Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521473
SUMMER 2024 25 SUMMER 2024 25 WONDER TWINS SHAWNEÉ AND SHAWNELLE GIBBS "THE SECRET SAUCE IS THAT WE BOTH BRING SIMILAR LOVE AND JOY AND PERSPECTIVE. BUT WE [ALSO] EACH BRING SOMETHING SPECIAL AND DIFFERENT TO A SCRIPT." Twin sisters Shawneé and Shawnelle Gibbs are a rare writing team—they share identical DNA, sign the same NDAs, and despite having shared a childhood bedroom, still love working together. The sisters have co-authored comic book series and written for DreamWorks, Cartoon Network, Mattel, and Warner Bros. In January their graphic novel Ghost Roast was published by HarperCollins, and they have another in the works, as well as animation projects in development. The dynamic duo grew up in Oakland, California, and credit their mother with instilling in them a love of art and story, including animation. Shawnelle recalls sitting in church as her mom, a preschool teacher, showed her how to draw houses on the back of a pamphlet. Their mom taught the twins to communicate through art, and when the sisters were in high school, she achieved her dream of becoming a registered nurse. "That showed us that no matter what is going on, you can go toward your dreams," says Shawneé. "It really helped to inspire us in the way that we navigated our entertainment careers." The sisters' path took plenty of twists and turns before they got into animation professionally. Feeling a little too fearful about submitting their portfolios to the animation program, they both studied cinema at San Francisco State University. Shawnelle says that when they were younger they watched The Wonderful World of Disney and saw Walt Disney's sneak peek into the animation process, but "it still felt very inaccessible to us, from where we were, kids in Oakland." However, by the time they were in college, the availability of technology like Flash and After Effects helped them independently create animation and illustrations, as well as develop their own voices. Shawnelle and Shawneé eventually made the move to L.A. in the hope of getting work in animation. Instead, they ended up in nonfiction programming working as television producers. This helped keep them afloat while they honed their storytelling skills. By day they were television producers, but by night they were animation and comic book writers, slowly building their name as a writing team. It was a dream come true when they landed their first animation staff writing roles together on Warner Bros.' Little Ellen. Over the years the sisters have fine-tuned their collaboration system, discovering early on that writing together at the same computer didn't work. Their first step is to select an idea they both love. Then they'll start world-building. Outlining is done together, but in different locations. "Google Docs is our friend—it's like a third sister," says Shawnelle. After taking sections from the outline and writing separately, they'll then stitch it together, making sure it sounds like one cohesive voice. Shawnelle then tightens the story. "She's our Edward Scissorhands," says Shawneé, whose focus is on structure. Despite being twins who have worked together for so long, Shawnelle is constantly surprised by how different their individual approaches will be. "We download differently," she says. Shawneé agrees: "The secret sauce is that we both bring similar love and joy and perspective. But we [also] each bring something special and different to a script." One of their goals is to buy a building and have a studio space where they can bring others in to work creatively. "It's just such a pleasure to be able to play the way we did as kids… and make a living doing it," says Shawneé. Shawnelle agrees—the work is a joy. Having been inspired as girls by animation artists ranging from Walt Disney to Hayao Miyazaki, they're excited to be creating some of that magic together for others. Mural by Playhouse Village; Photo by Jenn Logan