Show notes
Episode Notes
Can AI animation get an independent creator to 80%? Patrick McCarthy thinks it can, for the concept. Getting to 100% still takes people. He's a self-taught animator and Family Guy storyboard artist, and his rule is simple: use AI to get an 80% concept out, so that when the money comes you can bring in the talent that finishes it.
Patrick tells Cody how his Stewie Potter spec animation, a Family Guy and Harry Potter mashup, went viral and reached the show's team, how Family Guy turned him down twice anyway, and how he ended up there for what he says is now seven years. He explains why he thinks the entertainment industry isn't a meritocracy, and why animation is harder to fake.
Then he walks through Paraland, the fantasy comedy world he's been building since 2011: three heroes based on himself, his wife and his best friend, a Seinfeld-style comedy that keeps escalating, and seasons with themed titles like Season of Doom. He wants it to feel like the Pokémon he grew up with, one world you watch, play and collect, so it's planned as an animated series, a VR game and a collectible toy game. He describes the 3D-printed prototype for the toy game and why he hired a 3D artist to get the character exactly right.
On AI, Patrick thinks both camps in the online fight are wrong. He says AI is opening doors for independent creators that were closed five years ago, but it still drops too many small details for a finished product. He predicts AI video prices will rise the way Uber's did, and that in ten years most people will barely touch AI models. Cody, an AI optimist who runs a 3D print farm, pushes back with local models and home manufacturing.
They also cover why VR is still in its arcade era, what Patrick thinks Meta should have done with Elder Scrolls 6, full-dive VR, Cody's AR game idea, what anime fandom gets right, and why the generational war is really old ideas against new ones.
Chapters:
0:00 AI animation gets you to 80%. Then what?
1:14 Meet Patrick McCarthy
2:29 The truth animation doesn't want to admit
4:01 Hot take: meritocracy isn't possible
7:05 From viral spec animation to Family Guy
11:25 Has Family Guy gone on too long?
13:31 Disney, Doctor Who and losing the original heart
17:02 How to keep a story going across seasons
22:29 What is Paraland?
27:32 Patrick's Game of Thrones prequel
30:25 Why Paraland is more than an animated series
33:28 Why VR?
36:28 Why not Kickstarter: crowdfunding with Reg CF
38:33 How Paraland is funding the show
41:28 Fandoms that never get to build on their worlds
43:31 The life cycle of every entertainment medium
45:28 Where Meta went wrong with VR
48:00 The Oasis: the future of full-dive VR
52:42 Why is it so hard to get anything made?
55:28 AI gives creativity back to creators
57:00 An AR game alongside the show
1:00:00 What anime fandom gets right
1:02:01 The AI debate: an optimist's view
1:07:37 Big Tech, paywalls and the gatekeepers
1:12:28 Will regular people actually use AI?
1:14:32 Hot take: the generational war
1:17:33 Final advice and where to find Patrick
Guest:
Patrick McCarthy
Paraland: The Prologue: https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/paraland-the-prologue
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PatrickMcCarthyAnimations
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quirkykidani/
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This conversation shares experience and opinions. Patrick's views are his own and don't speak for Family Guy or its studios. Predictions about AI pricing, VR and the entertainment industry are the speakers' opinions. Patrick talks about his plans to raise money for Paraland through equity crowdfunding; that's his description of his plans at the time of recording, not an offer, and not investment advice. Contains explicit language.
Chapter note (package only, don't paste): these times are the public YouTube chapters and line up with the local SRT within about 10 seconds. The candidate MP3 is the same length as the local render. Recheck them against the final Pinecast master. Drop the chapter block if the master's sponsor reads, cold open or ending differ. If you trim the Reg CF segment, the 36:28 and 38:33 chapters and everything after them will move.
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