Visual Effects: "A Model of Madness" w/ Scott Ross

Can a Visual Effects studio survive only on film work? "Absolutely not!" 

Scott Ross is an important part of the history of Visual Effects. He was manager at ILM, Senior VP at Lucasfilm, Chairman & CEO of Digital Domain and one of the Founding Members of Visual Effects Society. He summarized his experiences and a part of the industry's history in his book “Upstart”. In our episode we trace a line from the cloistered halls of ILM and Lucasfilm through the founding of Digital Domain, across the rise of digital pipelines and into today’s inflection point of Agentic AI.

Most artists aren't core creatives in visual effects.

Scott’s three-legged-stool test is still the fastest sanity check for any show or facility. If technology dazzles but cash burns, the shop tips. When finance is tight but creative authority is outsourced, the frame suffers. If creativity is strong but tech lags deliverable specs, you ship compromise. The “fixed bid for the impossible” contract structure is as dangerous now as it was then. As AI moves from assistive to agentic, we need to write scopes, schedules, and authority trees that assume fewer hands on more decisions and still protect image integrity and human sanity.

Finally Scott warned against believing one’s own hype: If you want to be a core storyteller, develop those muscles; if not, your skills will be valuable across medicine, manuals, advertising, and beyond, especially as visual communication saturates every industry.

Watch the full episode with Scott Ross:

Read Scott Ross's Book "Upstart: The Digital Film Revolution. Managing the Unmanageable" to dive even deeper into the visual effects industry.

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