When you are producing for ABC, you are producing for a big tent network. So when you are thinking about your story lines and characters, you are thinking about broad appeal. When you are producing for a niche interest, you are producing for a different audience.
Too many times, adults walk into situations, and people have already put them in a box: 'Oh, you write comedy.' Or, 'You're the development woman.' And it's not just our profession. It's hard to look at someone and say, 'What else is inside?'
Today, television is the most powerful medium in the world. Tomorrow it will also be the most personal. There is no one future for television. It will be defined differently for everyone.
The more opportunities people have to experience television on different platforms, the more television they consume overall. So there actually has been a benefit, but the ratings have gone down. But we've seen kind of the horizontal benefit of this. And it remains a great, great promotion engine.
I look at power as the ability to get people motivated and to get them to do things that maybe they don't think are important but, in the end, are in pursuit of something greater than themselves.
I am deeply honored that my team is being recognized by H.S.H. Prince Albert II and the Festival de Television de Monte-Carlo for Disney/ABC's role in creating television that inspires and captivates audiences wherever they live.
Our company has been very forward-thinking about digital technology and the opportunity that it gives us. As we move into a world where we have more and more devices at our disposal, that really means more and more opportunities for the Walt Disney Co. to reach you: through our entertainment, through all of our divisions.
I think we all realize the consumer has taken control, and they're not giving it back. So as every new technology comes forward, we have to figure out how to integrate it.
'Dancing with the Stars' is a great format for us. It's a format we license from the BBC, so that can't travel for us, but we consider it a great success. 'Desperate Housewives,' on the other hand, a huge success for us internationally. 'Missing' has actually sold to 80 territories before it's even gone on the air.
Art has been good for my soul. And it's been good for my brain. I think I'm a better painter now than I was a musician growing up. You struggle to see things and translate an image through your hands to a canvas.
A good leader should focus on making sure everyone is being given the tools to do their job, not just expecting - poof! - that they're going to produce great work.
The value of the television network is partly tradition, serving as a navigation device and as a brand. Research shows that people do know and understand ABC as a brand, like Disney.
Our future is only limited by our commitment to keep the momentum going. Now that television has been set free from all constraints - including time, place, and all previous definitions - what comes next?
I am so very honored to be the recipient of MIPCOM's 2011 Personality of the Year. However, the accomplishments that have led to this honor are not mine alone. They are the result of the tireless efforts of so very many talented colleagues.
