Dana Walden had an above-average Wednesday morning. The co-chair of Disney Entertainment, with a sprawling portfolio of platforms (Hulu, Disney+, FX) and studios (20th Television, Disney-Branded Television), saw her various outfits earn a total of 183 Emmy nominations earlier in the day.
Buoyed by FX output like Shogun and The Bear, perennial Hulu darling Only Murders in the Building and ABC broadcast unicorn Abbott Elementary, the parent company heads into the 2024 Primetime Emmys with its most nominations to date. Hopping on the phone to discuss that feat, Walden also opened up about the decision to renew one-time limited series Shogun, what Ryan Murphy brings to the company now that he’s left Netflix, giving Jimmy Kimmel a pass on hosting the Emmys and why the type of shows being nominated make her feel more optimistic about grim Hollywood headlines.
Congratulations on all the good news this morning.
I’m so pleased and proud of our teams. 183 nominations is really an extraordinary feat, more than we’ve ever had at the Walt Disney Company.
Looking at how those are divvied up, there were 93 nominations for FX alone. And since you probably won’t say it, I will: That’s more than HBO, which is quite wild given the history there.
Well, you said it. (Laughs). What FX has done, what John Landgraf and his team have managed to do, it’s not luck or timing. It’s the good fortune of Bob [Iger’s] vision to bring certain brands from Fox over to Walt Disney Company and integrate us into a strategy for the future that was really a game changer.
Speaking of strategy, can you talk to me a little about the conversations to renew Shogun? Going into it, John Landgraf was very clear that this was an expensive show, a limited series and a one-off for FX in terms of scale.
I want to make sure that I’m respectful of John’s ability to speak on behalf of his strategy — but I will tell you John and [showrunners] Justin [Marks] and Rachel [Kondo] had very thoughtful conversations about whether in fact there was enough story to tell a second season and something that would work for all of the stakeholders of Shogun. They’ve approached it so carefully and thoughtfully, as does FX on all things. John is strategic and thoughtful. He is both data-driven and an executive that operates based on just such incredible creative instincts. No decision is made cavalierly or in a knee-jerk manner. This was a choice that was made because all of those elements came together, and he and his team believed truly in an ongoing story in this franchise.
ABC, a Disney-owned network, is hosting the Emmys telecast this year. Any chance of getting Jimmy Kimmel to host again?
Jimmy is always our first ask. He’s always our first choice in terms of partners. He represents our company so well, and he’s done such remarkable work. But the Oscars is a lot of work. Hosting a daily show is a lot of work. So Jimmy is not hosting the Emmys.
I realize that you are several hundred thousand feet above many of these decisions at this point, but have you talked at all internally at the company about how you want to approach the Emmys this year knowing that it will air little more than a month out from a very contentious election?
I would say to you that it’s not what I’m thinking about this morning. This morning, I’m just trying to stay focused on these nominations and how each of our brands is so well-represented. The benefit of our strategy is that all of that work ends up on our streaming platforms, either Hulu or Disney+. So I’m thinking about that strategy for the curation of stories, the windowing of content, the choices of partners that we enter into business with: Chris Storer, Dan Fogelman, John Hoffman, Selena Gomez, Ryan Murphy, Jimmy Kimmel, Jim Brooks…
You mention Ryan. This latest iteration of Feud, his first launch since coming back into the fold, earned 10 nominations. It was one of the splashier things he’s done of late, and he does a lot of splashy.
He does. He has an ability to create shows that generate this type of award success and buzz and pierce the culture through the noisiest of times. It’s really extraordinary.
What have you learned from the success of The Bear? Record nominations for a comedy today, huge wins in January and such strong viewership numbers. Yet, when it originally premiered two years ago, it was not the horse that anyone was betting on. It came out of nowhere.
The Bear didn’t launch with a giant movie star in it. It launched based on the strength of the work. What we’ve found over and over again is if you do excellent work, people will come. It might take a little longer — and historically comedies do take longer than dramas. When I think about my own career, many of the best comedies that I worked on — Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother — took time to grow. Seinfeld, legendarily, took time.
I think we are particularly good at betting on the right people and the right shows, and John meaningfully bet on The Bear. He invested in the marketing, growing it, making sure that there was enough support. We meaningfully merchandised it on Hulu and around the world on Disney+. And Chris Storerer continues to deliver a remarkable show. Comedy can take a little bit longer to grow, but then it burns incredibly brightly and sustains.
Awards nominations are always a celebratory time, but it’s juxtaposed with a rather unrelentingly grim Hollywood narrative about the lack of jobs and production right now. What is giving you optimism for Hollywood’s future right now and the turnaround we’re all crossing our fingers for?
I think that I feel optimistic based on the quality of work that we’re seeing rewarded and nominated. It wasn’t a sweep of one show. There are many, many shows represented. I think these are shows that have huge futures in front of them and that keep reinforcing the value of entertainment in this country and around the world. We’re coming out of a hard time, but I think we’re moving in the right direction.
