Benjamin Simon & Dirk Schuster on Building FOREAL + Work-Life Balance

Benjamin Simon and Dirk Schuster have been friends for over twenty years and business partners since 2013, when they co-founded FOREAL, the Trier, Germany-based studio now known for its bold, hand-crafted visual style. In this episode, they open up about what it actually takes to run a studio with a childhood friend without losing either the friendship or the business, why they've held a strict 8-to-5 policy since day one, and how a shelved Doctor Pepper campaign accidentally became one of the internet's most-believed fake energy drink ads. They also get honest about where AI fits into their process as a tool and why handmade, visibly human work is still most valuable.Benjamin Simon and Dirk Schuster are Co-Founders and Creative Directors of FOREAL, an animation and motion design studio based in Trier, Germany. Benjamin brings a technical, CGI-rooted background while Dirk comes from classical illustration, and together they've shaped FOREAL's mix of illustration-driven storytelling and bold, sometimes cheeky visual style.https://www.instagram.com/weareforeal/?hl=enRobert Hranitzky is Adobe's Senior Professional Video Evangelist.https://www.instagram.com/hranimator/?hl=en(00:00:00) Introduction(00:01:16) Rapid Fire Questions(00:05:41) Founding For Real Studio(00:08:16) Business Partnership and Studio Culture(00:14:24) Tools and the Sketch-First Workflow(00:16:05) Humility and Hiring for Fit(00:21:33) From Illustration to Animation(00:24:47) The Value of Human Touch and Implementing AI in Workflows(00:34:42) Creative Intent Over Automation(00:40:28) Growing an Audience on Instagram(00:44:22) Creative Freedom and Being Bold(00:47:50) The Viral Monster Energy Video(00:50:53) Passion Projects and Team Motivation(00:52:09) Work-Life Balance: The 9-to-5 Rule(00:55:57) Fatherhood, Identity, and Sustainability(00:59:00) Closing Thoughts and Thanks