PUBLIC VIEWPOINTS

David Rosenthal

Interview participant ·

2 interviews · 3 viewpoints · 1 topics

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Translations are for reading; original excerpts remain the evidence.

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Attributed viewpoints, ordered by interview date. A snapshot of these conversations, not a definitive statement of someone’s beliefs.

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Building companies

Disney replaced its leadership during a crisis

David Rosenthal describes Disney recruiting Michael Eisner and Frank Wells after Ron Miller’s departure in 1984.

Supporting evidence

Original excerpt

They go out and they identify, recruit, sell, and hire arguably the greatest two-person management team in media company history: Michael Eisner and Frank Wells.
Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire
Context

Yep. So in the wake of all that, in 1984, Roy E. Disney decides enough is enough. Together with the Bass brothers, the new 25% shareholders, Roy and his business partner Stanley Gold, who's also on the Disney board with him, they gang up and they finally force out Ron Miller as CEO, who again is Roy's cousin by marriage, married to Walt's daughter. And they do this via dramatic boardroom coup that happens on September 7th, 1984. And then over a period of just 14 days, because Disney now, like, is without a leader, is in double crisis here. And then Michael quickly brings in his number two from Paramount, Jeffrey Katzenberg, to run the film studios.

Start time comes from the supplied transcript. Playback alignment is awaiting review.

Open the episode and seek to 12:13.

Building companies

Prioritize scripts and stories over star attachments

David Rosenthal describes keeping production costs low, generally avoiding A-list stars and directors, and letting script and story quality guide decisions.

Supporting evidence

Original excerpt

They would generally not work with A-list stars and directors, and instead they would focus on the quality of the scripts and the stories and let that be their guiding judgment, as opposed to the typical Hollywood thing of who's attached to the project.
Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire
Context

Yep. And the way they did it was this famous strategy that they called the singles and doubles strategy. The idea was they would keep their production costs low. Like, do we have the stars?

Start time comes from the supplied transcript. Playback alignment is awaiting review.

Open the episode and seek to 13:58.

Building companies

Marceline offered an early Main Street reference

David Rosenthal describes the Main Street of Walt Disney’s childhood town, Marceline, as an early parallel to Main Street USA.

Supporting evidence

Original excerpt

There's also this charming little town that the railroad had created with a Main Street, a Main Street USA, you might say.
The Walt Disney Company
Context

Marceline's gonna grow. So Marceline was, like, basically a Disney movie. There's orchards and ponds and animals and farmhouses. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. So while the family's living there, Uncle Robert's wife, Walt's Aunt Maggie, every time that they would come visit Marceline to check up on their real estate investments, she would bring Walt gifts. And one year, when Walt is probably 6 or 7 years old, Aunt Maggie brings him a Big Chief drawing tablet and pencil set, and Walt is enraptured. He starts sketching all the time, drawing, sketching everything he can see. And as the legend goes, one day Walt's retired neighbor asked the young boy to draw him a picture of his favorite horse. And the neighbor loves what Walt draws so much that he pays him a nickel for it and he hangs it in a frame in his house. And Walt, his mind is blown. Young Walt, he's like, my hobby, my art, it can make me money. Now, whatever the exact truth of that story is, there is no doubt that somewhere in Marceline, in prepubesc

Start time comes from the supplied transcript. Playback alignment is awaiting review.

Open the episode and seek to 8:25.

Statements by interview date2

Statements are ordered by the original interview publication date; differences in wording do not establish a change of position.