Debra Solomon (left) made the transition from independent filmmaker to mainstream success with Lizzie McGuire. Courtesy of Disney.

Sometimes you gotta pay the bills. Well, actually, you've ALWAYS gotta pay the bills. Most of the time that necessitates leaving behind your unprofitable passions to slug away at a mindless job for the benefit of everyone but you and me. But if you're lucky, you sometimes manage to find a way to do what you want and make money doing it. Take New York animator and illustrator, Debra Solomon. After working as a successful illustrator, she gave it up to make her own, personal animation films. She was a hit from the start. Her films, Mrs. Matisse and Everybody’s Pregnant, respectively, turned the topics of adultery and infertility into light-hearted comedy, and were accepted and acclaimed by film festivals around the world.

This was all fine and dandy, but as most independent animators know, fame is rarely stalked by fortune. In fact, most of the time fame leaves you broke. To resuscitate the family bank account, Solomon turned her attention to television animation. After making a pilot (Nikki) and The Private Eye Princess special, both for Cartoon Network, she landed a job with a new live-action Disney Channel show called Lizzie McGuire. The show follows the life of a teenage girl, Lizzie McGuire, who is confronted with an assortment of real life issues (e.g., self-respect, buying your first bra, loyalty etc.) facing pre-adults.

Solomon used a lot of character elements she developed for the title character of Nikki to make Lizzie McGuire. Courtesy of Cartoon Network.

Before you know it, Lizzie McGuire is the hottest thing in teen culture, and millions are seeing the short animated Lizzie monologues that Solomon has created for each episode. To top things off, the show was recently turned into the very successful Lizzie McGuire Movie.

But as my old pal, Robert Pollard said, "As we go up, we go down." Just as Lizzie McGuire hit the top of the pops, the TV show was cancelled and talks of a second Lizzie movie, along with a possible ABC pick-up, were put on hold when a May 23, 2003 Los Angeles Times article announced that actress Hilary Duff (who plays Lizzie) and Disney had divorced.

Chris Robinson recently spoke with Debra Solomon about her experience working on Lizzie McGuire, what it meant for an independent animator, and where she goes from here.

Chris Robinson: How did you land, what is, for an indie animator, a pretty sweet gig?

Debra Solomon: I had worked on a pilot called Nikki for Cartoon Network. It didn't end up going forward, but in that business equation I picked up a manager (Tracy Kramer). Tracy was a big fan of my work and he sent my reel to Adam Bonnett at the Disney Channel. Adam actually came to my house in New York and I showed him my films. We sat and talked, and a few months later, he started working with Stan Rogow (Lizzie producer). They both loved Nikki and we starting work on Lizzie McGuire. Nikki was about an 11- or 12-year-old girl coming into her own and experiencing all the stuff Lizzie did. It was sort of my version of Lizzie. They really liked the emotionality of what I did with Nikki…

CR: …And you ended up fusing Nikki and Lizzie together in a sense.

DS: Right. Stan came to me. He said that they were looking for a talking head in the corner of the screen. I didn't want to do that. I didn't think that that was what animation was about. It was so much more inventive. And he just said, "Ok, give me full-bore Debby.’ And he let me do whatever I wanted.