Pamela Ribon

Pamela Ribon (born April 4, 1975) is an Academy Award-nominated American screenwriter, author, filmmaker, blogger, and actress. Her work includes the television series Samantha Who? and the animated films Moana, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Nimona. She created and wrote the animated short film My Year of Dicks, adapted from her memoir Notes to Boys (And Other Things I Shouldn't Share In Public), and she and director Sara Gunnarsdóttir were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. She also performed, wrote, and directed shows with Monks' Night Out, an alternative sketch and improvisational comedy troupe that served as the house troupe at The Velveeta Room, and later directed several spin-off troupes and showcases. During the third Big Stinkin' International Improv & Sketch Comedy Festival in 1998, Los Paranoias appeared on two festival programs, and Ribon served as an emcee for a separate showcase at the Velveeta Room.

In July 1999, Ribon and Matt Sadler presented one-person shows in a Hyde Park Theatre double bill titled Oh, Grow Up! That September, she performed her one-person show Slumber Party at MOMFest; her professional website identifies the work as a 1999 showcase for U.S. Comedy Arts Festival consideration.

Writing and screen career After leaving Austin for Los Angeles, Ribon pursued work in television while continuing to write for the internet and perform onstage. Her first novel, Why Girls Are Weird, was published in 2003 and was loosely based on pamie.com. She also created and directed Call Us Crazy: The Anne Heche Monologues, an unauthorized stage satire based on Heche's autobiography. The production played at the Hudson Avenue Theatre in Hollywood in 2003. Her two-person show Letters Never Sent, created with Liz Feldman, was later showcased at the 2005 HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.

Ribon subsequently wrote for television comedies including Mind of Mencia, Hot Properties, and Samantha Who?, while continuing to publish novels and develop film and television adaptations of her work. In 2014, an essay she published at pamie.com criticizing the children's book Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer helped inspire the online campaign #FeministHackerBarbie. Mattel subsequently apologized for the book's portrayal of Barbie and said that future titles would present the character as empowered.

Her work expanded into feature animation and comics during the 2010s. Ribon worked for approximately two years writing on Moana (credited for creating the basis for Gramma Tala, giving Moana a connection to her ancestors ), before co-writing Ralph Breaks the Internet. For the latter film, she conceived and wrote the sequence bringing the Disney Princesses together, recorded their preliminary dialogue during production, and remained as the voice of Snow White in the completed film. In 2019, her commencement address for the University of Texas' College of Fine Arts was praised by Texas Monthly .

Ribon was among the writers credited with the story of the animated film Nimona (2023). The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Ribon wrote, created, and performed in the animated short film My Year of Dicks (2022), adapted from her memoir Notes to Boys (And Other Things I Shouldn't Share In Public) and directed by Sara Gunnarsdóttir. The film received Special Jury Recognition for Unique Vision in Writing and Directing at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival and won the Cristal for a TV Production at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Ribon and Gunnarsdóttir were subsequently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. In 2023, Ribon was one of the three inaugural recipients of Film Independent's Changemaker Award, recognizing alumni whose work and support for other storytellers had made an impact on the industry and its community.

Filmography Year Title Notes 2005 Mind of Mencia writer 2005 Hot Properties staff writer 2006 Mind of Mencia producer 2007–2009 Samantha Who? story editor 2010 Romantically Challenged consultant 2014 Bears narration consultant 2016 Moana story writer 2017 Smurfs: The Lost Village writer 2018 Ralph Breaks the Internet screenwriter, story writer, voice of Snow White 2020 Tiny World co-writer, season 001, episode 001 "Savannah" 2022 My Year of Dicks creator, writer, voice, adapted from her memoir 2023 Nimona story by, additional screenplay materials TBA Emily the Strange writer