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Conversations with the elected representatives for each Academy peer group
Governors Kevin Blank and Eddie Bonin share insights about special visual effects as a complement to every aspect of storytelling; the importance of collaboration between departments; and the distinction between invisible visual effects and spectacle visual effects.
Click a name below to learn more about our peer-group leaders
Briefly describe what you do.
I am a digital facilitator for filmmakers, including editors, production designers, cinematographers, directors and showrunners. Through visual effects, I help enhance, enable, fix and expand their storytelling tools. I want to share my experience with fellow artists as we expand our footprint in the industry.
What motivated you to become a governor?
I wanted to connect with a broader group within my peer group. This was a great way to meet new, talented people and mutually enhance our professional lives.
What are some of your proudest accomplishments or credits?
Working on Alias and Lost in the 2000s was exciting. What we accomplished with very few resources was genuinely remarkable. Lovecraft Country in 2020 was, I felt, the best work I'd ever done and the timeliest in art imitating life, as the sociopolitical climate was turned on its head. The world changed, and the work changed.
How do you stay informed about emerging trends and developments within your field, and how has that helped support your peer group?
When I have time, I participate in the Television Academy or VES (Visual Effect Society) presentations. I am always grateful for the time and effort others have put into educating our peer group.
What do you hope to accomplish for your peer group as a governor?
The most important thing for me is to expand membership by adding value and meaning by attempting to add perks and wider global appeal.
What do you like most about being a governor at the Television Academy?
Today, connections in the television industry are more critical than ever. As a governor, I’m excited to showcase the Academy and demonstrate how it can elevate careers and foster meaningful relationships. I enjoy bringing people together and can't wait to help others thrive in our vibrant community!
Briefly describe what you do.
I bring visual effects expertise to every state of the television making process — from development and prep to production and postproduction. I collaborate with studios, producers, directors, cinematographers, writers, production designers — even the occasional pet — seeking to elevate their vision with VFX. I provide leadership to my internal VFX departments and my partner department heads on crews. I strive to ensure that the VFX vendor partners I work with are set up for success and then assist in managing them throughout the production process.
What motivated you to become a governor?
I'm inspired by the tremendous positive impact the visual effects department has on creative execution and even the overall efficiency of projects when overseen thoughtfully. When serving on the Academy's Peer Group Executive Committee for Special Visual Effects in 2013, I observed how the Academy can uplift our visual effects community in many ways. In 2022, I decided to take on a leadership role in our peer group by becoming a governor.
What are some of your proudest accomplishments or credits
Within the Television Academy, I'm proud to champion the visual effects community to ensure our voices are heard in broader industry conversations. I’ve also contributed through my work on numerous committees, leadership roles and events — most notably being elected by my peers across all 31 peer groups as a Governors Appointee to the Academy’s Executive Committee. I've also served as cochair of the Advocacy Committee and on the Budget Review Committee, Engineering, Science & Technology Committee, Diversity Committee, Governors Award Committee and Television Academy Honors Selection Committee. Throughout, I’ve worked to balance the unique needs of the VFX community with my responsibilities to the wider television production community.
How do you stay informed about emerging trends and developments within your field, and how has that helped support your peer group?
I stay informed about our visual effects community by remaining curious about what I don't know and by keeping myself accessible to others outside of my network. I learn new things about our industry every week by carving out time to meet with people, read articles shared with me, watch recommended videos and nurture my passion for our exciting field of visual effects.
What do you hope to accomplish for your peer group as a governor?
By the time I term-out at the end of this year, I hope to have provided more value to the Television Academy visual effects community. I hope to achieve this by providing insightful educational forums, valuable networking and career advancement opportunities, improved communication within our peer group community, fair and up-to-date awards guidelines and greater accessibility to our Academy's peer group — not only for established VFX roles, but also for emerging digital roles that can find a home within our VFX community.
I also want to help communicate the value of our visual effects community to the entire television industry, so that the tremendous opportunities that visual effects can bring to other departments are more thoroughly understood.
What do you like most about being a governor at the Television Academy?
The most enjoyable part of being a governor is being able to represent the remarkable visual effects community in conversations and events that aren’t explicitly about the VFX field. Our community is uniquely involved in all phases of entertainment production, from development and preparation to production and post-production. Our community uniquely bridges into many other departments by bringing digital crafts and workflows to others, including directors, producers, writers, performers, technologists, legal, accounting and tax, marketing and beyond. Being part of a team that can merge art and technology, and all that entails, inspires me daily.
Anything you would like to add?
I hope that the membership of the Special Visual Effects peer group of the Television Academy, the VFX membership of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and the membership of the Visual Effects Society will continue to become more integrated as one community of VFX professionals who unite to learn from each other, have fun together, celebrate each other and spread the benefits of working digitally to others outside of VFX. I hope our global VFX and production community can find new ways to stay employed and impactful, both abroad and here in Hollywood.
