Skydance Animation's Holly Edwards, Pixar's Dylan Sisson and Guerrilla Games' Jan-Bart van Beek also weighed in at Turin's View Conference on mentorship and why chances to develop new talent are shrinking TURIN, Italy — “Culture is what you tolerate,” said Sony Pictures Imageworks president Michelle Grady, reflecting on bad bosses and how studios build a workplace where people can thrive. Speaking Monday at Turin’s View Conference on the Leadership & Mentoring: Training the Next Generation of Leaders panel, moderated by the University of Hertfordshire’s Saint John Walker, Grady joined Janet Lewin senior VP, general manager and head of ILM, Skydance Animation president Holly Edwards, Pixar’s head of RenderMan creative engagement Dylan Sisson, Guerrilla Games studio director Jan-Bart van Beek and the National Film Board of Canada’s Eloi Champagne to discuss changing expectations of studio leadership and the challenges of developing talent. Asked by an audience member about “anti-mentors,” Grady acknowledged that difficult experiences can offer valuable lessons.
At ILM, that means coaching, mentoring and intervening when managers struggle, rather than simply hoping problems resolve themselves. But studio culture is also being reshaped by changing expectations among younger employees. It’s a better way.” “I think this generation wants to have a voice,” she added.
Lewin described ILM’s employee forums, town halls and open-door policies, designed to give executives access to perspectives that might otherwise be filtered through layers of management. But collaboration has its limits: “It’s wonderful to encourage participation and hear different perspectives, but someone’s got to make a decision.” Leadership also means making painful decisions. Asked about the most difficult decision of her career, Lewin pointed to the closure of ILM’s Singapore studio, which ILM announced in August 2023 and which employed more than 300 people.
She said it was a business decision, made with others, about staying cost competitive. They were doing incredible work,” she said. Lewin went to Singapore to meet with staff.
The industry has also had to rethink how it prepares people for leadership in the first place. For decades, Grady said, studios routinely promoted exceptional artists into management without providing adequate training. ILM has introduced a six-month mentorship initiative pairing aspiring leaders with senior executives.
Imageworks’ mentorship program, which began as a diversity initiative with about 30 participants, is now oversubscribed every year, Grady said. Pixar has since built a mentorship program into its RenderMan Challenge, which he said has “helped change people’s trajectories and their careers.” Edwards, who began her career as a production assistant, recalled learning from a producer over several films, absorbing lessons about both the leader she wanted to become and the behaviors she wanted to avoid. Champagne described a turning point at the NFB.
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