The latest film from Pixar Animation Studios, Inside Out 2, is due out in a month, arriving only in theaters on June 14th, continuing the story of Riley from the original Inside Out, as she enters her teenage years. As Director Kelsey Mann and Producer Mark Nielsen so eloquently told us on a recent visit to the studio, they are not nor have they ever been teenage girls – so they needed a little help.
You may be familiar with a cultural trust, and you may even be familiar with a story trust. But the production of Inside Out 2 had something very unique – a group of 9 teenage girls who provided input and notes to help with the film. Dubbed “Riley’s Crew,” nine teenage girls between the ages of 13 and 19 were recruited and the team behind Inside Out 2 met with them every four months while they were making the movie to hold a note session and get their thoughts on Riley, her experiences, and her relationship with her friend group.
Production on the film started in 2020, with Mann noting that “They’re all in high school now, but they were in middle school. We would show the movie to them and we would meet with them and have a note session.”
He continued, “That group was incredibly helpful, man. Did they give great notes? They gave sometimes greater, better notes than the people who work here. They were fantastic with it. They treat it like an assignment. It was amazing…We talk to them live, and then sometimes we'd say send us your notes and they'd almost send like a cover letter. Like it was a book report. It was adorable. It was. It was amazing. They really took it seriously. It was awesome, really helpful.”
Along with that panel, considering the movie takes place inside the head of a teenage girl, some more professional help was acquired to consult. For that, the team recruited Dr. Lisa DaMour, co-host of the Ask Lisa podcast.
Dr. Lisa Damour is also the author of three New York Times best sellers: Untangled, Under Pressure, and The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, which have been translated into twenty-three languages. She also works in collaboration with UNICEF, and is recognized as a thought leader by the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Damour is a regular contributor to The New York Times and CBS News and the creator of Untangling 10to20, a digital library of premium content to support teens and those who care for them. She serves as a Senior Advisor to the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University and has written numerous academic papers, chapters, and books related to education and child development.
She maintains a clinical practice and also speaks to schools, professional organizations, and corporate groups around the world on the topics of child and adolescent development, family mental health, and adult well-being. Dr. Damour also works with industry leaders on topics related to adolescent mental health, all of this perfect for her to contribute her efforts to Inside Out 2, and if that wasn’t enough, she and her husband are the proud parents of two daughters.
Help didn’t always have to come from outside the Emeryville campus either. Producer Mark Nielsen shared that “We also were blessed to have some amazing women in key creative roles on this show. You know, Meg Lafoe's back as one of our writers. She was a writer on the original film, our editor, Maurissa…Just a powerhouse. Over half of our story team were female story artists, which I think was a first for Pixar.”
Lead Editor Maurissa Horwitz joined Pixar Animation Studios in April of 2021. As lead editor, Horwitz and her editorial team build the film out from start to finish, frame by frame. They start by cutting storyboards and reference dialogue and continue to shape the story, performance and pacing all the way through the film’s final renders. Horwitz works very closely with the production’s director, story, layout and animation departments to help bring the film to life.
Prior to Pixar, Horwitz worked at Blue Sky Animation and was the lead editor on the film “Nimona.” She has worked in editorial positions for more than 20 years at companies including DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Animation and Disneytoon Studios.
I also got to see Becca McVeigh in action during a story pitch of a key scene near the beginning of the film. A story artist on the film, McVeigh translates written script pages into visuals by drawing storyboards. Once she’s drawn a sequence, she pitches that work to the director and makes adjustments based on their feedback. She started at Pixar Animation Studios as a story intern in 2017 before being hired on full time as a story artist in April of 2021.
Prior to Pixar, McVeigh worked at Blue Sky Animation as a story artist on the film Nimona.
“Even our composer, Andrea Datson is the composer of the score,” Nielsen said. “This is the first feature film at Pixar that's ever had a female composer, and she's just brought so much to this film.”
Mann added, “It's a lot. It's intentional…I really want to make sure that when we look around who's in the room, who's contributing, that they can talk from a place that's true to what Riley is going through.”
While there are many other women who worked on this film, you can check out the two I mentioned above in action at the studio, working on Inside Out 2, in the video below. Inside Out 2 is due out in theaters on June 14th.