Meet Andy Byrne | Founder of RequiemVFX

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

Hi Andy, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I think I’ve always had in my head that I would eventually start my own company. I’ve been a part of creating visuals for Film, TV and Commercial Ads for 20 yrs now. It’s crazy to think that, but it’s also a big part of the reason I decided to start RequiemVFX.

There’s a lot of repetition that goes on with working in the Visual Effects industry. I tend to lose focus and become bored very quickly when something comes easy for me. One of my top 5 biggest fears is being bored in life. It’s because of this reason that I personally set career goals for myself throughout the years as mini challenges. And at the beginning of 2023 I felt like I have hit the ceiling. It was time to just do it as Phil Knight would say.

The only other option was to hang it up and work at Home Depot (still my retirement plan) or to take what my years of experience has taught me and open up my own shop. The fear and self doubt tends to fade away after every project. It doesn’t fade away completely and it shouldn’t. I am always looking for the next challenge and the next “thing.”

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I was told I liked “weird things” as a kid, which.. that’s not wrong. I was very influenced by specific Films at a young age. Some of them you hear pretty often. Aliens trilogy, The Thing, Predator, T2.

Aside from the in-your-face Sci-Fi movies that everyone loves, movies like “The Cell, Se7en, The Game (I just rewatched it) really were the next slew of films that struck a chord with me. These films showed me a new side of story telling that had very intense and sometimes disturbing visuals. It was the first time that I realized that depending on how you react to the visuals in these films.. it can alter the actual story completely. I knew I had to be a part of film making at an early age. As it turns out… I’m just a huge David Fincher fan. Who isn’t?

Once I knew my time at college was not worth the time and effort, I started drawing up a plan. I spent a year emailing a smaller, but well known company back then, in my home town called CafeFX. I begged for an internship. I thought if I spam them enough and say how I will work for free, that it would be a no brainer for them to hire me. This was not the case. I decided I just needed to make the jump. I left college, moved back home and decided to get a job bartending near the studio. I got an inside tip that the staff of this studio frequents the bar quite often on Friday nights. My plan was set.

Every time the staff came in, I introduced myself, my intentions and bought them a drink. I did this for about 3 months. My plan worked out eventually when they finally hired me to work for free based on an internship. I worked 45-60hrs a week at the studio and then I bartended at night. I kept that up for another 2 months or so before the studio started paying me a bit of a salary.

That job was crucial. I realized I knew NOTHING about how something comes together to be a final image or clip in a film. I am so very thankful for starting at the bottom because every time you think you’re making the next step up in your career, you’re immediately humbled with imposter syndrome. It’s a feeling of “the timer has started. Prove to us that we made the right decision on promoting you”
I’ve kept this feeling throughout my career. If someone gives you a chance doing something that is new to your personal wheelhouse of skills… you better do a damn good job for them, for giving you a chance. This builds trust and starts relationships – which is more than half of how this industry works.
I never want that feeling to go away. It keeps you sharp.

My company aims to keep it simple. We all know what we’re doing. We are 100% artist owned. We know how to run post on your film or tv show and we are the ones actually doing it.

Some things I’ve learned from being in this industry so long is that you quite literally have to love doing this. The amount of hours you have to put in at any given time can be unreal. You have to keep on top of so many different software apps to stay on the cutting edge of things. It can be very overwhelming at times.

It’s a very exciting time for storytellers and creative folk. What used to require a 300 machine render farm a couple years ago, can now be equivalent to a handful of very talented artists that know what they’re doing, with a couple sup’d up computers. Technology is moving faster than ever and as story tellers, we’ve always been at the financial mercy of “how are we going to render this?”

It’s very exciting that the pendulum is shifting a bit.

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.
Well, my wife and I just moved to Atlanta area this last June. So, actually.. we’re the ones on the trip!

My wife and have been West Coast people our whole lives. We’re both from the Central Coast of CA. We lived in LA for the majority of our careers and lived in Oregon the last 6 years. We’ve been out here to Atlanta plenty of times, but it is now homebase for us. We absolutely love it. It’s great to be around our whole crew of friends again and to witness a city full of people that are creative and hustling to make their dream come true. I’m a firm believer in surrounding yourself with like minded people to keep you going. It might upset some people here, but it is not as hot as they say out here. The humidity is out of this world, but 90 degrees here feels like you’re in a sauna while 90 degrees on the West Coast is leaving you with crispy bbq’d chicken skin. It’s funny how different it is.

The food that we’ve experienced so far:
O-ku for sushi
Marcels for a fancy steak.
The Optimist for seafood.

To be honest.. all food in the south is good. I just wish there was more Mexican food options. (That’s the Californian in me.)

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There is quite a few people that have helped me throughout the years. My wife Jane. She also has a background in working in VFX and she has quite a bit of awards to show for it. Having her be my side and be supportive throughout these years has been and absolute anchor of confidence for me to keep going and keep taking chances. She is always the voice of reason.

Steve Avoujageli taught me quite a bit early on in my career. I can look back and realize that my time working with him brought me to the next level on how to go about doing things smart. He’s probably one of the smartest VFX supervisor/artists I’ve come across. Just a great guy.

One of my closest friends and mentor Chris Ledoux has been absolutely essential in my life. I’ve known him a very long time now and he was the first one to not just see me as an “artist that is fast” but he was the first one to ask “what do you want to do?” He let me take on supervisor roles on jobs that I loved because he knew I would have a blast doing it and I would always make sure it’s done well. A lot of people can say this about Chris and his company “Crafty Apes” . Out of all the companies I have worked for over the years.. Chris and his brother’s had it figured out with how to treat people and work in this industry. Their track record is proof of that. Chris is one of those guys that is always being sought for advice and I think that’s a huge testament to the respect people have for you and to your character.

Last, but not least, my animation teacher from Cal State Fullerton. 21 years ago he told me I’d never work in VFX . I told him I was not returning next fall because I’m going to tryout for an internship and work for free at a company in my home town of Santa Maria, CA. It was the decision that kicked off my career.

Website: https://requiemvfx.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/requiemvfx/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/requiem-vfx/