Dana Walden, president and chief creative officer of The Walt Disney Company, expects Hollywood’s job cuts to continue, but she knows the people leaving those jobs as colleagues she has worked alongside for years.
“It is extremely painful,” Walden said at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference on Oct. 1, according to TheWrap’s reporting. She described the departure of longtime colleagues as a harsh reality for an entertainment business that keeps changing.
Her remarks paired a warning about the industry’s future with a plea for employers to help people move on.
She also drew attention to a voluntary retirement program, saying it gave longtime executives a choice about whether to leave or stay. That distinction matters: an employee choosing a retirement offer and an employee losing a job through dismissal do not face the same decision.
BNN Bloomberg’s account of the remarks noted that Disney had offered executives a voluntary retirement plan but said it remained unclear whether the latest layoffs used that initiative.
Walden now oversees a business that reaches viewers through streaming services, movies, television, gaming and digital entertainment, according to Disney’s official biography. Her responsibilities include leading the Entertainment segment and guiding its creative strategy across the ways audiences encounter Disney stories.
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She joined Disney in 2019 after the company acquired 21st Century Fox, following 25 years at Fox. Before taking her current position, she served as co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, with oversight that included its entertainment media, news and content businesses.
That history gives her comments about longtime colleagues a personal context. Disney credits her career with bringing audiences shows including MODERN FAMILY, THIS IS US and DANCING WITH THE STARS, alongside children’s programming such as MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE.
Disney announced her promotion on Feb. 3, with the new role taking effect March 18, the same day Josh D’Amaro became the company’s chief executive officer. The announcement placed Walden in a newly created companywide position reporting directly to D’Amaro.
At Screentime, Walden argued that pressure from technology businesses requires Disney to keep adapting so it can survive and grow. She presented that pressure as part of an ongoing business challenge, while acknowledging that organizational changes carry a cost for people she knows.
“I would recommend that you approach these processes with compassion and try to do the best by your colleagues who are not going to have a long-term job at your company,” she said to executives at the conference.
Her advice went beyond expressing sympathy. She urged executives to help departing colleagues find new jobs, offer guidance, create support programs and connect them with other businesses.
For families who depend on entertainment work, those recommendations concern what comes after a departure as much as the announcement itself. Walden’s message to employers was to remain useful to their colleagues even when they will no longer share a workplace.
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