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EXCLUSIVE: Everybody is trying to keep this secret. But I’ve learned that yesterday Disney canned Dana Precious, EVP of Worldwide Marketing for Marvel’s LA Studios (she had replaced Doug Finberg at the end of last summer); Jeffrey Stewart, VP of Worldwide Marketing (he’d been brought in by Dana); and Jodi Miller, Manager of Worldwide Marketing. That’s essentially Marvel’s entire marketing department. Marvel redundant jobs were on the line ever since Disney bought the publisher/studio in 2009. And the marketing department even more so this summer after Paramount released Thor and Captain America domestically and internationally, thus effectively ending that studio’s marketing and distribution of Marvel pictures. I’m told that on June 24th, Rob Steffens, who is Marvel Studios’ EVP Operations, met with all of the department at the Manhattan Beach offices in what was described as a “Disney Rules of the Road” meeting. He told staff that there would be no house-cleaning by the mouse, period, so they were not to fear for their jobs and flee en masse. So much for that promise.
The official line on why Marvel’s marketing team was let go is that Disney will be taking over that function and handling the releases of The Avengers and future Marvel movies themselves. In fact I’ve learned that Marvel will bring in someone in a “project management role”. But Kevin Feige’s continued supervision of all things Marvel should resolve any doubts by fanboys that Disney will screw around or screw up the comic book films. Insiders tell me that Precious and her team were not well-loved by Marvel bigwig Feige and other top execs at Marvel or by Disney and Paramount. (Some of the comments I heard today included: “Not up to or have the skill set to release this brand properly”… “Their job was to keep track of the people doing the real work”… “Paper pushers”… ”Would it have killed them to return an email?”… “Disney doesn’t need someone to cut its trailers”…)
Now Marvel staffers wonder whether the firings were really to avoid duplicating efforts with Disney or just petty vindictiveness. If it’s the latter, then jobs are safe. But if it’s the former, then any jobs redundant in terms of Disney’s infrastructure aren’t. Trying to reassure the Marvel folks, one insider tells me today, “If you do your job and are smart and understand the business, you shouldn’t worry.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Seriously. They never returned emails.
It takes a long time to reply to those emails in longhand.
There were three people marketing the hell out of THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA. Think about that. Three people kicked ass while Disney and Paramount didn’t do sh*t. Paramount bailed on CAPTAIN because they didn’t get a large percentage because it was in the hands of Disney so they could care less what it opened to. Putting down people that rocked their jobs and were ultimitely used by Marvel shows what trolls you people are that think they were ‘lazy’ and didn’t return your bullsh*t emails about nonsense.
Miserable people write miserable things. Dana, stay strong! You rock, girl!
They are lazy and scared – the worst combo to have
Of course they were scared. Their jobs were ill-defined and Disney has been talking internally about firing them for over a year. Either way, Mr. Feige should feel very secure knowing he’s got MT Carney on the case. She just opened “The Help” and is beloved by her team. A total pro who only cares about the work and is very very creative. Her entire team really loves her. Disney should not let her go.
I have not heard one beloved word uttered when the name MT Carney comes up. In fact, I would say it adjectives used are quite the opposite. Wait – was this comment by the crazy Scot herself?
MT Carney didn’t open The Help. Dreamworks did. They did all the heavy lifting. Disney just sent the prints out.
No, Stacey Snider’s handpicked Disney marketing team–Frank Chiocchi, Kevin Campbell, Stephanie Kluft (all from Uni) and DW’s marketing folks opened “The Help.” MT was not involved. She’s mostly ignored by DW.
Incompetent AND had redundant jobs?
How they managed to last so long after Captain America came out, I’ll never know.
That makes sense. If they were imcompetent, that would have been redundant with MT Carney’s job.
One of the best teams in the business, they will land somewhere soon
No question of that. They’ve got chops, and any company would be lucky to have them either as a team, or individually.
Don’t let my opinion that this was inevitably a good thing let anybody think I’m glad people lost their jobs. It’s simply that, having witnessed Marvel promoting itself as a division of Disney, a lot of opportunities were not maximized – among other things.
Let’s see first Dana Precious was fired for spending exorbitant sums of money to get stuff done.
Now she’s been fired for hiring people to spend exorbitant money to get stuff done.
And one commenter says she’ll land somewhere soon? Does that commenter know anything about the current entertainment economic landscape?
Well does anybody think the marketing for Thor and Cap was inspired? Both movies seemed to open well in spite of their campaigns, not because of them. And both, on balance, underperformed compared to the Iron Man movies and more than half of the Marvel-branded movies licensed and produced by other studios in the last ten years.
More than a decade into this masked-hero genre/fad’s resurgence, Marvel’s marketing of their properties is going to have to get more and more innovative.
It was just a matter of time before the other shoes started dropping after the initial acquisition…Here comes the softening of the brand…
Bingo.
“More than a decade into this masked-hero genre/fad’s resurgence, Marvel’s marketing of their properties is going to have to get more and more innovative.”
Because Disney’s marketing is so much better? The only thing I think of when I think of Disney is PIXAR.
Marvel saved itself from the brink of bankruptcy a little over a decade ago, to become a sought after entity. One CEO saw dollar signs when Disney wanted to buy it — sold it — and forever screwed Marvel.
Welcome to X-Men babies for the 5-8 year old crowd.
Actually, Disney and Pixar’s marketing IS better.
I hate to keep pointing to this, because it may or may not have been a factor, but Marvel’s pathetic portion of the Walt Disney Studios’ overall presentation at the D23 Expo showed that Marvel didn’t know how to market itself, even with a largely fan-based audience.
Frankly, as a fan of Marvel Comics, and their movies, I’m glad Disney is stepping in. I don’t see a softening of the brand at all.
Um, yeah. Because everyone knows that Marvel’s fan base is at D23, not at that stupid Comic-Con thing. I hear it’s full of nerds!
A great marketing team that will do well wherever they end up.
“Thanks for opening Thor and Captain America. C-ya”
Unfortunately, totally believable.
I have worked with Dana and Jeffrey in several capacities over the years. You would be hard pressed to find a more talented or diligent team. They have worked both sides of the streett..studio and vendor. Just check their track record prior to Marvel. And Dana seems to be talented enough to have had her first novel published.
Disney or no Disney, Marvel has gone through a whole string of Marketing Heads. They keep making the same movie over and over. Paramount did squat. Maybe if Disney let Dana and her team do their job, the work would be better. Ms. carney ios no genious, and she hired a BIG spender from Universal on her team.
Dana is an excellent marketer and a great lady. She has class, something in short supply. No one could last in that job. Check in next uear and let’s see where the Disney team is working.
My favorite part?
“Everybody is trying to keep this secret.”
TO: NIKKI FINKE
FROM: XX XXXX XXXX
SUBJECT : Don’t tell anyone, but….
I understand there’s a need to downsize. But times are really tough right now and Disney more than has enough money. Isn’t there a way these giant companies could instead of cutting people (which in turn directly impacts their families) figure out a way to work them into the equation. I’m just saying…
So large corporations or small ones for that matter should just keep people on that are not needed just to give them a job? WOW only in Hollywood.
If the job is not needed then why in the world would they keep them? Disney isn’t a charity company; it’s a business, with stockholders.
Well, they’ve also got to make money – and it’s not “Show Family.”
Anybody who witnessed Marvel Studios’ failure in relation to the rest of the WDS presentation at this weekend’s D23 looks at this article and says “Well, it was bound to happen.”
Is this only for movies?
Please, a little perspective here. Dana Precious was the fourth marketing head to be chewed up and spit out in rapid fashion by Marvel. They are abusive people. Dana’s problem is that she is a true-heart and is not afraid to speak her mind about doing the best job she can. But, we know what candor will do to a person in an industry full of fearful, scheming, disloyal, power hungry sociopaths. There is no job security among this ilk.
Marvel marketing is clearly a thankless job, both from the inside and out. Paramount was hostile to work with and Disney didn’t want outsiders telling them what to do, especially since they own Marvel.
And what ignorant coward would say that Dana and her team were “not up to or have the skill set to release this brand properly”? Dana saved Marvel from bankruptcy by opening the first Spiderman movie at Sony.
Oh, so Dana Precious saved Marvel by marketing Sony’s Spider-Man movie? As opposed to what? The beloved Spider-Man character, Sam Raimi, Toby McGuire, the mood of the country after 9/11 — marketing the movie all on its own?…Oh no, it was Dana Precious that delivered that film, not Spider-Man selling itself.
If you poncing irrelevant glorified office managers could only see yourselves the way the rest of us do…
I don’t know Dana and I wish all involved well, but truer words might have never been spoken when you (Vendor) said there’s no job security among this ilk. The way this town operates is disgusting and it makes me think hard about the way I navigate this town. All the fear, backstabbing, power grabs at all costs….I’ve worked in politics and Hollywood makes D.C. seem tame.
Since when does being smart and “understanding the business” ensure job security.
I’ve known Dana for years. She’s one of the most talented and experienced executives. Shame on those insiders for doubting her.
And David what you’re saying should give pause for thought. wether you think these people are morons,don’t return emails and on and on…does it give rob steffens the right to look them in the eye and assure them their jobs are safe? let them believe they can still pay their mortgages, put food on the table? NO…all he did was cover his ass at the expense of others… wether you like them or not. This is the person who really has the problems.
Vendor:
Give credit where credit is due. Joe quesada and his briillant ways of relaunching the marvel brand, his artwork and writing (particularly on daredevil) of the “marvel knights” banner and hiring people like brian bendus and ed brubaker is what saved marvel from going bankrupt. They couldnt sell spidey in hollywood to save their life in the late 80s/early 90s.
While dana might have gotten the rigjts on spidey sold (kudos to her) DO NOT GIVE THEM CREDIT for saving marvel
“Give credit where credit is due. Joe quesada and his briillant ways of relaunching the marvel brand, his artwork and writing (particularly on daredevil) of the “marvel knights” banner and hiring people like brian bendus and ed brubaker is what saved marvel from going bankrupt. They couldnt sell spidey in hollywood to save their life in the late 80s/early 90s.”
What the hell you are getting your information from? Joe did not save Marvel from anything, it was the licensing of their merchandise and movies that saved Marvel, not Joe. Try to get your facts straight before you try to cheer lead this man, who likes to take credit for stuff he did not do. The publishing department is only but a fraction of marvel. if they fired Joe tomorrow, no one would notice or care. in fact, it would the best way to go to save their publishing department.
um.
don’t you know how options work? If a publisher goes under, the rights on the characters revert back to the orginal owners… in this case it would have led to a legal battle of epic proportions between Ditko, Lee and Kirby.
Unless the characters were eaten up by another publisher (ala Malibu comics for example).
you would have Q%)&Q# to license out for merchandising etc, if the publishing side wasn’t around. The bubble burst in the early 90s thanks to EIC like Bill Jemas making 5 different “special holographic” covers of a single issue drove Marvel publishing into the ground. Quesada brought it back.
based on your post Tina, you don’t keep up with the publishing side, because Joe is now creative between east and west, Axel Alonso is now EIC.
As far as “to save their publishing department” Marvel for a good couple of years now as had more sales in books over other publishers including DC (ala Warner Brothers). WB is bleeding money on the DC publishing side, and frankly, doesn’t realize how much potential that library is for film tv etc except to hire chris nolan to do everything.
Could this simply be a matter of Marvel trying to cut costs and realizing that Disney has a marketing team in place that can handle this? And that the Marvel personnel, while talented folks, are redundant?
Understand that on the physical production side of things Marvel is just as tight with a buck. Crew people on their movies have similar tales of working harder than they ever have on a movie, while being paid less.
If you work in a business that people all around the world want to work in, the supply and demand quotient will be out of whack.
“Corporate” ONLY announces that jobs are safe…when they have in fact been eliminated. Please people, WAKE THE FLUCK UP!!
It’s their way of saying “We don’t want you to decide who leaves… we want to decide who leaves.”
What! Dana, Jeffrey, and Co. — a small but talented staff — made Thor an over-performing hit with an unknown lead, and just a month later helped Captain America soar, . . . And now a bunch of wanna bes with fragile egos complain about them being too busy for email? Oh, this is just too rich. I think you all have seen The Player one too many times. Lighten up, Francis.
Thank You to all of you who have said kind words about my wife. She worked tirelessly at Marvel stuck between a rock and a hard spot. Say no more. She is talented and dedicated to a fault.
For those of you who kick her to the curb, you either don’t know her, or have some sort of axe to grind. Either way, your mean spirited comments are so common place in this town that they are nothing but tired rantings of the delusional and/ or disillusioned. You are in good company. Be well.
Gotta love it when rich executives complain about mean comments on a message board — how many people has your wife fired, sir?
Honestly.
What goes around, comes around.
Karma’s a bitch, aint it?
Martin, I just want you to notice how many “haters” are too afraid to even post their names. They are clearly just a bunch of scared mudslingers who probably do this for a living. Its Hollywood, people are angry they aren’t famous and depressed that no one hears them, so they are doing it here.
Folks, take a prozac and remember karma truly is a b*tch and your day will come as well, so either shut up, or post your name and stand behind your words. (sniff, sniff) It smells like chicken…
Those in the industry who really know Dana, know how smart and competent she is. Keep in mind who these vindictive, jealous assholes are that continually jump on the pile when given the opportunity. At the end of the day, these people are irrelevant cowards. And Dana will be on to something more fulfilling than the Marvel meat grinder very soon!
Dana rocks! And the people who matter know it!
Dana is a real talent and an all-around great person. She will land somewhere better. Marvel has shown time and time again that they can’t recognize talent. And Disney? Always been a backstabbing, money-grubbing company and it should be good fun to watch Marvel and Disney eat each other alive. Good luck guys! You certainly need it more than Dana does.
dana’s the best! this year’s hottest marketer. would i lie?
Because you’re probably a friend of hers, or want to work for her.
Before she wouldn’t return emails, Dana Precious wouldn’t return phone calls. But she has always taken advantage of some underpaid peon underneath her who can do the heavy lifting and make her look good, so I’m sure she’ll land somewhere else and do the same again. Isn’t that the Hollywood way? Swimming with sharks…
You are mistaken. Obviously you have never worked with her. When I was just starting out in design she sat me dow and showed mw a few things. She helped my career out and always was respectful and caring to everyone from runners all the way up. She is a great colleague., and person.
I love how people com on here with their internet courage to put her down and slam her husband for sticking up for her. Wow. Sad little never will be’s ever. Just make sure that your delivery is on time and pick up your boss’s dry cleaning. Losers.
I’ve worked with Dana for years. She is a professional and talented exec who has passion for the product she markets and great creative taste. She always answered my emails.