Disney Branded Television Execs Share Their Wishlist at Annecy

Disney Branded Television’s Orion Ross, VP of animation in EMEA, and Shamik Majumdar, director of development and current in EMEA, spoke to Annecy attendees about the types of projects they are looking for to complement their current slate.

The biggest piece of advice that was repeatedly stressed throughout the session was to know what Disney already has in its slate before bringing something to the table to ensure it’s completely new. “The first rule is, picture something that we don’t already have but that works for our big brand values,” Ross explained. “There’s a checklist of magic, wonder, adventure, heart, optimism, community, quality. Things that will really burnish the Disney brand.”

“I hope we can also find some things that would be a bit surprising,” he continued. “We want that thing that’s like, Oh, I didn’t expect to see that on Disney! But underneath, thematically, tonally, it’s right and still aligns with our values.”

This includes any style of content as well, Majumdar said. “A lot of people second guess style and think, This is really Disney! And they bring it to us, and it’s another princess thing or the perceived idea of what Disney is. Have a look at the service. There’s a lot of shows, and they have a lot of different styles. In an essence, we want to be surprised.”

A category they are looking to diversify in is anime, which they have begun to move into with the upcoming Dragon Striker, produced by La Choeutte Campagnie for Disney+ and Disney Channel.

“We’re looking at what internationally we can develop and produce, which is going to be different from what is coming from the U.S. studios and the U.S. slate,” Ross noted. “One of the things that we identified a while ago was that we have an audience that loves anime, whether it’s Japanese or French anime-inspired productions or serialized adventure series from all over the world. There was this love for epic world-building, big emotional stories, long story arcs, complexity, adolescent struggles, all the kinds of things that you find in classic anime.

“Anime is mainstream and our audiences understand the conventions, and they love it and want more of it,” he said. “We’re not looking to imitate or shamelessly copy the work of Japanese studios or anime that is adapted from a manga and produced in a studio in Japan. But we want to make shows that speak to that same audience in a relevant, exciting and fresh way.”

Dragon Striker isn’t the only anime-style program on Disney Branded Television’s upcoming slate. Miraculous Stellar Force, the first original spin-off for Miraculous Corp’s franchise, is going to be a 2D hand-drawn anime set in Tokyo.

“High-quality CG is so prevalent that actually something handmade and something that’s more graphic and really connects with that anime heritage is in some ways more special,” Ross noted. And he reiterated Majumdar’s earlier point about the lack of a house style: “We never want to settle into a house style. We want every show to be created in a way that works best for that show, for those artists, for that world.”

A major factor in catching Disney Branded Television’s eye is the talent attached to the project, be it the director, artist or on-screen or voice talent.

“Even if it’s a low-concept project, like two kids in a town where spooky stuff happens—we’ve heard that pitch a thousand times—where does it come from?” Ross said. “Who’s making it? Who’s the artist working on it that’s going to make it special? Then, we would go into development together, either co-funded as a co-production or 100 percent funded by us, and we want the people who are there on the development from the beginning to be there making the show all the way through the whole thing.”

Having good writers is especially important, as “a script that jumps off the page is very, very useful when you get to the development materials,” Majumdar said.

And the talent “doesn’t necessarily need to be well-known, A-list talent,” Ross added. “They’re not always available. We also want to take bets on young, unproven people who have shown some spark of talent or who have done some work, maybe had a beautiful student portfolio. We want to be able to believe in people and their potential. That’s what we look for at every step of the production.”

With all that said, of course, “don’t send any materials unsolicited,” he stressed. “The way to pitch to us is to find a Disney executive somewhere. There’s Disney offices all over Europe. If they can’t take the pitch, they can put you in touch with someone that will.”

Ultimately, “find a Disney executive, start a conversation and introduce yourself.”