Rich Ross

October 2008

Rich Ross joined Disney Channel in 1996 and has been the president of Disney Channels Worldwide since 2004. He built the successful Disney Channel Original Movie franchise, which includes the international smash hit High School Musical (HSM) and its sequel, HSM 2, the highest-rated telecast in the history of U.S. cable television. Ross has also fostered the development of series such as Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and more recently Wizards of Waverly Place, as well as the animated series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Phineas and Ferb. Ross talks about the High School Musical megafranchise and others in the making.

TV KIDS: Why was the decision made to release HSM 3 as a theatrical instead of as a movie for television?
ROSS: The first reason is that the talent had done two films for television with television economics and the opportunity arose to make a big movie, to be able to explore a bigger budget and give [director/choreographer] Kenny Ortega even more resources to create the magic he can. And certainly the talent was more expensive and a feature-film budget allowed us to sign up every single one of the main actors. The combination will be a movie that will be incredibly fulfilling not only for all the HSM fans, but for all fans.

TV KIDS: Will the franchise continue?
ROSS: We are definitely writing HSM 4, there’s not a question about that. We believe there are definitely stories to tell. The cast on HSM so far feel they’ve seen the arc of their characters through the three movies. We’re hoping that there will be opportunities for them to contribute to the franchise going forward. But like all great storytelling, we first have to write the story and then figure out what to do next. But we believe there are many stories to tell. Harry Potter got to seven books and we are only at three.

TV KIDS: What other brands are you developing?
ROSS: We look at four areas where we mine our opportunities. The first one is the Disney Channel Original Movies, so Camp Rock and The Cheetah Girls are properties that have been extended. Secondly, from our series: Hannah Montana, [which] has become a very big franchise, and Wizards of Waverly Place on the live-action side. On the animation side, Phineas and Ferb is showing true signs of a big, big, property. On most days it’s the number one animated show on TV, beating out even SpongeBob Square¬Pants. And not to be left behind, there are our preschool opportunities, properties like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Handy Manny, which are growing very quickly. We recently announced our new brand Disney XD [which replaces the Toon Disney brand in 2009], and we are already shooting our properties. One is Aaron Stone, our first big live-action series, and I have high hopes for where that is going to be. I believe our areas are creatively fertile, and there is tremendous optimism within the company that there will be a lot more to follow in the footsteps of HSM and Hannah Montana.

TV KIDS: When you’ve raised the bar so high, does Disney management also expect you to create a huge hit with each movie and series?
ROSS: What the whole group here recognizes is that my boss Anne [Sweeney] and her boss Bob [Iger] always say, “We trust you to tell us when you are ready with what you have.” And the patience that we have been given at the company has allowed Gary [Marsh] and his team to take advantage of creative opportunities and tell great stories and create new characters. That said, we’re very cognizant of the opportunities around these properties. Not everything is a franchise and we don’t launch franchises, we launch series and movies.

TV KIDS: What have been some of the greatest satisfactions you have derived from your work?
ROSS: I love that every single day is different, and I love the global influence we have by doing good by the audience we serve. [A] big article in The New York Times [about our programming strategy] was literally one of the proudest moments of my career. It heralded us as having raised the bar in representing diverse talent. It’s something that I’ve believed in my whole career, and during my 12 years at Disney I’ve been fanatical about [allowing] viewers to see themselves, not just the color of their face but the type of people they are. Diversity means a lot more than ethnicity; [it means] making people feel proud to explore their lives and to express themselves. Television has to be and can be an active experience for children and their families, not a passive experience.

WS: Was HSM considered special from the very beginning because it premiered on a Friday and then repeated on Saturday and Sunday?
ROSS: We have aired our Disney Channel Original Movies on three consecutive nights for eight years. The big theory behind that is that we look at our movies as theatricals and have been influenced [by the tradition in that industry] of opening weekend. And we asked, How do we give our viewers the same opportunities as moviegoers have? On an opening weekend a moviegoer says, I can’t go out Friday night so I’ll see the movie on Saturday. Or, I can’t go out Saturday, so I’ll go Sunday. Television [on the other hand] always assumed viewers would always be available. We, instead, thought families with kids might have plans on the weekend, so we’ll air our Disney Channel Original Movies on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The only time we broke that rule was after eight years, with Camp Rock, where we aired it on four different platforms over the same weekend.

WS: At what point did you know you had something really huge on your hands?
ROSS: We knew we had a success with HSM on the Monday because of the ratings, but more important because of iTunes, where we had nine of the top ten singles on iTunes. And the only reason we had nine and not ten is that we only had nine songs in the movie! iTunes was a relatively new phenomenon. People were still trying to understand digital. It was clear that there was some unbelievable momentum behind HSM. Very quickly the album sales started climbing, which ultimately went to number one, and then to number one album of the year and then things started happening. But I would say that on Monday, between the ratings and iTunes, we knew we had something special.

WS: How did you start to work across the various divisions of Disney to maximize this growing phenomenon?
ROSS: Different divisions were calling me. I’d say my phones were ringing off the hook! Many of the divisions were calling because a lot of retailers and third parties were saying, “I want to be a part of that!” And these were retailers and businesses that had never called us before. We had a very small brand-management group that we had put together a number of years ago and we sprung into action. We brought managers across all units, and ultimately on a global basis—not to do the jobs that the other units did, but to be there to [explain] the true essence of the property and to juggle the many opportunities available to us. And lastly we wanted to keep the integrity of what Disney Channel put into the movie and the relationship we have with consumers.

WS: Has the rollout of HSM and all the connected products become a model for the other brands you want to launch?
ROSS: I would say the HSM plan was the inspiration for how we looked at everything going forward: series, movies and preschool. We had the machine in place, but we had had smaller properties with smaller opportunities. We were very lucky to be able to warm up on some other properties that were less successful and to build the trust among our internal divisions and with external groups. People trusted us to do right by them and by the property. And because of that trust and the vertical business here at The Walt Disney Company, we were able to do things much faster. I didn’t have to send contracts to third parties, I could pick up a phone and talk to the people at home entertainment or consumer products and say, “Let’s get going.”

WS: What are your plans for Camp Rock, which premiered in June?
ROSS: As of August, the album was in the top ten for seven weeks, which is very exciting. That continues to sell. The DVD is out. We have a very large program with Target, and they have given signs that it’s been successful for them. We’ve been busily writing Camp Rock 2. We are very supportive of our talent. Both the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato will have their own series. We’re constantly looking for ways to exploit the movie. It launched in Latin America, and the European premiere was early in September.