An Open Letter to Rober Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company

from a mouse to The Mouse

An Open Letter to Mr. Robert Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company

Dear Mr. Iger,

I’m a former Disney employee who worked in three company divisions (Consumer Products, Television Animation, and Feature Animation) over a twenty-year period. I was also trained in the first class of the Character Animation Program at the California Institute of the Arts, with the Disney family paying my tuition. My relationship with the Studio goes back nearly fifty years.

The Disney studio was not like other companies. Many employees once had a familial relationship with Disney. I was one of them. I was proud to work for a company with a conscience. Disney cared about the effect its films, and products, had on impressionable audiences, particularly children. Certain products were not permitted to be licensed. Walt Disney wanted his characters to advertise only natural, wholesome foods. To this day you will not find Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy on any junk food. I was extremely impressed by this policy and always bought Donald Duck Orange Juice when I lived in California.  

We carefully analyzed our stories to see how they would be perceived by people in other cultures or countries and reworked them if necessary. Our animation was top quality, and the characters were fun to work with. I had particular affection for Donald but also enjoyed animating Goofy and Mickey. I pitched story ideas for the classic characters as well as for original features at ‘Gong Show’ sessions. These sessions were a great learning and morale building experience that let us feel that we were contributing something to the company, even when the pitches were not accepted.

None of us who once worked at the Walt Disney Company want to see it lose its way in its centenary year. So, I am offering my opinion about what Disney could be in its second hundred years. I will speak about animation, which is what I know.

Disney feature animation has continued to showcase the latest in technical achievements in its recent films. They are visually rich but sometimes seem to use story and characterization as a mere excuse for the visuals. Some films appear to have stories that are designed for and aimed at a chosen demographic rather than one that appeals to worldwide audiences of all ages.

I approve wholeheartedly of seeking out new settings and characters for stories. But people do not go to Disney films to see computer programs or rendering techniques. They go to see a story that helps them escape the mundane hours, that brings them to a fantasy world.

Disney films were never aimed at ‘preteen boys’ or ‘preteen girls’. They were definitely not ‘kid films’. They were intended for a general audience. They were truly inclusive without straining to be that way.

The most problematic development in modern Disney animation, in my opinion, is a lack of respect for or understanding of its own history. The CGI remakes of hand drawn animation were sometimes pale shadows of the originals, but at least followed the stories. The most recent, the 2022 CGI-live action version of PINOCCHIO, seems to mock the original film. It has a sardonic, self-aware quality  that belittles the sweet, sincere original.  More obviously, the animation is of noticeably lower quality than that of the original. Animation is the heart of Disney. It should never be second rate.

Several recent films feature adolescent characters who learn to do whatever they want, no matter what adults say. They never suffer the consequences of their actions. There are no character arcs. Nothing is learned.

There is a problem when audiences start to notice this trend and comment about it.

I would like to see Disney animation return to its roots, or perhaps its heart. “Heart” was the term once used to describe a film that was sincere, that liked and respected its characters and its audience, that entertained while providing a non-didactic moral lesson. Films that were once synonymous with the name “Disney”.

I started to see the films lose ‘heart’ during the past few years. Some films are overly complex, filled with extraneous story lines and superfluous characters, and not as well paced as they could be. There is a developing sameness to the animation and characterizations. A Disney film is not a special occasion any more.

 It might be interesting to revive the Gong Shows, with outside pitches in addition to the ones by studio employees. This would eliminate an ivory-tower approach to story and development.

Older artists, directors, and writers with Disney experience can pitch stories and partner with younger ones, in a combination of abilities that was one of the reasons why the original Disney studio developed and produced great and successful films so quickly in the 1930s. This could happen again. Many former Disney animation artists are still working, and still care about Disney. Many of us would not need to be asked twice.

I’d also like to suggest that stories with animal characters are more appealing than those with largely human casts. It would be nice to see a return to Zootopia, one of my favorite recent Disney films. That was on the right track.

Lastly, if it is indeed true that you are searching for an eventual successor as CEO, may it be someone who genuinely cares about the company’s heart. May it be someone who is an artist at heart, and who knows that Disney is more than just ‘a company’.

I wish you all the best in your journey and a successful second hundred years for the Walt Disney Company.

Very truly yours,

Nancy Beiman

Supervising animator, character designer, storyboard, and character merchandise designer.