| Title |
DisneyWar:
The Battle for the Magic Kingdom
|
| Author |
James
B Stewart |
| Source |
India
Book Distributors |
Book Review by
- Anand Gurnani
Think Disney and the following automatically
comes to your mind
1) Animation & family entertainment
2)
Media Conglomerate
Think
Disney again and you probably will think
about Michael Eisner vs Roy Disney
- the boardroom battles reported
every day on the front pages of international
business dailies.
DisneyWar by James B. Stewart,
one of America's most acclaimed journalists,
zooms in on the changing equations between
the powerful people at Disney during the
last two decades. As the title aptly describes,
the book is an inside story of what drove
the iconic entertainment company to a
civil war.
The boardroom battles however are not
the only high point of the book. DisneyWar
has a multidimensional pull. The fascinating
thing about the book is that it demonstrates
the extent of influence that Individuals
at the helm of large Media Conglomerates
can have, over decisions that alter the
history of popular culture. Even more
interesting is the background of the action
which is Hollywood, Animation, Broadway,
Theme Parks, Television Networks and the
entire entertainment sphere; all this
viewed from the seats of power.
The book throws light on the past 20 years
of Eisner's tenure at Disney during which
the company had 10-12 individuals who
served in various capacities and later
since moved on to lead major corporations
in Hollywood and beyond. These include
Dreamworks Animation Chairman and CEO
Jeffery Katzenberg, Comcast President
Steve Burke, Revolution Studios Chairman
Joe Roth, NFL networks CEO Steve Bornstein,
Yahoo Media & Entertainment head Lloyd
Braun, Hilton Hotels Chairman and CEO
Steve Bollenbach, eBay Chairman and CEO
Meg Whitman, Martha Stewart Omnimedia
CEO Susan Lyne and Former Chariman of
20th Century Fox Bill Mechanic.
DisneyWar closes in on the changing
equations that Eisner had with these individuals
before, during and after they were at
Disney. Add to that the changing equations
with Pixar and Miramax and you have a
blockbuster Book which no media &
entertainment professional would be able
to resist reading.
Yet
another aspect of the book is the first
hand knowledge quotient that it offers
in terms of the subject and background
being entertainment.
Sample the following memo issued by Eisner
while still at Paramount:
"We have no obligation to make art.
We have no obligation to make history.
We have no obligation to make a statement.
But to make money. It is important to
make history, to make art or to make some
significant statement....In order to make
money, we must always make entertaining
movies, and if we make entertaining movies,
at times we will reliably make history,
make art, a statement or all three. We
may even win awards... we cannot expect
numerous hits but if every film has an
original and imaginative concept, then
we can be confident something can break
through"
Or sample Eisner's singles and doubles
formula for making films:
"We should generally resist making
expensive overall deals with box office
stars and top directors because we can
attract then with strong material later
on." During the course of his career
however, the same Eisner who issued these
memos did sanction quite a few event movies
(as he referred to big budget, top stars
and director movies).
Identical
to Eisner's career graph just before he
got into Disney and while there, the book
takes off with an exciting part and the
tempo stays upbeat until somewhere in
the middle where the book begins to drag
a bit, gradually hovering towards a dramatic
climax.
Overall the 538 page non fiction saga
is definitely a compelling read.
