Meet William McCormick | VFX Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with William McCormick and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi William, what matters most to you?
My top value is truth, and aligning oneself to the truth of reality even when it is uncomfortable and challenges my beliefs. Reality can often be unnerving, disappointing, and even quite brutal. Especially as a creative entrepreneur, there are many truths that are quite difficult to accept — the market doesn’t need your service, the creative job you desire doesn’t exist or isn’t hiring, the industry attached to your creative skill is toxic and unhealthy, and so on. These harsh truths can also clash with creative types like myself who tend to have a stroke of naive optimism to us — we believe that our creative projects will succeed, that there’s a better way to do things, and that the creative career we chose will work out over the more secure path we may have passed up. The result of this is I have been tempted many times to value my own cognitive bias in the face of new and unsettling information that comes my way.

During college I had my eyes set on working in visual effects for film, and wanted to become a successful VFX supervisor in Hollywood. As spoke to more and more people in the industry, my aspirations felt very threatened by the things people told me. VFX is an ununionized industry, and large vendors have to bid their services at very competitive rates to secure movie contracts. Working my way up to VFX supervisor is a process that could take 20 years, and the path towards it involves very little creative work. The politics of the film industry are very turbulent and much of the supervisor’s job is handling egos and meeting the demands of directors and producers. All of this was very different from the creative and vibrant career in film VFX that I had imagined, and it took me some time to accept that I needed to look elsewhere for my path forward. Now, after meeting many more creatives and hearing about their work, I have my eyes set on switching to the concert visuals and live events space, which seems much more aligned with my passion.

There are plenty of other examples that can apply to entrepreneurs and creatives alike, such as accepting the fact that you don’t have the bandwidth to take on another freelance project, that you need to forego a weekend of social activity to catch up on the work you have to do, or conversely that you need to cut back on your work to make time for mental health and enjoying life. These things are difficult to accept, but looking back on my own life thus far, I can confidently say that it always pays off to grapple with the harsh truths as soon as they come up, and aligning oneself with the facts of reality will result in far more success and peace of mind than resisting them. Now, I hope for the best and prepare for the worst, and I keep one eye on the stars and one eye on the road ahead.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am very early on in my journey as an artist, so everything I say here is with extreme humility, and the lessons I’ve learned are bound to change and develop as I continue to grow in my career.

Getting to where I am was not easy, and if I were to sum up how I’ve achieved my small amount of success, the primary lesson is to always be accountable and complete the work you committed to, no matter how difficult. Plenty of times as a freelance VFX artist I’ve taken on projects that turned out to be far more difficult than I previously anticipated. No matter how difficult, though, I stick with the project to the bitter end. The most challenging of this was a music video I worked on with a tight two-week turnaround. I slept very little during those two weeks and stayed awake for three days at the very end to complete the project on time. Was this healthy? No, Would I do it again? I would avoid it at all costs. But, the fact of the matter is I gave my client my word that I would complete the work as outlined, and I stuck to it. As it turns out, that same client referred me to another brand that is now my most profitable client. If you are a creative or an entrepreneur, your reputation is everything, and your success largely depends on your accountability.

This principle will also make you think twice before accepting various projects that come your way and will ensure that you don’t take on work that isn’t core to your career goals. To sum it up, you have the freedom to make your own choices in life, but you will always be bound to live out the consequences of those choices. Always be aware of this when taking on work.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Some key activities in my itinerary would be: – Go to a silent disco/beach rave in Venice beach. It’s a great way to get out of your body and lose yourself in movement and music.
– See a jam band perform at the Black Rabbit in Hollywood. It’s a small venue, but I’ve never been disappointed by it.
– Get some good KBBQ in Koreatown (saki bombs are a bonus)
– Roller skate the length of Santa Monica to Venice and back
– Salsa Night at the Riviera 31`lounge in Sofitel on Wednesdays is always a good time if you enjoy dancing

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would give a special thanks to my high school art teacher, Michelle Cobb, who taught me not only how to be a better artist, but the importance of work ethic and putting in the time to achieve my goals. Thank you, Michelle!

Website: williamtmccormick.com

Instagram: @w.m.f.x

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/will-mccormick-a34373143