Mr. Iger has additionally left the corporate. Ms. Disney tells viewers that she determined to make the movie as a result of she was pissed off and offended at his “curt” response to an electronic mail she despatched him in 2018 about theme park worker pay. He declined to remark for this text.
Ms. Disney has confronted claims of discrimination and unfair therapy from former workers at one in every of her firms, Stage Ahead, which helps finance and produce leisure tasks with a social justice focus. (“There’s truthful criticism in there,” Ms. Disney advised The Hollywood Reporter final yr.)
In an interview through Zoom, Ms. Disney and Ms. Hughes, an Emmy-winning tv newsmagazine producer, stated they had been “inspired” by the Disneyland pay improve however stated it wasn’t sufficient — that round $24 an hour was the wanted “dwelling wage.”
“If all the pieces’s completely different, then why did the brand new C.E.O. stroll away with $32.5 million for a not very worthwhile yr?” Ms. Disney stated. She was referring to Bob Chapek. Disney reported $2 billion in revenue for 2021, in comparison with a lack of $2.8 billion in 2020. Earlier than the pandemic, Disney was producing $10 billion yearly in revenue.
The filmmakers are nonetheless on the lookout for a distributor. They hope to make use of Sundance to generate curiosity from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ or one other Disney competitor. Along with its condemnation of Disney, “The American Dream and Different Fairy Tales” takes on a bunch of sophisticated topics, together with the evolution of capitalism, shifting authorities financial insurance policies and racial injustice.
“I need modifications to your complete system — from C.E.O.s typically and from Wall Avenue particularly — that outcome within the recognition of the dignity and humanity of each single employee,” Ms. Disney stated.
Ms. Disney is a distinguished member of the Patriotic Millionaires, a gaggle that pushes for increased taxes on companies and rich people like themselves. As she has stated over time, it’s a place that a few of her circle of relatives members have a troublesome time understanding. (That seems to incorporate a brother, Roy P. Disney, who has supported Mr. Iger and isn’t concerned with “The American Dream and Different Fairy Tales.”)
Lest anybody suppose the movie is her remaining phrase with reference to pay inequality at Disney and different firms, she ends her documentary with these phrases: “To be continued.”
