The Head of Story is defined differently for each film. But I found that the role for me was to support the director's vision, and to be a conduit to the story team - and managing that team to realize the vision.

We'd all [with Mike Mitchell] been together at Dreamworks for over ten years, so we all had the same goals.

Sometimes actors come in, you record them, and they do their role.

Mike [Mitchell] brought me on as co-director, and eventually we ended up sharing a brain. It was overwhelming initially when I was working with departments I hadn't had contact with before.

I loved the Disney films, and Sterling Holloway was one of their chief talents. He never had to put on a voice, and that's what Mike [Mitchell] and I encourage. I love the voices that have a unique texture, but it's their real voice.

Since we've done that type of work [ voiceover], we know how isolating it can be, and we wanted to make the actors more comfortable.

I had to sit in front of all these people, and act like I knew what I was doing. I faked my way through it pretty well.