Congratulations to the former Fox Studios President, Vanessa Morrison, who recently received the title of President of streaming at Walt Disney Studios. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Morrison will oversee the development and production of Disney+ film content from both Disney Live Action and 20th Century Studios.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Morrison, along with some other journalists, a few years ago about her career in animation. Read below to learn how this amazing woman is defeating the odds and opening doors for people of color.
Vanessa Morrison Interview
How did your earliest memories with animation and cartoons inform you in your position now as the lead of this franchise with Ice Age?
I have always loved animation and I’ve always loved family movies. I think probably my first animated movie was probably Sleeping Beauty. Throughout the years, I started actually in my career working in live action and always gravitated towards family movies. When I started out working I worked on movies like “Dr. Dolittle” and “Cheaper by the Dozen” and “Garfield.” So my passion from childhood always kind of carried into my professional life working in the movies. Then the passion for live action translated into an interest in animation career wise. So I think from the beginning I’ve always had an interest in animation that I never… and family movies that I never lost.
What would you tell a nine-year-old in terms of what they need to do to get to what you have achieved today?
I love meeting kids that are interested in animation and filmmaking because I was that nine-year-old kid as well. I always loved movies and also always loved storytelling. I’m always quick to point out that movies are a good extension of storytelling and really literature also. So for me I didn’t know anyone in the film industry, I didn’t know any animator filmmaker, screenwriter, anything. So one thing that my parents I think, and they were both teachers really focused on was just the importance of just a, I followed education obviously. And b, the importance of being able to kind of know how to write and know how to read and know how to translate what you read and to, your own analysis of things.
For me I think the whole notion of storytelling really began, especially since I didn’t have anything to do with the film industry, I didn’t know anybody, didn’t live in Los Angeles… the notion of learning how to write well and a passion for stories in general and a passion for literature in general. Then kids now are so lucky that they can get that kind of foundation but then they can broaden themselves through…. Kids can make their own animation on the own kind of personal computers now and have experiences that I never would have imagined being able to have because for me I really just kind of was an English major basically. Actually I went to, I was specifically a Rhetoric major which is kind of a crazy major. But it was basically English.
But that’s what allowed me to kind of learn how to read stories and tell stories so then when I could go to film school I had some sort of foundation in that. So for me it started very early too and I really encourage kids to take those interests very seriously. People tend to kind of dismiss kids’ interests sometimes as being the interest of kids. But I think those are the seeds of what you can become.
Your love for this business, your love for animation, you being one of the few African-American women in a high executive position, what are some of the steps you take in order to make it more feasible for more people of color to be within the animation world behind the scenes?
I think, I’ll often be asked about diversity and often the need for more diverse executives in particular and the need for more diversity in our world in general. To me the most important thing is just encouraging that new generation and encouraging people who have interest in it. Someone mentioned their nine-year-old son. It starts even that early to really encourage people to get involved in this industry and to take it seriously and to take their kids interest in it seriously and to never think that it is somehow kind of an elitist kind of place. That the movie industry is a global industry and it has to touch and represent all of us.
In order for the movie industry to touch and represent all of us it requires the interest and participation and encouragement from all of us. I try to represent that as I go about my day and make sure the diversity is represented in front of and behind the camera. I try to urge people whether they’re grown adults that are executives or kids or writers or whoever to pursue their interest in film and television and new media and technology because animation is also involved technology, to the fullest extent that they can and to never be discouraged or take their eye off the prize, to just keep going relentlessly.
