James B. Stewart > Quotes

“You don’t do something because it’s a sure thing. You don’t do something for the bank. That’s the one that flops. That’s a riskier proposition than doing something completely original. It’s risky to be safe.”
― James B. Stewart, DisneyWar

“Some people may be more gifted than others, but excellence in writing, as in any art form or craft, involves discipline and practice.”
― James B. Stewart, Follow the Story: How to Write Successful Nonfiction

“By now Moonves must have been far beyond his third vodka of the evening. In his last text of the day, to Schwartz at 10:36 p.m., he was all but incoherent: “We need to lay their clowns think early on we are no hardship Barr no and will ill them handcuffs off. If they want to bring it n watch out. We will decimate. Old Sara we haven’t done anything but party with you. Now we will kill Scarw her big. All of them scare them. I am going to prevent this public bulls hit rightbaway. And let’s go after them head on NOW.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“At the suggestion of his nurses, Sumner got a Microsoft Surface Pro laptop to help him communicate. It was programmed with his voice. All he had to do was tap, and the computer would respond “yes,” “no,” or—for use specifically with Shari—“I love you,” “I’m proud of you,” or “Would you like some fruit salad?” But Sumner’s favorite was “Fuck you.” It was the option he pressed repeatedly whenever anyone mentioned Donald Trump.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“I hate it. I hate Michael Eisner,” Frank Wells said. “I can’t go in there anymore and take the shit.”
― James B. Stewart, Disney War

“As he told Hill, he was simply following the “Eight ‘P’s,” a mnemonic that had been drummed into them in the military: “Proper prior planning and preparation prevents piss-poor performance.”

The Real Heroes Are Dead Article from The New Yorker.”
― James B. Stewart

“Eisner gets a pen and a piece of paper. “Disney is a French name, not Irish,” he reminds me. “Now look at this.” He writes “D’Isner,” “Deez-nay,” as the French would pronounce it, “is Eisner without the D.”
― James B. Stewart, Disney War

“Real estate developer Donald J. Trump weighed in on the dispute. He wrote Sumner a letter saying he should listen to his daughter. Trump had shared a box with Shari at a New England Patriots game, and she evidently made a favorable impression. Trump had followed up with questions about the theater business, and Shari gave him and his daughter Ivanka a tour of one of National Amusements’ new luxury theaters. With the National Amusements board firmly lined up behind Sumner, Trump was one of the few people willing to stand up for Shari—a gesture she never forgot.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“Fifty years passed between the scandals of the 1920s and their counterparts in the 1980s. If Wall Street escapes another major threat to its integrity for even half as long, the crackdown that culminated in Milken’s conviction will have proven of historic value.”
― James B. Stewart, Den of Thieves

“Over the years Sumner amended his trust more than forty times to add and remove numerous beneficiaries, many of them women he dated. Dauman, who as a cotrustee of Sumner’s trust was aware of many of the gifts, acknowledged that “several” women received over $20 million each, “a lot” of women received over $10 million, and “many, many” women received over $1 million.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“The Sixth Sense was ultimately nominated for six Academy Awards. Completed at a cost of $35 million, it earned just under $300 million in the United States alone, the most successful live-action film in Disney’s history.

David Vogel, Disney’s President of Production (recently dismissed by Michael Eisner after purchasing The Sixth Sense without permission) had been right when he told Eisner that he’d left Disney with one of its biggest pictures. Vogel hadn’t found another job and had pretty much stopped looking. He had decided he no longer wanted to rely on the Machiavellian instincts he found necessary to continue as a movie executive. A few studio people called to congratulate him on the film’s enormous success, but he heard nothing from any of the top Disney executives, including Eisner, Roth, and Schneider. Of course, Vogel was one of the few people who knew that Disney had sold off both the foreign and domestic profits to Spyglass, and would earn only a 12.5 percent distribution fee. He wondered what Eisner thought now.”
― James B. Stewart, Disney War

“Among those watching the Larry King interview was Diane Disney Miller and her husband, Ron. In response to a caller asking whether Walt Disney had really been frozen, Eisner said that no, Walt had been buried in an unmarked grave in a secret location. “His wishes were that it was unmarked, and not available to anybody to ever find out,” he said. “But I went up there and talked my way into them showing me where he’s buried.”

Why would the grave be unmarked? King asked.

Walt “wanted his privacy forever,” Eisner replied. “It’s a beautiful little spot and nobody could ever find it, and I’m very proud that I talked myself into it.”

Diane didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. How could Eisner say this on national television? He knew perfectly well that Walt was not buried in an unmarked grave. Diane herself had told him that Walt had been cremated, after they had dinner all those years ago.”
― James B. Stewart, Disney War

“Selling such a large stake flew in the face of everything she knew about her father. He loved content.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“On Thursday, Farrow was at the venerable New Yorker writer Roger Angell’s desk, working frantically to close the Moonves piece, when Kim Masters called from The Hollywood Reporter, saying she was breaking the news about his Moonves exposé, and asked if he wanted to comment.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“Dauer figured Moonves was calling about a role for Phillips, which finally seemed to be happening. Dauer was watching his hometown baseball team, the Minnesota Twins, on TV when Moonves reached him. But Moonves wasn’t calling him with good news about Phillips. Instead, he was terse and sounded stressed. Moonves asked Dauer to delete all their text messages, adding that he was asking all his friends to do the same thing. (A spokesman for Moonves denied he asked him to delete messages.) Dauer wondered what that was all about. He hung up and went back to watching the game. He never deleted the messages.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“Sumner”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“...clearly Michael Eisner’s most glaring defect, the one quality more than any other that has caused him to leave behind a trail of deeply embittered former colleagues: his dishonesty. Considering the importance Eisner places on honesty in others—dating at least to the childhood incident in which he believes his mother lied about his bedtime—it is extraordinary that Eisner himself has been so reckless with the truth, in ways both large and small, to a degree that suggests he is at times incapable of distinguishing one from the other. Far more than just a personality quirk, Eisner’s tendency to distort, embellish, or forget the truth had direct and costly business consequences for Disney. More than any other single factor, what Steve Jobs and the Weinstein brothers considered Eisner’s dishonesty accounts for the failure of the important Pixar and Miramax relationships. Katzenberg was so angry and bitter—and willing to sue—because he believed he was lied to and felt betrayed.”
― James B. Stewart, Disney War

“Michael Eisner observes that “Hollywood is a microcosm of the world. There’s a group of ethical people, serious, eager to work. Then there’s the underbelly, and the seedy part of that group, the people who supply the underbelly. There are the struggling runaways, the prostitutes—male and female—the dregs of the earth. The vultures. They take the low road. They may wear suits, be articulate…” He trails off.”
― James B. Stewart, Disney War

“The Executive Leadership Assessment (results) quickly devolved into arguments about the ways in which Disney management did or did not function as a team, which pretty much proved the consultant’s point: that Disney’s top-tier executives, under Michael Eisner’s governance, does not make a good team; They don’t qualify as "a team," much less a group. Later, Eisner dismissed the whole experiment as a waste of time. Away from Eisner, several of the participants later conceded the issue. ‘What Michael likes is to put six pit bulls together and see which five die,’ one said.”
― James B. Stewart, Disney War

“Don’t run this,” Farrow asked. “I’m still reporting.” “I hear you’re almost done,” she said. “You’re not in the newsroom,” Farrow said, annoyed. Her piece would run early the next morning. She’d already called CBS for comment. That gave Farrow less than twenty-four hours.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy