Star Wars and Disney: ‘Spinning the Script’ With Paul Bailey

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Paul Bailey has quite a story to tell. The current vice president at AOA, and former principal concept technical director for Walt Disney Imagineering gave the opening keynote speech at IPC APEX EXPO 2024. He delved into some of the technological marvels he’s been involved with throughout his career, particularly with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the new Star Wars experience at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

Paul also urged the leaders in the audience to change the way they lead and focus more on each employee’s well-being. After his keynote speech, Paul stopped by the I-Connect007 studio for a quick interview, where he shared his thoughts on technology and leadership.

Dylan Nguyen: Paul, I’ve been reading about your background How did you balance your two identities as artist and engineer early on?

Paul Bailey: I never saw art and engineering as different identities, frankly. I didn't really know what engineering was; I just grew up in an environment where it happened. I thought, “Well, people make things, and they tinker, and they do stuff.” It wasn't until much later that it clicked in my head that this was actually a calling or profession. I think part of life is about recognizing patterns. A lot of the things that you do as a mechanical engineer involve creating shapes that solve problems, which to me is analogous to sculpting. You might be using SolidWorks to do it, but it's still sculpture. So, in my mind there really isn't that big of a difference between art and engineering.

Nguyen: You were a sculptor for Walt Disney Imagineering early in your career. Walk us through your career, and how your journey unfolded.

Bailey: I guess I really started out as a frontline artist; I was an illustrator and a sculptor. When I was an apprentice working on Star Trek, I was drawing pictures of aliens and then sculpting the aliens. That was my full-time gig. I was primarily known in the movie industry as a sculptor, though not as much as a makeup artist. Through the Disney years, I found my way into more creative technology. I have a technology gene, if you will. I got away from doing the frontline art over my time there. But over the past 10 years, I’ve swung back in that direction. Now I think of it as mixed media. Sometimes I'm drawing with a pencil, and sometimes I'm drawing with a mouse. Sometimes I'm sculpting an object, and sometimes I'm building an electronic something or other that moves and works and whatnot. It's all very fluid to me. I don't distinguish between those pieces.

To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the 2024 issue of Show & Tell Magazine, click here.