LAIKA launches "Made By Humans" interview series with Sony Music Group

LAIKA debuted "Made By Humans: Creatives in Conversation" on September 9, 2026, a multi-episode interview series produced with Sony Music Group that pairs LAIKA artists with outside creatives to discuss human-made craft in the AI era, releasing new episodes Wednesdays and Fridays through the month on LAIKA's YouTube channel and as a podcast. Early episodes pair Brian McLean, LAIKA's Director of Rapid Prototype (20 years developing the studio's stop-motion fabrication innovations), with digital illusionist/filmmaker Zach King on technique parallels behind visual 'magic tricks', and Head of Animation / Wildwood Animation Supervisor Brad Schiff with puppet designer-performer James Ortiz (Project Hail Mary's Rocky) comparing stop-motion and live-puppetry performance craft. Update, 2026-10-12: TheWrap's launch report (8 September) named the rest of the slate -- Chris Butler with actors Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Jacob Tremblay, costume design supervisor Deb Cook with Sandy Powell, and Model Shop creative lead Keith McQueen with Phil Tippett, plus guests Jeff Mann and Kevin Parry -- and said the series was recorded at LAIKA's Oregon studio with Wavland Media. The McQueen and Tippett episode, "Why Stop Motion Animation Matters in the Digital Age", is now on LAIKA's YouTube channel: the head of the studio's model shop and the Mad God and Jurassic Park veteran on why physical models and practical filmmaking still matter.