My first recollection of seeing a movie was CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER starring Guy Madison which opened July 11, 1953. What made this movie unique . . . it was presented in 35mm 3D using over/under technology. Little did anyone know that 52 years later I would be responsible for the distribution of the first digital 3D release in movie history . . . CHICKEN LITTLE. How could that ever happen?
When I turned 18 it was time to get my first job. Graduating from Huntington Beach High School in 1964 the best and only place to work was Disneyland. So off I went and began a career at The Happiest Place On Earth. It didn’t take long to realize that this was a great job. My first day was orientation where you learn about the history of the company. The very next day I’m having lunch in the employee cafeteria and who should walk in . . . Walt Disney. He sat at a table next to me eating red jello and visiting with three cast members. A memory to this day vividly etched in my mind.
While working at Disneyland as a casual employee (summers, Christmas and Spring break) I attended Cal-State Long Beach and received a BA in Mathematics. Working toward a teaching credential, I got a letter from Uncle Sam with the words every guy wants to hear . . . Greetings. In 1970 I was drafted into the Army. After two years in the military, I knew this wasn’t the career for me.
Returning to Disneyland in May 1972, I have been employed by The Walt Disney Company for 38 years. What a great career it has been. Starting in Payroll, moving to Accounting, the Magic Kingdom Club and then into Marketing as Manager of Administration in 1975. The Manager of Group Sales at that time was Dick Cook. I believe that every employee has those defining moments in their career when somebody takes notice of what you do. That first moment for me came with the dedication of Space Mountain at Disneyland on Memorial Day weekend in 1977. I was selected as one of two people to host the Mercury 7 astronauts. In case you don’t remember who they were in alphabetical order: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Sheperd and Deke Slayton. Quite an honor to say the least.
After the Manager position in Marketing, I moved into Employee Relations handling Wage and Salary Administration. In 1981 I was moved back into Marketing as the head of the division. The major milestone was the remodeling of Fantasyland and the elimination of the ticket books for those who can remember back that far.
In 1984 was again moved and this time to head of Employee Relations at the Park. This was a turbulent time in the company’s history as we had to fend off an unwanted take over. Weathering that takeover attempt we became a stronger company which was now headed up by Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. In 1987 I was called up to Frank Wells office to interview for the Corporate Employee Benefits position at the Studio. The next day I was offered the position and my studio career was launched. In 1990, I was responsible for implementing the Company’s flexible benefits program to 35,000 covered employees. We are a lot bigger now.
In 1994 came my biggest break, when Dick Cook asked me to join Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Today, as Senior Vice President of Administraton for Walt Disney Studios Moition Pictures Domestic Distribution, I look back proudly on those past 16 years. During that period I have had the pleasure of being involved in a number of new technologies and quality enhancements.
Here is our commitment to Quality, Quality, Quality. Even today we still check every 50th or 100th reel of our 35mm films. We also check one of our replicated digital hard drives on every server to ensure proper playback. With the support of Pixar we have implemented a projectionist trading card set emphasizing perfect projection. A set of cards is included with every print and every hard drive. Our open checks now include the checkers watching the first show on opening day to ensure perfect presentation. If it isn’t perfect then we move quickly to remedy the problem. We have initiated a Projectionist Reward Program for theatres that do an early QC of our 3D movies. Projectionists must complete the QC before 10:00 am the day before opening and notify us that it is complete and the reward is a projectionist t-shirt for every projectionist at the theatre. We still do theatre alignments where we send out technicians to check theatres before certain titles. Every hard drive includes a framing chart to assist the projectionist with proper framing, color, focus, proper phase if 3D and audio checks.
Walt Disney and The Walt Disney Company have a long history of technology changes for the industry. I have had the pleasure of working on some of those but the defining moment for me was working on CHICKEN LITTLE. Returning from ShoWest in March 2005, we were committed to showing CHICKEN LITTLE in 3D. Nobody had ever done digital 3D. In fact the last 35mm over/under 3D was with Jim Cameron and Disney for GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS in 2003, which I had the pleasure of working on with Jim. With six months to do the release of CHICKEN LITTLE we had a lot of work to do. Industrial Light and Magic working with our Feature Animation department created the right eye. Dolby partnered with Disney on the project and supported it with capital and their servers. Real D provided the 3D systems and worked with us on creating the very unique Chicken Little 3D glasses. You remember them, the ones with the green frames.
With two weeks to go we still had a lot of work to go. We created the Chicken Coop consisting of Dolby, Real D, Universal Cinema Services and Disney staff. Working nearly around the clock to deploy digital projectors, servers, 3D systems, install silver screens, train projectionists and ship glasses for 84 screens and 80 sites. The goal was to have all screens working perfectly on opening day and we were able to accomplish that task. The trades even talked about the Chicken Coop and what it accomplished. Today we look at our industry and 3D is a game changer. What came first. . .the chicken or the egg? In the case of 3D it was the chicken . . . CHICKEN LITTLE in fact.
I’m honored to be receiving this years Ken Mason award. A number of great industry leaders have won this award and I’m humbled to be in that company. While Studios continue to benefit from DVD’s we continue to get challenged by home entertainment systems. People still want to come to the movie theatre for the experience. We need to continue to be the best we can be. While Disney is dedicated to providing the very best experience through all of our programs the experience inside the theatre cannot be taken for granted. Everyone one of us are fortunate to work in the greatest industry I know. We can’t ever take our guests for granted. Quality is the responsibility of every one of us.
