As the Disney Drama Dust Settles, Dana Walden Puts Her Talent-Building Prowess to the Test
16.06.2022 - 03:17
/ variety.com
Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeDana Walden is ready for this moment. On the heels of a shocking Hollywood management shake-up at Disney, the newly promoted chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content now oversees a massive portfolio that includes the programming arms of Hulu, FX, ABC, Freeform, Nat Geo, 20th Century Television, ABC Signature and more.Walden’s ascent at Disney is not a surprise, but the sudden departure of her predecessor and longtime boss, Peter Rice, surely was when the news surfaced on June 9 that Disney CEO Bob Chapek had fired him.Walden has the respect of the Hollywood community, the chops of having run (or co-run) two broadcast networks and multiple studios, plus deep relationships with towering creatives like a certain superstar producer (ahem, Ryan Murphy) who is, by all accounts, itching to reunite with her after a rocky run at Netflix.
Walden still won’t have P&L oversight and the direct responsibility for making the top-line decisions about how Disney spends its content production resources. The final decision-making there shifted to Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution chairman Kareem Daniel in a 2020 management restructure.Rice put on a brave face in the wake of that change, at least publicly, telling his industry colleagues that his job still included high-level budget decisions.
He rededicated himself to supporting big creative swings inside the company, such as Disney+’s pricey “Percy Jackson” series.But the 2020 restructure paved the way for Chapek to decide that Rice’s layer was no longer needed within a much-changed Disney. Walden’s group has been on a roll with buzzy shows such as “The Dropout,” “Dopesick,” “Only Murders in the Building,” “Pam & Tommy,” “The
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