Animation professionals, students and fans were in high
spirits on Thursday August 28th at the Walt Disney Family Museum to
hear President of Industrial Light and Magic Lynwen Brennan share her tales of
entering the animation and VFX industry. Having served as President for the
past 15 years, Ms. Brennan shared her wealth of knowledge with warmth and humor
to the crowd of over 100.
Early Beginnings
“I have been extraordinarily lucky,” Ms. Brennan stated. Her
Welsh heritage instilled in her the belief that women could do anything. Her
grandmother worked as a scullery maid, and was smart and self-assured and
taught her daughter the same life lessons. Her Grandmother’s efforts and hard
work enabled her mother to attend excellent grammar schools and become the
first person, male or female, in her family to attend college. Her mother
taught for 40 years and later became a principal of the school. Her mother had
““nothing but the highest degree of effort and kindness and respect for
everyone,” said Ms. Brennan. And she taught her that “there is nothing you
cannot do.”
The Fall That
Changed Her Life
Her mother’s faith and courage in her abilities enable her
to overcome one of the most difficult periods in Ms. Brennan’s life. During her
early adulthood, while visiting an amusement park with friends Ms. Brennan fell
off a rollercoaster. The accident fractured her leg so severely that it
resembled jelly on the inside according to doctors.
The doctors informed her mother that her foot would need to be amputated, but the Ms. Brennan’s mother would have none of that. Her mother massaged her foot and leg for hours, then commanded the doctor to bring in a different ultrasound machine when the first did not show a positive result “Because the first was obviously not working,” said Ms. Brennan. Finally a tiny pulse appeared in her foot, and after her first surgery, Ms. Brennan awoke to see her mother grinning ear to ear and her foot securely intact.
“I told you if you want something enough nothing is impossible,” her mother stated.
Turning Point
As her leg healed that year Ms. Brennan was
forced to reevaluate her goals. She spent the year in and out of the hospital,
eventually receiving six surgeries and physical therapy to regain the ability
to walk. She spent the year bored, laying on the sofa, watching movies with her
brother to pass the time. That time spent would serve as another turning point.
She and her brother began to discuss movies and storytelling, what made films
work and not work. Her brother had started a small VFX company, and seeing Ms.
Brennan’s interest, appointed her as head of marketing. “I was the only one so I was head of myself,” Ms. Brennan said. In order to get excellent bids they had to give the appearance of being a large corporation. They did this by working diligently, seven days a week, and their work paid off whenILM became one of their clients. They worked on such films as Death Becomes Her and Jurassic Park. And they were able to secure the bid by listening to everything ILM wanted and coming through, said Ms. Brennan.
Even though Ms. Brennan greatly enjoyed working for the company and their clients, a part of her wondered when she would return to her original path. She had gone to school for science, not film, and in the back of her mind she still planned to return to that original goal. In 1995 they sold the company to AVID, but not without a little sadness mixed with the pride of selling the company.
“It was hard to see the company you put your heart and soul into go into a large corporation,” said Ms. Brennan.
Later she worked at Autodesk, which she enjoyed, but with no intention of staying. She rented everything, including furniture, believing that she would soon return to her original goal. Her brother’s advice enabled her to realize that her goals had changed, and that VFX and film was a great fit for her.
“It is better to regret doing something than to regret not doing it,” she recalled him saying.
Industrial Light
and Magic
It was this advice, coupled with her courage that she could do anything, and that anything was possible, that led her to ILM. She was mentored by many strong and smart women, including Gail Curry, and learned one of the best pieces of advice that she implements daily.
“If there’s a tough choice make the one that’s the best for the artists Gail told her,” said Ms. Brennan. In order to do this, one must know the artists, who they are, what they stand for and what is important in their lives. “Know every artists names, their kids names, their spouses name and where applicable their pets,” said Ms. Brennan.
Inspiration All
Around
Unbeknownst to her, she was being groomed to become the next President of ILM. She agreed to do the job on two conditions, that the previous president would stay for six months and that they could reevaluate how she was doing.
At ILM the majority of executive leadership are women,
stated Ms. Brennan, and they inspire, challenge, argue and keep the right side
of sane. Her boss, Kathleen Kennedy, is one of those inspirations. “The word
‘can’t’ is not in her vocabulary,” said Ms. Brennan.
Life At The
Company
Being one of the top-tiered VFX and animation studios in the
world is a heavy undertaking that Ms. Brennan enjoys each day.
“There isn’t a typical day,” said Ms. Brennan.
ILM, because of its offices around the world, is a 24 hour operation. However
there are a few things that do occur each day. She starts the day off with a
conference all in London, followed by watching the dailies for every project in production, bidding on what’s coming in, calling
clients, checking the finances for each
show and projecting how many people will be needed for a project.
When asked what the hardest film is that they’ve worked on,
Ms. Brennan responded with a laugh, “Whatever we’re doing right now is the
hardest. Whatever we’re doing right now is the one that’s not going to get
made.”
At the time each project has its own challenges. This past summer, Transformers 4, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Lucy were all coming down the pipeline and were completed within weeks of each other.
“All converged at one time and that was terrifying,” said Ms. Brennan. “But there were all so last month I have other worries now.”
Working Together:
Mentoring and Beyond
Mentoring was one of the things that enabled Ms. Brennan to
get to where she is today. She found mentors on purpose and some came to her,
seeing in her an ability to work diligently to get things done. The two most
important things she recommended, when seeking out a mentor, is to have both
confidence and integrity.
Trust your gut and never question your integrity, said Ms.
Brennan. It was this trusting in her gut that enabled her to change
from her original science field after graduating from university to embarking
on adventures in film.
“I definitely have an unusual path into it. My gut told me
‘go this path’ even though your plan was this way,” she said.
She also expounded on the idea of likeability, something that women often feel they must conform to in order to be successful in business.
“If by wanting to be liked means showing kindness and respect – there’s no downside to that,” said Ms. Brennan. Empathy doesn’t mean you want to be liked but that you want to treat your employees well, she continued.
“Just because you care about someone doesn’t make you weaker, you do it because it makes you human,” she stated.
And What About
That Little Upcoming Film Star Wars?
No conversation with an ILM veteran would be complete without finding out a little about the upcoming Star Wars film.
“It’s set in space,” replied Ms. Brennan to the ecstatic crowd. “There’s a robot called R2D2 in it. And that’s all you’re getting from me.”
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