Fast Hours

Drew Brucker & Rory Flynn
  • 5.0 (16)
  • Design
  • Updated Weekly

Fast Hours is a weekly generative AI podcast where Drew Brucker and Rory Flynn dig into the craft, taste, and business of making creative work with AI. Every week, they unpack what’s changing across AI image and video generation, creative workflows, models, platforms, culture, creative careers, and the business of creative work. What matters? What works? What’s overhyped? And where does leverage exist? Expect AI news, practical workflows, experiments, guest conversations, and strong opinions from two dudes actually using it in their professional work. https://www.fasthourspodcast.com

  1. 6d ago

    We Built an Entire Creative Team With AI Agents. It's Getting Weird.

    Drew Brucker and Rory Flynn have officially reached the point where their AI agents are doing more work than they can keep track of.Six months ago, they were discussing who they'd need to hire to scale Fast Hours. Now they've built an interconnected system handling everything from podcast clips and thumbnails to website publishing, creative production, and client workflows.Naturally, that freed up enough time for Drew to spend an unreasonable number of hours building a squirrel video game with his dad, while Rory assembled an army of AI agents inspired by Lord of the Rings.Somewhere between the squirrels, the robots, and the existential questions about creative work, there's a pretty compelling picture of what happens when AI gives people the ability to execute their ideas.[Discussed in episode]Drew Brucker and Rory Flynn explain AI agents, Claude skills, Model Context Protocol integrations, and reusable creative workflows. Fast Hours production covers Riverside, Cloudflare, YouTube packaging, clip selection, and thumbnails. Creative experiments span Blender, Magnific, Runway, Higgsfield, and Figma. Examples show agent teams, model specialization, automated quality control, and context-driven production.#AIAgents #CreativeAI #AIWorkflows #ContentCreation #FastHours---⏱️ Fast Hour00:00 Fast Hours hits 100K subscribers04:21 Flying cars are getting ridiculous11:26 Cars are becoming software platforms14:40 Why AI is destroying traditional software moats16:09 AI can reverse-engineer entire software products20:32 The competitive advantages that still matter23:11 We built an entire creative team with AI agents25:33 The AI creative explosion30:26 Combining AI, Blender, Excel, and code32:25 The new formula for creating with AI34:37 Building a video game with Claude43:13 Turning curiosity into an AI learning program46:44 A new approach to creative ideation48:41 Building a team of specialized AI agents52:39 Tracking how AI crawlers interact with websites54:51 Using AI skeptics to improve creative work56:47 Our AI-powered podcast production system1:00:51 Cutting thumbnail production from 6 hours to 30 minutes1:02:37 Automating podcast publishing with AI agents1:04:45 Building reusable AI workflows for clients1:07:01 Running entire creative projects with AI agents1:09:49 Creating interactive websites with AI1:12:22 Automated creative testing and quality control1:17:10 Better AI video with virtual camera operators1:18:39 Recreating Fast & Furious scenes with AI and Blender1:21:51 The problem with unlimited creative possibilities1:23:36 Drew shares 12 free Claude skills1:26:18 Rory's Lord of the Rings AI agent army1:29:24 Should AI agents handle your personal life?1:36:03 Midjourney explores MCP integration1:36:55 Apple, Meta, and the future of local AI1:41:38 Remembering Napster, LimeWire, and early computing1:46:43 Final thoughts and shout-outs---🔗 ResourcesDrew's Claude Skills: https://github.com/dcbruck/claude-skillsDrew's Squirrel Game: https://squirrelscramble.com/Fast Hours Podcast Website: https://fasthourspodcast.com

  2. Oct 11

    He’s Using AI to Double His Agency Without Hiring (Ep. 86 / feat. Phil Rivers)

    Phil Rivers is using AI to scale his agency by automating approvals, task creation, onboarding, and shared workflows across his team.Drew and Rory spend an embarrassing amount of time obsessing over AI visuals. Phil Rivers shows up with 40 clients, 16 employees, and an entirely different obsession: automating all the boring stuff nobody wants to do.And it turns out the boring stuff might be where the biggest opportunities are hiding.Phil has rebuilt his agency around an AI-powered operating system that handles client approvals, project management, task creation, onboarding, and internal knowledge sharing.His goal? Double the number of clients his existing team can handle without hiring another employee.And he's already built much of the infrastructure to pursue it.Phil Rivers breaks down an AI-powered agency operating system built with Claude Code, Model Context Protocol (MCP), Supabase, GitHub, Slack, Asana, and Figma. Automated client approvals create campaign tasks and deadlines. A Slack agent named Tim drafts Asana tasks with dependencies. Klaviyo data, onboarding automation, permissions, and shared knowledge help teams handle more clients.#AIAutomation #ClaudeCode #AgencyOperations #FastHours --- ⏱️ Fast Hour 00:00 Who is Phil Rivers? 08:16 Why rebuild an agency with AI? 11:15 How an email agency first used Midjourney 14:24 How do you adopt AI without slowing down? 24:35 How to build an agency on AI from day one 27:03 How can Asana automate campaign planning? 34:36 Why service keeps clients longer than results 37:30 How do you build client context into AI? 43:20 Who decides what the AI remembers 47:38 How AI unblocks account leads to just serve 49:52 How can teams share AI skills? 54:11 How does one MCP support an entire team? 58:17 Why one-off tasks break agency teams 1:00:13 Meet Tim, the Slack agent that writes tasks 1:05:41 How many clients can AI add with zero new hires 1:09:19 Can AI shorten employee onboarding? 1:14:27 Which AI projects aren't worth building? 1:18:20 How do you keep AI workflows current? 1:19:13 How to prove AI ROI to your boss 1:24:50 How do you secure shared AI infrastructure? 1:30:11 What can Obello automate for brands? 1:34:42 How many clients can the team handle? 1:35:42 How does AI automate client onboarding? 1:38:33 What's Phil's biggest AI operations lesson? 1:41:24 Who should viewers tell about Fast Hours?

  3. Oct 4

    Claude Opus Feels Like Midjourney Now

    Claude Opus feels like Midjourney because it can take minimal direction and produce imaginative visual work.Drew Brucker and Rory Flynn gave Claude Opus room to create, then watched the to-do list get ambitious (their neglected websites finally got some attention). A promo’s visual style carries into animated podcast clips, while a handwriting experiment reshapes Drew’s site.Claude Opus powers motion graphics, podcast clipping, and website builds from creative references. Midjourney supplies the creative comparison and visual references for animation. Riverside Model Context Protocol connects recordings and transcripts. ChatGPT image generation builds animation assets. Magnific and ElevenLabs support sound effects and narration.#ClaudeOpus #Midjourney #MotionDesign #FastHours---⏱️ Fast Hour00:00 What's coming in Fast Hours 85?04:20 Why does context improve creative quality?05:35 Why does Claude Opus 5.5 feel like Midjourney?06:07 One design system, a creative domino effect09:07 We built a custom AI clipping workflow10:01 A blind grader judging clip hooks?13:35 Why does Riverside MCP matter for clipping?14:26 How do reference clips train an AI editor?16:37 How do you build clips around out-of-order hooks?19:32 Podcast clips get branded motion graphics23:52 Motion designers losing their sh*t over AI democratization29:58 How precise are code-based motion graphics edits?32:14 Domain expertise raises the ceiling for AI motion design39:17 Drew let his daughters' handwriting shape his brand website44:52 How do you prompt a cohesive website redesign?49:56 Fast Hours builds a website from its creative DNA52:05 Can transcripts power a searchable website?58:28 Music-reactive web design with a face1:00:20 Code-based animation gets a story to tell1:04:00 How does one image become an animation asset library?1:05:48 How do AI tools add animation and narration?1:11:24 How does ElevenLabs find a voice from a description?1:16:15 How real does a Tavus conversation feel?1:21:41 What will Phil Rivers teach about AI operations?

  4. Sep 27

    Opus 5.5 Is Cracked! AI Videos You Can Actually Edit

    Opus 5.5 made editable AI video practical: build motion graphics in code, then revise shots, text, and variations without starting over.A cocktail graphic from Rory’s T-shirt became an animation system. Then came four more drinks, a Pokémon battle, podcast promos, and a client-style video. Drew and Rory sound like two people who’ve spent years hearing “one tiny change” and knowing exactly how much work that used to mean.Claude Opus 5.5 turns one cocktail image into a JavaScript or HTML animation system and produces four more recipe videos. Three.js lets Rory block a Pokémon battle and change camera angles for complex scenes. Riverside supplies context for Fast Hours promos. Drew tests a client-style video using a website and company context file.#Opus55 #AIVideo #MotionGraphics #claudeai ---⏱️ Fast Hour00:00 What are Drew and Rory making this week?07:31 Why is AI adding work for project managers?9:29 Why most companies are stuck at basic AI17:36 What is production debt, and why AI took off20:45 Is the $200 AI plan a different product?21:19 What changed with Claude Opus 5.525:04 How one T-shirt image became a motion graphic26:28 Why code-rendered video is infinitely editable28:19 How to turn one render into an animation pipeline31:25 Can Opus 5.5 render a 3D Pokémon battle?36:58 How can Three.js block a complex shot?41:36 How did AI make a Fast Hours promo?42:28 Do you need brand guidelines for this?45:41 Can AI pick a stronger clip hook?47:34 Cutting a promo with no instructions49:18 Why creatives aren't siloed anymore50:39 Watching a sponsor promo render live53:38 What one Opus 5.5 prompt gets you for a B2B SaaS video56:09 The exact prompt behind the one-shot video57:21 Claude Code vs Cowork for motion builds59:17 How do editing and motion graphics combine?1:03:05 How did Drew turn his kids' handwriting into a font?1:10:33 Stop sending AI output without the context1:14:17 How to share a skill that runs anywhere1:18:40 Why trading transcripts beats trading drafts1:20:40 Can you share a Claude project?1:24:18 How to get email discounts, then unsubscribe1:27:44 Where does the episode close?

  5. Sep 20

    20 Year Creative Vet Sold Golden Wolf to Doodles, Then Went All-In on AI (feat. Ingi Erlingsson)

    After 20 years in creative, building Golden Wolf and selling it to Doodles, Ingi Erlingsson went deep on AI to start a new chapter at his company, SYSTMS.Ingi has spent two decades making work for brands including Nike, Adidas, Jordan, Disney, Netflix, Coca-Cola, and Cartoon Network. He built Golden Wolf from the ground up, sold the studio to Doodles, became Doodles’ Chief Content Officer, and now builds custom AI creative systems at SYSTMS.So naturally, Drew and Rory spend half the episode staring at his ComfyUI graphs wondering what the hell is happening.Ingi breaks down how he actually works with AI: custom ComfyUI nodes, LoRAs, agents, model fine-tuning, Wan 2.2, Krea 2, GPT 2.5, After Effects, transition models, and the reusable systems behind his visual work. The conversation also gets into creative control, originality, attention, open source, prompt hunting, and why experienced creatives may have an advantage as AI gets more capable.More importantly, Ingi explains why the goal matters more than the prompt, why rapid iteration changes the creative process, and why giving AI more capability does not automatically mean giving it more creative decisions.#GenerativeAI #ComfyUI #AICreative #creativedirector ---⏱️ Fast Hour00:00 Who is Ingi Erlingsson?02:58 How much creative freedom do top brands give?05:56 How do studios get hired for their style?10:59 What did Doodles teach Ingi about brand work?13:05 How do you turn attention into recognition?18:13 How does Ingi build his signature AI style?26:13 Why does AI make experimentation cheaper?29:01 How do AI and After Effects work together?30:20 Why did Ingi move into ComfyUI?31:42 What hardware does Ingi use for ComfyUI?34:34 What does ComfyUI let you control?38:33 How does Ingi create tracked AI graphics?42:05 How do you build custom ComfyUI nodes?47:11 How does Ingi combine fine-tuned AI models?51:09 How should you train a style LoRA?55:13 What should a video LoRA learn?58:50 How much creative control should you keep?1:01:04 Do AI videos need longer generations?1:07:28 How can open-source AI sustain itself?1:11:31 What did Doodles and Web3 teach him about AI?1:15:01 How does viral content connect to X payouts?1:17:42 AI critics keep moving the goalposts1:19:12 How do bots expose themselves in replies?1:21:48 How does AI search surface a local business?1:24:04 Why do comment-for-workflow posts spread?1:25:42 What should young creatives learn now?1:28:23 What should AI creatives get good at?1:32:15 Do creatives still need to collect prompts?1:32:54 How did Ingi end up working on DuckTales?1:36:12 Who gets the Fast Hours sign-off?---🔗 Links Ingi's X: https://x.com/ingi_erlingssonIngi's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ingi.ai/Ingi's company (SYSTMS): https://www.systms.ai/

  6. Sep 13

    What Can OpenAI’s Astra and GPT Image 2.5 Actually Do?

    So, what can OpenAI’s Astra and GPT Image 2.5 actually do? Drew Brucker and Rory Flynn put OpenAI’s Astra and GPT Image 2.5 models through a golf course build, a vintage typewriter animation, and a round of image edits. Rory’s golf course experiment burns 70% of his weekly allowance. Drew spends three hours getting a typewriter to type. Their gift for turning a quick test into a side project remains undefeated. The pro-AI half of the show. The other half: a viral AI resignation that looks planned to the minute, Anthropic's 154-page report on how people misused Claude, and GPT Image 2.5 quietly fixing the reasons everyone kept running back to Nano Banana. This episode covers OpenAI Astra with computer use, two ChatGPT chats collaborating inside one project, Three.js and Blender renders, a fantasy football analytics hub, and Astra running Midjourney with mood boards and style references. GPT Image 2.5 multi-edit comments, sketch input, custom aspect ratios, and template creator. Anthropic's threat report, Moonshot and Kimi distillation, and the viral AI researcher resignation. --- ⏱️ Fast Hour 00:00 What’s on Fast Hours this week? 06:35 Why do traumatic moments burn into memory 07:42 What was different before social media 13:48 This week: Astra, GPT Image 2.5, a viral resignation 15:04 Did an AI researcher really resign over ASI 18:40 How to tell what is true in AI news 20:42 Why quitting your AI job can't stop superintelligence 27:01 What do the cited reports allege about Kimi 28:33 What AI misuse examples do the hosts discuss? 34:07 How did Astra build a golf course prototype? 35:35 How did research improve Astra’s first attempt? 36:33 What happened when two AI chats collaborated? 39:29 Why did Rory stop the drainage research? 40:02 How did Drew approach his Blender experiment? 40:52 How did Astra recreate Drew’s typewriter? 43:49 How long does AI-assisted 3D work take? 44:43 How did Drew build a ChatGPT dashboard? 48:32 What happened when Astra explored Midjourney? 53:56 How did mood boards shape Astra’s prompts? 58:49 What improved in GPT Image 2.5? 01:00:24 How do GPT Image 2.5 edit comments work? 01:01:47 How do you request multiple image variations? 01:03:30 How well did GPT Image 2.5 resize ads? 01:07:11 How reusable templates in GPT Image 2.5 can help brands 01:08:37 What’s coming next for Fast Hours?

  7. Sep 6

    How We Use AI to Run Our Businesses With Skills, Agents & MCPs

    To run a solo business on AI, build a system of small skills and agents that handle the admin, comms, and ops so your time goes to creating. --- Two founders who swore AI would give them their time back open the hood on what they actually run. Drew walks through 37 hand-built skills and a 21-layer system for writing in his own voice. Rory runs his whole business out of Notion and Claude, down to finding an online fax machine for New York State. Neither of them can remember what half their own skills do. That's kind of the point. This episode covers building an AI operating system for a one-person business. Topics include Claude skills and agents, a voice system for writing, email and call ingestion, Notion as a CRM, red-teaming contracts and MSAs, predicting LinkedIn reach, Nano Banana prompt engineering, and handling taxes, invoices, and vendor forms. Fable and Astra model releases open the show.

  8. Aug 30

    A 24 Year Old AI Creative Director Gives Away Her Playbook (feat. Jamey Gannon)

    An AI creative director combines design fundamentals, AI fluency, tool selection, and repeatable workflows to produce better creative work. The boys over at Fast Hour invites a 24-year-old AI creative director to give away her playbook and somehow gets reminded that buying more AI subscriptions does not count as mastery. Jamey Gannon explains why AI is a skill, what top operators do differently, how Midjourney mood boards become brand systems, and why sometimes the smartest AI move is opening Photoshop. Jamey Gannon explains how self-taught design, social media, freelancing, and AI fluency shaped her work as an AI creative director. Jamey Gannon demonstrates Midjourney mood boards, SREFs, Midjourney V8.2 Edit, Krea K2, Claude, Figma, Photoshop, Flora, Nano Banana, and the CXO brand system, including when to build custom tools instead of forcing an existing workflow. --- ⏱️ Fast Hour 00:00 Who is Jamey Gannon? 06:43 How Jamey taught herself design at 15 12:23 Why Gen Z chases money over job titles 15:35 What first freelance clients look like at 17 18:43 Why social media is a freelance prerequisite 22:16 Freelance math: 20 clients vs one salary 24:13 How her sister makes $5K–$10K/month with AI 27:08 What is an AI creative director? 28:58 What the AI Creative Director course teaches 33:05 Is Krea catching Midjourney? 35:53 The "easy, fast, cheap" AI lie 38:43 Three moments that hooked Jamey on AI 42:23 How to build brand mood boards 46:00 How one SREF cracked the brand style 46:27 Midjourney + Figma: the pixel shader pipeline 49:06 When you should not use AI 51:53 Two ways to use Midjourney mood boards 56:44 What top AI creatives do differently 59:44 Build the tool when the workflow doesn't exist 1:11:28 Midjourney V8.2 Edit: first live tests 1:15:00 What works and what drifts in Midjourney Edit 1:20:06 Midjourney Edit vs Nano Banana: identity lock 1:21:32 Can Midjourney edit text and fonts now? 1:25:23 Can Midjourney's edit model preserve logos and apparel graphics? 1:31:05 Is Midjourney inpainting or regenerating? 1:34:33 The verdict: using Nano Banana less 1:37:34 Where Nano Banana still fits

See All (87)

5
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

Fast Hours is a weekly generative AI podcast where Drew Brucker and Rory Flynn dig into the craft, taste, and business of making creative work with AI. Every week, they unpack what’s changing across AI image and video generation, creative workflows, models, platforms, culture, creative careers, and the business of creative work. What matters? What works? What’s overhyped? And where does leverage exist? Expect AI news, practical workflows, experiments, guest conversations, and strong opinions from two dudes actually using it in their professional work. https://www.fasthourspodcast.com

Information

  • Creator
    Drew Brucker & Rory Flynn
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    87
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Drew Brucker & Rory Flynn
  • Show Website
    Fast Hours

You Might Also Like