Disney Exec on Media Mergers, Jimmy Kimmel and What Makes Good TV
The company’s entertainment co-chair, who joined after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox, says the next owner of Warner Bros. should prepare for a long process.
Dana Walden at her office in Burbank, California.
Photographer: Maggie Shannon for Bloomberg BusinessweekWalking through the ground floor of the Disney Television Animation headquarters in Glendale, California, it dawns on me that this is one of the rare moments Dana Walden is away from a television screen. The co-chairman of Walt Disney Co.’s entertainment, news and content businesses worldwide, Walden keeps a constant eye on the programming her company produces for the screen and a lot of what her competitors put out too. “I watch on the treadmill, I watch in the bathroom,” she says. “Last night I watched a couple cuts with my husband as we sat and ate dinner. Luckily, my family loves the stuff I’m working on, so they never are very upset if I’m multitasking.”
The other constituency she tries not to upset with her TV habits is the creative teams that make the content. She considers herself seasoned enough to know how to offer a piece of criticism—a “note,” as they say—in a way that’s constructive while conveying what she thinks her audience wants. “The creative process is so subjective,” she says.