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Wētā Workshop — Stories from The Lord of the Rings, Four Tenets to Live By, and Untapping Creativity

Richard Taylor is the co-founder and creative lead at Wētā Workshop, which he runs with his wife and co-founder Tania Rodger.

Richard TaylorguestTim FerrisshostGreg Broadmoreguest

Mar 13, 20252h 11mWatch on YouTube ↗

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CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

Creative immortality and the power of physical artifacts
Richard reflects on keeping the sword Sting nearby as a personal talisman and as proof that crafted objects can outlive their makers. He frames the act of making as a way to leave enduring joy behind, connecting artistry with legacy.
- •Richard describes Sting as an “artifact,” not just a prop, and says it gives strength and wonder
- •He jokes it “glows” when challenging clients are nearby
- •He introduces the idea of “creative immortality” through the maker’s work lasting beyond death
- •Tim uses this as a springboard into discussing inspiration and creative origins
Background showdown: Albertosaurus, guitars, and a mysterious dinosaur egg
Tim kicks off with playful banter comparing video-call backgrounds, prompting Greg to explain the Albertosaurus behind him. The conversation detours into how it was acquired as a Kong-era prop and hints at an untold story involving dinosaur eggs.
- •Greg identifies the dinosaur behind him as an Albertosaurus and calls it his proudest possession
- •He explains it was originally purchased as a prop for Kong and later gifted by Richard
- •Tim notes Greg’s wall of guitars
- •Greg mentions a “real” dinosaur egg; Richard teases an acquisition story they don’t have time to tell
Inside Richard’s office: collecting, surrounding yourself with inspiration, and brainstorming at Wētā
Richard gives a quick tour of his office, describing shelves of garage kits and cherished pieces that keep him inspired. He also points to the whiteboard used for Wētā brainstorming and highlights objects tied to colleagues and heroes in the craft.
- •Richard explains his decades-long habit of collecting garage kits made by bedroom/garage sculptors
- •He shows the office’s brainstorming whiteboard used for new creative projects
- •He points out Greg’s designs turned into 3D sculptures hanging from the roof
- •He mentions specific inspiration pieces, including a sculpture gifted by his wife and a Gremlins 2 piece he painted
Early influences: rural New Zealand, Bosch, a mystery sculpture book, and a full-circle meeting in Chengdu
Richard traces his start in sculpture to formative discoveries in his teens, including Bosch’s triptych and a book of sculptures in another language. He describes teaching himself to sculpt with creek clay and later meeting—by chance—the artist behind the book decades later in China.
- •Richard describes growing up rurally with an aircraft engineer father and science teacher mother
- •He recalls buying Bosch’s triptych imagery and realizing fantasy worlds run parallel to the everyday
- •He credits a sculpture book as the catalyst for digging clay from a creek and self-teaching sculpture
- •He recounts a coincidence in Chengdu where he met the sculptor whose work was featured in the book
Mentors and mail: Ray Harryhausen, Dick Smith, and a ‘no secrets’ culture
Richard recounts reaching out to heroes via letters, leading to meaningful relationships with Ray Harryhausen and Dick Smith. He connects those experiences to Wētā’s ethos of generosity—sharing knowledge freely, even with kids calling for practical effects tips.
- •Richard explains Ray Harryhausen’s influence and shows a tribute sculpture
- •He tells the story of visiting Ray in England and later hosting Ray and Diana in New Zealand for two weeks
- •He describes writing to Dick Smith as a teen and being nicknamed the “margarine guy”
- •Richard articulates a principle: “No secrets,” sharing everything they’re asked, including helping kids with fake blood
Sculpting in margarine: breaking in, going the extra mile, and building puppets fast
Richard explains why he worked in emulsified vegetable pastry fat before he had access to better materials. He tells the story of secretly sculpting a puppet of a boss to win a role, and how speed, ingenuity, and relentless effort helped launch early career momentum.
- •Richard explains he didn’t have access to plasticine in large quantities and found margarine/fat workable
- •He learned by hanging out with a hotel chef who sculpted in margarine for diners
- •He describes sneaking photos of a boss to sculpt and cast a puppet as an unsolicited audition piece
- •He recalls building dozens of satirical puppets with improvised mechanisms and emphasizes pushing to the “nth degree”
Tin-foil sculpting as a creativity curriculum—and why making matters
The discussion shifts to Wētā’s hands-on tin-foil sculpting, which Tim describes as surprisingly empowering. Richard frames it as part of a larger mission: making creativity accessible to kids and reconnecting people with craft as a cultural and human necessity.
- •Tim describes learning tin-foil sculpting with a spoon and being surprised by the detail possible
- •Richard says the company now loves making “other makers,” especially encouraging children
- •He argues creative craft is foundational to culture and what endures through history
- •He explains tinfoil and a teaspoon were chosen because they’re widely accessible across socioeconomic levels
From bedroom workshop to 400 people: Wētā’s growth, diversification, and changing film economics
Richard paints a ‘before and after’ of Wētā’s evolution—from a bedroom setup to a multi-division company. Greg adds what makes it feel like a true workshop, while Richard emphasizes staying hands-on, leaning on long-tenured staff, and diversifying as film work changes.
- •Richard describes starting in a flat bedroom with an MDF board on the bed, moving workshops nine times
- •He outlines today’s scale: about 400 people across multiple business centers and offerings
- •Greg emphasizes the tactile, machinery-filled nature of the workshop and openness to new tech
- •Richard explains diversification as protection against fluctuations and notes film has dropped from most of their work to a smaller portion
99 Dodgy Slips / 99 Deadly Sleds: playful constraints, handheld art, and exhibition-making
Greg explains how a Nintendo DS drawing app (with unexpected pressure sensitivity) led to a series of figure sketches that capped at 99 due to a file limit. The idea grew into a public exhibition with paired works, with Richard describing the physical build-out using shipping containers.
- •Greg describes discovering a DS drawing program and making drawings while waiting during holiday shopping
- •He explains the ‘99’ limit came from hitting the program’s file cap, not an artistic stopping point
- •He describes the concept of drawing imagined figures slipping on banana peels as an excuse to explore motion and anatomy
- •Richard describes staging the exhibit in two modified shipping containers and presenting ‘Dodgy Slips’ alongside ‘Deadly Sleds’
Greg’s self-directed education and ‘failing toward success’ as a creative method
Greg recounts being turned down by top art schools, briefly attending another, and resisting traditional fundamentals at the time. He describes learning primarily through doing—preferring uncertainty, exploration, and iterative failure as the path to finding stronger work.
- •Greg recalls being rejected by multiple art schools and briefly attending a small-town art college
- •He describes being happiest painting independently before being pulled into structured training he resisted
- •He says he learns by doing and finds creativity most interesting when he doesn’t fully know how to do it
- •Richard characterizes Greg’s process as ‘massaging’ an image into being through adjustment and play
Flow state, the Auckland mural, and what happens when the muse outruns the legal checks
Greg describes working in a deep flow state on a massive mural and how the best parts felt like waking up to a finished image. He and Richard recount problems created by unconscious creation—like using recognizable likenesses—and the practical steps taken to fix them.
- •Richard describes giving Greg a brief that became a huge mural and says Greg ‘nailed it’ early
- •Greg describes flow as losing self-conscious control and ‘waking up’ when the work is done
- •He admits he included Lemmy without thinking and had to replace it
- •They describe the comedic solution of swapping in Richard’s head after removing the likeness
Getting on the Wētā ‘two-week trial’: unemployment, timing, and the right folio at the right moment
Greg tells the story of joining during Lord of the Rings post-production, after years largely unemployed. A folio featuring dinosaurs and robots caught Richard’s attention as new projects loomed, leading to what Greg jokes is an endlessly renewed two-week contract.
- •Greg says he joined around Lord of the Rings post-production as Kong was gearing up
- •He mentions a live-action Evangelion proposal that never happened
- •He describes sending a folio with dinosaurs, robots, and a comic book that appealed to Richard
- •Greg shares that he’d been unemployed for years and was stunned by the quality/scale of Lord of the Rings, motivating him to try for Wētā
Curiosity, fun, and philosophical ‘grand ideas’: Deutsch influence and Gallipoli’s core concept
Greg cites David Deutsch as an influence, framing creativity as chasing fun and curiosity where problem-solving feels possible. Richard describes how Wētā’s best work starts with philosophical discussion to find a ‘grand idea,’ illustrated through the Gallipoli exhibition’s human-centered, hyperreal approach.
- •Greg explains being energized by ideas about learning through fun and curiosity, and boredom with repeating solved problems
- •Richard describes using philosophical discussion to test the purity of an idea before building anything
- •He explains Gallipoli’s core concept: telling the campaign through intimate connection to a small set of individuals presented at dramatic scale
- •Greg adds sensory impact details, describing the emotional magnitude of standing beneath the hyperreal figures
Speed, scale, and ‘leaping off the precipice’: Lord of the Rings, can-do culture, and Richard’s tenets
Richard describes taking on Lord of the Rings as a decisive leap requiring self-belief, rapid learning, and collective grit. He connects the project’s feasibility to New Zealand’s can-do mindset and shares his four tenets (plus a bonus) as a simple framework for sustained creative work and leadership.
- •Richard describes the workload breadth Wētā took on and the necessity of leaping into uncertainty with self-belief
- •He emphasizes New Zealand’s can-do attitude and the pride of proving what the country could do
- •He shares four tenets: love of oneself, love of what you do, love of who you do it with, and love of who you do it for
- •He adds a bonus guideline: try not to be a ‘dickhead,’ as a practical self-check across contexts
Practical creativity: inquisitiveness, noticing beauty, and ‘just start making’
In his final moments before leaving, Richard answers Tim’s question about cultivating creativity with an emphasis on curiosity and attention. He encourages people to start making in any medium, value craft skills broadly, and view making as a form of legacy.
- •Richard describes using videos as background ‘company’ while he sculpts at home
- •He defines creativity’s core attribute as inquisitiveness—studying the world, not just looking at it
- •He uses the plastic bag scene from American Beauty as an example of noticing and sharing overlooked beauty
- •He encourages making in any craft (including macramé) and connects leaving objects behind to creative immortality
Dr. Grordbort’s and retro ray guns: from nine paintings to a full universe
After Richard departs, Greg explains how childhood love of retro sci-fi led to ray gun paintings that became a collectible line and then an expanding narrative world. He credits Richard’s push for Wētā-owned IP and describes his creative method as following ‘why’ questions rather than rigid planning.
- •Greg describes retro serial inspirations and positions Dr. Grordbort’s as satire more than hard sci-fi
- •He says the ray gun project became real because Richard wanted original IP for collectibles
- •He describes the ‘pretend it’s real’ philosophy—aging objects and inventing backstory like ‘Granddad’s ray gun’
- •Greg contrasts directed creation with exploratory creation driven by successive ‘why’ questions
One Path: post–game-studio reset, a return to basics, and keeping the work ‘pure’
Greg explains how the collapse of his game studio partnership during COVID led him back to a project he could control end-to-end: a graphic novel. He describes One Path as emerging from primal, back-to-the-bush thinking, built through conversation, drawing, and iterative discovery—while consciously avoiding adapting decisions to film/game constraints.
- •Greg recounts building a game studio partnership and then losing the team rapidly during COVID-era shifts
- •He describes choosing a comic/graphic novel because it couldn’t be ‘taken away’ and could be made largely solo
- •He outlines early development as conversations with co-authors and drawing key moments and characters into existence
- •He says he intentionally avoided thinking about adaptations to prevent self-censorship and preserve challenging edges
District 9 and the craft of detachment: designs discarded, rapid iteration, and surviving rejection
Greg tells a hard-earned story from film work: pouring months into designs that can vanish overnight, first with Halo’s collapse and then with major redesigns on District 9. He and Tim discuss the psychological skill of caring deeply while staying unattached, and how speed and repetition help artists keep moving.
- •Greg describes working on Halo concept design and physical builds before the project collapsed entirely
- •He recounts District 9 design pivots, including a built exo-suit concept being replaced after shooting began
- •He describes responding by producing many alternatives quickly, concluding the final direction was better
- •In dialogue with Tim, Greg explains detachment as loving the process while accepting most outputs will be rejected
Influences, ‘truth’ in art, and closing reflections on legacy and motivation
The conversation ranges across Greg’s inspirations—from British comics and Simon Bisley to N.C. Wyeth and Bill Watterson—highlighting how art can expand one’s sense of what’s possible. Greg frames art as a truth-seeking process akin to science, then closes with what changed him most (parenthood) and where to find his work.
- •Greg describes Simon Bisley’s impact as both inspiring and deflating, raising the perceived ‘ceiling’ of skill
- •He and Tim discuss illustrators being mislabeled as lesser ‘commercial’ artists despite mastery
- •Greg argues art is a way of finding or pointing toward truth, using one’s emotional response as an instrument
- •Greg identifies becoming a parent as an instantaneous shift in priorities and time horizon, then points listeners to his website and One Path details before the wrap-up

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