Bringing Together the Players - page 2 of 8

After developing the basic theme for the movie, Katzenberg then needed to compile the crew that would bring his vision to the "Silver Screen." To begin with that meant he had to find a writer.

He looked to John Fusco to translate his ideas into words. Fusco was told to write something about the American West, told from the point of view of the horse. As Fusco explains it, I "opened up the canvas of the West, and took that horse on a journey that traveled from life in the wild to a captive life with the Cavalry, into the Native American world."

Mireille Soria was asked to co-produce the film with Katzenberg. Although this was to be her first animated feature, Soria has an extensive background in live action film and television. Soria followed Katzenberg's vision. "The goal was to have a movie that makes you laugh and cry with the elegance and myth that matches the majestic West." Soria explained Spirit as a horse that goes "through hell and comes back wiser and stronger and finds love."

Director Lorna Cook, who has numerous animation credits, among them working as an animator on the lead character Belle in "Beauty and the Beast," and as a story artist in "The Lion King," helped bring Katzenberg's vision to life by working directly with the artists. Co-director Kelly Asbury, a 19-year veteran in animation who had worked with Cook on another DreamWorks film, "The Prince of Egypt," joined Cook. He was also a story artist on "Shrek" and "Chicken Run."

"We didn't come and have a story about a horse we wanted to make. We wanted to make this film and tell a good story. Jeffrey wanted to make a film about horses. That is really what the best-animated films are. It was a shared vision", explained Asbury.

"This is not about ego. It is about collaboration," added Cook.

In the development stages of the film they had to decide whether or not the horses would talk, but that idea was quickly dropped. "Once you have a horse talk it goes one place…but we didn't want to have a Mr. Ed. We wanted some dignity to the horse. We wanted the story to have a sense of drama…and bring in human emotions for our storytelling," explained Asbury.

Both Directors ensured that every department focused on the intent of the film and the vision of Katzenberg, who wanted the film to be clear and have expression. To him it was important that the visual part of the story be just as, if not more important then the narration for telling the story. "It is a horse opening a curtain and unfolding a story before us," explained Asbury. "We didn't want it to be every phrase. We were careful not to have the narration tell you what you are watching.

"It is painterly," he continued. "You step back from the canvas constantly and you always look at it."

Early on everyone recognized the need for music. "The songs help with the emotional story that is told," explained Asbury.