Directing at Disney: In Conversation with Director Brenda Chapman and Historian Mindy Johnson

In conjunction with our current special exhibition, Directing at Disney, we are excited to present an in-depth conversation with Academy Award®, BAFTA®, and Golden Globe®-winning director Brenda Chapman. After beginning her career as a story artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1987, Chapman helped launch DreamWorks Animation Studios, wrote and directed Disney and Pixar’s award-winning feature film Brave (2012), and storyboarded and consulted on several more Pixar Animation Studios films. Chapman will share insights and stories from her impressive career with Mindy Johnson, a preeminent expert on women in early animation. Johnson is a historian, filmmaker, and the award-winning author of several volumes including Ink & Paint – The Women of Walt Disney’s Animation, published by Disney Editions.

Tickets for Directing at Disney: In Conversation with Director Brenda Chapman and Historian Mindy Johnson are available as follows:

• Walt’s Circle Donors: Purchase tickets beginning Tuesday, January 7 at noon PT by emailing membership@wdfmuseum.org.
• Founding, Supporter, and Friend-level members: Purchase tickets beginning Wednesday, January 8 at noon PT by emailing membership@wdfmuseum.org.
• All member levels: Purchase tickets online beginning Thursday, January 9 at noon PT via the Member Portal.
• Public (non-members): Remaining tickets available online beginning Friday, January 10 at noon PT.

Upgrade your membership to receive priority access to purchase tickets. Membership dues and Walt's Circle donations may be paid as monthly installments or as a one-time annual payment. For more information, please email the Membership Department at membership@wdfmuseum.org.

Brenda Chapman started her career as a story artist at Walt Disney Feature Animation (now known as Walt Disney Animation Studios) in 1987,where she worked on several animated films including The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Fantasia/2000 (2000), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and the Best Picture Oscar®-nominated Beauty and the Beast (1991). Chapman was also the story supervisor on the original The Lion King (1994), for which she won ASIFA’s Annie Award.

Chapman then helped launch DreamWorks Animation Studios, and co-directed the 1998 release of the Oscar-winning The Prince of Egypt. She was the first woman to direct an animated feature for amajor Hollywood studio. She also developed several projects at DWA and consulted on Shrek (2001), Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) among others.

Joining Pixar Animation Studios in September 2003, Chapman created, wrote, and, along with Mark Andrews, directed Brave (2012)—inspired by her relationship with her daughter—for which she was the first woman to win an Oscar, BAFTA®, and Golden Globe® for Best Animated Feature Film. She also storyboarded on Cars (2006) and consulted on several films including WALL·E (2008), UP (2009), and Ratatouille (2007). Her live-action debut, Come Away, starring David Oyelowo and Angelina Jolie, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Currently, Chapman is developing and writing several projects across many different media platforms. She is also developing various projects with her husband, filmmaker Kevin Lima. Chapman is represented by Tanya Cohen at Range Media and Candace Carlo at Kleinberg, Lange, Cuddy & Carlo LLP.

Award-winning author, historian, filmmaker, and preeminent expert on women in early animation, Mindy Johnson’s groundbreaking book, Ink & Paint – The Women of Walt Disney’s Animation (Disney Editions), redefines our collective history. This essential volume casts a light on the thousands of unsung female artists behind the creative and technical advances within the animated art form. Recipient of the ASIFA June Foray “Annie” Award, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences - AMPAS/Oscars.org Film Scholar Award, along with the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Educators Forum Grant, Johnson continues research into the earliest women of animation with a forthcoming book & film entitled The Only Woman Animator – Bessie Mae Kelley & Women at the Dawn of an Industry. Notably, Johnson unearthed the oldest-surviving hand-drawn animated and directed films by a woman. This game-changing discovery of Bessie Mae Kelley and her early work at the dawn of animation redefines the established understanding of our collective past. Kelley’s restored films debuted in their World Premiere at the Academy Motion Picture Museum in Los Angeles—100 years after their creation.

Johnson’s young-reader volume entitled Pencils, Pens & Brushes – A Great Girls’ Guide to Disney Animation, celebrates the contributions of 20 remarkable women within early Disney animation and is a treasure for all ages. Her critically acclaimed debut book, Tinker Bell – An Evolution was honored with rare consecutive Family Choice Awards, and she is a contributing writer for the epic Taschen volume, The Walt Disney Film Archives – The Animated Movies: 1921–1968 as well as the celebrated Disney Editions collection, Marc Davis: Walt Disney’s Renaissance Man.

A sought-after commentator, speaker, lecturer, and panelist, Johnson explores a wide range of subjects within her presentations and appearances at numerous studios, campuses, international festivals, and conferences including: The Smithsonian Speakers Series, The Pordenone Silent Film Festival, Anahuac Int’l Design Conference, Hippfest, Ottawa Int’l Animation Festival, NAFF Festival, Lucasfilm, DreamWorks, TCM Classic Film Festival, Film Forum-NYC, D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, ABC Network specials, San Diego Comic-Con, CTN Expo, World Animation Festival, and more. Johnson has also written for numerous international publications and produced record-breaking global campaigns for the film industry.

Johnson’s creative work extends to a wide range of film projects including associate producing the award-winning documentary Pencils vs. Pixels (2024), in addition to creative work and appearances for clients, including: AMPAS/Oscars.org, TCM/Turner Broadcasting, WNET/American Masters, History Channel, ABC Television SPARK Animation Fest-Vancouver, The Walt Disney Family Museum, The Walt Disney Company, HoriPro Entertainment, Pixar Animation Studios, Stage 9 Exhibits, Sony Animation, Primary Wave, SiriusXM Radio, and more.

In addition to her work in network television and film production, Johnson is also an award-winning playwright, Grammy-nominated songwriter, musician, and a contributing artist on several internationally acclaimed recordings. When she is not speaking, researching, or writing on a myriad of subjects, Johnson also teaches film and animation studies, women’s animation history, screenwriting & intercultural film at CalArts, UCLA, and other campuses in Southern California and Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.