind human. Was great to catch up with him for the show.

Mo with Commercials Producer Paul Hill on Mo’s last day at ILM.

Laurel Woods

Laurel Woods worked at ILM and Lucasfilm for 7 years in the 90’s. She is one of my dearest friends. Her story is incredible and includes; a dad who owned strip clubs in LA, Star Wars, UCSB, working as an office assistant at Playboy, ILM computer graphics, Lucasfilm, a murder for hire, visiting prison on holidays, MTV, stalking Carrie Fisher, SCUBA diving, Tunisia, writing a memoir, and working for CORE in LA doing COVID-19 testing.

Laurel’s journey takes her across the US and around the globe. She’s easily one of the most incredible people I know. 

Laurel Woods and George Lucas at the Lucasfilm holiday party circa 1995.

Terrence Masson

Terrence Masson has had an incredible career. He's worked on 20+ feature films as well as many “special venue" interactive, broadcast commercials and video game projects. Some highlights include three Star Wars movies, getting SouthPark started and the world's largest interactive digital Etch-A-Sketch. Terrence is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Visual Effects Society and has been active in SIGGRAPH since 1988, including as the 2006 Computer Animation Festival Chair, the 2010 Conference Chair, and Outstanding Service Awards Chair.

Terrence's enthusiasm for the craft is infectious. Today he works as Chair of the MFA program in Computer Arts at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York.

C-3P0, Terrence Masson, & R2-D2

Old ILM electronic slate from a shot Terrence worked on from “Hook”.

TMAN (Terrence’s old ILM email handle) appearing on ABC.

A classic early image of an ILM computer graphics division desk/office set up. Oh the glamour.

Elle Chan

This week I talk to Elle Chan. Elle worked in the commercials division at ILM for five years in the early 1990's. She talks about growing up in Rochester, NY, how she came to ILM, and the amazing success she's created since leaving and starting her own company, Trademark Event Productions, Inc. 

Elle Chan and Clint Goldman in the ILM Commercials production office in the old D building at Kerner.

“This was pretty much every day summed up in a single frame.” - Elle Chan

TyRuben Ellingson

On episode two, I chat with my good friend of 28 years, TyRuben Ellingson. Ty has worked as a visual effects art director, concept designer, director, producer, fine artist, and now educator. His story is a fascinating one and his impressive list of credits include; Jurassic Park, Avatar, Star Wars: Episode IV (The Special Edition), Casper, Disclosure, Hellboy, Blade 2, Mimic, Elysium, Pacific Rim, and Battle Los Angeles. Today Ty and I work together again in higher education at Virginia Commonwealth University in the School of the Arts in Richmond, VA. 

Ty working on a trompe l'oeil style painting that used to be the first thing visitors saw when entering ILM (Kerner Company Optical Research Lab) in San Rafael, CA. Note the airbrush in the bottom right!

Kim Bromley

The premiere episode of 8111 with Kim Bromley. Kim worked as a Visual Effects Producer at ILM for 14 years. Her credits include, Willow, Back to the Future 2 and 3, Hudson Hawk, Hook, The Nutcracker, Disclosure, Twister, Speed 2: Cruise Control, Small Soldiers, Saving Private Ryan, Cremaster 2, and Galaxy Quest. She has also worked in documentary film and as a highly successful theatre director. I've always looked up to Kim and learned so much from her. She is the first guest I wanted to talk to. 

Kim Bromley (In Lounge Mode) on location as VFX Producer for ILM on Galaxy Quest.