After Disney

Toil, Trouble, and the Transformation of America's Favorite Media Company

Add to my list

by Neil O'Brien

Type: Stories
Subject: Studio > Disney Studios
Keywords: Walt Disney, economics
Publishing date: 2025 (March 04, 2025)
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 288 pages
6 x 9 inches (15 x 23 cm)

ISBN

979-8-88845-138-0

User Ratings

(0 vote)

Average rating:

0	rating	= We can do without
0	rating	= Good book
0	rating	= Excellent book
0	rating	= Unique / a reference

Your rating: -

Report incorrect or incomplete information

Book Presentation:
The untold succession struggle at Walt Disney Productions following the death of its founder, and the generational transformation which led to the birth of the modern multibillion-dollar animation industry.

Walt Disney left behind big dreams when he died in 1966. Perhaps none was greater than the hope that his son-in-law, Ron Miller, would someday run his studio. Under Miller’s leadership, Disney expanded into new frontiers: global theme parks, computer animation, cable television, home video, and video games. Despite these innovations, Ron struggled to expand the Disney brand beyond its midcentury image of wholesome family entertainment, even as times and tastes evolved. Tensions between Miller and Walt’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, threatened to destroy the company, leading Wall Street “Gordon Gekko” types to come after Mickey Mouse.

At the same time, the aging Animation Department—once the core of Walt’s business—was one memo away from shutting down forever. Rather, thanks to the radical efforts of Walt’s veterans to recruit and nurture young talent, it was revived by this sudden influx of artists who would go on to revolutionize the film industry. Additionally, this new generation would prove over time that animation was so much more than just kids’ stuff—it was a multibillion dollar industry.

This is the upstairs-downstairs story of the executives and animators who clashed and collaborated to keep America’s most storied company alive during the most uncertain period in its one hundred year history.

About the Author:
Neil O’Brien is an award-winning journalist and producer who has worked at NBC News for more than two decades. He has produced hundreds of hours of television over the course of his career and his work with NBC News Specials has been honored with four Emmy Awards, a Peabody, and an Edward R. Murrow Award. Neil has spent more than a decade researching and conducting interviews for this book. He also serves on the Advisory Committee of the Berkshire International Film Festival. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children.

Press Reviews:
"Throughout this wonderfully written and fascinating
story of talents, ambitions, clashes, failures, and successes
I kept thinking, 'Who can ever predict the path
that life will turn?' This was a great comfort to me.
Again and again it was the serendipitous mix of new
'actors' arriving onto the stage that resulted in the most
marvelous artistic and business accomplishments.
To my eyes the invisible Hand of Providence is
clearly at work in the way this history unfolded and that
this book captured so beautifully."
—Glen Keane, Academy Award® winning Director, Animator, and Disney Legend

"I worked at the studio for forty years and voraciously
read many, many books on Disney Studios. I learned
more about the man Walt Disney from this book than
any other book I've ever read—who he was, not what he
did. Neil O'Brien has written an entirely fresh, compelling
book full of incredibly well-researched, deep dive
personal accounts from the primary players that ran the
studio. How could there possibly be this many things I
didn't know about the second golden era of animated
films—and I was there for the entire run! All written
in such an engrossing, intimate way. Kudos to an epic
book of animated proportions."
—Mike Gabriel, director of Pocahontas and The Rescuers Down Under

"On each page, this inspiring book reveals new details
regarding the transition from Walt Disney and his Nine
Old Men, to the second renaissance of Traditional Animation.
How the veterans who invented 'The Illusion
Of Life' passed down their tribal knowledge, and craftsmanship
to their apprentices who went on to bring you
'The Little Mermaid,' 'Beauty and the Beast,' and 'The
Lion King.' This book also reports on the shift from a
boutique family run studio to a corporate powerhouse.
Mr. O'Brien is a respected journalist who gleaned, and
meticulously fact checked each detail with the folks who
were actually there—who shared with him their respect,
passion, and love for hand drawn animation, soon perhaps
a lost art. A page turner of animation history in a
book you can trust, that inspires, and delights."
—Tony Anselmo, Animator, Voice of Donald Duck, and Disney Legend

FIVE STAR REVIEWS from NetGalley

"A Brillant read for any Disney fan or even non fan." - Emma J.

"This was a fantastic look into what happened after Walt Disney died, it was a fascinating look into what happened after. I never really thought of what happened after as I really only knew after that. The writing was perfectly done and was glad the overall feel worked with the concept. Neil O'Brien wrote this perfectly and was glad I read this." - Kathryn M.

"This was a fascinating read into the fraught time period just after Walt Disney's death but before the Eisner/Wells. The research is well done and the author gives enough detail to be interesting but not too plodding. Throughout it all is the existential crisis of the animation film departme... In all, a great read with a lot of fascinating observations about the Disney company during that key transition period after Walt's death." - Andrea J.

"...This book reads like a real-life fairy tale, but with boardroom battles instead of magical castles, and it captures the pivotal moments that transformed Disney from a floundering family studio into the global powerhouse we know today...The tensions between Miller and Roy E. Disney felt like a real-life sibling rivalry, only with the fate of Mickey Mouse hanging in the balance... This book is a treasure trove for anyone who grew up with Disney and still finds joy in its magic. It's a reminder that even the happiest place on Earth had its struggles, and those struggles led to the era of Disney we all adore today. If you've ever wanted to know the story behind the story, this one's for you—grab your popcorn (or your mouse ears) and settle in!" -Alejandra M