Craft, artistry, and technology: careers in animation

Jillian Howell

Production Coordinator, Disney, Frozen 2, Raya and the Last Dragon

When Jillian Carney Howell was seven years old, Santa Claus brought her a Barbie video camera and her love of filmmaking was sparked. A native of Scott Depot, West Virginia, there were not many narrative filmmaking opportunities in the mountain state, so she learned to create her own: winning online video contests in middle school, lobbying her high school principal to let her take a screenwriting course, saving money in a jar to attend the New York Film Academy summer camp, and creating work for Winfield High School's morning announcements. Carney Howell graduated with honors from University of North Carolina Wilmington's Film Studies program in 2017, where she wrote, directed, and produced her own narrative and documentary short films. Since January 2019, Jillian has worked in Production Management at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California working in Production Management, including on the record-breaking 'Frozen II' and on the upcoming 'Raya and the Last Dragon.' She is currently a Production Coordinator in the Creative Legacy department, partnering with Walt Disney Imagineering on theme park attractions. Her latest side project is a non-profit video project called 'Shine On, WV' to create awareness for artists and arts careers in her beloved home state of West Virginia. Passionate, enthusiastic, authentic, with a goofy sense of humor and often overdressed is Jillian in a nutshell.

Roxy Simons

Comedy and Animation Writer, Helpsters

Roxy Simons is a comedy and animation writer based in Los Angeles, and originally from South Africa. She recently completed two years as a staff writer for Madagascar: A Little Wild at DreamWorks, and is developing an original series based around a new Disney Princess for Disney Jr. She received a development deal with Sesame Studios for the original pilot she wrote during the 2018 Sesame Writers Workshop. She also studied sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade. She enjoys writing stories that center around complex girls and women, multi-generational families, absurd humor, immigrant experiences, and musical numbers. 

Shreyasi Das

Senior Lighting and Look Development Artist, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Angry Birds 2, Hotel Transylvania 3

Shreyasi Das is a senior Lighting and Look Development artist at Sony Pictures Imageworks, Vancouver, B.C. Most recently she completed work as a Lighting Lead on the animated feature Over the Moon, directed by Glen Keane. She was responsible for providing creative and technical leadership to the lighting, establishing the lighting and look of sequences based on concept art, and sharing cute animal gifs on the team chatrooms.

 Originally from Kolkata, India, Shreyasi began her career at Imageworks in March 2015 as an associate lighting TD. Her film credits include: Spider-man: Homecoming, Angry Birds 2, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, Storks, Smurfs, and Alice Through the Looking Glass. She is currently doing look development on the upcoming Netflix feature, Jacob and the Sea Beast.

 Previously, Shreyasi held various roles at Pixar Animation Studios, Blue Sky Studios, DreamWorks Animation and Doodle Pictures. She is a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology. In her free time, she is a textile and mixed media artist, campervan building assistant to her husband, and a helicopter mom to her senior cat. In five years she sees herself being best friends with alpacas.