Johnny Blick – VFX Guru, Award-Winning Producer, Curiosity Champion

In today’s pod I catch up with the London-based internationally award-winning VFX guru and Producer, Johnny Blick. This pod is a little different to previous episodes as Johnny was keen to mix the conversation up – not wanting to just focus on what he’s been doing offshore (perhaps the bogie of imposter syndrome raising its pernicious head again) but also to look at why so many Kiwis excel internationally. We touch on both the upsides and downsides of forging a career and life outside of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Johnny first left NZ with his family in 1986, swapping Wellywood for Hollywood where he lived with his family in a house whose history stretched from Marilyn Munroe to David Bowie.

We discuss the contrast of Johnny’s move from St Pats – a single sex Catholic boys’ school in Wellington, to the co-ed Beverly Hills High – alma mater to names like Nicolas Cage, David Schwimmer, & Angelina Jolie. Johnny suddenly found himself surrounded by students wanting to succeed, and with peers who expected him to want the same.

This expectation saw him auditioning and securing a place in the auspicious University of Southern California whose alumni include Will Ferrell, George Lucas, Ron Howard, and America Ferrera among others.

We briefly discuss Johnny’s return to New Zealand to work first as an actor, before making a clean move into the world of film and television commercial production. Our conversation cuts between his stellar career – he’s now the Managing Partner of VFX studio Gate+ – and the life of a Kiwi who has put down deep commercial and familial roots offshore. We discuss some of the traits and attitudes that hold Kiwis in good stead internationally and I loved Johnny’s candid appraisal of what he sees as the opportunities for Kiwis abroad, along with some of the things he misses most about Aotearoa New Zealand.

A huge thanks to Johnny for joining me on the pod. Slay the dragon of imposter syndrome!

On behalf of OFNZ, thank you so much for listening.

My huge thanks to the Kiwi Flees for candid conversations, to my sound-meister Robbie and the team at Matrix Digital (Wgtn), and to Kea for promoting the pod.

If you’re a Kiwi Flee or know someone who should be, please get in touch at: kiwiflees@onlyfromnz.co.nz

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