Jill Culton is an American animator, storyboard artist, 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-generated 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 university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

, 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 mar ...

for various Pixar films such as ''

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and the Firsts in animation, firs ...

'', ''

Toy Story 2 ''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and the first sequel to Toy Story. It is the second installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and was directed by J ...

'', ''

A Bug's Life ''A Bug's Life'' (stylized in all lowercase) is a 1998 American animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter from a screenplay written by Andrew Stanton, Donald McEnery, and Bob Shaw, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, and Joe Ran ...

'' and also co-wrote the original treatment for ''

Monsters, Inc. ''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Cobu ...

'', 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 film directed by Mark Dindal. The film features the voices of Scott Bakula, Jasmine Guy, Matthew Herried, Ashley Peldon, John Rhys-Davies, Kathy Najimy, Don Knotts, Hal Holbrook, ...

''. Along with Anthony Stacchi, 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 and illustrated by Margret and H. A. Rey. Various media, including films and TV shows, have been based upon the original ...

'' while working at

Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American Film, motion picture visual effects, computer animation and stereo conversion digital studio founded by George Lucas on May 26, 1975. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lu ...

. In 2003, Culton joined

Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. (also referred to as Sony Animation Studios and abbreviated to SPA) is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and found ...

, 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''. As of 2010, Culton was at

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

. 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, in 2018, she came back to the project to write and direct once again. In June 2024, it was announced that Culton would serve as the co-director of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation's adaptation of ''

Oh, the Places You'll Go! ''Oh, the Places You'll Go!'' is a children's picture book, written and illustrated by children's author Dr. Seuss. It was first published by Random House on January 22, 1990. It was his last book to be published during his lifetime, before his ...

''.

Filmography

*'' The Princess and the Cobbler'' (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 animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the 1990 children's picture boo ...

'' (2001) (story artist) *''

'' (2001) (story, story supervisor, visual development) *'' Open Season'' (2006) (director, story) *'' Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run'' (2006) (director, writer) *'' Surf's Up'' (2007) (special thanks) * '' Open Season 2'' (2009) (executive producer) * '' Shrek Forever After'' (2010) (special thanks, character designer: new characters, story artist) * '' Abominable'' (2019) (director, writer) * ''

'' (2028) (co-director)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Culton, Jill Living people Place of birth missing (living people) People from Ventura County, California Animators from California American animated film directors Women animated film directors California Institute of the Arts alumni American women animators Pixar people Sony Pictures Animation people DreamWorks Animation people Warner Bros. people Warner Bros. Discovery people Year of birth missing (living people) American character designers