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THE NEW WALT DISNEY STUDIO* W. E. GARITY AND J. L. LEDEEN**
Summary. — This article describes the planning and construction of the world's largest animated motion picture studio, explaining the routine and the problems encountered in production of these pictures, together with the facilities provided in the new plant for solving these problems. The studio is unique in that it was built from scratch on a vacant plot of ground with no restrictions by existing facilities to hamper planning. It is comprised of some twenty buildings on a 51-acre plot and includes, among other things, one of the most complete air-conditioning plants in the country.
The striking success of Walt Disney's feature-length cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs proved conclusively that there was a definite demand for pictures of this type, and that, if they were pictures of quality, they would not only be accepted but could be produced at a profit. The recognition of this fact prompted the Disney Studio to launch an augmented program of feature productions which resulted in the release of Pinocchio early this year and the introduction to the public this fall of a new musical feature called Fantasia. The year 1941 will see a further increase in the number of features released.
Augmented production schedules bring with them problems of expansion. They require increased personnel, more space, enlarged facilities, and smoother production flow lines. During the era prior to the release of Snow White the studio averaged eighteen to twenty short subjects in work all the time, and it required seven to nine months from the beginning of actual production until the picture was shipped. With that experience on short subjects it must be clear that on a program of feature production it would be necessary to have a proportionate number of features in work, depending on the release schedule.
If a program of one feature a year were contemplated, it would be necessary to have three features in work — one starting, the second in
* Presented at the 1940 Fall Meeting at Hollywood, Calif. ; received November 1, 1940.
** Walt Disney Productions, Burbank, Calif.
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