On Stories

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By Katie RazzallCulture and media editor

A senior Disney creative has warned The Actors ' strike could halt animation production later this year.

Jennifer Lee , chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, has been able to " keep things going" up to now.

But The Actors union, whose members include her husband, The Actor Alfred Molina , has been on strike for nearly three months.

Lee told The Bbc she has " probably until The End of the year" before her films will be affected.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 's The Media Show, She Said : " I can understand where everyone is coming from in terms of wanting fair wages. "

Lee won an Oscar for writing and directing the hugely popular animated film Frozen.

She says she believes there will be " a fair deal" which will resolve The Strike because " we're All In it together".

The Story of Anna and Elsa made her The First woman ever to direct a film that grossed More Than $1bn (£810m).

Lee says they could never have predicted that success. " We were just hoping people would like it, " she says.

The 2013 hit, a tale of sisterly love and the lengths siblings will go for each other, marked an evolution in Disney story-telling.

Snow White , for example, sang " Some Day my prince will come" - and was saved by a kiss. That was 1937.

Sleeping Beauty in 1959 is also awoken by a prince's embrace.

These beautiful, hand drawn films are Old School Fairy Tales .

Disney's recent Offerings - Brave , Moana and Frozen amongst them - are more modern twists On Stories .

Lee says of Frozen: " We had fun flipping those tropes". For example " Love at first sight. My philosophy: Good Advice might be get to know him, meet His Family , you know? "

Let It Go is The Film 's anthem of self-acceptance sung by Queen Elsa. Lee says originally The Plan was for Elsa to be a villain but " we kept sympathising with her so much; she was born with these powers she didn't ask for".

The songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez wrote Let It Go over a weekend and their ballad crystalised those instincts.

" We just said, 'this is wrong, we have to change it'. So we rewrote the whole movie. "

Disney is celebrating its centenary year. In October 1923, Walt and his brother Roy officially founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio .

Five years later they introduced Mickey and Minnie Mouse to The World , in The Black and white early masterpiece, Steamboat Willie .

" It was all started by a mouse, " is a Disney adage. Mickey was first, but so many followed.

And for the 100th anniversary, Lee has written the latest Disney animation, Wish. It's " driving The Story in directions we've Never Gone before".

She adds that wishing " is one of The Most important concepts in Disney. That idea of possibility, hope, wonder, your imagination".

Lee is steeped in Disney.

As a child, she says she was bullied at school over three difficult years.

Her VHS copy of Disney's 1950 classic Cinderella got her through. She watched it repeatedly, inspired by Cinderella who " stayed true to herself".

" When a child is bullied, they tend to eventually believe the bullies, " she says. " Cinderella didn't. And Then her life got better, these Beautiful Things happened. . It helped me persevere through it. I think it helped me drive towards what I do now. "

So The Girl who found comfort in Disney went on to become one of The Top women in The Company , greenlighting Disney animation movies while still writing and directing her own.

" I'd rather tell A Story where, if there is a handsome prince, you're seeing him in a way you've never seen him before, " Lee reflects. " That's more exciting to me. "

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Source of news: bbc.com