Julie M. McDonald is a VFX and animation executive with over 30 years of production and finance experience at global media firms, (Pixar/DISNEY, Cinesite, MPC), leading teams on large scale blockbuster films. She has led VFX on films such as Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Murder Mystery for Netflix, as well as serving as Interim Head of Production at MPC on Godzilla, Kraven the Hunter and Atlas in 2023. Her animation specific  work started on Toy Story 1 for Pixar, as Editorial and Camera Department Manager. Later, after earning her MBA in Finance,  she shifted to the business side of media for many years. Recently she has been designing and delivering 2024’s production finance workshops for The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University, through the Computer Animation Society of Ontario, (CASO). 

Julie’s career started at the investment firm Robertson Colman & Stephen, as a research assistant to the Semiconductor Analyst Team.  She then moved to University College London's department of Upper Atmospheric Physics on a contract for NASA/AMES, supporting the analysis of photons emanating from the comet Halley over North America.   In 1994, Julie was hired by Steve Jobs / Bonnie Arnold at Pixar Animation Studios (Toy Story, a Bug's Life, Monster's Inc., Geri's Game), where she helped to create the digital editorial to animation to film-out work flows, initiated Pixar's digital backlot, broke ground on its archive efforts, and contributed to the design of its proprietary  shot tracking system.

From 2012 through 2014, as Director of Animation Production at Viz Media, she led that business unit in a turn around to bring the division profitable, while also launching the Anime streaming channel on Hulu,  Neon Alley She led by driving costs down to deliver on margins while executing the launch of hundreds of animé episodes on Hulu, CRACKLE, Netflix and XBox, as well as releasing over 50 multi-disc DVDs and BDs per year, and negotiating ADR in Los Angeles, Vancouver andLatin America. 

In 2016 Julie served as Director of Business Development for Nimble Collective, an animation in the cloud platform start-up, acquired by AWS.  She was also  Engineering Manager for the Silicon Valley firm, bringing its SaaS animation platform tool to BETA, to transform the animation industry, lower the barriers to entry for new teams and deliver an integrated, end-to-end animation creation tool to the world. Byt the time 2020 arrived, working in the cloud was not only accepted but the new normal.

Julie works closely with executives, operations & finance leads to analyze costs, increase efficiencies and transform enterprises to achieve strategic goals. A media supply chain expert she has released day and date global media for name brand firms in over 10 countries. 

Julie has a BA in Semiotics / French Literature from UCSD and an MBA in Global Finance from Northeastern University at Mills College, Oakland.  She writes an animation industry blog & consults for global tech firms.  She supports equity in the world’s media and technology industries and works to transform global industries into accessible markets for entering artists, especially women and girls around the world.

www.IMDB.com Julie M. McDonald