Disney no longer has an animation house in Florida, but former CEO Michael Eisner still thinks having one here would be a great idea. “I though Florida was a great place for an animation studio,” he told SRQ. While he said having a working animation department at Disney Hollywood Studios when the park opened was mostly so people knew the studios weren’t all phony, he was pleased the Florida team produced such content as Brother Bear and Lilo and Stitch. “Florida became a great hotbed of creativity. It still is, with many animators coming out of Ringling, out of all parts of Florida. And there are all kinds of production still in Florida.” 

Eisner discussed the matter during a media roundtable shortly before a speech at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. He was the first guest this year for the Ringling College Library Association Town Hall Lecture Series.

Today, Eisner runs his own company, The Tornante Company, which involved in a range endeavors from global sports media branding at Topps to creating entertainment content such as Netflix exclusive show BoJack Horseman. 

But while he wades these days in new video, the former Paramount Pictures president said reports of network television’s death were premature. “People though television would kill movies; movies are still alive,” he said. “It doesn’t happen. What happens is one and one adds up to 2.5. The audience just grows bigger, and the is more available access to programming. But when that transition happens, existing media gets very nervous.”

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