VFX Insiders Podcast

Lesley Robson-Foster started her career in 1980 in the BBC Television design department in London England. She worked on news and current affairs programs as a graphic designer and animator and went on to learn cinematography and directing. In 1990 she was offered a job in Industrial Light and Magic’s commercial division as a director and moved across to the US. She went on to direct commercials, mostly with a visual effects component, for various production companies on both coasts. In 2000 Lesley started directing second unit and acting as visual effects supervisor on bigger projects and eventually went on her own as a freelancer. Since then she has been working in NYC and LA on television series and feature films.

Karen Heston is a VFX Supervisor on feature films.  She began her VFX career fifteen years ago working at commercial houses in New York City on the night shift; while finishing her MFA in Computer Art by day. Starting as a flame artist and moving up the ranks through her music video work and on-set VFX supervising, she began taking projects from start to finish – which is still her passion today; only now on feature films like Beasts of No Nation, Ocean’s 8, and Charlie’s Angels.

Chris Schnitzer has been working in the entertainment business professionally for 37 years. He started as a production assistant on music videos and worked his way into a vice president of visual effects position in the feature film division at Warner Bros. Pictures. He is currently Executive Producer at FuseFX, which has branches in Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver BC, Toronto, Montreal and Bogota, Colombia.

Mara Bryan is a Visual Effects Producer, working freelance within the UK Film industry.  She has over 25 years of experience working in many areas of Visual Effects, in different capacities, and on many different films.  She has also worked within some of the leading VFX companies, including Weta Digital and Framestore.

"Mark Bakowski has been in the vfx industry for more than 20 years. A veteran of the London post houses he now works at ILM London as a VFX supervisor. His credits include Iron Man 3, Gravity, several Bond films, Dr Strange, Aladdin and best of all Birdbox -mainly because of the wonderful people he got to work with on that show!"

Melissa Franco has worked in the VFX industry for ten years. Mel’s diverse skill set and background have led her to wear many hats within the VFX industry. Mel has worked as a Production Manager, VFX Photographer, and occasional Data Wrangler.

Omar Nadir is a Freelance Visual Effects Data Wrangler, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Omar has worked for large production companies such as Universal, Netflix, Amblin and NBC, to name a few.

Nick has been in film for fifteen years, ten of which were in VFX. He started out as a VFX Production Assistant, Data Wrangler and Coordinator.  Nick's current role is a VFX Production Supervisor/Manager. Most recently, he finished production on Birds of Prey for Warner Brothers.

Matteo is an Italian-American VFX data wrangler and writer. Matteo was born in New York and grew up in Italy. He speaks four languages: Italian, English, French and Spanish. Matteo moved to Los Angeles three years ago and has been working in VFX for the past four years.

Jonas Huerta has over ten years of experience in the film industry, five of which were spent as a Visual Effects Data Wrangler. Jonas has contributed to a number of productions including Rampage, The Fast and The Furious 8, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Netflix’s Bird Box, just to name a few.