Why a Live-Action Producer Took the Leap Into AI | Toby Walsham, Made By Humans
In this episode of Technically Creative, Orlando Wood sits down with Toby Walsham, founder of Imagine This and Made By Humans, to explore what happens when an experienced live-action producer embraces generative AI and builds a creative studio around the technology.
Toby explains how Made By Humans grew out of Imagine This, a production company founded around three principles: making production fun, being multidisciplinary, and innovating. The conversation looks at the decision to launch an AI roster, the concerns around how the advertising and production industries would respond, and what Toby has learned from actually putting generative AI into commercial creative workflows.
They also explore the relationship between AI and traditional production. Toby remains deeply committed to live-action filmmaking and the experience of being on set, while also seeing enormous creative potential in emerging AI tools. Rather than treating the two as competing approaches, he talks about building an ecosystem where new technology, experienced producers, creative talent, and traditional production can exist alongside one another.
More broadly, Orlando and Toby discuss what it means to experiment with AI while the creative industries are still figuring out their relationship with the technology. How do you innovate without losing the craft and culture that made you want to work in production in the first place? How do you introduce something new when you know parts of the industry may resist it? And when is taking the risk more important than knowing exactly where it will lead? It is a conversation about production, experimentation, creative entrepreneurship, and Toby’s simple motivation for building Made By Humans: he would have regretted not trying.
Orlando and Toby Explore:
- How Toby Walsham went from live-action production to building the AI creative studio Made By Humans
- Why Imagine This was founded around making production fun, being multidisciplinary, and embracing innovation
- What it was like launching an AI roster while the advertising and production industries were still deeply divided about generative AI
- How AI production and traditional live-action filmmaking can exist alongside each other
- Why experienced producers, creative talent, and traditional craft still matter in AI-driven production
- Why Toby believes experimenting with AI was a risk worth taking, and why he would have regretted not trying
To Learn More About Imagine This Creative Studio:
Imagine This Creative Studio
Technically Creative by KoobrikLabs explores how technology and AI are transforming the creative industries.
CHAPTER MARKERS
[00:00] From live-action production to building an AI creative studio
[04:18] The idea behind Made By Humans
[08:47] Why launch an AI studio now?
[13:26] The industry reaction to generative AI
[17:54] What an AI creative studio actually does
[22:31] Bringing experienced production talent into AI
[27:08] How clients and agencies are approaching AI production
[31:42] AI, craft, and the changing production workflow
[36:15] Where AI works and where live action still matters
[40:38] Why producers remain important in an AI workflow
[44:52] Experimenting with AI without abandoning traditional production
[49:17] Building Imagine This around innovation and multidisciplinary talent
[53:36] Making production fun again
[57:48] How Made By Humans fits into the wider Imagine This ecosystem
[01:01:12] Why Toby would have regretted not trying
TRANSCRIPT
Orlando (00:00.128)
before the chat about Made By Humans. I did ask, what’s your ambitions for Made By Humans? Yeah, well, no, no, no, I’ll do it sort of where we put it at the end. the last question was, where do you want Made By Humans to go in the next five years? So why don’t I just ask something that could either go before or after that saying, obviously with Made By Humans, that’s one thing, but you’ve got this broader ecosystem. Tell me about what your hopes and goals are for that.
Toby Walsham (00:02.752)
Okay, yeah, like like almost like it’s an intro? Okay. Let me think then.
Okay.
Toby Walsham (00:13.944)
Sure.
Toby Walsham (00:26.274)
Great. Yeah, I mean you’re absolutely right that you know, we whilst made by humans is this a really exciting new business that we launched.
Imagine this was the you know the the first business that we started and it was I was n never setting out to build a network or multiple businesses, it just started that way and what has slowly become apparent is that there’s lots of brilliant things that we want to do as a team and the team grew from four people and went you know we’re now ten partners around the world of you know staff and and the rest of it. And we founded Imagine This kind of on on three main pillars, and that was now I’m gonna get my pillars.
wrong. make production fun, be multidisciplinary and innovate. And when we launched we weren’t able to innovate straight away because we were worried about
The fallout of launching with an AI roster, but we did launch an amazing multidisciplinary roster which has served us really well. And making production fun again. Like, you know, I told you I I started my my career at Framestore, and I was doing crazy productions back then. Flying on zero gravity flights, in Texas, filming at the top of the Andes. Like every production was an adventure. And of course, like it’s a serious business, and you know, that was absolutely important.
Orlando (01:17.397)
Yeah.
Orlando (01:21.546)
Yeah.
Orlando (01:33.374)
Yeah.
Toby Walsham (01:44.64)
We’re we’re being entrusted with millions of dollars of clients’ money. But every single production we went on was just so much fun and so enjoyable. And I think that started to change a little while ago and
Orlando (01:53.802)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Toby Walsham (01:57.45)
And became a little too serious. So something that we really wanted to inject into imagine this was this making it fun again. It’s why we do these silly Did I tell you before about our fries to survive thing? We go around the world ranking French fries. It’s a totally ridiculous thing to do, but something that you know i is rather fun for our our clients on set. and you know fr from from there we’re
Orlando (02:09.075)
No, no.
Orlando (02:20.669)
Yeah, that’s great.
Toby Walsham (02:25.505)
Th the the the the group is growing, the ecosystem is growing and there’s some very exciting announcements to come.
Orlando (02:32.435)
Great. And I mean, you know, what does it feel like? Because it feels like Made by Humans is now bigger than, I mean, it’s sort of eclipsed in size, imagine this. Is that a fair assessment?
Toby Walsham (02:44.858)
maybe not on paper, you know, maybe not in the P and L. but
Orlando (02:46.941)
Right, okay. Right, okay.
Toby Walsham (02:49.163)
Certainly it’s a more talked about thing. I think everyone wants to talk about AI, even if they want to talk about it in a negative way. So, you know, every time I’m getting a call from LBB shots or campaign or whatever, it’s all about always to talk about made by humans because it’s it’s the Emperor’s new clothes, right? It’s it’s that exciting thing. but I I hope it doesn’t eclipse it. I mean, as I said, as a live action producer, I really hope that I spend as much time on set as I do in this very office making AI work with the team.
Orlando (02:52.031)
Right. Yeah.
Orlando (03:05.299)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Orlando (03:14.495)
Yeah. great. Well, listen, good luck to you, Toby. mean, it’s it’s I’m so glad it’s going so well. I’m so glad that that, know, that the the the veil of iniquity has lowered on a little bit enough that that it can be both lucrative and fun and and, you know, being able to grow and and also educate people about what’s possible. I think I think you’re doing really good work. And and I just hope it continues.
Toby Walsham (03:43.893)
I really think that’s it, Orlando, is I would have regretted not trying. You know, I had an idea of building an an AI creative studio. It could have absolutely failed, but I would have regretted not trying. And I’m really happy that I’ve explored it and it’s been very fun and exciting. And yeah, we’re so much fun along the way. And hopefully we actually do have five more years of of things ahead of us.
Orlando (03:49.403)
Mm-mm. Mm.
Orlando (04:07.581)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, great luck. I’m sure you will. And congratulations. And yeah, just keep us posted on whatever you have coming next.
Toby Walsham (04:16.302)
Brilliant, sounds good. Thanks Orlando. See you soon.
Orlando (04:18.56)
pleasure.
Join the Technically Creative community
Invitations to exclusive events, creative sector roundtables, webinars and on-demand videos, and the Technically Creative newsletter.