Creative Courage: Michael Riley on Pitching Big Ideas and Finding Your Path

Michael Riley, founder of Shine Studio and the creative force behind iconic opening sequences for Gattaca, Kung Fu Panda, and Modern Family, joins Unapologetically Creative to talk about embracing uncertainty, trusting your instincts, and working in service of the story. From cold pitches to career pivots, Michael shares how saying yes to new opportunities and being okay with rejection can shape a long and fulfilling
creative life. This is a conversation about staying curious, being brave, and showing up with your best ideas, no matter what.

TIMESTAMPS:

• 0:22 — Introduction to Michael Riley and his motion design career

• 1:49 — Early passion for art and high school silkscreen business

• 3:00 — RISD experience and falling in love with typography

• 4:30 — Embracing multidisciplinarity in the creative world

• 5:18 — Influential internship with Tibor Kalman

• 6:30 — Embracing storytelling in film and TV

• 8:43 — First major TV project: Saturday Night Live

• 9:03 — First film: Gattaca and its creative marketing

• 11:10 — Working with directors and understanding their vision

• 12:38 — Lessons from pitching (successes and failures)

• 14:30 — Story of losing Bee Movie and landing Kung Fu Panda

• 16:25 — Role and function of a title sequence

• 18:07 — Designing differently for film vs. streaming

• 20:00 — Integration of title sequences into the story

• 21:06 — Designing sequences people won’t want to skip

• 22:33 — Processing creative feedback with professionalism

• 24:23 — Solving creative challenges under tight timelines

• 25:31 — Advice to his younger self

• 26:19 — Defining “Unapologetically Creative”