Under Katzenberg, Frank Wells, and Michael Eisner, the Disney studios had begun a correlation of hiring Broadway personnel to manage the Disney animation staff on their feature films that brought such producers as Amy Pell to "Aladdin" and Sarah McArthur and Thomas Schumacher to "The Lion King". Before making his producing debut on "Pocahontas", James Pentecost had earlier worked as a production stage manager on several Broadway productions including "La Cage aux Folles" and "Crimes of the Heart". In June 1992, the filmmakers embarked on a research trip to the Jamestown Settlement where Pentecost first met Shirley "Little Dove" Custalow-McGowan and Debbie "White Dove" Custalow, both descendants of the Powhatan Indians. The trip also included a visit to the Pamunkey Indian Reservation, and conducted interviews with historians at Old Dominion University. Following the research trip, Custalow-McGowan served as a consultant traveling to the Disney studios three times, and while Custalow-McGowan offered her services for free, Disney paid her a $500 daily consulting fee plus expenses. Ultimately, when it came to light that historical accuracy was not being pursued to the extent she had hoped, McGowan has voiced her feelings of shame she felt in conjunction with her work on the film, saying, "wish[ed her name wasn't on it". Additional Native American consultants were brought in to authenticate the clothing and war dance choreography. That same month, Katzenberg held a meeting with the Feature Animation staff in which he predicted that "Pocahontas" would be a commercial hit, while deeming "The Lion King" experimental and less likely to succeed. As a result, most of the animators of Walt Disney Feature Animation decided to work on "Pocahontas" instead, believing it would be the more prestigious and successful of the two.