From 70-Hour Weeks in Wellington to Billion-Dollar Films

A kid in Arizona used to race home from the movies just to draw what he'd seen, keeping the magic alive with paper and pencil.

That creative spark turned Kyle Balda into one of animation's biggest directors. Today he's behind billion-dollar hits like Minions and Despicable Me 3, but his path to success included some intense years working in Wellington.

In the mid-1990s, Balda jumped at the chance to work on Peter Jackson's The Frighteners at Weta. He was young, full of wanderlust, and eager to collaborate directly with a director for the first time.

The experience was unlike anything he'd done before. Jackson would stalk around the room swinging an imaginary scythe to demonstrate how the Grim Reaper should move, turning work sessions into creative play.

Balda clocked up to 70 hours a week on the project. He barely had time to explore New Zealand beyond Wellington, though he did develop one lasting addiction: great coffee.

Before landing in Wellington, Balda had already worked on Jurassic Park's groundbreaking effects and supervised animation on Jumanji at just 22 years old. He'd animated exploding Martian brains in Mars Attacks and even figured out how to make Sarah Jessica Parker's head move naturally on a small dog's body.

But it was his move to Pixar that taught him what animation was really about. The studio focused on telling stories through characters with real emotions and personalities, not just creating cool effects.

Why This Inspires

Decades into his career, Balda says the billion-dollar box office numbers aren't what matter most. The real reward comes from hearing how the Minions helped people laugh when they really needed it.

"Knowing that some relief or even a little healing came through the power of laughter means a lot to me," he says. Those stories of bringing joy to others have been the single most rewarding part of his work.

As artificial intelligence reshapes the film industry, Balda believes the human touch remains irreplaceable. AI might be a useful support tool, but it can't replace collaboration with real artists who understand human emotion.

"We make movies for people," he says. "And people seem to crave things that have a human touch behind them."

Recently Balda returned to New Zealand to speak at the Wellington Animation Film Festival, writing part of his keynote in Queenstown. Every time he looked up from his screen at the stunning landscape, he felt the same inspiration that drove that Arizona kid to keep drawing all those years ago.