If You See It, You Can Be It
It started with the movie Cars 3.*
Something stood out to Jessica Heidt as odd.
Jessica is a script supervisor at Pixar.
She tracks scripts through each stage of production: writing, recording, animating, and editing.
Her responsibility is to make sure that any shifts to the plot or lines are carried through consistently.
Animators, editors, directors, and writers each make many script changes throughout the development of the movie.
She ensures the integrity of each through the characters, dialogue, and plot.
You’ll also find Jessica in the recording studio, making sure actors record each line correctly.
She is the glue to each movie getting made.
Disney+ has a series of Inside Pixar videos that take you behind the scenes of making an animated movie.
One of the episodes is dedicated to Jessica.
She describes her love for storytelling: “Storytelling is about communicating and doing that through characters, emotions and plot and taking people on a journey.”
She was also recently profiled in this Bloomberg article and this Bloomberg article.
If you feel excluded, others do too
Something didn’t sit right with her when she joined the development of Cars 3.
At first, she thought “I’m not the demographic for this film.”
Then she realized that if she didn’t feel included, perhaps others may not as well.
Pixar films often have characters that aren’t human or living.
Cars don’t have a gender, but the way they are written, gender is implied.
Historically, less than a third of all characters in animated films were female.
More than two-thirds were male and there wasn’t any representation for people who didn’t identify as male or female.
This has been a known problem in the movie industry for years – women lacking representation in movies – animated or otherwise.
Pixar wasn’t alone in this.
Geena Davis started See Jane in 2004 to bring attention to create gender balance, inclusion and reduce stereotypes in entertainment.
Despite the known issues, Pixar hadn’t figured out how to understand and solve the specific problems.
Helping people see what they can’t unsee
Jessica analyzed the first draft of Cars 3 and realized 90% of the lines went to male characters.
She described in an interview with Points of Light org:
“I want the next generation of little girls to be able to see themselves portrayed in the same complex, funny and even flawed ways that little boys get to see themselves all the time. For these girls to imagine themselves worthy of being paid attention to, and of being heard. I want these girls to feel worthy of being the heroes, the villains, the funny sidekicks, and everything in between. I want them to see themselves as integral to these magical worlds: to see their own realities woven in the fabric of the stories that they love to watch and create.”
Pixar movies are translated into over 40 languages globally. This creates a responsibility for these movies to represent real life - even if animated.
Part of Pixar's mission statement is "to develop computer-animated feature films with memorable characters and heartwarming stories that appeal to audiences of all ages.”
How can you do that if you ignore 50% of the population?
Jessica recognized that each person working on an animated film watches the development from different perspectives.
They may be watching the animation, music, dialogue, or plot.
Jessica’s role gave her a unique vantage point in this known problem: she tracked dialogue.
She quantified the script and put it in a spreadsheet.
Then she brought it to a meeting and said, “This is the gender balance in our film.”
Meet people where they are at
That opened a new conversation: where could they shift dialogue and bring in different characters?
Before the meeting, the problem was always known – but no one knew how to solve it.
Jessica helped them see how big an issue it was.
It became something they couldn’t unsee and could solve.
Josh Minor, one of her colleagues, helped develop an application to automatically track dialogue in the script.
It became a standing agenda item, regularly reviewed and discussed at every milestone of Cars 3 and each movie that has followed.
Shifting culture in the flow of work
Three reasons why Jessica was successful in shifting the culture at Pixar:
Jessica didn’t wait for someone above her to solve the problem. She realized that with her role and perspective, she could help others see the information in a different way. Which would lead to a different discussion.
What are the known problems on your team? What might happen if you asked each person to provide suggestions on how to address them based on their perspective?
A ritual began. Reviewing the count of lines became a standing agenda item and discussion.
What are your rituals for discussing culture topics? What is your dedicated frequently for listening, reviewing, and discussing different challenges? What will you discuss?
The episode of the Inside Pixar begins with Jessica receiving the coveted “Russell Unsung Hero Award.” Her colleagues said: “Jessica Heidt is making a difference at Pixar, and she is making a difference in the world.”
Reward and recognition are demonstrations of what is encouraged and desired in an organization. From a shout out in an all-hands meeting to a compliment in a one-on-one to a formally nominated award.
What recognition do you provide to demonstrate and celebrate what is desired?
Pixar’s recent release of SOUL had 50/50 representation of males and females in dialogue.
Future films include representation of people that identify other than male or female.
Jessica has given them a way to track representation and easily respond.
Every culture tells a story.
What story does your team culture tell?
*For more insight on this story about Jessica Heidt, watch the 15-minute video on Disney Plus: Inside Pixar: Inspired: Jessica Heidt, Who gets all the lines? or read this Bloomberg article.You will quickly become a fan as well!
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