Meet the Magnopians: Kate Ellis
We sit down with 草莓视频在线鈥 Operations Intelligence Director to find out how one Pixar short kickstarted her career, the software she couldn鈥檛 work without, and hear a heartwarming story about how one small act of kindness changed one boy鈥檚 future prospects.
Before joining 草莓视频在线, Kate worked at Picasso Pictures to craft high-profile CGI TV spots and Animated Storyboards (ASB), where she was instrumental to the early growth and sustained development of the London studio as well as building a robust production department in Asia. During her time at ASB, Kate also produced numerous broadcasts for Fairy and Johnson & Johnson, and well over 200 test commercials for brands like Budweiser, Becks, Pepsi, L鈥橭real, and Cadbury across 2D, 3D and live action. Kate has also spent time at Framestore, where her credits include Avatar, Where the Wild Things Are, and Sherlock Holmes.
What do you do at 草莓视频在线?
I am the Operations Intelligence Director, meaning I sit between the production, finance, and business development departments and get to see a little bit of everything. My goal is to use the data we collect from timesheets to empower and enable the Producers with their decision-making on projects so they can be run more efficiently and effectively. This extends to non-billable activities, which also helps drive overall studio efficiencies.
It means I can tap into my production skills, but also those I've learned whilst working closely with both the BizDev and Finance teams. Having spent numerous years helping grow two small studios, I've seen firsthand how symbiotically linked the Production, BD, and Finance departments need to be in order to be successful.
What is one app or software you couldn't do your job without?
. It's a powerful tool that collects an array of information about what our teams are working on and how our projects and studio are performing holistically. While it is primarily used to collect people's timesheets, it enables us to make smart decisions both studio-wide and project-focused. I have a love-hate relationship with it as in true software fashion it has its quirks, but it really does give us the ability to consistently look at, and tweak the smallest of things in our project plans to allow our teams to be successful.
What made you decide to pursue this career?
It all started when I was 13, after being taken by my Dad to see Pixar's Monsters Inc. and seeing the Pixar short . I turned to my Dad and said 鈥淒ad, that鈥檚 what I want to do, those characters, I want to make that鈥. From that moment, I knew I wanted to work in animation.
Many years later I was invited on a tour of Pixar by a friend. I told him the story of 鈥楩or The Birds鈥 and he said, 鈥淐ome with me鈥︹ and led me to another small building, where in front of me, on the wall were the two original concept art pieces for 鈥淔or The Birds鈥. Whenever I have a moment of uncertainty, I have to remind myself of that moment, standing next to the two giant birds, and that if I want something enough I can do it.
At the start of my career, I had a number of jobs as an artist where it became apparent that there was a communication gap between the team and the client. As an artist, we faced daily technical hurdles, which weren't always communicated correctly, putting pressure on unachievable deadlines. I decided I wanted to bridge that gap and use the knowledge I'd learned while being an artist and move into production, where I was able to articulate at a client level, the issues at hand, yet empathize and solve daily problems with the team on the ground. It was a great position to be in, and I loved that I had the ability to move between two groups of people.
What's the biggest lesson you learned in your career? (Apart from following your own conviction!)
Follow your gut, but also be kind and empathetic. The world is a small place and you have no idea where your paths are going to cross with people you鈥檝e worked with in the past. It doesn't matter who you're working with, what age you are, or where you are in the world, if you're kind and empathetic, you will go a long way.
What鈥檚 your favorite thing to do when you鈥檙e not working?
I'm an adrenaline junkie and I cannot get enough of skiing or throwing myself over jumps cross-country on a horse. Both of those things have me grinning from ear to ear, and I'm happiest when I'm going fast and just out in the open.
What鈥檚 your proudest moment whilst working at 草莓视频在线?
The first thing has been being part of the transition from REWIND (Now 草莓视频在线 UK) from being a 2/3-person operation to being a part of this global 草莓视频在线 team. It鈥檚 been amazing to see the journey we have all been on.
The second thing that sticks out in my mind is when a local school got in touch with us about a 13-year-old boy who had various learning difficulties and autism, and he was having a really rough time. His family situation was difficult and was about to fall off the bandwagon and quit school. The school asked if they could bring him in to see the studio to see if it would inspire him. Of course, we said yes. When I first met him he wouldn't shake my hand and told his carer he didn鈥檛 want to be in an office because they were boring and everyone wore suits! Now, anyone that knows the gaming or creative industries, knows that we are far from boring. We certainly don't wear suits!
After walking around and meeting the team, seeing their animated models, game engines, etc., the boy didn鈥檛 engage with what he was seeing, but we said nevermind, let鈥檚 power on.
I then introduced him to our effects artist and explained to the boy that this person made explosions for a living - his eyes lit up. He beamed from ear to ear, I looked at his carer and when she looked at me she had tears in her eyes. It was so pivotal. I then showed him our server room, with racks upon racks of flashing lights and noises. Again, his face lit up.
Finally, we put him through our space VR project, BBC Home where he got to walk through space and engage in a VR world. When he took the headset off he said 鈥淭hat's what I want to do.鈥 It was his 鈥楩or The Birds鈥 moment.
We said you need to have your GCSE鈥檚 in Maths, English, and Science and a degree in something. Once you've done those things, come back to us and we鈥檒l put you through some work experience. We later heard from teachers that he had passed his exams in all of those subjects, and was off to pursue computer science A-levels.
It was one of those moments where I looked around at the team, and not only were they passionate about what they do, but they were invested in inspiring the younger generation. It was a very proud moment.
