Filmmakers in Franklin Shares Behind-the-Scenes Stories

Leah Allers’ bedtime stories consisted of scenes her father, filmmaker and animator Roger Allers, had worked on for Disney’s The Little Mermaid that day. 

Through her event series, Filmmakers in Franklin, animation heavyweights like her father can share their behind-the-scenes stories with a larger audience. 

On July 2, Allers will host The Secret of NIMH producer John Pomeroy for a Q&A session following a screening of the film at The Franklin Theatre. She’s partial to the 1982 work for its hand-drawn animation, art that is meant to be seen on the big screen, she says. However, it will be the first time she's seen it on the silver screen. 

July’s screening will also certainly serve as an introduction for some of the children in the audience. 

“FIF is very geared towards nostalgia and childhood favorite things, because I really want to keep these amazing movies alive and give them a platform, so that people can see them and celebrate them,” Allers says.  

Williamson County has a population of decorated filmmakers, like Pomeroy and special effects artist John Rosengrant, who will be part of an Aliens screening in September.

In addition, Middle Tennessee has a burgeoning animation scene, Allers observes. She often speaks with interested students from area colleges and participates on the board of the Tennessee Animation Association. 

“There are a lot of aspiring filmmakers and animators, writers and screenwriters and producers and young people in this community,” Allers says. “This is a great thing for them, a great resource and a great opportunity for them to learn from the greats.” 

Many of those great artists are in Allers’ personal rolodex of family filmmaker friends, who are coming to visit her in her new home. She moved to Franklin from California three years ago. 

“It was so fun to be able to share a part of my heart with this wonderful town that I'm making my new home, and also to really celebrate the artistry of these films and the filmmakers who made them,” she says.  

Filmmakers in Franklin kicked off in July 2025, and in August, Allers hosted a screening of The Lion King alongside a Q&A with her father, the director. Allers, who works as an actress, singer and voiceover artist, also studied film and animation and worked at Disney for a time. An interest in animation is something the pair shared, she says. His resume includes enduring classics like Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, the latter of which will be screened in tribute to him on Aug. 15 following his death in January.  

“The FIF events, it's all in his name now, it's all in remembrance of him," Allers says. "All these filmmakers that I'm having come out, they all worked with him, they love him, they know him, they're friends — it's really like a piece of my dad.” 

Another goal of Allers’ work is to make sure those behind-the-scenes artists get their flowers. The hand-drawn movies often take years of painstaking work, she notes. 

“We hear about the celebrities, the stars, the actors, but you never hear about an animator, you never hear about someone who worked on an animated movie or a guy who did the effects for Aliens," she says. “These are people who are so incredibly talented who literally create this magic that we see on the screen.”