Gen Li is a seasoned VFX artist with over a decade of experience in feature film, television, and game production. He earned his MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and has contributed to acclaimed projects such as The Changeling, American Horror Story, and The Diplomat at FuseFX New York. His expertise spans compositing, FX simulation, 3D rendering, and real-time lighting, including work on Forza Motorsport with Turn10 Studios and Microsoft. Currently, he serves as a technical artist at Meta, focusing on GenAI video data training and VFX special techniques.
How many years have you been a judge?
This is my first year!
What excited you about judging for the Telly Awards?
As a VFX artist, I’m constantly inspired by the evolving ways creators use visuals to tell powerful stories. The Telly Awards represent some of the most innovative and boundary-pushing work in our industry, so being a judge is both an honor and an opportunity to celebrate that creativity. I’m excited to recognize artists who merge strong storytelling with technical excellence—work that challenges convention and expands what’s possible on screen.
What was your first job in the industry? What did it teach you?
My first job was as a Junior Generalist at Simage Visual Effects in Beijing. I spent my days setting up and running sims for senior artists, organizing assets, helping with scene tracking/rendering, and building simple environment layouts for lighting. That experience taught me the fundamentals of a real production pipeline, which is clean naming/versioning, shot-to-shot consistency, and fast, clear communication, plus how to balance speed with quality under deadline pressure. It’s the foundation I still rely on for every complex VFX task today.
What project are you most proud to have worked on?
One project I’m especially proud of is “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (Amazon Prime Video), particularly the series finale “A Breakup.” I was responsible for creating the procedural muzzle flash and interactive lighting system used throughout the intense indoor gunfight sequence. It was a technically demanding scene, combining stylized slow-motion effects, digital exaggeration of muzzle shapes, and dynamic reflections across the environment. Seeing how those details elevated the emotional tension and realism of the moment was incredibly rewarding. It perfectly reflected what I love most about VFX, which is the blend of artistry, physics, and storytelling that brings cinematic energy to life.
What’s the most challenging part about your job and/or the industry?
The most challenging part of my job, and the industry as a whole, is keeping pace with how rapidly technology evolves while maintaining artistic integrity. In VFX, new tools, AI systems, and real-time workflows are constantly emerging, and it’s easy to get caught up in the technical side. The real challenge is learning to adapt and innovate without losing sight of the storytelling and emotion that make the visuals meaningful. Balancing that intersection, where creativity meets cutting-edge tech, is demanding but also what makes this field so exciting.
What do you look for to determine excellence in video?
When judging excellence in video, I look for a strong balance between storytelling, visual design, and emotional impact. A truly outstanding piece doesn’t just showcase technical mastery since it connects with the audience through intention and clarity of vision. I pay attention to how visual effects, cinematography, sound, and pacing all serve the story cohesively. Innovation also stands out to me when creators take risks, push creative or technical boundaries, and deliver something fresh that feels both polished and purposeful.
What are your current roles and responsibilities and what do you love most about your job?
I’m currently a Technical Artist at Meta, focusing on generative AI techniques for VFX and video data training. My work centers on integrating AI-driven innovations into the existing VFX pipeline, helping bridge cutting-edge machine learning with the artistry of film and animation. What I love most about my role is the chance to explore how emerging technologies can enhance creativity, transforming the way stories are visually crafted and experienced.
What initiatives or projects are you working on now that excite you?
Right now, I’m working on several initiatives at Meta that explore how generative AI can reshape the VFX pipeline for film and animation. One of the most exciting projects involves developing AI-driven VFX tools that learn from video data to automate complex effects generation and compositing workflows. I’m also experimenting with synthetic video datasets that train AI models to understand motion, lighting, and materials more like a human artist would. What excites me most is seeing how these innovations can empower artists, making VFX production faster, smarter, and more creatively open-ended than ever before.
Do you have any specific practices you lean on to spark creativity?
Yes, for me, creativity often starts with observation and curiosity. I spend time studying how light, motion, and texture behave in real life, whether it’s water running down glass, smoke in sunlight, or reflections in a city at night. Those real-world details often inspire my digital work. I also like to sketch or experiment in Houdini without a set goal, exploring forms, patterns, and procedural behaviors to see what emerges. Stepping away from the screen through photography, nature walks, or music also helps me reset my perspective, and creative ideas usually spark when I’m not forcing them.
What inspired you to pursue your career path?
My inspiration began back in 2009 when I watched Avatar in IMAX 3D for the first time. Experiencing that level of immersion and visual storytelling completely changed how I saw what technology could do for art. At the time, I was studying automation for my bachelor’s degree, focusing on precision, logic, and systems engineering. But Avatar made me realize I wanted to apply that technical mindset to something more expressive, bringing imagination to life through visuals. That moment set me on a new path toward visual effects, where I could merge both worlds: the structure of engineering and the creativity of filmmaking.
In your experience, what is a significant change you are seeing happen in the video, television, and/or film industry, and what insight can you share about how to navigate it?
One of the most significant changes I see in the industry today is the integration of generative AI and real-time technology into the production pipeline. These tools are transforming how we create and collaborate, allowing artists to iterate faster, visualize complex ideas instantly, and connect pre-production and post-production more seamlessly. However, this shift also requires a new mindset. To navigate it successfully, artists should focus on understanding the technology rather than fearing it, learning how to guide AI creatively instead of letting it dictate the process. The future belongs to those who can combine artistic judgment with technical fluency, using new tools to enhance rather than replace human imagination.
