President Pixar Animation Studios

This is a letter of recommendation for Brian Kalin O’Connell, known in the 
industry as BKO, a remarkable artist I have known and worked with over the last 
30 years in different roles at Industrial Light + Magic, Lucasfilm, and Pixar 
Animation Studios. Over that time, BKO has proven to be a highly 
accomplished and versatile creative, successfully serving in a multitude of story 
and directorial roles. He is an Emmy-nominated director of Star Wars: The 
Clone Wars series, and an instrumental part of the Story Team on Incredibles 
2, Luca and Turning Red, to cite a few of his Pixar credits. 

During his career, BKO has consistently shown up as an empathetic and 
inspiring leader. This has extended to him generously volunteering time to guide 
training programs for new story artists at Pixar, and providing one-on-one 
mentoring to artists where needed. Additionally, BKO was a founder of Story 
Culture, an employee resource group at Pixar dedicated to authentically 
reflecting the world around us. In this role, he served as a mission critical 
partner to me in our efforts to improve our diversity in the studio, and in our 
films. 

One of BKO’s recent projects at Pixar was to develop and direct a series based 
on The Incredibles for Disney+. Unfortunately, as Disney’s business model has 
continued to evolve, Pixar has been asked to end its streaming production. 
Since the door is now closed on episodic work at Pixar, Brian is looking outside 
of our studio at both streaming and feature prospects. Though I am saddened 
to see him leave Pixar, I am deeply grateful for all he has contributed, and 
support him as he explores directing opportunities. 

Thank you, and I heartily encourage you to consider Brian for appropriate roles 
you may have. 


Senior Vice President, Talent and Producer, Pixar Animation Studios

BKO is, in one human, a mix of elements that make creative projects and teams thrive. He’s a creative force, with his own distinct storytelling vision and eye for entertainment in long and short form animation or live action. He’s a naturally inclusive, people-focused leader, who lifts up less-heard voices and demonstrates his commitment to diversifying and building equity industry-wide. He is a talent accelerator who’s led intern programs, trained and mentored artists, built community, and driven collaboration among multiple departments at Pixar. And he’s an experienced builder, versatile in crafting stories both original and franchise.

3D Storyboard/Cinematic/Previsualization Artist

I was a member of a four person story team supervised by Brian for a weekly television series. Brian's guidance is directly responsible for the quality of the work we were able to put on screen under our demanding production schedule. The amount of work produced would not have been possible without his deft management and support across all phases. As a member of his team, I can speak to working closely with Brian to produce work that I am very proud of. Work that I am proud to exhibit to others. As an observer, I can say that Brian brings his own vision but adapts well to the visual and cinematic style of Supervising Director Dave Filoni and Chairman For Life George Lucas. My first experience working with Brian was as a TD assisting his department. Seeing his work and how he worked with his team inspired me to want to work as a Story Artist. It was Brian that gave me that chance. While I am biased, this attitude is what makes Brian exceptional. He is accommodating and collaborative, and not afraid to take risks -- both in his work and his personnel; three of the four members of his team had no previous previs experience. Yet the quality of the work we produced together is something that is, again in my biased opinion, rarely seen on television. I can't wait to work with Brian again. If, by some insane logic, I was in charge of choosing teams, Brian would be an obvious choice.

Creative Director ILM Art Department

I have known and worked with Brian for many years and consider him a true collaborator that understands great design and robust story telling. We have been through many projects together that were often open ended and deadline driven (you know what that's like if you are reading this), and Brian always showed poise and leadership.

Co-Founder and CEO, Creativity Partners, Keynote Speaker and Advisor

Brian was in our Pixar Leadership Mentorship program. He stood out for his bold creativity and his empathetic, generous, self-aware leadership. He lit up every room with his kindness, humor and collaborative approach to work. After seeing a lot of creatives and leaders in action, I would recommend Brian for any team that wants to elevate its innovation, its performance, and its psychological safety. Aside from mad creative talent, he's just an extraordinary human.