Show notes
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Hello, Hello!
In this episode, Chris, Nick, and Producer Papa Bear sit down with Jesse Weglein — 15 years at Pixar, now founder of Illuminai Studios — joining live from the foot of Mount Fuji. Jesse worked on Up, Toy Story 3, and Toy Story 4 before a mass layoff ended that run and pushed him into building his own studio. He's using AI as a tool, not a replacement, to make original animated films for audiences the industry keeps overlooking — including his short film Roar, which Whoopi Goldberg picked for the Tribeca Film Festival.
We also talk about:
- The creative culture at Pixar and what makes it impossible to replicate — including how directors would skip watching their own films in theaters to study the audience's reactions instead
- The global divide on AI in animation, from China's breakneck adoption of the technology to Japan's philosophical hesitation around whether AI can carry the "soul" of an artist's vision
- The economic fragility of the animation business model, including the trend of outsourcing animation overseas and how AI might offer a path to reclaiming domestic production jobs
- The importance of traditional art training as the essential foundation before any aspiring animator or filmmaker touches AI tools — and why skipping that foundation produces hollow, soulless content
- The passionate debate around AI's role in filmmaking, including the social policing happening on different platforms, copyright and trademark risks when using AI-generated imagery, and the distinction between using AI to accelerate creativity versus allowing it to replace it entirely
People, Places, Products, and Websites Mentioned:Peoplehttps://illuminaistudios.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lasseterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Catmullhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Docterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Ozhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Stantonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopi_Goldberghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Tippetthttps://www.arch.tamu.edu/directory/people/tmclaughlin/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCarthy_(computer_scientist)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazakihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Langhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiro_Mifunehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Messihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweilhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimovhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dario_Amodei https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
Hello, Hello!
In this episode, Chris, Nick, and Producer Papa Bear sit down with Jesse Weglein — 15 years at Pixar, now founder of Illuminai Studios — joining live from the foot of Mount Fuji. Jesse worked on Up, Toy Story 3, and Toy Story 4 before a mass layoff ended that run and pushed him into building his own studio. He's using AI as a tool, not a replacement, to make original animated films for audiences the industry keeps overlooking — including his short film Roar, which Whoopi Goldberg picked for the Tribeca Film Festival.
We also talk about:
- The creative culture at Pixar and what makes it impossible to replicate — including how directors would skip watching their own films in theaters to study the audience's reactions instead
- The global divide on AI in animation, from China's breakneck adoption of the technology to Japan's philosophical hesitation around whether AI can carry the "soul" of an artist's vision
- The economic fragility of the animation business model, including the trend of outsourcing animation overseas and how AI might offer a path to reclaiming domestic production jobs
- The importance of traditional art training as the essential foundation before any aspiring animator or filmmaker touches AI tools — and why skipping that foundation produces hollow, soulless content
- The passionate debate around AI's role in filmmaking, including the social policing happening on different platforms, copyright and trademark risks when using AI-generated imagery, and the distinction between using AI to accelerate creativity versus allowing it to replace it entirely
People, Places, Products, and Websites Mentioned:Peoplehttps://illuminaistudios.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lasseterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Catmullhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Docterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Ozhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Stantonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopi_Goldberghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Tippetthttps://www.arch.tamu.edu/directory/people/tmclaughlin/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCarthy_(computer_scientist)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazakihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Langhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiro_Mifunehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Messihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweilhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimovhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dario_Amodei https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
