Jillian Marie Culton (born March 19, 1973) is an American animator, director, and screenwriter. With her directorial debut on Sony's first animated film, '' Open Season'', she became the first female principal director of a big budget,

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refer ...

feature.

Education and career

Previously, she studied at the Character Animation program at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

, where she later taught animation. She was also a

storyboard artist A storyboard artist (sometimes called a story artist or visualizer) creates storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions. Work A storyboard artist visualizes stories and sketches frames of the story. Quick pencil drawings and mark ...

for various Pixar films such as ''

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...

'', ''

Toy Story 2 ''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The second installment in the ''Toy Story'' franchise and the sequel to '' Toy Story'' (1995), it was directed by John ...

'', ''

A Bug's Life ''A Bug's Life'' is a 1998 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It was the second feature-length film produced by Pixar. Directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Andrew Stant ...

'' and also co-wrote the original treatment for '' Monsters, Inc.'', and continued to become the Head of Development. She animated on ''Toy Story'' and served as a Directing Animator at Turner Features for the film ''

Cats Don't Dance ''Cats Don't Dance'' is a 1997 American animated musical comedy-drama film directed by Mark Dindal (in his feature directorial debut). It is the only fully animated feature produced by Turner Feature Animation, which was merged during the post-p ...

''. Along with

Anthony Stacchi Anthony Francis Stacchi (born August 21, 1961) is an American effects animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter, and film director. Stacchi graduated from California Institute of the Arts with a BFA in Film then went on to be an Animator and Co ...

, she helped to develop ''

Curious George Curious George is a fictional monkey who is the title character of a series of popular children's picture books written by Margret and H. A. Rey. Various media, including films and TV shows, have been based upon the original book series. Geo ...

'' while working at

Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pr ...

. In 2003, Culton joined

Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio's films are distributed worldwide by So ...

, which launched a year before to produce CG animated films. During her years at Sony, Culton, along with directing '' Open Season'' and executive producing '' Open Season 2'', also developed ''

Hotel Transylvania ''Hotel Transylvania'' is an American animated media franchise created by comedy writer Todd Durham and produced by Sony Pictures Animation. It consists of four feature films, three short films, a flash-animated TV series, and several video ...

''. As of 2010, Culton was at

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a divisio ...

. For some time, she was writing and directing an animated film (now titled '' Abominable'') about a little girl and a Yeti, tentatively titled ''Everest'', but by 2016, she had left the project. However, she came back to the project to direct again.

Filmography

*''

The Princess and the Cobbler ''The Thief and the Cobbler'' is an Unfinished creative work, unfinished animated film, animated fantasy film co-written and directed by Richard Williams (animator), Richard Williams. Originally conceived in the 1960s, the film was in and out o ...

'' (1993) (animator: Calvert/Cobbler Productions) *''

'' (1995) (story artist) *''

'' (1997) (supervising animator: Supporting Animal Characters, storyboard artist) *''

'' (1998) (additional storyboard artist) *''

'' (1999) (character designer: new characters, story artist) * ''

Shrek ''Shrek'' is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig. It is the first installment in the ''Shrek'' franchise. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jen ...

'' (2001) (story artist) *'' Monsters, Inc.'' (2001) (story, development story supervisor, visual development) *'' Open Season'' (2006) (director, story) *''

Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run ''Open Season'' is a 2006 American computer-animated adventure comedy film, directed by Jill Culton and Roger Allers from a screenplay by Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, and Nat Mauldin with a screen story by Culton and co-director Anthony Stacc ...

'' (2006) (director, writer) *'' Surf's Up'' (2007) (special thanks) * '' Open Season 2'' (2009) (executive producer) * ''

Shrek Forever After ''Shrek Forever After'' is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book '' Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The sequel to '' Shrek the T ...

'' (2010) (special thanks, character designer: new characters, story artist) * '' Abominable'' (2019) (director, writer)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Culton, Jill 1973 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) People from Ventura County, California Animators from California American animated film directors California Institute of the Arts alumni American women animators Pixar people Sony Pictures Animation people DreamWorks Animation people