Richard Taylor and Greg Broadmore, Wētā Workshop — Untapping Creativity, Stories from The Lord of the Rings, The Magic of New Zealand, Four Tenets to Live By, and The Only Sentence of Self-Help You Need (#799)

Richard Taylor is the co-founder and creative lead at Wētā Workshop, which he runs with his wife and co-founder Tania Rodger. Wētā Workshop is a concept design studio and manufacturing facility that services the world’s creative and entertainment industries. Their practical and special effects have helped define the visual identities of some of the most recognizable franchises in film and television, including The Lord of the Rings; Planet of the Apes; Superman; Mad Max; Thor; M3gan; and Love, Death, and Robots.

Greg Broadmore is an artist and writer who has been part of the team at Wētā Workshop for more than 20 years. His design and special-effects credits include District 9, King Kong, Godzilla, The Adventures of Tintin, and Avatar, and he is the creator of the satirical, retro-sci-fi world of Dr. Grordbort’s. He is currently working on the graphic novel series One Path, set in a brutal prehistoric world where dinosaurs and cavewomen are locked in a grim battle for supremacy.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Audible, or on your favorite podcast platform.

This episode is brought to you by Seed’s DS-01® Daily Synbiotic broad spectrum 24-strain probiotic + prebiotic; Our Place’s Titanium Always Pan® Pro using nonstick technology that’s coating-free and made without PFAS, otherwise known as “Forever Chemicals”; and AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement.

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Want to hear another podcast episode with a prolific artist? Listen to my first conversation with Todd McFarlane in which we discussed the art of compelling storytelling, meeting deadlines, Todd’s voluminous library of rejection letters, how the industry status quo led to the founding of Image Comic Books, the happy accident that brought Venom to life, spaghetti webbing, competitive bladdering, and much more.

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

• Connect with Richard Taylor:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

• Connect with Greg Broadmore:

Website | Newsletter | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Richard Taylor’s Four Tenets

1. Love of oneself.
2. Love of what you do.
3. Love of who you do it with.
4. Love of who you do it for.
5. (Unofficial bonus tenet) Don’t be a dickhead.

Institutions, Companies, and Places

Movies and Entertainment Media

Books and Recommended Reading

Relevant Resources

• Aura: The Forest at the Edge of the Sky | Haikou International Duty-Free Shopping Complex
• Greg’s Albertosaurus Skull | Instagram
• Thunderbirds Are Go Behind-the-Scenes Tour Experience | TV One Breakfast
• The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych by Hieronymus Bosch | Museo Nacional del Prado
• The Rent Collection Courtyard at 50 Years | USC Pacific Asia Museum
• Dick Smith Special FX Makeup Training
• Richard Sculpting in Margarine | Instagram
• Richard Taylor and Laura Daniels Sculpting in Tinfoil | Instagram
• Creative Workshops | Wētā Workshop
• Alif: The Mobility Pavilion | Wētā Workshop
• Traditional Chinese Medicine Technology and Creativity Museum | GMTCM Park
• Wētā Workshop Unleashed! | Auckland
• The DS Can Do Naked Ladies Slipping on Banana Peels Rather Well | Kotaku
• 99 DS: 99 Dodgy Slips by Greg Broadmore and 99 Deadly Sleds by Christian Pearce | Civic Square, Wellington (2009)
• Greg’s 60-Meter-Long Unleashed Mural | Instagram
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Motörhead
• The (Failed) Neon Genesis Evangelion Live Action Movie Series | EvaWiki
• David Deutsch and Naval Ravikant — The Fabric of Reality, The Importance of Disobedience, The Inevitability of Artificial General Intelligence, Finding Good Problems, Redefining Wealth, Foundations of True Knowledge, Harnessing Optimism, Quantum Computing, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show #662
• Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War | Te Papa
• ANZAC Day WWI Gallipoli Exhibition Designed and Built by Sir Richard Taylor and Wētā Workshop | YouTube
• Military History of New Zealand During World War I | Wikipedia
• The Bug Lab | Wētā Workshop
• Richard Wields Sting from Lord of the Rings | YouTube
• Things We Believe Make Us Kiwi | The New Zealand Herald
• Rocket Lab | Wikipedia
• Dr. Grordbort’s Infallible Aether Oscillators — Where Science Meets Violence
• Brandon Sanderson on Building a Fiction Empire, Creating $40M+ Kickstarter Campaigns, Unbreakable Habits, The Art of World-Building, and The Science of Magic Systems | The Tim Ferriss Show #794
• The Film That Never Was – Halo | Pop Culture Maniacs
• More Legends of Varlata World-Building Concept Art | Facebook
• Images from Simon Bisley’s Bible | Simon Bisley Art
• Silver Warrior by Frank Frazetta | Instagram
• Swamp Demon by Frank Frazetta | Frazetta Art Museum
• Ever Wished That Calvin and Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? Well, He Just Did. | I’m Too Stupid to Travel
• Naval Ravikant and Aaron Stupple — How to Raise a Sovereign Child, A Freedom-Maximizing Approach to Parenting | The Tim Ferriss Show #788

People

SHOW NOTES

• [00:08:51] Albertosaurus vs. bear.
• [00:10:10] The Richard Taylor office tour.
• [00:12:27] How Richard was inspired to begin sculpting.
• [00:15:42] Being influenced by — and meeting — stop-motion legend Ray Harryhausen.
• [00:18:08] Connecting with Dick Smith, the ‘grandfather’ of makeup effects.
• [00:19:17] Sculpting in margarine and breaking into the industry.
• [00:23:57] Tinfoil sculpting and teaching creativity to kids.
• [00:28:00] Wētā’s evolution from a small team to a 400-person creative hub.
• [00:35:57] 99 Dodgy Slips and 99 Deadly Sleds.
• [00:41:43] Greg’s artistic education and unique process.
• [00:46:11] The art must flow! But how does Greg make it happen?
• [00:47:54] The Auckland mural: when flow goes too far and Lemmy has to be replaced.
• [00:48:42] How Greg boarded the Wētā Workshop train after years on the dole.
• [00:51:59] The David Deutsch influence: curiosity, fun, and learning.
• [00:53:05] Philosophizing around art and creative problem-solving.
• [00:54:45] How Wētā’s Gallipoli exhibition makes WWI relevant to modern museumgoers.
• [00:59:04] The challenges of clothing giants and hitting deadlines.
• [01:03:33] How Wētā attacked the massive scale of the Lord of the Rings project with a can-do attitude.
• [01:11:23] Richard’s four tenets (plus one bonus tenet).
• [01:13:39] The unique advantages of operating in New Zealand.
• [01:16:42] The unwavering self-belief of Peter Jackson’s leadership style.
• [01:20:10] Richard’s advice for anyone seeking to cultivate their own creativity.
• [01:23:03] Artistic immortality: leaving a creative legacy.
• [01:24:13] Greg explains the retro sci-fi angle behind his Dr. Grordbort’s and ray gun projects.
• [01:28:55] The metaphysics of creative direction.
• [01:36:09] How Greg’s new book, One Path, came about.
• [01:40:02] Tools Greg used for conceptualizing One Path.
• [01:41:55] Where the curious can see more of Greg’s work.
• [01:43:18] How many destinations does Greg imagine One Path will reach?
• [01:45:02] Why working on District 9 was often frustrating, but ultimately rewarding.
• [01:50:39] How can an artist maintain a healthy detachment from their own work?
• [01:57:35] Greg’s inspirations.
• [02:06:20] What’s Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) up to these days?
• [02:08:53] What is art really about for Greg?
• [02:10:10] How Aaron Stupple changed Greg’s life.
• [02:13:13] Bestiaries, folios, and fondly remembered library books.
• [02:15:39] Parting thoughts.

MORE QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“I have four very simple tenets that I operate by and four tenets that I try and operate our company by. … Love of oneself, love of what you do, love of who you do it with, and love of who you do it for.”
— Richard Taylor

“The first 300 commercial sculptures I did in the film industry were sculpted in margarine.”
— Richard Taylor

“If you think about who are the true immortals in the world? They’re teachers and parents, people that pass information to others to carry on into the next generation. But I do think about artists and craftspeople as being creatively immortal.”
— Richard Taylor

“The thing we love to make today is other makers. We’ve had a lovely and amazing career and we are continuing to do fun and wonderful things every day. But it’s an imperative, and I actually feel that it’s beholden on us to try and introduce as many people as possible, specifically children, into the love of making and creating because it is slipping out of our fingers.”
— Richard Taylor

“Grit is an important component in the journey, not the accolades at the end. It’s the task of getting there that is seen as equal in accomplishment as winning baubles.”
— Richard Taylor

“I realized you need to care about the work deeply, it is your baby. You have to care about it, and if you don’t care about it, the work won’t be any good. So you cannot become cynical to the work, you have to love it, and you have to be able to let go of it.”
— Greg Broadmore

“I love learning by doing. It’s the only way. The act of illustrating or being creative, in general, I find most interesting when you don’t actually know where you’re going exactly, and you don’t really know how to do it. You just throw yourself into it and do your best, and I love that process.”
— Greg Broadmore

“Why choose any creative direction? This is a whole big metaphysical thing. There’s actually, I think, two distinct directions in which people create stories and narratives and worlds. One way is directed where you know where you’re going to go, you know the ending. The other way, which I’ve discovered I do, more often than not, is I’m just chasing these ‘why?’ questions.”
— Greg Broadmore

“What is art about? It is more than just drawing pictures and making stories — it is finding truth.”
— Greg Broadmore

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