Interview with LEGO Masters judges, Brickmasters Amy and Jamie
Posted by MeganL,
The season two finale of LEGO Masters airs tonight (apologies for the typo in yesterday's interview). In the coming days we will have interviews with all the finalists and of course, the winners.
Earlier in the season we had a chance to sit down with the judges of US LEGO Masters, Brickmasters Amy and Jamie; thanks to my move I haven't been able to transcribe it until now, so what better timing could there be? Read on to learn if it was easier judging this season, what it was like filming during the pandemic, and if given a chance, which set they designed that they wouldn't mind tweaking.
Note: this interview does not contain spoilers.
What was the greatest takeaway for you from the season?
Amy: We have a whole new team of people, and we had to very quickly learn someone, how do they take feedback, how can you help coach them, how can you push them in the best way. I think we've got even stronger in that for season two, but that's a great skill that we can bring back to LEGO HQ and use with our own teams. I love the skills that we learn out there that we can use every day. In life and LEGO.
Jamie: I learned that just that being myself is good enough. One of the best things that Anthony (executive producer) said to me when we were on set - I was asking for some stage direction and I said, “Oh, like when that happened, should I be like ‘Wow!’ or, how should I do it?” and he goes, “Oh, just do it the Jamie way.” And that's like the best feedback you can get is when somebody says, Just be yourself and do it your way. That was liberating for us and in season two is we got into our own sense of self. I think the first time there's a little bit of intimidation trying to find your way and making sure I’m an “official judge”. You just become hypersensitive to everything that you do on body language, and then season two, we just let go and everything came so much more naturally. And I love that because it just made for less pressure and a little bit more enjoyable to just be in the moment. I think that's where I think we gave our better feedback,
Amy: I hope that in this season, you get to see a little bit more of the real Amy and Jamie because we were. We were more relaxed, able to be ourselves and we just felt more comfortable with what we were doing and our role in general. We're in a groove now I think.
Did you find judging season two easier or more difficult?
Jamie: I found it easier. I think the first season was all new for us. Just being aware of all the cameras on you and you have these limited moments to be able to talk to people, definitely took some adjustment. By the second season, we knew each other better, we knew Will better, The actual builders knew us a bit better so it already felt like we had a head start. But of course, as much as it was easier, it also got harder later in the competition when you realize the caliber of talent which is really, really high. Then we were really challenged on what kind of feedback can we give when you know all the builders were really performing at such a high level.
Amy: I think we felt a lot more relaxed this time around because we've done it before. We've watched the show and we've learned a little bit from it. But for sure judging is never easy. It was maybe easier, but it is never easy to judge because there is so much incredible talent. We got into a little bit of a flow of how we work together, how we judge, how we can make decisions together. Because obviously we have to agree on things and we'd worked that out in season one. So that was a little easier for season two, but no one ever makes it easy for us.
Since the contestants knew you better this year, did you change how you judged?
Amy: I think we're always keeping the teams on their toes and setting brand new challenges. There were totally different challenges this time so of course, things are different.
Jamie: That was a nice surprise for us. First of all, you always like it when people already know you, but everything that we were saying it felt they were listening more than last year. It felt almost a little intimidating because they were just, “Okay, we know how this works. What exactly are you looking for or what can we do?” Our feedback was definitely more deliberate if anything. The builders were much more aware of how this works right at the get go, and then they were able to listen and ask the right questions. In the first season, everything was new. We were finding our way. We know people heard us and were listening to us, but now everybody knows how it works and I think that definitely contributes to how we interact with each other.
Did you see anything in any of the builds that you took back to Denmark?
Amy: I think we are always inspired by the incredible creations that we see on LEGO Masters. We always see brand new things we've never seen before. We see things we've seen a million times but done in a completely different way. The whole time we're just getting inspired and we're always going “Look at that! Have you seen that?” and pointing fun things out. The whole season just inspires me and I take so much back from it as well as the passion of the builders. That always gives me so much energy at the end of the show.
Jamie: I'm just inspired by what they can accomplish in the amount of time they're given. And I bring that back to my (LEGO design) team and I'm like “What have you guys been doing for a week?”. The things that the contestants are building are so inspiring. We build large models in my area, within the adults theme we can do anything. And yet when I see some of these creations I wonder, are we dreaming big enough? Could we actually do some of these really impressive models? So for me it's extremely inspiring, but also a little bit intimidating when you can see the calibre of talent and what these builders can do. It's super inspiring.
What was it like filming in the middle of a pandemic?
Amy: It was a little bit different for us to be traveling over to the US, because we had to quarantine. We were obviously taking COVID very seriously, every day. We were very cautious during filming, and didn't go out a lot, didn't spend a lot of time socializing.. Of course we didn't want to be the ones who were making any disruptions to filming. Off set, it was quite a different atmosphere for us rather than last time in LA, where we could go out and really see things on the weekend.
Jamie: That was a bit of the tease is that everything was available to us from Georgia, so to speak, and yet we didn't partake in it. We don't know anything about Georgia except we went for a hike at the end of the trip to the mountains. We did actually focus quite a bit on the show and not so much time for ourselves. But even when we did we stayed close to the hotel. But on set what was nice - in Denmark we were in quarantine and you can't really do anything, and then we go to this little safe bubble. Once we're on set in front of all the cameras, you get to act normal again, you can actually be around people and talk to them. It was just something so special. The amount of effort that it took to create that bubble was tremendous and we really appreciate all that the production to make that happen. It was just so liberating as soon as you stepped on that set, that colourful set. It was like this special space, almost like we're in a space station.
Amy: We certainly felt very safe. We had a chance to kind of forget about everything that was happening in the outside world and totally be in this fun creative bubble of LEGO Masters. You could almost forget these challenges that are happening in outside world and just focus on the fun creative side and focus on helping the builders to make incredible creations.
Jamie: It was actually hard to get off that. We just wanted to stay there. I thought that was really special.
Amy, last season you mentioned you kept something from season one. What was it, and did you keep something from season two?
Amy: I haven't revealed this ever. I have to say I don't still have it. I took an item that I had in my dressing room for a little bit of time. It was the elephant with the candy cane legs that Sam and Jessica had built because I just thought that is the wackiest idea to come up in a kid's head. I thought there is no way they are going to pull this off and then they made this fantastic elephant with candy cane legs. He hung out in my dressing room for a while. Unfortunately, not on my command he didn't survive at the end of the show. In season two, I did actually take a tiny little memento from one of the builds but I can't tell you because it would spoil one of the builds. There was something that I just thought that's really fun.
Jamie, you're famous for the red glasses. Are they the same as in season one?
Jamie: Yes, the same glasses. Luckily the same prescription. I didn't have very many changes for season two. It worked for season one, so similar look, and same glasses.
What were some of the surprises that came to you in season two?
Jamie: I was surprised at how much technical ability that the builders brought to the building room. We may have done some testing that showed there's a high likelihood that something would be a tough challenge - you know models will go crashing or you know something that's great for television. Then we realized the builders are really capable of putting the bricks together in a way that's very strong so that was a nice surprise. Because then we got to be a little bit more ambitious on what we were pushing them to do, because we already knew as a starting point that they had a strong skill set on how to put the bricks together. So that was interesting for me.
Amy: We had a whole new set of challenges for season two, and some of them are a little bit out there, a little bit wacky. What surprised me a little bit was how well the teams took on the challenges, but also the smiles on their faces and how excited they were, even though we're getting this absolutely out of this world challenge, that’s so different from some of the things we've had in season one. I was always a little bit surprised that we could give a tougher challenge but somehow they would be more excited than ever about this.
Jamie: We had the fashion challenge that people were just almost cheering when we said what they were going to do with it. Everybody was just hopped up, there was so much energy in the room, and then people were just rooting for each other and everybody's almost like high fiving each other. Stuff like were just great moments, you felt the energy of the room and how strong the community of builders really was. In a competition show where they're supposed to be trying to get a leg up on each other, and challenges like that really brought out a fun side of people. It came out in the models. We saw what they were able to accomplish and build. it was just so, so cool.
Amy: And it was a fab challenge,
How do you see LEGO Masters inspiring more builders?
Amy: I think in fabulous ways because it's reaching a whole new audience of people who maybe didn't think Lego was for them or someone in the house liked Lego and the others didn't. This whole new audience of people that are reigniting their love for LEGO or trying LEGO or for the first time is super inspiring and amazing. It inspires everyone in the LEGO Company right now.
Jamie: We've been a little bit removed from our own experience on the show because we came back to Denmark, but now that it is airing here, and we're actually able to experience what people are experiencing watching the show. I can't tell you how exciting it is just to have random friends, or friends that I haven't talked to forever, telling me that they just bought my first box of bricks since my childhood, People are remembering how much fun it was. At this time in the world it's just so, so nice that people have found this outlet to just have fun and just explore their creativity again. So as far as impact on the world it couldn't have come at a better time. I love the fact that it is so global, because what we're experiencing right now is global, and yet everybody has this access to an inspiration, to be creative, and to have a little bit of an escape, to just have fun.
What skills did you learn earlier in your career that helped you on LEGO Masters?
Jamie: What I grew to appreciate is that what I do day to day, I give feedback to really talented builders and designers, but then I also have to make tough decisions. So, as best I can see it like that skill set is totally relevant for what we do on the show. It was so important to be able to acknowledge that everybody in that room is amazing. They're all great builders, and it's a little bit intimidating for the average person to know how to then make them better or to get feedback or to challenge them, when you know everybody there is just amazing. And luckily, that's what we do every day, is we have to kind of take a bit of humble pie, and just say everybody in this room is probably more talented than I am to do these certain things. But I need to bring the talent out of them or inspire them to put it into something that they didn't even know they could accomplish. So for me that's where the two skills that I would say I brought with me.
Amy: Wow, that was such a good answer. I think communication is probably the biggest thing. I've really honed and really thought about what's the best way to communicate. We are surrounded by bricks all the time so we are hands on, we are using them, we are interacting with teams building and very quickly adapting and prototyping and testing and trying things. I think the familiarity with the bricks and the system and getting feedback, specifically on using the bricks and how to adapt things also was a big thing that we brought every day.
Jamie: Yeah, I guess I took for granted that we know what works or doesn't work on many levels for strength or, you know, bringing focus with color usage. We bring all of that in as well. But, being in that room of talented builders. It's amazing.
How do you deal with the human factor of telling someone they have to go home this week?
Amy: In some ways for me it's the opposite. It's how do you get the human factor out of it, and how do you deliver that news. It is really tough and a lot of the times when we're doing eliminations we really have to psych each other up and get ready because we know how much it means to people. We know how hard it is. Sometimes it is a little bit holding back the emotions and try not to have the tears while I'm trying to also give a really clear and objective explanation to why that team is going home. Because you have someone who cares so much about it, and has tried so hard, you need to give them a good reason and validate for them why you've made that decision.
Jamie: Yeah I think that's what we learned from the first season is just how valuable it is that you just went through this amazing experience, you poured all of your heart and soul and creativity into it. And somehow it wasn't good enough and you're going home. Why? You don't want to have that echoing in your head for the rest of eternity - all of that and I don't even know why I went home. So to Amy’s point, it really is important that as best we can give some words even if they don't have to necessarily connect with them at that moment. But they will probably reflect back on them later and we want to make sure that they're meaningful. On the emotional side. It was tough because especially the first season, I cried after every elimination. I was a mess. Because you really start to know these people, and they become friends, and you want all of them to succeed. But, you have to send somebody home. If anything, I think the second season, I went into it knowing that already, and trying to prepare myself. We need to somehow get more comfortable with this idea that people are going home, but it still doesn't get easy. We're just about to go on and Amy will be like, “Are you ready?” and I'm like, “I don't know!” We both ultimately feel good that when we make a decision, it's both of us. There's no I in this decision, and that's where we can always feel good. We always gave ourselves the opportunity to have a proper conversation, exhaustively sometimes, we've gone back and forth, but in the end we both know that is the right decision. And then we just want to make sure that when people go home they feel that we put the effort in, that we really cared.
Amy: But it is tough, and we try to make sure that we also have the human side, and have a chat and even if it's off camera, have a little chitchat and make people feel like, okay, I've had a good experience here because it's awesome that they got that far and that they've even been on the show.
Jamie: I also have to be careful not to get too excited. There are some things that I've seen especially in season two, that I got really excited, like I was just giddy happy
Amy: We were like “Rein it back, Jamie! Don't give away all the cards.”
Jamie: There was even a moment where Will was just “Whoa, Jamie, calm down.” But it is really exciting when you already have an expectation that's so high and then you just see something that totally blindsides you that is so awesome. I need to be careful not to overstate my enthusiasm but sometimes there are just things that you see that are really, really fresh or fun. So the emotion goes both ways.
What advice do you have for someone trying out for LEGO Masters?
Amy: Well, first of all, believe in yourself because you probably are good enough, you're probably great. Believing in yourself is the first step. But I also think taking feedback and learning where you're not strong, or where you think your weaknesses are and actually working on them, and challenging yourself and trying to grow. Because we can all be better builders, we can all be better creators. So have confidence in yourself, but also find the places that you can grow so that you can find the confidence you need.
Jamie: A lot of times people just look at what they don't have to offer and what they don't realize is that LEGO Masters is a team competition. There's always a complementary skill set that you can balance so if you know that you don't feel comfortable in certain areas, balance yourself and find that team member that brings out the best in you and complements you. That's the best thing I would say is approach it with a team mentality. That's ultimately how you progress, when you're actually aware of your abilities in maximizing what you're good at and then allowing somebody else to take the other.
Amy: We have teams in the show on both seasons who didn't have a lot of confidence in themselves. Jamie and I are really trying to encourage and tell them they were good, they needed the confidence you need to believe in themselves. When they find that confidence in themselves. They didn't become better builders, they just find that within themselves, then you got much better builds and much better results out of them.
How would the two of you perform as a team on LEGO Masters?
Amy: Jamie and I talk about this quite a lot because we're always standing on the sidelines, saying “This idea is amazing,”, or “Why doesn’t this team just do this,” or “I just want to get my hands on my bricks and try this idea,”. We're full of ideas but the thing that would get both of us is that we love to slow build, we love to take our time, we love to sit back and make sure we have the right colours. So I think the time would be our big challenge.
Jamie: I was joking about this before, I would be absolutely terrible for TV on this show, because I spend the whole beginning of the challenge where I'm just thinking, and I just need to get my head around what are they asking. That looks terrible for television just thinking. So Amy would be like, “So, what do you want to do?” and have much more of the energy. And I’ll be, “I need a second to think.” Normally we’re the opposite. Amy is normally the one that's like, “Okay I just need a moment to process,” and I'll just talk while you're thinking, and then we complement each other. But when it comes to building I have a sense we might be the opposite, where I'm going to be the one that gets to begin become an Introverted thinker and Amy’s just like “let’s do this!” and she starts dotting everything and tiling everything. I think we'd have to practice,
Amy: We have so much respect for the teams on the show because not only are we asking them to do really tough challenges and make amazing builds, but the time is really against them and it's a lot of pressure to be under with that clock above your head.
Jamie: I think they made the clock three studs bigger this time just to put pressure on people.
Did life change for you after season one, now that you’re famous?
Amy: Well I think one of the interesting things is we flew back to Denmark after the season, and the pandemic hit. Actually, people in Denmark didn't have the show and didn't see it so we were just normal Amy and Jamie, whereas maybe if we'd been in the US, we would have been more recognized. The show is currently airing in Denmark, the US show, but we are getting slaughtered a little bit in Denmark now. We had a kind of a break from it by actually being here for season two.
Jamie: I'm a bit of a social media hermit so I've also not seen the online buzz. I come and go on occasion, but it really is very strange that we came back to another bubble where there wasn’t a show. In many ways it wasn't much different because we’re in a town where, oh, who isn't a Lego designer? So we don't get any special treatment here. Everyone just assumes that you are amazing and do crazy stuff and, you know, continue your grocery shopping.
Amy: I have really embraced the social media side and I've loved being able to connect with fans. I love seeing how many people have been so inspired by the show and enjoyed it so much, people of all ages, of all backgrounds. For me that's actually been a real positive from this was hearing everyone's Lego story after watching the show or before seeing the show.
If you had to refine one of your past product designs, which one would you choose?
Jamie: 10194 Emerald Night for me. The train. As soon as it launched everybody had ideas on how it could have been better. And I agreed. (laughs) So I learned a lot, but I would say that's one that I have no issues with saying that I could go back and revisit that one.
Amy: Do we have extra bricks?
You have everything in the brick pit.
Amy: I mean I think there's so many I could do! A DOTS one would be natural because you can always make redesigned DOTS to make it better and change it. But I think probably 41314 Stephanie's House from LEGO Friends because if I went back to it. I probably would bring more color, mae it bigger and I could expand it and make it much more exciting. I love the kind of doll house play of it, but would also like to play with it a little bit.
Photo credit for all pictures: FOX
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15 comments on this article
Excellent interview! Thanks for sharing
Oh I like the sound of that last comment. I wouldn't have any issues with them revisiting Emerald Night either. Rerelease please?
Appreciate the coverage of the show on this site, especially realizing that many Brickset readers outside the US aren't even watching this version of the show.
Thank you for doing these interviews! I don't know if it's possible, but it would be great to do a follow-up with them, now (tonight, anyway) that the season is over, and let them geek-out over their favorite contestant builds, ideas and techniques.
@legoapprentice said:
"I wouldn't have any issues with them revisiting Emerald Night either. Rerelease please?"
I second that! :) The Emerald Night and 3723 Mini-Figure are my white whales.
Nice interview. I like the little glimpse behind the scenes.
And a definate 'yes' from me for the Emerald Night rerelease!
@legoapprentice said:
"Oh I like the sound of that last comment. I wouldn't have any issues with them revisiting Emerald Night either. Rerelease please?"
After reading the interview, this is what I came into the comments to say. Let's see Jaime's revised 10194 Emerald Night!
Is that 41314 answer a hint at a new version of 3315: Olivia's House , I know it's a different set, but it's still a House of the main "Friends" and 10 years old in 2022, so 5 years older then Stephanie's House.
I’m right with them on the time aspect. Sometimes things just flow and I can crank out a ton of work in a few hours. Sometimes I just need to let the idea bounce around in my head for a while and trust that sooner or later a workable solution will pop into my brain. It took me six months to figure out a pontoon fender design for 6-wide vehicles, but now I’ve actually got maybe four variants of the same idea, depending on what shape of fender I want to create. Figuring out the inner hub for Starro the Conqueror was something I’d been toying with for a few years before I came up with the trick. Building on a strict (and short) deadline? Not my cup of bricks.
@TeraMedia said:
"Thank you for doing these interviews! I don't know if it's possible, but it would be great to do a follow-up with them, now (tonight, anyway) that the season is over, and let them geek-out over their favorite contestant builds, ideas and techniques."
I second this suggestion of a follow up and the thanks for a great interview.
I watch the German version of the show.
Must admit I am not really interested in the US version.
Appreciate the interview of course, but would have preferred a behind the scenes of our version. Might in turn not interest anyone outside of Germany though. Tough luck.
I have really enjoyed the show, both seasons. Jamie is my favorite LEGO designer & Amy is my second, so it is great seeing them on the show each week. Great interview!
Wanting someone to explain what the hell is up with Amy's right leg in that fourth picture...
And a new Emerald Night please!
@AustinPowers :
With nearly ten times the population, the TV market is bigger, and ad sales bring in more money. The lowest viewership reported for the first 1.5 seasons here is 2.44 million, which, for a reality show that doesn’t cost much to produce (compared to scripted shows with large casts and regular use of special effects), is actually doing really well. With seasons that ran 10 and 12 episodes respectively, there was also a chance to really build up an audience over time. World-famous Hollywood personalities were involved in the show (besides Will Arnett, Brad Pitt is listed as a producer). It really comes down to the fact that the US production had a bigger marketing campaign. Huw has said repeatedly that the only reason they interview the US teams is because they were offered the chance to do so. None of the other international versions have done so.
The US show also appears to have the added advantage of being aired internationally, where I don’t think any of the other local versions are shown outside of their original makrkets. If you really want to read articles about the German version, especially this long after the first season aired, you’ll probably have to write them yourself.
@magni_nominis_umbra :
What’s to understand? She can hyperextend her knees a few degrees. She’s standing with her right knee locked and her left knee bent a few degrees. The weight of her upper body is basically supported through her right hip, with her left leg being used to maintain balance. When I was growing up, this was a _very_ common posture for teenage girls. The more you do it, especially during growth spurts, the more you’ll lengthen the tendons in your knees, allowing those few degrees of hyperextension. It might be more noticeable given she has such a tall, thin frame, but it’s nothing new to me.
Incidentally, when I scrolled up, I expected to see the other common teenage girl stance, which is when you put the heel of one foot next to the toes of the other, and then rotate it out 90° so it forms an “L” shape. Most people can do this with their heels together without much thought, since it only requires rotating each foot 45°. Doing it heel-to-toe, your really need to be able to rotate one foot the full 90° or you look like you’re about to do a ballet curtsy.
Even though not able to see the show found all the exit interviews interesting as could see the end models from each team to give an idea what the program was all about, and commentary from the leavers helped to add some flavor to what they had been through in the previous weeks so thank you.
I second the motion for a new emerald night. That set is legendary, and totally deserves a remake with the new parts set.