Back in the late 90s, Allan McKay left his home in Australia to pursue his dream of working in Hollywood. He had no real plan, and up until that point, he had never left the country. But he took the leap and went after it.
Today he works mainly as a VFX Supervisor and FX Technical Director in Hollywood. Some of the more recent projects he’s worked on include Transformers 3, The Equalizer, Star Trek Into Darkness, and The Last Airbender.
But he’s also an entrepreneur who has sold hundreds of thousands of dollars in products and training. Early on in his career, he began creating video tutorials to help people learn visual effects and eventually began selling products and services.
Now, let’s hack…
Allan McKay.
Highlights from the interview
- [05:03]: Allan attributes much of his success to his strong personal brand. When there’s competition, a strong personal brand can help you stand out and resonate with audiences — even in an incredibly saturated industry.
- [13:51]: If you look at people who got big on social media, they tend to be innovators, people who got in on something first. And their popularity takes them far. “There’s this kind of rule, which is the person with the loudest voice and the biggest following will always win.”
- [16:43]: “When you decide to go down the path of being an artist, you got your parents, everyone around you saying give up.” People internalize this cultural attitude that the arts are “useless” or not a real career, and it holds them back.
Resources and links from the episode
Show sponsors
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