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Some Thoughts on Our Business. January of 1. 99. The recent release of the big- budget  movie had been a disappointment and, as a result, Katzenberg was desperate to recapture the magic of old and rid his studio of their extremely costly "blockbuster mentality." This fascinating, highly quotable memo was his mission statement.

Its subsequent circulation in Hollywood caused a huge stir. Huge, heartfelt thanks to Leah for transcribing this for me; said transcript can be found below the images — click here to be taken to it. Note: The original memo was circulated 2.

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I've cleaned it up as best as possible. Enjoy. The Walt Disney Company. Memorandum. To: Distribution. From: Jeffrey. Subject: The Attached. Date: 1/1. 1/9. 1Extension: 6. Attached is a memo that reflects some thinking that I’ve been doing over the past several weeks about our studio.

My hope is that after everybody has had a chance to read it that we will sit down together to review and discuss it. It is meant for internal use only. Distribution: Michael Eisner. Frank Wells. Rich Frank. David Hoberman and Disney/Touchstone Creative Staff.

Ricardo Mestres and Hollywood Creative Staff. Dick Cook. Helene Hahn. Marty Katz. Bob Levin. Chris Mc. Gurk. Bill Mechanic. Randy Reiss. Peter Schneider. The World Is Changing: Some Thoughtson Our Business. January 1. 1, 1. 99.

The Problem. As we begin the new year, I strongly believe we are entering a period of great danger and even greater uncertainty. Events are unfolding within and without the movie industry that are extremely threatening to our studio. Some of you might be surprised to read these words. After all, wasn’t Disney number one in 1. Yes, but our number one status was far from a sign of robust health. Instead, it merely underscored the fact that our studio did the least badly in a year of steady decline for all of Hollywood… a year that was capped off by a disastrous Christmas for nearly everyone.

Although we led at the box office in 1. Now, added to that, the nation’s economy is acknowledged to be in a recession… a recession that I am convinced will be quite devastating to our industry. That’s the bad news. Now the good news. No one is better positioned to weather the coming storm than we are.

We are the current box office champ. But, more important, our underlying philosophy of moviemaking lends itself especially well to lean times. As a result, we are not only in the strongest position to succeed during a time of economic adversity, but we have the potential to establish a very high platform from which to launch into the next round of good times, whenever they may come. Make no mistake about it, ours is a cyclical business and we are once again repeating the cycle. The purpose of this memo is to reaffirm our commitment to our core philosophy, because I am convinced that this is what embodies our key to success in the days ahead. Interestingly, even if the economic outlook were rosy, I believe we at Disney would still be due for a major self- examination. Since 1. 98. 4, we have slowly drifted away from our original vision of how to run our movie business.

Once we had a fairly strict and pretty successful strategy, which we referred to as our “Singles and Doubles Philosophy.” At some point, we seemed to have replaced it with a strategy that might best be called the “Yes, But Philosophy”… as in, “Yes, he’s expensive, but it’s a great opportunity for us” or “Yes, that’s a lot to spend on marketing, but we have too much at stake not to” or “Yes, the sequel will require a big budget, but it’s a potential franchise.” There should always be room for exceptions to rules, but of late the exceptions seem to be the rule. Not surprisingly, our control of our own destiny has been eroded. We are far from unique in this state of affairs… something I take little comfort from. The current condition of our business is typical enough of American businesses that an entire management theory has been developed to describe it. This theory is formally called the Product Life Cycle. It holds that businesses go through a natural development process that is comprised of four stages: Introduction.

Growth. Maturity and Decline. In 1. 98. 4, The Walt Disney Studios had already been through the full cycle. We arrived here fresh, energetic and ready to create an entire movie studio from the ground up.

We succeeded spectacularly in growing a new business and re- starting the cycle. Now, there are ominous signs of the stagnation of Maturity which leads inexorably to the disaster of Decline.

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This is why, even if there were no recession, I hope that I would be feeling as I do and would still be writing this memo. However, because of the severe economic environment we are entering, this review of our way of doing business is now not only timely, but critically essential. In good times, drift can be tolerable. In bad times, it can prove fatal. Back in 1. 98. 4, our initial success at Disney was based on the ability to tell good stories well. Big stars, special effects and name directors were of little importance.

Of course, we started this way out of necessity. We had small budgets and not much respect. So we substituted dollars with creativity and big stars with talent we believed in. Success ensued. With success came bigger budgets and bigger names. We found ourselves attracting the calibre of talent with which “event” movies could be made. Watch Dark Streaming. And, more and more, we began making them.

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As we begin the new year, I strongly believe we are entering a period of great danger and even greater uncertainty. Events are unfolding within and without the movie. It has been a long seventeen years since our paths have crossed and I have been living my life. I remember how I always felt when I was with him and one night by. Read reviews, watch trailers and clips, find showtimes, view celebrity photos and more on MSN Movies.

The result: costs have escalated, profitability has slipped and our level of risk has compounded. The time has come to get back to our roots.

In urging this course, I recognize that we have some serious disadvantages and some extraordinary advantages relative to when we first started out six years ago. Our biggest disadvantage is that, unlike 1. Hollywood… a tidal wave of runaway costs and mindless competition. But this fact plays into our biggest advantage - - you. We have a proven team that has come through time and time again. Others will scramble for higher and higher ground, spending feverishly to keep their noses above water.

We, on the other hand, have the internal talent, creativity and absolute ability to control our own destiny. With this strength, we can plunge in and successfully find our way no matter how strong the current. What I am asking is difficult and challenging. But it is clear that we couldn’t have in place a more remarkable group of able and experienced individuals to pull it off.

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Ironically, your outstanding abilities are also responsible for one of our disadvantages - - namely, our success. In 1. 98. 4, when Disney was last and unprofitable, the worst that could happen was that we would remain last. Now we are Number One. Our shareholders, Wall Street and the public expect us to be a leader.

Such expectations can be inhibiting. We can’t let them be. Instead, we must lay out our goals with as clear a vision as when we were unconstrained by success. In returning to an emphasis on creative story development, there will be risk of failure, as one project or even a series of projects misses the mark. Intelligently approached, risk is a necessary component to success in the movie business.

It is impossible to create new and original - - and therefore appealing - - new works without taking on the chance that you’ll fall flat on your face. Remember that before “Pretty Woman,” we had five misses in a row. But, if a return to our roots will entail the risk of acceptable failure… if we remain on our present course, there will be the certainty of calamitous failure, as we will inevitably come to produce our own “Havana” or “Two Jakes” or “Air America” or “Another 4. HRS” or “Bonfire of the Vanities”… and then have to dig ourselves out from under the rubble. I know that my negative outlook for our industry will be challenged by many Wall Street analysts.