Book Review: After Disney by Neil O’Brien

After Disney: Toil, Trouble, and the Transformation of America’s Favorite Media Company by Neil O’Brien takes a deep dive into the management of Walt Disney Productions as it transitioned from Walt’s Company to the large media company.  The book’s main focus is the Ron Miller years through the lens of the Animation department.   Its timeline spans from Walt’s passing in 1966 through the beginning of the Eisner/Wells era in the mid 1980s.   In the afterward the Iger era is mentioned in closing.  Other aspects of the company are brought up to support the timeline or fill in details but they are not explored/discussed as in depth as the animation department.

Disney was a relatively small company run by two brothers for the first 40+ years of its existence.   Walt was the decision maker in most cases and he steered the creative teams for animation, live action, television and Disneyland.   There was no clear line of succession and with his untimely passing the company went through growing pains and challenges as it tried to adjust to the new reality and the world around it.  This was abundantly clear for the animation department which needed to retool and rebuild as the nine old men and many of those that had started the company were reaching the end of their careers.    In this book Neil takes a look at the key management and animators of both the original generation and new one and their backgrounds.

The cornerstone of this rebuilding effort is CalArts.  The book spends significant time on the formation of CalArts and the Character Animation Program. The impact of the initial classes of this program changed the industry and Disney.  It included names we all recognize such as Tim Burton, John Lasseter, Brad Bird, John Musker, and Mike Giaimo.  Other classes included Joe Ranft, Kirk Wise, Gary Trousdale, Andrew Stanton, Pete Doctor and the list goes on and on.

The story of the Black Cauldron film is front and center through many chapters looking at its long development and rough path to the screen.   This film seemed to encapsule the trials and tribulations of the company as a whole during that time period.

The big presence, figuratively and literally, during this era was Ron Miller. He was Walt’s son in law and he led the company during a good portion of this time.    The book looks at Ron’s background, path to leadership and many of the changes he implemented before he was asked to leave.   Roy E. Disney’s role in this and the company is highlighted in later chapters.

I found After Disney: Toil, Trouble, and the Transformation of America’s Favorite Media Company  to be an interesting read.   Neil O’Brien goes heavy on details of people, their backgrounds and many cases their relationships.  For us Disney History Geeks it is a great resource to fill in gaps in our mental timelines and fill out profiles of some people we may only have a passing knowledge of.    The book is tailored for us disneygeeks who want a lot of details.  If you are a casual fan you may find pieces of it interesting but it may be too dense to be an entertaining read for you.   The book will make a good reference resource, but the lack of an index will make it more challenging to use. Being able to quickly find a particular people or story/event would be helpful.  Even chapter titles would help as points of reference.

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** A review copy of this book was provided to us