Disney<\/a>, that authority is carved up by brands. That may sound simple, but it\u2019s a philosophy that Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment at the Walt Disney Co., attributed to the company\u2019s recent success.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cThe teams are small enough to specialize in different types of stories,\u201d she said at the 49th UCLA Entertainment Symposium on Friday. The longtime TV exec, a popular and well-known figure within the talent community, stressed that she relies on her brand leaders to curate programming.<\/p>\n
\n\tLast year, Walden, who oversees a sprawling portfolio of platforms (Hulu, Disney+, FX) and studios (20th Television, Disney-Branded Television), saw her various outfits score a record 60 Emmy wins. She\u2019s coming off a string of hits, buoyed by FX productions like Shogun<\/em> and The Bear<\/em>, Hulu darling Only Murders in the Building<\/em> and ABC broadcast unicorn Abbott Elementary.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\tAfter the return of chief executive Bob Iger, Walden was assigned oversight of TV networks and global streaming. She, in turn, expanded the duties of certain executives. That included FX chief John Landfraf, whom Walden named-checked at several points of her keynote.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThink about FX,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s superserving an audience that loves high quality, serialized dramas and comedies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThen there\u2019s Hulu and ABC, which are organized under one brand because the network\u2019s shows go onto the streaming platform after premiering and specialize in procedural dramas and broad comedies, as well as a Disney-branded unit that target younger audiences.<\/p>\n
\n\tShiny competition productions, like American Idol <\/em>that drive streaming engagement, are under a different team and separated from the group that oversees unscripted productions, like the Bachelor<\/em> franchise, Walden said.<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cI do get involved in those decisions,\u201d she qualified. The exec added, \u201cI can\u2019t think of time when a brand leader elevated a decision to me that I didn\u2019t support because I\u2019m very aware of the strategy throughout the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIt wasn\u2019t always this way at Disney. In 2020, former chief executive Bob Chapek overhauled the executive leadership structure amid a pivot to streaming in a dramatic departure from Disney\u2019s historical reporting structure. The move was controversial within the company for taking power away from content-focused executives. Authority was centralized in a new reporting group led by Chapek lieutenant Kareem Daniel, who alongside his mentor, exerted atypical control over content decisions.<\/p>\n
\n\tWalden wasn\u2019t short on praise for Iger during he keynote, citing his $71.3 billion deal for Disney to acquire the bulk of entertainment assets owned by 21st Century Fox. The acquisition \u201cgave us this incredible library of shows,\u201d she said, noting that those productions drive engagement. \u201cWe\u2019re constantly introducing shows like Grey\u2019s Anatomy <\/em>or Modern Family<\/em> to a new generation of viewers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nRead More<\/a>
\n Winston Cho<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Logo text In the olden days, before streaming, the end of May would mark a critical period in which studios would order new shows. That\u2019s changed in recent years, at least in terms of the significance of that time frame. Now, there\u2019s indefinite shelf space. And against that backdrop, much of the conversation has turned<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":858523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[333,1798,4346],"tags":[5626,21440],"class_list":{"0":"post-858522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-disney","8":"category-entertainment","9":"category-greenlights","10":"tag-disney","11":"tag-greenlights"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}