L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano u s e t h e m . F o r i n s t a n c e , since the late 1990s, there had been talk about using t h e i n t e r n e t o n m o b i l e phones, but the announce- ment kept getting delayed year after year due to the lack of a supporting device. In 2008, with the introduc- tion of the iPhone, which was easy to use, using the internet on a mobile phone became the norm. Ease of u s e i s s o m e t h i n g t h a t i s often underestimated but is crucial, because people don't want to struggle. W o u l d y o u s a y t h a t the same thing has hap- pened with streaming? Absolutely, yes. The tech- n o l o g y f o r s t r e a m i n g h a s existed since 2008, not at the quality level of today, but it already existed with platforms like YouTube, for example. What was missing was a simple product like Netflix, where you can find e v e r y t h i n g y o u w a n t t o watch. This was extraordi- nary because the new gener- ations, from Millennials to Gen Z, love the ability to control their own time, hav- ing grown up with devices t h a t h a v e a l w a y s a l l o w e d them to do so. Netflix pro- vided total control, just like the mobile phone. And that w a s t h e d i r e c t i o n a l l t h e m a j o r c o m p a n i e s h e a d e d towards. L e g e n d o f t h e T h r e e Caballeros', which is essen- tially a sequel to the famous film from the 1940s, and the second is 'Muppet Babies', a series created with the Mup- p e t s b u t t a r g e t e d a t preschoolers. Both series are still available on Disney+. Regarding Disney+, at this stage of your career, w a s i t t i m e f o r t h e launch of the platform? Yes. In 2017, a new divi- sion called Disney Digital Network was established, w h i c h e n c o m p a s s e d D i s - ney's websites and social media presence. Given my international experience, I was entrusted with that role, w h i c h t u r n e d o u t t o b e a very enjoyable experience. T h e n , i n 2 0 1 8 , B o b I g e r decided to launch Disney's streaming service. At that point, an initial team was assembled, and I was called upon to manage it. In 2019, we launched Disney +, after working tirelessly for a year. R e f l e c t i n g b a c k o n that meeting with Bob Iger, you had a vision regarding the digital use of video content at an early stage. What made you believe in it? I h a v e a l w a y s s t a r t e d from the principle that new technologies are not about business plans or projects, but about how people will Staying on the topic of t e c h n o l o g i e s t o w a r d s which everyone is gravi- t a t i n g A I , a f i e l d w i t h which you are involved, is often discussed these days. What is your opin- ion on AI and the fear t h a t p e o p l e c u r r e n t l y have about it? I've been hearing about A I s i n c e t h e 9 0 s , s o i t ' s something that has a long history and has grown in p o w e r t h a n k s t o t h e i n c r e a s e d c a p a b i l i t i e s o f today's computers, but it has always been present. The example I always give is the dictionary on our phone that h e l p s u s c o m p o s e w o r d s when we write a message: that is Artificial Intelligence, a n d i t ' s s o m e t h i n g w e ' v e been using for years without anyone being frightened by it. What is your stance on this technology? I am always interested in u n d e r s t a n d i n g h o w n e w technologies can be used. Beyond the common percep- tion about chatGPT and fake images, I believe that in the w o r l d o f e n t e r t a i n m e n t , there are some very valid applications: cost reduction and speed, because there are post-production tools that can do in a few seconds what used to take a week. These a r e t w o f a i r l y o b v i o u s aspects, but what interests me most is the third aspect, which is to do new things t h a t w e r e n o t f e a s i b l e before. C a n y o u g i v e u s a n example? I am interested in the cre- ative innovations that AI b r i n g s . C u r r e n t l y , I a m working with an animation company that has developed a tool for "text to video:" your character takes shape based on the written direc- tions, resulting in a fully ani- mated video. This becomes interesting for creating ani- m a t i o n f o r T i k T o k , g i v e n that on social media it is crucial to be immediate and trends pass quite quickly. Ultimately, the most inter- esting thing is understand- ing the opportunities that AI creates. tle confidence that people would consume such con- tent digitally. Therefore, I started traveling everywhere to convince others of our project, encountering many c l o s e d d o o r s b u t a l w a y s aiming higher. This culmi- nated in presenting the pro- j e c t t o B o b I g e r , w h o b e c a m e t h e C E O o f T h e W a l t D i s n e y C o m p a n y i n 2022, in the Disney board- room in 2010. And what happened in that boardroom? We convinced him, and indeed our project was the first to be launched when t h e i P a d h i t t h e m a r k e t . From there, I began to face c o n s i d e r a b l e p r e s s u r e t o move to the United States, which I did in 2014. Upon my relocation, I was entrust- ed with the leadership of a d i v i s i o n c a l l e d N e w I P , where we developed a beau- tiful project involving a col- lectible series featuring the various animal companions of Disney princesses, like Snow White's cat and Ariel's dog. At that point, my career took another direction. Which one? The animation produc- tions I was involved in were doing very well, so my boss at the time asked me to lead the Grand Central Studios, and I accepted. We devel- oped two major series: 'The J o u r n a l i s t a n d screenwriter, pub- lishing and digital m e d i a e x p e r t , l o v e r o f c o m i c s , technology and the innova- tions it brings. Gianfranco Cordara has a very long and intense career behind h i m t h a t b e g a n a t t h e world's most famous anima- tion company, Walt Dis- ney Animation. Originally f r o m M i l a n , C o r d a r a h a s lived in Los Angeles since 2014 where he is also a lec- turer at the University of Southern California for the M a s t e r ' s p r o g r a m o n streaming and the evolution of digital. Cordara is cur- rently Senior Advisor Team at Grishin Robotics in Los Angeles where he works on Artificial Intelligence, but he continues to have working t i e s w i t h h i s h o m e t o w n , where he is, in fact, a lectur- er at the Catholic University of Milan for the Master's in T V a n d P r o d u c t i o n a n d guest-lectures on Franchise and one on Streaming. G i a n f r a n c o , d u r i n g y o u r c a r e e r a t D i s n e y Animation you held var- i o u s r o l e s , i n c l u d i n g Vice President of Global O p e r a t i o n s . H o w d i d y o u r a d v e n t u r e a t t h e M i c k e y M o u s e a n i m a - tion company begin? I would say in the most absurd way imaginable. I was a few days away from m y d e g r e e i n p h i l o s o p h y when I received a call from Disney Italia, which had just o p e n e d a n a c a d e m y f o r screenwriters and for which I had sent in my application even though I had complete- ly forgotten about it. They i n f o r m e d m e t h a t I h a d e n t e r e d t h e i r v e r y f i r s t screenwriting course, which I decided to take and upon completion of which I began working for Disney. What is the very first position you covered? As I had some technologi- cal knowledge, I was offered the opportunity to lead the digital publishing division during a time when Milan served as the main head- quarters for the company. I began focusing on digital publishing, specifically aim- i n g t o t r a n s i t i o n v a r i o u s Mickey Mouse and Donald D u c k c o m i c s t o t h e i P a d . Back in 2008, there was lit- SILVIA NITTOLI Gianfranco Cordara, who works for Disney in LA, is originally from Milan (Photo courtesy of G. Cordara) Gianfranco Cordara, the Italian behind the success of Disney + LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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