Weta Workshop

Saw Richard Taylor again on Tuesday. The first time was at Comic-Con 2005. That man is such a great person, so down-to-earth, and a master of his craft. He is the head of Weta Workshop. Just to clarify, I work at the division called "Weta Digital." The difference is that we make the computer effects for movies, and Weta Workshop makes the practical effects (miniatures, costumes, physical models, props, etc.).

The first time I met Richard Taylor was in San Diego, for the 2005 Comic-Con International Convention. I was just walking along the exhibits floor and saw him randomly and walked up to him and said "hello." He was extremely nice and even though he was pressed for time (had to go to a meeting in Los Angeles two hours later by car - that's a 3 hour drive!), he took the time to talk to me. I spoke to him about the craziness that I was experiencing at the time with Narnia overtime at Rhythm & Hues. He totally understood and wished me good luck. As we were walking, a few die-hard Lord of the Rings fans recognized Richard and ran up to us holding their posters up. I let him borrow my sister's sharpie and he signed their posters. Finally he said he really had to leave, so as he started walking away, I walked with him and asked him if I could trouble him for his autograph. He said "of course!" and wrote in my autograph book, which is back home in LA.

Almost two years later, I got to visit Weta Workshop since I work as an employee of Weta now, and Richard Taylor was there ! I don't think he recognized me, but maybe if I ask him if he ever got to Los Angeles in time from Comic-Con that one July in 2005, he might remember. Regardless, he was still the nicest man on Earth when he greeted us and welcomed us to the company (we are relatively new to Weta), and shared some of his tales of working on various features including Rings, Kong, and Zorro. I'm not allowed to say what we saw, but it was pretty crazy seeing and touching icons from movies we've grown to love and idolize. I wonder what it'd be like to work in a sculpting/model-making environment. But for now I'll stick to what I know - digital.