Hollywood Babble On & On #889: Who Wants To Run Disney?

It looks like I might actually have a shot at running Disney.

You might recall that last week Disney honcho Bob Iger shit-canned the studio's Chairman Rich Ross, and I made a pitch to replace him.

Well, it looks like I might have a shot.  The studio has reportedly tried the best, including Pixar head John Lasseter, Dreamworks partner Stacey Snider, Marvel Studios Pres Kevin Feige, and former Disney boss turned producer Joe Roth have all been considered and all made it known that they are either unavailable, or just not interested.

I can understand their hesitance.  It's a hard job, you don't have as much direct power to green light or red light projects as other studio chairmen, because divisions or "brands" like Pixar, are pretty much autonomous entities in everything but marketing and distribution.

Outside of Pixar you have to deal with big name mega-producers like Joe Roth, and Jerry Bruckheimer, and the Dreamworks team of Stephen Spielberg and Stacy Snider.

The credit for success tends to go to those big names, while the blame for any failures falls on the shoulders of the poor bastard with the chairman's job. 

That means I actually have a shot at this.  I mean if the best won't take the job, they're going to have to try the rest, and by that, I mean me.

Sure, I have no experience in Hollywood, no connections, but look at what experience and connections got Disney so far.

But seriously, one of the main problems facing any chairman is that the position is like being a king without a country.  You have a crown, a scepter and a throne, but your 'realm' consists of a bunch of city-states and principalities that do their own thing, but if things don't go right, they'll be going for your head.

I promise to not let my power go to my head.

Whoever takes over the position...whoever that might be... has to develop their own power-base, and do it fast.

That means developing talent in all areas that is directly loyal to the chairman that brought them up.

Ironically, this was the strategy that fueled Disney's revival in the 1980s. They formed Touchstone Pictures and forged relationships with producers and actors who were either on the way up, or facing a stalled career.  They put these people into low-risk high yield projects, like comedies and low budget genre pictures.  When particular films hit it big, they won really big because the margins were so wide.

If the chairman treats these people right, the ones that make it big will owe a certain loyalty to guy who didn't screw them at every opportunity.  Then the chairman might be able to stand their ground with the other big swinging dicks in the Disney stable.

Or they could just hire me and let the fireworks fly! ;-)