Sundance: Abigail Disney Doc Takes an Unflinching Look at Unfair Labor Practices at Disney

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In 2018, an employee at Disneyland sent Abigail Disney a Facebook message about working conditions there that sparked the documentary film producer to do some soul-searching. Disney, the granddaughter of Walt Disney Co. co-founder Roy O. Disney, was troubled by how the national issue of wealth inequality was playing out at the media company that shares her name and her own wealth, and she began speaking out about the disparities publicly, in Congress, on cable news and on Twitter.

Together with filmmaker Kathleen Hughes, Disney has directed The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales about the issue, including her on-camera interviews with Disney employees, that premieres Jan. 24 at Sundance. (Submarine is repping the film in Park City.) Ahead of the festival, Disney spoke with THR about her disenchantment with The Walt Disney Co., expectations of its new CEO, Bob Chapek, and hopes the film’s audience will take their reactions to the polls.

When did you start on this movie?

Back in 2018 or 2019. I had already been talking to the workers at Disney, just quietly for my own sake. Everything I have is based on what they do, and for me to ignore what they were saying when they appealed to me directly just seemed inhuman. Honestly, I wanted to believe Disney was better than that. I know that’s really naive, and there are so many naive assumptions I’ve had to give up. But there was a time when Disney really did see itself as a company that was contributing to the world. I would go [to Disneyland] with my grandfather and almost every time, he would pick up a piece of garbage. I asked him why he did that, and he said, “Because nobody’s too good to pick up a piece of garbage, and I want the people who work here to know that I know that.” He would tell me, “These people work so hard, you need to respect them.” So to have been raised that way, and then to find myself years later listening to them say they have to choose between insulin and food, I couldn’t just sit by and let it happen.

What has been your communication with Disney as a company?

I talk about the two emails I wrote [former Disney CEO] Bob Iger in the film. And after my second email, it was silence, and it’s been silence ever since. We did, at the recommendation of our attorney, reach out to them toward the very end when we were wrapping up the film for comments. And so we got a full page of comments about why everything is fine and we shouldn’t be bothering them. There was a personal relationship there. I guess I stepped off too far. There’s a chill, a definite chill.

What do you think has changed for workers at Disney in the transition from Bob Iger to Bob Chapek?

Bob Chapek was the guy who presided over all of the changes at Disneyland and Disney World that we’re talking about in this film — dynamic scheduling, a euphemism for jerking them around so they can’t get a second job and they never make 40 hours a week and they don’t qualify for health care. Taking a department of 250, shaving it to 200 and expecting them all to do the same work in the same amount of time. There are a thousand ways they’ve been cutting costs, and much of it came from Bob Chapek and under his command. So I don’t really have very optimistic expectations. If anything, it’ll probably get worse.

Abigail Disney Gary Gershoff/Getty Images

How does the rest of your family feel about how vocal you’ve been?

I have a couple of very, very, very supportive siblings. And then I have cousins and more distant folks that are not happy with me. Those are the things that keep me up at night, and I feel badly about them, but then I check back in with my moral center and say, “Will this matter and make a difference?” Yes, it will. “Am I right about this?” Yes, I absolutely am. And then I just have to keep going.

Who is your ideal audience?

For anything Disney-related, the audience is America. It’s the last purple thing in the country really. I really do want regular American people, voters, to see it. I want them to see it and think about it when they go to the polls. And I want them to think about it when they get approached about organizing for a union. I want people to really think that it doesn’t have to be this way.

At Level Forward, which is one of your companies, employees have registered some complaints of their own about being treated unfairly. Has the experience of running your own companies shaped the way you look at Disney?

If anything, I feel more strongly that no matter the size of the company, you have to be prepared to respond. Because it’s people working for you. These aren’t robots, they’re humans. The job has to be a dignified and respectful place. So, yeah, I have a lot of sympathy for how hard this will be to change for Disney. If everybody else is paying bargain-basement salaries, then how can they go jump out in front of it? But there are companies doing this: Costco, PayPal, Accenture, Bank of America.

How do you think the fact that this film is a pointed critique of corporations will affect your distribution options? So many of the major distributors are also giant corporations that have a vested interest in doing business this way.

I knew this was a risk from the beginning, and I just say, you make the best film you can make and then hope for the best. There are certainly many people in Hollywood who are not fans of the company and as many bridges as they’ve built, they’ve burned. So I think we’ll probably be OK.

Is it a safe assumption that you’re not booking any meetings to sell this to Disney+?

No, none.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

This story first appeared in the Jan. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Abigail Disney, other millionaires, slam Davos and urge governments to tax the rich

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Over 100 millionaires, including Disney heiress Abigail Disney, have signed an open letter urging governments to tax them more, reports Insider. The letter, “ In Tax We Trust ,” calls out the injustice of the international tax system and how that injustice is driving the erosion of trust across society:

This injustice baked into the foundation of the international tax system has created a colossal lack of trust between the people of the world and the elites who are the architects of this system. Bridging that divide is going to take more than billionaire vanity projects or piecemeal philanthropic gestures—it’s going to take a complete overhaul of a system that up until now has been deliberately designed to make the rich richer.

The open letter comes just days after Oxfam International released a new inequality report showing that 99% of the world’s population saw their income fall during the pandemic while the world’s richest saw their incomes double during the same time. The report noted that this income inequality is leading to the deaths of 21,000 people each day–one every four seconds.

The letter also comes as the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) kicked off this week, which sees the planet’s wealthiest and most powerful come together to discuss the state of the world. The WEF is usually held in Davos, Switzerland, but is being held online this year due to the pandemic. But the letter alleges Davos is little more than a self-congratulatory show:

The truth is that “Davos” doesn’t deserve the world’s trust right now. For all the countless hours spent talking about making the world a better place, the conference has produced little tangible value amidst a torrent of self-congratulations. Until participants acknowledge the simple, effective solution staring them in the face—taxing the rich—the people of the world will continue to see their so-called dedication to fixing the world’s problems as little more than a performance.

The letter closes with a bleak warning about what drastically unequal societies lead to, arguing that if wealth isn’t taxed more, “then all the private talks won’t change what’s coming—it’s taxes or pitchforks. Let’s listen to history and choose wisely.”

Q&A: Documentary by Visiting Assistant Professor of Film Studies Jeff Bemiss Airing on PBS

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Visiting Assistant Professor of Film Studies Jeff Bemiss is an Oscar-shortlisted writer/director who has created short films, features, and documentaries. Most recently, Bemiss co-directed Missing in Brooks County, which will premiere on PBS’s Independent Lens on January 31 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern (check local listings). The film also will be available to stream on the PBS Video app. The feature documentary—co-directed with Lisa Molomot and executive produced by Abigail Disney/Fork Films and Engel Entertainment—shines a light on the missing migrant crisis in South Texas. It is an ITVS co-production with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Bemiss is a graduate of the University of Southern California film school and the L.A. Sanford Meisner Academy and is a Connecticut Artist Fellow and a Film Independent Fast Track Fellow. His film The Book and the Rose (2001) was a semi-finalist for the Academy Award for best live action short film.

As part of Trinity’s Film Studies Program since 2013, Bemiss teaches an introduction to film production, in addition to courses on screenwriting, advanced filmmaking, and editing. “Documentary is having a golden period right now,” Bemiss said, noting the recent mainstream success of documentary films in theaters and online streaming services. “With documentary, students have the best chance to create successful films that an audience will respond to. Documentary presents you with the story—you just have to recognize it and figure out how to tell it.”

Below, Bemiss discusses his filmmaking experiences and how he uses them to teach Trinity students.

How did you first become interested in filmmaking?

I was 8 years old when Star Wars came out and it set my imagination on fire. It sent a generation of students to film school and I was one of them. There’s no one route to becoming a filmmaker; generally, you either work your way up from a production assistant, or you can just direct something, which was the more independent path that I took. I made a 30-minute scripted film a few years out of college, The Book and the Rose, which became one of 10 semi-finalists for the Oscar for best short film. Since then I’ve worked on various projects and I started teaching. At some point, I got tired of waiting for permission to do work, in the form of financial backing and investors, so I got interested in documentary. Scripted film takes an enormous amount of money for casting and locations to even start. With documentary, if you have an idea and a camera, you can just begin. I kind of got hooked on it.

What was your motivation behind making your most recent film, Missing in Brooks County?

I had met my co-director on the film, Lisa Molomot, at Trinity—we were both teaching here and we wanted to work together. A little while after she left for Arizona, I heard a radio documentary about a forensic scientist named Lori Baker at Baylor University, who was doing the work of exhuming anonymous migrants buried in south Texas. She was trying to identify them to bring closure to their families who had no idea what happened to them. I was very moved by it for some reason; I do have some family from Mexico. Lisa and I reached out to Dr. Baker, who invited us to Texas and took us to Brooks County; it’s not even a border county, but that’s where the problem is. It went from what we thought would be a short profile of this forensic scientist to a four-year endeavor to document and film what was going on in Brooks County.

What was the process of making that film like?

The key to most documentaries is access. Building trust with the participants in the film was slow-going at the beginning. This was not the film we set out to make. When it did pivot, it became a process of finding the story. We made 15 trips in total to Brooks County—usually for about two to three weeks each trip. It got really complicated; we met volunteers and activists, judges, undertakers, sheriffs, and most of all we met families of the missing. We filmed for about four years. PBS came in as a co-producer on the film, which was like a rescue. When they came on board, it allowed us to finish the film properly, which we were struggling to do at the time.

What does it mean to you to have the film broadcast nationally on PBS?

I think maybe a few thousand people have seen the film on the festival circuit. When PBS broadcasts it and it goes up on the PBS website, it will be seen by millions. Most people don’t know what’s happening in Brooks County, and when they see it, they may be shocked. It’s not an overtly political film. We give everyone their say, and viewers can make up their own minds—they just need to see what’s happening.

It means a great deal to us to be able to reach an audience and we feel PBS is the right platform for this film. It’s free, so anyone can see it. Film has an incredible capacity to teach and to educate. One thing it also does very well is deliver an emotional experience. If you can provide learning at the same time, to me that’s the ultimate achievement. This film allows people to witness something they don’t witness in their everyday life, and I think its message is urgent. People are dying; this was the worst year ever for migrant deaths on our southwest border.

How do you use your filmmaking experiences to teach students at Trinity?

I always try to bring my work back to the classroom. This past semester, in “Introduction to Film Studies,” we watched two documentaries, one of which was Missing in Brooks County. It made for an interesting discussion because the students were in the room with the filmmaker. It changes the kinds of learning and discussions you can have. It gave students a perspective on not just the study of film, but living the life of a filmmaker.

There is also a special course, FILM 309, where we make one film in one semester together as a class. On day one, we have no idea what we’re going to do. We pitch ideas, we vote on them, we go out and make the film, we finish it, and we market it. The short film Coaching Colburn was produced by a previous class, and it premiered at the Big Sky Film Festival, then went all around the world. It was also part of the Trinity Film Festival at Cinestudio, both gems of the college.

Teaching is wonderful because it allows me to share my passion for filmmaking every single day. It keeps me fresh and invigorated. If I have a discouraging day with my own film projects, I always have the classroom and my students to lift me up. And of course, watching students go into the film industry and become storytellers in this medium is one of the great joys of teaching.

What do you hope Trinity students learn from your courses and your filmmaking experiences?

Not every student in a filmmaking class at Trinity is going to become a filmmaker or media creator. However, they will all go on to become media consumers. I like to balance the classes with liberal arts learning and technical learning. We do things in filmmaking that focus on the idea and the expression of the idea. It’s not just cameras and editing—it’s writing, collaborating, and critical thinking, which are all part of the traditional core liberal arts pursuits that will take any student further in life. Liberal arts can teach the value of the idea and the expression of the idea. I think that’s valuable in everything, not just in film.

Missing in Brooks County will premiere on PBS’s Independent Lens on January 31 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern (check local listings). See the trailer below. The film also will be available to stream on the PBS Video app. For more information on Bemiss and his other projects, visit www.unit-of-light.com.

To learn more about film studies at Trinity, click here.

31 Films to See at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

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Lucy and Desi

Want to know what it was truly like Being the Ricardos? Amy Poehler directs this documentary look at the lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, explaining where comedy’s most famous couple came from, how they met, and what they did to create a lasting impact on the world of show business and beyond.

This week on “Sunday Morning” (January 23)

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Host: Jane Pauley

COVER STORY: The billionaire class: Can you be TOO rich?

The richest one percent of Americans now owns 16 times the wealth of the bottom 50 percent. That disparity has brought to light questions about the need for billionaires – and their need for even more money. Correspondent Mark Whitaker talks with activist Abigail Disney and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy about whether acquiring a billion or more dollars is a valued goal; and with professor Ingrid Robeyns, who proposes the concept of “limitarianism” – determining a moral limit to how much wealth one can accumulate.

For more info:

HEADLINES: What are Putin’s intentions in Ukraine?

Nearly eight years after Russia invaded and took control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, 100,000 Russian troops have recently built up along the border of Ukraine. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin talks with former U.S. ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder and retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges about what President Vladimir Putin hopes to gain with a possible invasion, and what the consequences may be – for the Kremlin, for Europe, for NATO, and for Washington.

Members of the South End Rowing Club regularly swim in the waters of San Francisco Bay. CBS News

U.S.: Taking the plunge

Members of the South End Rowing Club test their bodies and minds by swimming in the murky and very cold waters of San Francisco Bay, braving currents, boats, sea life and hypothermia. Correspondent Luke Burbank, eager to prove his mettle, joined in.

For more info:

Actor James Hong in 2014. Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

MOVIES: James Hong: An actor’s guide to longevity

During his 92 years, James Hong has racked up more film and TV credits than nearly anyone. Even more impressive, the actor did so while confronting demeaning stereotypes in Hollywood. Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz talks with the constantly-working Hong about a career that began with entertaining U.S. troops during the Korean War, and extended to such treasured films as “Chinatown” and “Big Trouble in Little China.”

For more info:

PASSAGE: In memoriam

Maria Sharapova’s Los Angeles home was featured in Architectural Digest, which described it as “discreetly ravishing.” CBS News

MAGAZINES: Architectural Digest – A century of style

Bold-faced names like tennis star Maria Sharapova and rocker Lenny Kravitz have pulled back the curtain on their homes for Architectural Digest, the magazine that showcases the work of the very best design in the business. Correspondent Serena Altschul looks back at the first hundred years of Architectural Digest, and visits the Condé Nast archives, to see how the magazine that has celebrated style for a century continues to evoke home.

For more info:

HARTMAN: TBD

Correspondent Mo Rocca with actress Christine Baranski. CBS News

TELEVISION: The answered prayers of Christine Baranski

As a child she performed Broadway tunes to a statue of the Virgin Mary. And during her five-decade career in films, TV, and on stage, two-time Tony Award-winner Christine Baranski has played characters who are sophisticated, smart and savvy. Correspondent Mo Rocca sits down with Baranski, who stars in “The Good Fight” and the new HBO series, “The Gilded Age,” about her rich life on- and off-screen.

To watch a trailer for “The Gilded Age” click on the video player below:

For more info:

A view of the “Futures” exhibition at the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building in Washington, D.C. Ron Blunt Architectural Photography/Smithsonian

MUSEUMS: “Futures”: The Smithsonian helps us rethink what’s to come

“Futures,” a new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building in Washington, D.C., features technology, art, and interactive displays that delve into the many forms that the future may take. Correspondent David Pogue pays a visit.

For more info:

“Futures” at the Arts and Industries Building (through July 6)

Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building

COMMENTARY: Terence Smith on his encounter with Sirhan Sirhan’s father

The foreign correspondent and former “Sunday Morning” journalist, author of the new memoir, “Four Wars, Five Presidents,” talks about discussing the murder of Senator Robert F. Kennedy with the father of Sirhan Sirhan.

For more info:

NATURE: TBD

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