Robert Lence: Professor of Story for Animation CalArts

lruttkay
Mar 17
2 min read

Updated: Mar 27

Robert Lence, director, screenwriter and animator, has been a major contributor on some of the most successful films in the history of animated features. In his thirty-year animation career, he has worked as a Director, Screenwriter, Head of Story, Storyboard Artist, Visual Development Artist, Story Consultant, Lecturer and Teacher, helping create original characters, writing dialogue, and shaping the story on over a dozen major-release animated features.Robert has worked at Walt Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks. His film work includes such all-time hits as "Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King," "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life" and "Shrek." Robert served as Co-Head of Story on Pixar's 1995 "Toy Story," the first ever computer animated feature film.

Robert Lence has also served for years as a member of the CalArts faculty, as Professor of Story for Animation CalArts and story consultant.

Rob is a wonderful person and gifted writer, artist, and lecturer, It is an honor to have worked with him and to know him as a person. Rob contributed additional writing to the Shred Games script, and I really want to take the opportunity to thank him for his delightful contribution to the story, Rob has this super visual type of sense of humor that is refreshing in that it is clean. And at the same time, it still totally catches you off guard! One of my favorite lines. that he wrote is in Episode 9 where Major Tripp is yelling at Eracer over the phone because his sabotage plan failed. And the stuttering Eracer shoots back defensively with, "S-sorry. W-we didn't think that r-redhead's hair would be so resourceful." In a flash, your mind goes back to the whole scene with Madame Insane's morphical red hair that just happened prior in Episode 8. And BAM! You get the joke. And it's so unexpected. Especially because it could only happen in the world of this story. --In Shredopolis.

Robert has worked overseas in eight different countries, developing the stories and screenplays for studios, as well as teaching and guest lecturing, in China, Czech Republic, England, Italy, Mexico, Russia, South Korea and Uruguay.Robert co-wrote and co-directed the Russian animated feature "The Snow Queen: Mirrorlands" which was released internationally in 2018.

He is a member of the Writers Guild of America West, and he has served on the judging committee for the screenwriting awards at the animation industry's Annie Awards.