I was trying to foster a great working relationship between those two departments [design and the writing teams], because classically in animation the two don't get along.

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.

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

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.

The number one thing is creating this world ["Trolls" ] - what the world is going to look like, feel like and what technology will we need to use to get there.

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.