Nicole Grindle was always meant to be a producer. Her high school theater days first drew her into the arts, but as a senior at the University of Pennsylvania—where she joined the all-female musical and sketch comedy group Bloomers—others identified Grindle’s talent before she did and asked her to take charge of the group’s annual show. Saying yes terrified her, but being the decision-maker for the production felt decidedly right.
“There’s nothing like seeing an audience responding to the thing you’ve worked on, laughing and being emotional,” Grindle says. Her latest film project, “Incredibles 2,” hits theaters later this spring. “It’s an incredible gift to be able to do this kind of work. It’s not easy. It scares me to death every time, and at the same time, I just love it.”
Postgraduation, Grindle landed a production assistant job at Industrial Light & Magic, a division of Lucasfilm. There, her first project was a six-month stint on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” Her team reviewed animation dailies sent over from Britain. “Their job was to composite the animation into the live action, which, let me tell you, in 1988 was a very big technical deal,” she says. At that time, compositing was a new idea for both Grindle and the film industry. It was while at ILM that Grindle planted her feet firmly in the world of animation.
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During Grindle’s next gig at Colossal Pictures in the Bay Area, she worked with the early incarnation of Pixar before the company snagged the deal to create “Toy Story”; they were working on developing a TV special. Soon after, Grindle joined them. “I could see that Pixar was going places, and I wanted to be a part of that,” she says.
Indeed, the California-based Pixar has released 19 feature films to date, with “Incredibles 2” marking its 20th. As a producer, Grindle’s job description includes reviewing the work of different teams, making sure people have what they need to be successful in their roles, and, sometimes, pushing crews to deliver more than they think is possible (especially considering the film’s extensive lists of characters, sets, and special effects). There are hundreds of decisions to be made every day, and if a producer approves a risky decision, it’s their job to have that person’s back.
“Being a producer is never entirely comfortable,” Grindle admits. “You’re always kind of walking that high wire hoping that you’re going to make it across. But I was drawn to that.”
When it comes to the cast of “Incredibles 2,” Grindle was delighted to see returning actors from the first movie as well as new faces. One of those new faces, Huck Milner, took over the role of Dash, and with only school plays on his acting résumé, Grindle says he “won the casting lottery.” He fit into the role quickly because he shares a number of characteristics with Dash, including his sheer excitement for life, all of which came through in his voice. “When we were recording him, he would take laps around the studio between takes because he had so much energy,” she recalls.
As for Grindle’s advice for female producers in the animation industry? It comes from the best advice she says she’s ever gotten, which came when someone told her she was too deferential to men in power and that she needed to have more trust in herself. Grindle says she wishes she’d taken that more to heart as she grew as an artist and producer. It’s important for women not to “edit themselves” before speaking. For the most part, being yourself is about trusting your gut and speaking up. “The more you do it,” she promises, “the better you get at it.”
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