The Walt Disney Company announced a pair of promotions today, naming Chief Creative Officers to lead Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios.
- Jennifer Lee (Frozen) has been tapped as the new Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios while Pete Docter (Inside Out) will hold the same title at Pixar.
- Both Lee and Docter will have creative oversight of the films produced at their respective studios and report directly to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn.
- These promotions comes on the heels of the announcement that John Lasseter would be leaving the company at the end of the year. Lasseter will hold a consulting role in the meantime.
- Jennifer Lee first joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2011 as co-writer of Wreck-It Ralph
- Pete Docter was one of Pixar’s first employees, joining the studio in 1990.
- Jim Morris, President, Pixar Animation Studios, and Andrew Millstein, President, Walt Disney Animation Studios, will continue to report to Ed Catmull, President, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, who reports to Horn.
What they’re saying
- Alan Horn, Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios: “Jennifer Lee and Pete Docter are two of the most gifted filmmakers and storytellers I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. Pete, the genius creative force behind Up, Inside Out, and Monsters, Inc., has been an integral part of Pixar almost since the beginning and is a huge part of its industry-leading success. Jenn, in bringing her bold vision to the boundary-breaking Frozen, has helped infuse Disney Animation with a new and exciting perspective. Each of them embodies the unique spirit, culture, and values of these renowned animation studios, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have them to lead us into the future.”
- Jennifer Lee, Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Animation Studios: “I am deeply grateful to everyone at Walt Disney Animation Studios and The Walt Disney Company for this opportunity. Animation is the most collaborative art form in the world, and it is with the partnership of my fellow filmmakers, artists, and innovators that we look ahead to the future. My hope is to support the incredible talent we have, find new voices, and work together to tell original stories. The great films of Disney Animation – the films I loved as a kid and my daughter has grown up loving – are magical, timeless, and full of heart, and it is our goal to create films that carry on and grow this 95-year legacy for future generations.”
- Pete Docter, Chief Creative Officer at Pixar Animation Studios: “I am excited and humbled to be asked to take on this role. It is not something I take lightly; making films at Pixar has been my chronic obsession since I started here 28 years ago. I am fortunate to work alongside some of the most talented people on the planet, and together we will keep pushing animation in new directions, using the latest technology to tell stories we hope will surprise and delight audiences around the world.”