‘Turning Red’ Producer Lindsey Collins, Director Domee Shi Promoted To Pixar Leadership Roles

Pixar Animation Studios is promoting Turning Red producer Lindsey Collins (pictured top left) to senior vice president of development and director Domee Shi (top right) to vice president of creative at the company.

Collins, who has been at the studio for two-and-a-half decades, has been tasked with leading Pixar’s development group for both features and streaming. The role sees her join Pixar’s creative vp team in support of chief creative officer Pete Docter. Collins will report to Pixar president Jim Morris.

Said Collins of the appointment:

As I reflect on my 25 years at Pixar, the pride and gratitude I have is surpassed only by the excitement I feel stepping into this new role. Pixar has always been a place that seeks to delight and surprise audiences and I am thrilled to be able to expand on that legacy and help shape what comes next, surrounded by some of the most diverse, unique and inspiring filmmakers and voices working today.

Shi joins the Pixar “braintrust” with fellow directors and vps of creative Andrew Stanton, Peter Sohn, and Dan Scanlon, tasked with supporting Pixar filmmakers on their productions. She will report to Morris and Docter.

Notably, the other names on that list are all men. Shi joining the famed braintrust after writing and directing a Pixar feature could represent a pathway for future women filmmakers to assume similar roles at the company.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Pixar’s features department manager Jessica Heidt discussed how far the company has come in the years since she was a freelance reader, when she was astonished at the overwhelming majority of male characters in Pixar films.

“Every project that’s being developed has an eye toward diversity, toward representation on all sorts of levels,” she said. Collins and Shi’s appointments represent an off-camera step in this direction.

Collins and Shi’s appointments were announced by Variety.