Veteran DreamWorks Animation producer Gina Shay, whose latest movie Trolls Band Together opens in theaters on November 17, is one of Animation Magazine’s 2023 Hall of Fame award recipients to be celebrated at this week’s World Animation Summit in North Hollywood, California.
Shay, who began her career in the 1990s, working on movies such as Cool World; South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (line producer); Jimmy Neutron (co-producer) and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (exec producer) has been a key player at DreamWorks Animation for the past 15 years, producing movies such as Shrek Forever After, Trolls, Trolls World Tour and short-form projects such as Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos, Shrek the Halls, Donkey’s Christmas Shrektacular, Trolls Holiday and Trolls Holiday in Harmony.
Shay was kind enough to answer a few of our questions about her career and inspirations:
Animation Magazine: Congrats on the completion of the latest Trolls epic movie, which is opening in a couple of weeks. Can you tell us about what’s different about this new chapter?
Gina Shay: Of course, the new movie features different kinds of animation, and we get to visit new lands and new characters. But you know, it always starts with the story. The fans from the first Trolls movie, which came out in 2016, have grown up with the franchise, so we wanted to give them something that would feel like they could relate to on an emotional level. What better way to do that than to tell them a story about sibling relationships?
One of the types of animation we explored was the classic animation from the 1930s and ‘40s, which we explored for our villains Velvet (Amy Schumer) and Veneer (Andrew Rannells). We have some rubber-hose type of animation for them. They’re very spindly and have doll-like faces — kind of Betty Boop meets Kewpie Doll. That was really fun. We have the Islanders; they’re new characters they look like water balloons that are in terry cloth cover, and they’re always on vacation, 24/7. We explore Branch’s backstory. It turns out that he had brothers, and they were in a boy band when Branch was a baby. They split up and he has major abandonment issues. We have a bunch of new Trolls, and they’re all voiced by very, very talented actors and comedians and singers. Telling the story was very satisfying.
We got to put some of our own sibling dynamics into it as well: After all these years working with [director] Walt [Dohrn], it really feels like we are brother and sister as well.
When did you start working on this third movie, right after the second one came out?
We actually pitched the idea before the second one, because it was something stewing on in my mind for a little while. I wanted to expand the family tree, as it was always something that I wanted to make sure we could explore in the movies, rather than outside in franchise extensions like series, so I was holding on to that. Of course, when you have Justin Timberlake, a boy band story seemed like the right time to tell that story. So, it ended up happening better than we would have or could have imagined. I guess you can say the recent NSYNC reunion was a case of real life imitating art!
What was the hardest part of producing a third movie about these popular characters?
Well, the story came very naturally to us. We had a great writer, Liz Tippett. However, we made the movie during the pandemic, which was challenging because normally we all get in a room with our story artists and just talk and throw ideas around until we find solutions and laugh a lot, too. But we weren’t able to really do that this time with with all of us in our little Zoom boxes. But we also had some tech challenges on this one because we were basically beta testing a new pipeline and it ended up being too much from a production standpoint. That was very challenging for the team — but just like the title of the movie, everyone just banded together for the love of Trolls, and it ended up being a very joyful experience.
Looking back, what do you love best about the making of Trolls Band Together?
Of course, I am always in love with Poppy and Branch, and the way their relationship has evolved since they’re a couple now. That’s really a fun dynamic to explore. But I love our new characters, all the siblings. We got to work with people like Camila Cabello, Eric André, Kid Cudi, Troye Sivan, Daveed Diggs … All these really unique individuals who just brought so much character and helped us find very individualized characters, which is not often the case in movies with big ensemble casts.
Since you are receiving one of Animation Magazine’s 2023 Hall of Fame awards this week, I have to ask a couple of questions about your background in animation. How did you find yourself in this world? Was Ralph Bakshi’s Cool World the first movie you worked on?
Yes, I was right out of college. I went to Pratt School of Art, and I really fell in love with animation, so I got a job as a P.A. on Cool World and moved out to L.A. and kind of met my people.
Did you always know when you were growing up that you were going to end up in this business?
I knew I wanted to work in an artistic field — I grew up as an artist, my mom was an artist — I just didn’t know exactly what I was going to end up doing. But I’ve always been a fan of animation.
What would you say has been the secret to your successful and eclectic career?
I feel like fighting for creative has always been my strength, and also knowing how to balance that with the needs of the audience and the studio, and to see the movie through the lens of an audience member as much as I possibly can. I learned that through people like Sherry Lansing — really smart, brilliant people that I got the opportunity to work under. At first I wanted to do just the weirdest stuff that I could find. I am a very tactile person, and I like to sew and make puppets. But getting into CG felt like we were doing that.
I also love the community of animation and the artist collective that I get to work with on a daily basis. I know it’s work and there are politics and all of that that you have to deal with being a producer, but all of the cool stuff and the creative experience outweighs every single other thing that could be complicated or negative. So I just feel very, very fortunate.
Can you compare the animation scene now to when you started out, when it was mostly white guys?
It’s definitely changing. Especially at DreamWorks, which I’ve been at for 18 years, it’s definitely changing. I’ve always been a big part of trying to diversify the teams as much as possible recognizing and mentoring women. Yes, a lot has changed. I feel like when I was coming up, people didn’t understand my style, which is more about collaboration and discussion instead of being like an overlord boss! That’s not part of my personality. So, men would always say to me, “Oh, you seem so nice! How can you think that you could run a crew?” and I was like, “Just watch me!” [laughing].
Of course, this past year has been quite a crazy, challenging period for animation and for entertainment in general. What is your take on it?
Yes, it a new world, but we’ve got to be brave, and we still have to make original content. We have to give equal love to the sequels and make sequels that feel almost original. We have to give the audience something new to sink their teeth into, and we are just going to have to keep at it. You know I don’t want to date myself too much, but I’ve been working in this business for over 30 years and I’ve seen the pendulum swing so many times. There are many more people who are animation fans than ever before — we just have to keep that vibe rolling.
Final question for you: What is your advice to young people who want to get into animation these days?
I would say, find a story that really connects with you and keep at it and don’t stop. If it connects with you, it will be authentic and other people will relate to it as well.
Gina Shay will receive one of Animation Magazine’s Hall of Fame Awards this Wednesday (Nov. 1) as part of the 2023 World Animation Summit (animationmagazine.net/summit). Her latest movie Trolls Band Together opens on Nov. 17.
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