Speakers 2018

Brad Kalinoski, grew up in West Virginia believing for the longest time there was no way to fulfill his dream of working in art, film and entertainment.  At first, he thought of completing a career in the medical field, but after almost 10 years working in a 350-bed hospital in Huntington WV, he decided it was not his career choice, and not his dream.

Deciding to take a chance, and as cliché as it sounds, he quit his job in 1995, and with his wife’s blessing, went to buying books from the freshly new Amazon.com. Brad began studying and creating camera, lighting, color, and a demo reel that he and his wife would take with them as they set out to find their dreams in Los Angeles. Literally, two weeks after arriving in North Hollywood, CA to stay with his friend and wife’s cousin, John Wallace III who was working at Film Roman, (AKA the Simpsons), he landed a job in the Visual Effect industry working with the Academy Award-winning Dr. Mark Sagar (Academy of Sciences Academy Award winner).

Brad has worked with other well-known names in the entertainment on over 80 films and tv shows.  He is currently finishing work on Kansas City for Amblin Entertainment, Dolly Parton Theater, and some other surprises that are coming.

Brad took that chance of moving to California where at that time, everything happened in the entertainment industry, to pursue his dream and his love of working in the entertainment industry as a digital VFX artist, producer, and someday, director.

Today Brad works in many aspects of Visual Effect as a VFX Supervisor, Producer, and artist. He has been nominated for a BAFTA Award for his work on Black Swan and for two VES Awards (Black Swan and Lost the final season) as compositing supervisor. Brad has worked on some of the largest shows in feature and episodic history including The Walking Dead, season eight. He has also worked on shows that have won Emmy’s, Academy Awards, and BAFTAs.

Today Brad continues his work as an artist/supervisor with Chris LeDoux’s company, www.craftyapes.com, and has settled in the new Atlanta GA office, where he works alongside his wife, also a VFX artist and producer and science fiction fantasy writer, where they create and develop at Atlanta’s largest VFX Company supporting visual effects for all realms of films and television.