Jim Morris, Pixar’s general manager and executive vice president of production, delivers the keynote presentation today, in West Hall B from 11 am to 12:30 pm. Morris has worked as a producer and production executive in the motion-picture industry for many years and is currently producing Disney’s John Carter of Mars for release in 2012. He is the production executive on Pixar’s films, including Ratatouille, Up, Toy Story 3, Cars 2, Brave, and Monsters Inc. 2. He produced Pixar’s WALL•E, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Film in 2009. Prior to Pixar, he worked for Lucasfilm and its divisions for 17 years. He served as president of Lucas Digital Ltd. for 11 years, where he was responsible for Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Animation, and Skywalker Sound. Concurrently, he served as ILM's general manager, supervising a staff of more than 1400 artists and technicians and guiding the largest visual effects facility in the entertainment industry. Under his leadership, ILM created the groundbreaking, Academy Award-winning visual effects seen in Jurassic Park, Death Becomes Her, Forrest Gump, and more than 150 other films. For more, visit CGW.com.
For his work on WALL•E, he received a British Academy Award (BAFTA), The Golden Globe, the AFI Award, the National Board of Review Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Best Picture Award, the Broadcast Film Critics Award, the Monitor Award, the Saturn Award, the VES Award for Outstanding Animation, and the Producers Guild Award.
He earned a BS degree in film, from the Newhouse School, Syracuse University, and he holds a MS in television and radio from the same institution. He has served as president of the San Francisco Film Commission and was the founding chair of the Visual Effects Society (VES). He is a member of the Motion Picture Academy and the Producers Guild.