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Inside the busy schedules of Hollywood’s top executives

Pabio November 2, 2024

Assad Ayaz

Chief Brand Officer, The Walt Disney Co.; President of Marketing, The Walt Disney Studios and Disney+

A recent day in Ayaz’s calendar explains why Bob Iger tapped the marketing wizard in 2023 to become the conglomerate’s first-ever chief brand officer while continuing to oversee film and streaming series campaigns. This year, Disney returns to the top of the box office (including Inside Out 2, Deadpool and Wolverine, Extraterrestrial: Romulus), with Moana 2 And Moufasa yet to come.

Wednesday October 9, 2024

6 a.m. Gym.

7 a.m. Travel time.

8 a.m. Monthly international marketing with regional managers; in TD416A.

9 a.m. Release dates with distribution; Love at first sight trailer review. Release dates are highly confidential, but Ayaz reveals that the theatrical release dates for Weirdest Friday and live action Lilo and Stitch were signed for May 8 and 23, 2025 respectively; in TD 416A.

10 hours D23 Brazil – progress of the show; in the Pandora TD 413D conference room.

10:30 a.m. DO NOT RESERVE. If Ayaz knows a meeting might fail, he builds a break. Since his 10 a.m. appointment was covering Disney’s first-ever D23 fan show in Latin America, he reserved space for overruns because he didn’t want to keep his 11 a.m. appointment waiting.

11 a.m. Moussafa creative, media and digital campaign; in TD 109U.

12 p.m. Holiday brand campaign; in the Pandora TD 413D conference room.

12:30 p.m.. Working lunch with Andrew Ferguson, vice-president of research; in the Rotunda.

1:30 p.m. Star Wars: The Skeleton Crew campaign beats; in TD 416A.

2:00 p.m. Disney+ Global Marketing Update; in TD 416A.

3 p.m. Marvel/YouTube digital content; in the Pandora TD 413D conference room. Two of Ayaz’s main afternoon meetings (and one morning meeting) took place in the Pandora-themed conference room, a tribute to James Cameron’s role. Avatar. Plans for other themed conference rooms were scrapped, fearing it would make it harder for other filmmakers.

3:30 p.m. Moana 2 presentation of the filmmaker; in TD 416A.

4:30 p.m. Captain America: Brave New World review of partnerships; in the Pandora TD 413D conference room

5 p.m. Disney+ digital and social strategy; in Assad’s office.

6 p.m. Rewards discussion. CALL: Adam Smith, Director of Product and Technology.

7 p.m. Soccer training for girls.

Margie Cohn

President, DreamWorks Animation

Acquired by NBCUniversal in 2016 from Jeffrey Katzenberg, DWA took time to find its rhythm (complicated by the advent of streaming and the pandemic) within the sprawling conglomerate, which also owns rival Illumination Entertainment. But DWA is back in action (see below).

Tuesday October 22, 2024

6 a.m. The day starts with coffee. Pot installed the day before. During the first cup, send an email, then finish The New York Times‘ Mini-Crosswords and Connections as a reward.

7 a.m. Pilates or elliptical trainer.

8 a.m. Go to work while making family calls or listening The city podcast.

9 a.m. Arrive at the DreamWorks campus in Glendale, have breakfast at the commissary; take some quality chat time. Breakfast discussion topics: The wild robotwhich was the biggest hit of the fall, grossing over $200 million at the worldwide box office, and Kung Fu Panda 4which is one of the biggest films of the year.

10 hours TV management team: review all projects, including the next one Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movieand discuss impending pitches with senior television division executives.

11 a.m. Weekend Reading: Review scripts with the Feature Development team, discuss next steps with Creative Director Kristin Lowe. “I have to look forward and work on whatever is happening right now, in this second,” Cohn says. “It takes so long to make animated films. We are currently looking at 2027, 2028 and 2029.”

12 p.m. Digital daily newspaper room: bi-weekly recording with Dogman production. The film is almost finished (in theaters January 31, 2025), so Cohn is reviewing the final lighting with director Peter Hastings, producer Karen Foster and production designer Nate Wragg.

1 p.m. Lunch at the DWA police station with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish co-directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado will talk about the progress of their upcoming (unannounced) original film.

2:00 p.m. Walk across campus to the Lakeside Annex to The bad guys 2 layout and animation review with director Pierre Perifel, co-director JP Sans and producer Damon Ross.

3 p.m. Universal marketing meeting to review the creation. Review print art for Dogman and revised trailer for The bad guys 2.

4 p.m. Business Affairs: Review the status of feature film deals, including casting.

5 p.m. Last event of the day: meet at the Lagoon (an outdoor venue on campus) to celebrate the employees who have worked at DreamWorks for 25 years. According to Cohn, fortunately, there are quite a few.

6 p.m. Return calls, try to catch up on any emails she missed during meetings. Cohn says it’s rare that she’s able to respond to emails: “Sometimes I’m sitting in my office and 15 people come in one by one. I have back-to-back appointments during the day, so they come.

7 p.m. Go home.

Rachel Morrison

Filmmaker, cinematographer

After becoming the first woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 2017 MuddyMorrison reunited with Ryan Coogler – they had worked together on Fruitvale Station – TO DO Black Panther. After this film, Morrison decided she wanted to change direction. On December 25, her first feature film as a director, The fire insidewill be released in theaters as Oscar season is in full swing.

Tuesday October 15, 2024

8:30 a.m. Hot yoga.

10 hours Town Hall Meeting with Nick Nesbitt and other executives from Scott Stuber’s United Artists, which Stuber is relaunching in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios — after Nesbitt’s viewing The fire inside. Morrison is reluctant to admit that the meetings have grown dramatically since people started seeing each other The fire insidea biographical sports drama about American professional boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, played by Ryan Destiny.

11 a.m. Stylist in tune with upcoming press events for The fire inside.

12:00 p.m. Meeting with the leaders of Hello Sunshine, the company Reese Witherspoon and Seth Rodsky. Morrison knows Witherspoon from working together on The morning show (Morrison directed one episode).

1:30 p.m. Panavision interview. So far, Morrison has benefited from all the publicity. “It’s always exciting and fresh,” she says. “Ask me again in a month.”

2:00 p.m. Interview magazine interview.

3 p.m. BUST Magazine interview.

4 p.m. Interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

5 p.m. Son’s piano and guitar lessons.

7 p.m. Dinner at Manuela’s in downtown Los Angeles.

Pablo Larraín

Filmmaker, producer

The prolific Chilean director and producer is back in the Oscar race this year with Marriedhis ambitious Maria Callas biopic that stars Angelina Jolie as the iconic opera diva. He continues to live in Chile, where he and his brother own a successful production company.

Friday October 25, 2024

7 a.m. The alarm goes off.

8 a.m. Expresso round 1. Larraín is rarely in Los Angeles and needs a strong dose of caffeine after landing late the day before from London, where Married premiered at the London Film Festival.

9 a.m. Call manager Eryn Brown to discuss incoming scripts, schedule and ideas.

9:30 a.m. Departure for Burbank.

10:15 a.m. Arrives in Burbank with his brother Juan de Dios and his production/business partner Juan de Dios Larraín to discuss an upcoming project with an actor. “Fabula Producciones is the production company that I founded with my brother in 2004 and through which we produce films, TV shows and commercials,” explains Pablo. “All my films have been produced through Fabula, with my brother as producer. We currently have two films in post-production and four television shows in the making. We are also currently working on a huge production for an American studio which I hope we can talk about soon.

12 p.m. Mixing session with Los Bunkers, a famous and popular Chilean rock band that Larraín recently toured in Santiago. “We are doing an acoustic mix on their set, the classic MTV unplugged“, he said.

2:00 p.m. The Fabula trio holds another cast reunion in Burbank.

3 p.m. Lunch: green salad and last espresso of the day (strict rule).

4:30 p.m. Meet with an international screenwriter/producer to discuss how best to work together to improve a script they hope to collaborate on.

6:00 p.m. Try on the suit for MarriedAFI Gala Premiere

6:05 p.m. Dinner. After eating, he says he unwinds from his day by calling his children in Chile and hearing about their days: “They know I’ll be back soon, thanks to them.” »

10:00 p.m. Go to bed with a book of poetry by any poet from Chile or Latin America, a land defined and described beautifully and essentially by its poetry.

A version of this story appeared in the October 30 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.