Esther Pearl

Esther Pearl is President of Nell Productions and Founder of Reel Stories, with decades of experience in production management across the entertainment industry. Her filmography spans some of the most celebrated films of the past three decades, including Academy Award-winning Pixar titles The Incredibles, WALL-E, and Monsters, Inc., alongside major features like Titanic, Starship Troopers, Armageddon, and What Dreams May Come. Nell Productions, a boutique animation and story development studio, contributed to Boy Kills World, which premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and was released by Lionsgate in April 2024. The company currently has two animated features and several short-form animated projects in development. In 2012, driven by a commitment to closing the gender gap in film and media, Esther founded Reel Stories — the first industry-led filmmaking and film training program for young women and female-identified individuals. Under her leadership, the program has produced over 100 short films and trained more than 1,000 participants; in 2020, she guided its transition to virtual programming, extending its reach nationally and internationally within a week. Esther’s work has been recognized by the San Francisco Women’s Film Institute for her contributions to Bay Area Women in Film, Television, and Media; she was also a semi-finalist for the Echoing Green Fellowship and received the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Advanced Imaging Society. A sought-after speaker, she has appeared at FAME Week, the SCAD Animation Fest, and the Cape Town International Animation Festival (CTIAF), The Women in Production Summit and numerous corporate events.