Shari B. Ellis
Production Manager at Gaumont Animation
I think that we all can agree that there is something captivating and attractive about a person who displays great passion. I remember listening to my stage lighting teacher in college get so worked up and excited when talking about which gel would work with a particular Fresnel light for an upcoming production of The Cherry Orchard. As an actor, my only concern when it came to lights was whether or not I was finding it properly. However, this light teacher was so passionate and loved lighting so much that I could have watched him talk about Par Cans all day. His passion for his field was what captivated me. This memory came to mind when I had the pleasure of researching and communicating with this week’s Creators Society Member.
Shari B. Ellis, member of The Creators Society Production Branch, has an undeniable love, seemingly endless amounts of energy, and of course, passion for all of her artistic endeavors. And just like my lighting teacher, over ten years ago (yikes) Shari has inspired me with her passion and selfless creativity!
Being the passionate person that Ms. Ellis is, she was led to her path in animation through inspiration. “I’m originally from the south side of Chicago. I come from a family of educators and musicians, and I was going to go into educational policy, and went as far as going to grad school for a year. But my senior year of college, Edward Scissorhands came out and changed everything. I decided I wanted to make media that make people feel seen, the way that movie made me feel. And pretty quickly, I realized I didn’t want to be Tim Burton, I wanted to be Denise DiNovi and help nurture the vision of a director.”
Animation was not at the forefront of Shari’s mind early on, but as she said, it seemed “meant to be.” I asked if animation was a field that she had always wanted to be a part of. “Not until college,” she said. “But I was destined for it anyway. I loved cartoons, and one of my fondest childhood memories is watching Star Blazers with my mother while she braided my hair for school.”
Shari B Ellis has worked in production management in both animation and VFX. I wanted to know how she made that transition. She said that, “After being a PA for Tim Burton, I got an assistant position at Disney Feature Animation. Then I moved into production on Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and that sealed my career.
Disney
I would have stayed at Disney forever, but I was part of a massive layoff of thousands. But growth is good, and the VFX part of my career happened when I landed a job at Sony Imageworks. The skills for animation and VFX production management are very similar, so I was able to bounce back and forth between the two.
Shari continued, “After six years, I desperately needed to express myself creatively, and I went back to school for photography and filmmaking. Running my own business was an important part of my personal and creative growth. But after a few years, while I was at Comic Con sitting in on the adult animation panels, I remembered I had my own project that had been percolating for years called Fangirl, and I needed to get back to animation to make it a reality. My first job coming back was coordinating VFX on Agent Carter, but it’s been all animation ever since.” Well that is very good news for all of us who are fans of animation.
Speaking of Fangirl, I asked Shari if she could share more about this project. Of course, she was excited to tell us more. “Yes! Fangirl is my adult animated pilot, about an insecure record company executive who discovers she’s inherited the power to ignite creativity in musicians and must now embrace her destiny to save music from disappearing forever as she battles an ever-growing menace who steals creative energy! Fangirl is my love letter to music fandom, and I’m currently producing a proof-of-concept, that’s now at the animation stage.” I don’t know about you all, but I would definitely be tuning into this. And I think we can all relate to a menace trying to steal our creative energy!
Duran Duran seems to be a big influence on this project. Do you have other pop culture idols or influence that you would like to take on through your animation? Shari said, “80s music in general is a huge influence, such as Depeche Mode and INXS. But Duran shaped me as a teenager, so naturally they come up as an influence. I tend to gravitate toward writing about subcultures, and I want to keep exploring that.”
Apart from being an amazing artist in many respects, Shari B. Ellis is a very generous volunteer in her community. I asked her if she was influenced to give back by a special person or organization in her youth. “That’s an interesting question. My maternal grandmother lived with our family and helped raise me, and I think her giving spirit influenced me most of all. I volunteer across many areas, but my principal focus is as co-executive director of Ace Los Angeles, a social, outreach and education group for asexuals in Los Angeles. I love Inner-City Arts, where I was a teaching assistant. I also volunteer with Color of Change, and I support Black Lives Matter.”
“It just so happened that being involved with Ace LA enabled me to consult on the character of Todd for BoJack Horseman. BoJack is one of my all-time favorite shows, and the writers were such gracious listeners, and it means so much to know I had a hand in influencing the character.”
Can you tell us about Oh Shari Productions? How did it come to be? What is the company’s mission? “Oh Shari started out as my photography business, then expanded into filmmaking. I liked that I could represent my love of 80s music in the name. The mission is to create and nurture projects that focus on underrepresented populations, whether they be people of color, LGBTQIA+, older populations – I want to see myself and others like me represented in animation.”
Oh Shari Productions
It seems that you have a great interest in child education and development, I commented. Does this influence your style or the types of projects that you are drawn to? Do you try to educate kids with your art? Do you want to be a joy to children? “Originally, I thought I was going to go into children’s film. And I certainly enjoyed producing and co-writing Kaleidoscope for The Creators Society challenge! I want to keep supporting initiatives that serve diverse populations in media. But for the past few years, all my writing has been in the adult animation comedy space.”
Did you have any mentors or people that inspired your development as a young artist? Is there any influence that led you specifically to animation, I asked. “I had great professors at one of the top photography programs in the nation - Santa Monica College. Don’t discount your community colleges! As a writer, I’ve been fortunate to find fantastic mentors through my writers’ groups and through programs such as the Producers Guild’s Diversity Fellowship, which has been rebranded this year as PGA Create, and the #startwith8hollywood program through Women of Color Unite.” Shari said, “As far as my artistic influences are concerned, there was Star Blazers. Anime was really young at the time, and there was a romance to the show, in the broadest sense, that you didn’t see in American cartoons. Beyond animation, my favorite artist is Jean Cocteau.”
What would you tell a younger artist wanting to follow in your footsteps? What advice would you give? Are there any mistakes that you have made that you would want to warn them about? My important questions, got important answers from Shari. “Network, and find your people...Not to help you forward your career – no one wants to be used, but to find your support network. Hopefully, you’ll grow and work with those people. I’m extremely shy, so that took a long time to learn. Also, don’t stay at a job where you’re unappreciated or there’s no path for advancement! As Agent Carter would say, know your value...move on, and trust that there’ll be other opportunities.” Well said, Shari. Well said and well acted!
As the author, I have to say, I haven’t met a person in quite some time that has seized or created their own opportunities like Shari B. Ellis has. Getting to know her and all that she has accomplished, I honestly do not know where she gets the energy. If I had to guess though, I’m sure she would tell me that it’s all worth it, because she loves animation and her work so much. Passion is a very powerful thing and passion exhibited every day by Shari B. Ellis is going to change the world, and the fact that she is going to do that through her art, makes me very proud to be her fellow Creator-in-Animation toward that world.
