Creative Director, Stage 31 AFX

Warner Bros. Discovery is hiring a Creative Director for Stage 31 AFX, based at the Burbank Producers building in CA. This role sits at the top of WBD’s internal AI-centered VFX facility, carrying full creative authority over every package the shop takes on, from script breakdown through final pixel approval before client presentation. It’s built for a seasoned VFX supervisor who has run rooms, earned director trust on studio features or premium episodic television, and has real opinions about where AI tooling belongs in a production VFX pipeline.

About the Role

Stage 31 AFX operates as Warner Bros. Discovery’s internal answer to a premier VFX house, built around AI-assisted workflows governed by a provenance and human-in-the-loop framework. The Creative Director faces directors, showrunners, and studio-side VFX supervisors across the full production lifecycle, setting shot methodology and deciding how AI tooling, human craft, and external vendors are distributed across each sequence. Day to day, that means running dailies, supervising on set for facility-carried work, and signing off on everything before it reaches a client.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary creative liaison to directors, showrunners, and production-side VFX supervisors from prep through final delivery on each project the facility carries.
• Break down scripts and sequences to set shot methodology, determining how AI tooling, senior generalists, and third-party vendors share the work on a shot-by-shot basis.
• Internally approve all work before client presentation, owning the dailies cadence alongside the Head of Finaling.
• Supervise on set for facility-carried sequences, protecting plates and data capture specifically for AI-assisted post-production workflows.
• Partner with the Lead Pipeline Architect to evaluate which tools meet the creative bar for final pixels under the facility’s governance standards.
• Mentor AI Workflow Supervisors and senior artists on creative standards, raising the technical and aesthetic floor across the department.

What You Bring

• 12 or more years in visual effects with supervisor credits on studio features or premium episodic television.
• Deep background in compositing or CG, combined with substantial on-set supervision experience across feature film production or episodic slates.
• Hands-on familiarity with current AI and ML tooling in active production contexts, including clear judgment about where those tools fall short.
• A history of direct, productive working relationships with directors and studio creative executives.
• Comfort operating within provenance and human-in-the-loop governance frameworks.
• Working knowledge of guild agreements, including current AI provisions across IATSE, the Animation Guild, and SAG-AFTRA, is a plus.

Why This Role

Stage 31 AFX is a facility being built from the ground up inside one of the largest studio infrastructures in the business, which means the Creative Director hired here will have a direct hand in shaping how Warner Bros. Discovery approaches AI-assisted VFX as a creative discipline, not just a cost center. The slate spans WBD’s full portfolio, giving this person exposure across feature and premium episodic work at a scale few internal facilities can offer.

Apply now for the Creative Director position at Warner Bros. Discovery and bring your VFX supervision experience to a facility defining what responsible, creative AI production looks like inside a major studio.