The Allan McKay Podcast

Main Road Post is a visual effects production studio based in Moscow, Russia, since 2006. The studio has produced visual effects for many international films, including Wanted, Stalingrad, The Night Guard, Attraction. It has also worked on the Opening Ceremony for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. A year ago, the company implemented Scrum, a team-based workflow that a lot of Silicon Valley companies use. In this Episode, Allan McKay talks with the CEO of Main Road Post Arman Yahin about the company’s history and films; as well as their philosophy on project and team management. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/87/. 

In this Podcast, Allan McKay interviews Laura Vanderkam, the bestselling author of What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, I Know How She Does It, 168 Hours and several others. A graduate of Princeton University, she worked as a journalist before becoming interested in the subject of productivity. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and many other publications. Allan and Laura discuss the subjects of time management, productivity, working from home; and tools for making your lifestyle more fulfilling -- and your work more efficient. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/86/. 

In this Episode, Allan McKay interviews Philippe Leprince, Senior Field Engineer at Pixar Animation Studios. He currently works as an Engineer on the RenderMan Software. Philippe has a Lighting and CG background and has worked at Framestore and Double Negative, and many other big studios. Among his many credits are feature films like Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Framestore); The Dark Knight and Inception (Double Negative).  Allan and Philippe discuss the benefits of being a well-rounded artist, the importance of small details, tips for having a successful job interview and much more! For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/85/. 

Dennis Mejillones is a Senior Character Artist at Bethesda Game Studios. He is responsible for creating models for characters like Sole Survivor, Preston Garvey and most all the robots in Fallout 4. During the course of his career, he has also worked on Skyrim, Call of Duty: The First Modern Warfare, Borderlands, Shadows of Darkness. Independently, he created the characters of Undead Warrior and Sentry Bot. In this Podcast, Allan and Dennis talk about mentors, the best mindset and skills for growing as an artist, the importance of fitness and much more! For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/84. 

In this Episode, Allan McKay interviews Catherine Sas, an Immigration Lawyer at Sas & Ing Immigration Law Center in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She is the leading immigration practitioner according to Lexpert, Who’s Who Legal and Best Lawyers in Canada. Catherine has been voted Vancouver’s Best Immigration Lawyer every year from 2012 through 2016. In this Episode, Allan and Catherine discuss the procedures of applying for Canadian Work Permits, Study Permits, Visas, Permanent Residency; as well as the best route to pursue work in Vancouver, the current capital for visual effects.   For more show notes visit http://www.allanmckay.com/83/

Edwin Braun is the CEO and co-founder of Cebas Visual Technology, the developer of Thinking Particles for 3DS Max, as well as other plugins. Cebas’ software has been used in a number of influential films such as Lost in Space, 2012, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Harry Potter.  In this Episode, Allan McKay talks with Edwin Braun about his co-founding the company with Achim Smailus in 1988, in Heidelberg, Germany; and the journey of Thinking Particles through the decades of change and the new demands of the VFX industry. Check out the show notes at www.allanmckay.com/82/

In this Podcast, Allan McKay interviews Wirginia Romanowska, a VFX Lead for id Software. Wirginia's extensive experience as FX lead at id software on Doom, as well as working on many other major titles around the world. Wirginia shares many insights into her experience. After graduating with a Masters Degree in Engineering from a university in her native Poland, Wirginia’s first job was working on the title sequence for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, at Eurocom in the U.K. She then moved to Singapore to work on Assassin’s Creed 3, at Ubisoft. Since joining the team at id Software she has worked on games like Doom, Far Cry 4, Watch Dogs. In this Episode, Wirginia talks about her decade-long experience in visual effects, working abroad; and shares insider tips on successful demo reels and job interviews.   for show notes, visit http://www.allanmckay.com/81/    

So one subject commonly coming up is all about hardware! Inside of the FX TD Mentorship, Troy Buckley who's part of my team, helps out a lot of people building hardware specs and figuring out what hardware they should buy depending on if they need generalist work done, or simuatlions etc. So you have the ultimate bang for your buck. Troy's originally a student of mine IN the FXTD Mentorship, but he's shown so much passion and care, and shared so much knowledge in there (like a lot of people) that bit by bit he's organically evolved into being someone I work with closely on a lot of ideas for extra things we can do inside of the course etc. and Helps me out a lot. This episode dives into everything you need to know about hardware. Missed something? Got something to add? Leave a comment Show notes are at http://www.allanmckay.com/80/    

This episode dives right into a subject that we all are probably guilty of not applying. Eyes glazed over during book consumption, clicking away on Facebook while watching tutorials, or playing around on our phone during lectures. How do you watch, read, listen to information and absorb it, retain it, and apply it? This episode is focused on a lot of core fundamentals Allan applies to his learning, as well as many well documented and proven approaches to keeping your core knowledge. http://www.allanmckay.com/79/ for show notes    

Jeff Okun is a Visual Effects Supervisor who has worked on wide-ranging effects in award winning films such as Blood Diamond, Stargate, Sphere, Red Planet, Deep Blue Sea, The Last Starfighter, and many more. His career spans for nearly four decades. In addition, Jeff is Chair of the Visual Effects Society, a global community of visual effects artists and businesses. Jeff was fundamental in starting the VES 2.0 initiative which brought together studios, facilities and artists to explore new business models, pipelines and technologies. Jeff has also created and co-edited the VES Handbook of Visual Effects, a 980-page reference book covering all aspects of creating visual effects, techniques and practices. for show notes visit http://www.allanmckay.com/78/