Laki Pattapola
AI Production VFX Production Production Technology Developer

Laki
Pattapola

I produce the shots, and I build the tools and AI workflows that make them. Sixteen years from creature effects and broadcast to agentic AI production on feature film.

16Years in production
15+Feature, series & live credits
8Studios & streamers
Portrait of Laki Pattapola
London · Advisory Board, Centre for Creative AI · BAFTA Connect · ScreenSkills Leader of Tomorrow
Now

Where I'm working.

Production lead on an AI-driven VFX pipeline for feature film, production technology for a streaming drama, advising the Centre for Creative AI, and building a studio and technology lab of my own.

Feature film · AI VFX

AI Production Manager

ACME AI & FX · Killing Satoshi

Running production for a hybrid AI VFX pipeline: bids, vendor award, scheduling and delivery across a multi-vendor team working across several countries in tandem, with final shots delivered through the pipeline into the cut. I also direct motion capture and photo-reference shoots as R&D for the proprietary model.

2026 – Present
Streaming drama

VFX Production Tech Manager

Young Sherlock (S2) · Motive Pictures for Amazon MGM Studios

Production technology for the VFX department: cloud storage architecture, secure network access with the studio's content-security team, and the data flow between set, vendors and editorial.

2026
Studio + Technology Lab

Founder

Atomics International

A London studio and technology lab working across film, episodic, unscripted, commercial and immersive, with a lab building production tools and AI workflows. Home of my writing, producing and directing.

atomicsinternational.com →
Creative AI · Advisory

Advisory Board Member

Centre for Creative AI

Advising on AI implementation and project direction across AI-hybrid film and television production and immersive media platforms.

2026 – Present · creativeai.world →
Work

Three disciplines, one production brain.

I've worked on the floor, in the department and in the code. Knowing how a shot gets made, what it costs and what can break is what makes the AI and the tools useful rather than a risk.

A camera operator with a gimbal rig filming a dancer under red studio light
Studio shoot
01

AI production

Agentic and hybrid AI pipelines run with production discipline: scoped, budgeted, tracked and delivered.

  • Production lead on an AI-driven VFX pipeline for feature film
  • Mocap and photo-reference R&D for proprietary models
  • Multi-vendor bidding, award and delivery
  • Agentic workflows across coordination and reporting
  • On-set capture feeding in-house ML compositing tools
A full-size animatronic creature with its operators beneath it
Creature effects, Lucasfilm feature
02

VFX production

Client-side VFX production on high-end series and studio features, from creature shop to final delivery.

  • Senior VFX coordination: HBO, Netflix, Amazon
  • Eyeline multi-camera capture and virtual production
  • On-set data wrangling, witness cams, HDRIs, photogrammetry
  • Creature effects digital assets and video, five Lucasfilm and Universal features
  • Post production and broadcast delivery
Laki Pattapola operating a broadcast camera on a tripod from a boat
Shooting from the water, 2019
03

Developer

Production software built as domain expert and architect, with AI-assisted engineering to ship it quickly.

  • Desktop tools in Python, PySide6 and Electron
  • Tracking-system and API bridges, MCP integrations
  • Retrieval and knowledge systems with clear data lines
  • Local and frontier model orchestration
  • Cloud storage and secure network architecture
Builds

Tools I've made.

Built for real productions and for my own studio. Client tools are described without naming the show.

In production use

VFX ingest and delivery tool

Replaced a manual script for a high-end series VFX team. Sorts vendor deliveries and builds tracking-system upload sheets from metadata in the filenames.

Python · PySide6 · ShotGrid · PyInstaller
In production use

Symlink manager

Batch link creation, health scanning and repair across production storage. Packaged with a content-security report for studio approval.

Electron · React · PySide6 · macOS DMG
Delivered

Cloud storage architecture

Storage and access design for a streaming drama's VFX department, with a studio technology proposal and an interim mounted-bucket workflow while it was approved.

AWS FSx for Lustre · S3 · Tailscale · Mountain Duck
In development

AtomicCortex

PKM · RAG-based system

A private knowledge system. Local models do the routine work, and frontier models cross-check each other on the judgement calls. Content only reaches a frontier model once every label on it is cleared as shareable.

Python · PySide6 · PostgreSQL · llama.cpp · Claude · OpenAI
In development

Foreword

Agentic writers' studio

A screenplay development app built around an AI writers' room, with a node graph for story structure borrowed from compositing.

Desktop · Codex · Final Draft workflow
In development

Production AI toolchain

Generative image and video, model fine-tuning and agentic coding tools, chosen and combined per project rather than per trend.

ComfyUI · Kling · Seedance · Magnific · Beeble · Unsloth · Claude Code · Codex
Writer · Producer · Director

Films.

British South Asian stories, personal and culturally specific, made through my studio Atomics International.

Two women of different generations in close-up, from Three Folds of the Same Silk
Documentary · 2026 · Writer, Director, Producer

Three Folds of the Same Silk

Three generations of women and one ritual, from Sri Lanka to North-West London, carried by the sari.

  • World premiereBFI Southbank, UK Asian Film Festival 2026
  • Best DocumentaryPoombukar Film Festival
  • Honourable MentionBest Documentary and Best Film on Women, Asian International Filmfare Awards
Behind the scenes on the set of Code/Switch
Comedy short · 2025 · Producer

Code/Switch

A group of South Asian friends, a night out that goes sideways, and the masks we wear to fit in.

  • Best ComedyEuropean Short Awards
  • Official selectionRaindance 2025, UK Asian Film Festival, London Independent Film Festival
  • NomineeUK Film Awards
Safe poster
Horror micro-short · 2023 · Writer, Producer

Safe

Made through the BAFTA Connect cohort: a young woman fights for her life against a relentless masked killer.

  • World premiereFrightFest 2024, Leicester Square
  • Official selectionGrimmfest, Popcorn Frights, Soho Horror Fest, FilmQuest and 20+ more
Credits

Filmography.

Client-side credits across HBO, Netflix, Amazon, Lucasfilm, Universal, Warner Bros. and MGM, on BAFTA-winning and Oscar-nominated productions.

YearsProductionRoleStudio
AI production & production technology
2026 – NowKilling SatoshiFeature filmAI Production ManagerACME AI & FX
2026Young Sherlock (S2)SeriesVFX Production Tech ManagerMotive Pictures / Amazon MGM
VFX production
2025 – 2026House of the Dragon (S3)Series · on-set data feeding in-house ML compositing toolsSenior VFX CoordinatorHBO
2025The Woman in Cabin 10Feature filmSenior VFX CoordinatorNetflix
2023 – 2025The Wheel of Time (S3)SeriesSenior VFX Coordinator / Production Tech ManagerAmazon / Sony
2022 – 2023The Wheel of Time (S2)Series · on-set data wrangling, PragueVFX CoordinatorAmazon / Sony
2021 – 2022Aquaman and the Lost KingdomFeature film · Eyeline multi-camera captureVFX Assistant Coordinator / VP CoordinatorWarner Bros.
2020 – 2021The PrincessFeature filmPost Producer, The Finish LineHBO / Lightbox
2019 – 2020No Time to DieFeature filmProduction Technology EngineerMGM
Creature effects
2018 – 2019Star Wars: The Rise of SkywalkerFeature filmCreature FX Digital Assets & Video SupervisorLucasfilm
2017 – 2018Jurassic World: Fallen KingdomFeature filmCreature FX Digital Assets & Video SupervisorUniversal
2017 – 2018Solo: A Star Wars StoryFeature filmCreature FX Digital Assets & Video SupervisorLucasfilm
2016 – 2017Star Wars: The Last JediFeature filmCreature FX Digital Assets CoordinatorLucasfilm
2015 – 2016Rogue One: A Star Wars StoryFeature filmCreature FX Digital Assets CoordinatorLucasfilm
Broadcast & unscripted
2019World Chase Tag World ChampionshipLive sport · body-cam rigs for competitive freerunnersAssociate ProducerSunset+Vine / Channel 4
2010 – 2015Broadcast televisionIncluding The Olympic Channel and Dynamo: Magician ImpossibleSenior Post Technician / Editor / Self-Shooting PDBBC / Sky / Channel 4
Toolkit

What I work in.

Production systems, post, code and the current AI stack, used daily rather than listed for keywords.

Production & pipeline

  • ShotGrid (Flow Production Tracking)
  • FileMaker Pro
  • Aspera, Faspex, Mountain Duck
  • cineSync, QTake
  • Final Draft

Creative & post

  • Nuke
  • DaVinci Resolve
  • Avid Media Composer
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Unreal Engine

AI & generative

  • ComfyUI
  • Kling, Seedance, Magnific
  • GPT Image, Nano Banana
  • Beeble, SwitchX
  • Unsloth, llama.cpp

Engineering

  • Python, PySide6
  • Electron, React
  • PostgreSQL
  • AWS, Tailscale
  • Claude Code, Codex
Training

Continuous learning.

Formal training alongside the work, from compositing and colour to computer science and AI.

Claude 101Anthropic
Producing VFXCave Academy
Foundations of AI & Machine LearningMicrosoft, Coursera
CS50P: Programming with PythonHarvardX
Virtual Production / ICVFX for HETV & FilmMars Academy
Unreal for Film & HETVEscape Studios
ACES Training for HETVNational Film & Television School
Nuke Compositing for FilmDV Talent
CompTIA A+ / Network+CompTIA
BA Television ProductionBournemouth University
Recognition

BAFTA Connect

Elected member, 2023 – 2026 cohort

ScreenSkills

Leaders of Tomorrow, 2022 – 2026 cohort

Contact

Let's work together.

AI production. Production lead for hybrid and generative VFX on features and series.

VFX production. Senior VFX coordination, production technology and on-set data for film, HETV and streaming.

Tools and workflow. Production software, pipelines and AI adoption, through Atomics International.