Disney+ Originals Boss Tells Producers Not to Pitch Kids Shows as Streamer Aims to Convince Audiences ‘There’s Content for Adults’

Disney+ Originals boss Eric Schrier told producers not to pitch kids and family content, which is primarily being developed in-house.

via: Variety

“We’re not dogmatic,” Schrier said during a keynote presentation at confab Content London. “Obviously, comedies, dramas, limited series are the backbone of what we do. Unscripted is a big part of the Disney brand, and Disney+ and ABC in particular, whether it’s ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ or our doc series or our true crime-based series. So we’re looking to do a portfolio of content.”

But he warned that the Disney+ local programming teams stationed across Europe and Latin America are unlikely to take “kids and family” product, indicating that is the preserve of Disney’s U.S. HQ.

Honing in on what he’s looking for in Disney+ original content, the answer was “local.” “We have global brands and IP that travel the world, whether that’s Disney branded shows and films, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Hulu, FX, and so we don’t need to make local content around the world to supplement that, right? We need to make local content that complements that. So what we’re trying to do is a very local for local strategy to complement our global brands and IP so we don’t need to flood each market with a ton of content. …And what we’re trying to do is expand the perception of Disney+ by doing local content that has local flavor. So French shows for a French audience, Spanish shows for a Spanish for audience, U.K. shows for a U.K. audience.”

Schrier, who was in conversation with producer Roma Khanna, revealed that his arm of the company makes approximately a hundred shows a year for Disney+ across 20 different markets in an array of local languages. He also acknowledged rumors that the Disney+ is aiming to ramp up its international content spend, saying it’s something that Disney CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston have both brought up in a recent earnings call. “There’s a strong desire, because we identify that we need local content to appeal to local audiences,” said Schrier. He later added: “We see a lot of growth opportunity in Europe, in particular Asia.”

With Disney+ having launched five years ago, there has now been time to take stock of what has worked and what hasn’t. Schrier said that in Phase 1, “we spread it too thin” and so now, in Phase 2, the company are being “much more targeted about which territories we’re going into, where we think we can grow the service in the most.”

He also emphasized that a key part of the strategy for Disney+ was disabusing audiences of the notion it only has kids’ content. “Our first instinct was change the perception of Disney plus, and that is really hard,” he acknowledged, saying in particular there was an aim to put “edgy” content on the service. “We’re not really developing shows for kids and family, that’s really done by our global brands and IP,” he said. “So we’re really looking to do Hulu originals across the world, and showing people that there’s content for adults on Disney+.”