A look inside the busy schedules of Hollywood's top executives

Asad Ayaz

Chief Brand Officer, The Walt Disney Co.; president of marketing, The Walt Disney Studios and Disney+

A recent day from Ayaz’s diary explains why Bob Iger hand-picked the marketing wizard in 2023 to serve as the conglomerate’s first-ever branding officer, while continuing to oversee campaigns for films and streaming series. This year Disney is again at the top of the box office (among others). Inside out 2, Deadpool and Wolverine, Alien: Romulus), of Moana 2 And Mufasa is yet to come.

Wednesday October 9, 2024

6 hours Gym.

7 hours Travel time.

8 hours International marketing monthly with regional leads; in TD416A.

9 o’clock Release dates with distribution; Lightning strikes trailer review. Release dates are top secret, but Ayaz reveals there are theatrical dates for it A crazier Friday and the live action Lilo & Stitch are signed off for May 8 and May 23, 2025 respectively; in TD 416A.

10am D23 Brazil — show; in the Pandora TD 413D conference room.

10:30 am DO NOT BOOK. If Ayaz knows that a meeting could run long, he takes a break. Since he was covering Disney’s first-ever D23 fan show in Latin America at 10 a.m., he left room for overages because he didn’t want to keep his 11 a.m. meeting waiting.

11 am Musafa creative, editorial and digital campaign; in TD 109U.

12:00 noon Holiday brand campaign; in the Pandora TD 413D conference room.

12:30 pm. Working lunch with Andrew Ferguson, evp research; in Roundabout.

1:30 p.m Star Wars: Skeleton Crew campaign beats; in TD 416A.

2 p.m Disney+ Global Marketing Update; in TD 416A.

3:00 PM Enjoy digital/YouTube content; in the Pandora TD 413D conference room. Two of Ayaz’s main afternoon meetings (and one morning meeting) took place in the Pandora-themed conference room, a tribute to James Cameron’s speech. Avatar. Plans for differently themed meeting rooms were scrapped over fears it could make things difficult for other filmmakers.

3:30 PM Moana 2 filmmaker presentation; in TD 416A.

4:30 PM Captain America: Brave New World assessment of partnerships; in the Pandora TD 413D conference room

5 p.m Disney+ digital and social strategy; in Asad’s office.

6 p.m Discussion about prices. CALL: Adam Smith, Head of Product and Technology.

7:00 PM Football training for girls.

Margie Cohn

Chairman, DreamWorks Animation

Acquired by NBCUniversal from Jeffrey Katzenberg in 2016, DWA has taken its time finding its way (complicated by the advent of streaming and the pandemic) within the sprawling conglomerate, which also owns rival Illumination Entertainment. But DWA is back in action (see below).

Tuesday October 22, 2024

6 hours The day starts with coffee. Pot set up the night before. Send an email during the first heading and then finish The New York Times‘ Mini crossword and connections as a reward.

7 hours Pilates or elliptical.

8 hours Commuting while having or listening to family conversations The city podcast.

9 o’clock Arrival at the DreamWorks campus in Glendale, breakfast at the commissary; catch some quality schmooze time. Breakfast banter topics: The wild robotwhich was the biggest hit of the fall, earning over $200 million at the worldwide box office, and Kung Fu Panda 4one of the biggest films of the year.

10am TV exec team: See all projects, including upcoming ones Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movieand talk about upcoming pitches with the senior staff for the television division.

11 am Weekend read: Review scripts with the feature development team, discuss next steps with Kristin Lowe, Chief Creative Officer. “I have to look to the future and work on everything that’s happening right now, in this second,” Cohn says. “It takes so long to make animated films. We are now looking at 2027, 2028 and 2029.”

12:00 noon Digital newspaper room: biweekly check-in with Dog man production. The film is almost finished (in theaters January 31, 2025), so Cohn is watching the final lighting with director Peter Hastings, producer Karen Foster, and production designer Nate Wragg.

1 p.m Lunch at DWA commissioner with Puss in Boots: the last wish co-directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado to talk about the progress of their upcoming original film (unannounced).

2 p.m Go across campus to Lakeside Annex for The bad guys 2 layout and animation review with director Pierre Perifel, co-director JP Sans and producer Damon Ross.

3:00 PM Universal marketing meeting to review advertising materials. Rate printing for Dog man and revised trailer for The bad guys 2.

4:00 PM Business: View the status of feature deals, including casting.

5 p.m Final event of the day: Head to the Lagoon (an outdoor location on campus) to celebrate employees who have been with DreamWorks for 25 years. Fortunately, according to Cohn, there are quite a few.

6 p.m Call back and try to catch up on any emails she missed during meetings. Cohn says it’s rare for her to catch up on email: “Sometimes I’m in the office and 15 people come in at the same time. I’m booked back-to-back during the day, so they come over.”

7:00 PM Go home.

Rachel Morrison

Filmmaker, cameraman

After becoming the first woman nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography in 2017 MuddyMorrison reunited with Ryan Coogler – who they had worked on together Fruitvale Station – to make Black Panther. After that film, Morrison decided she wanted to shift focus. On December 25 she made her feature film debut, The fire insideopens in theaters once Oscar season is in full swing.

Tuesday October 15, 2024

8:30 am Hot yoga.

10am General meeting with Nick Nesbitt and other executives at Scott Stuber’s United Artists, which Stuber is relaunching in partnership with Amazon MGM Studios – after watching Nesbitt The fire inside. Morrison is reluctant to admit that meetings have seen a dramatic upturn since people started seeing The fire insidea biographical sports drama about American professional boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, played by Ryan Destiny.

11 am Stylist suitable for upcoming press events for The fire inside.

12:00 noon Meeting with executives at Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon and Seth Rodsky’s company. Morrison knows Witherspoon from his collaboration The Morning Show (Morrison directed one episode).

1:30 p.m Panavision interview. So far, Morrison has enjoyed all the publicity. “It’s still exciting and fresh,” she says. “Ask me again in a month.”

2 p.m Interview magazine interview.

3:00 PM BUST magazine interview.

4:00 PM Interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

5 p.m Piano and guitar lessons from son.

7:00 PM Dinner at Manuela in downtown LA.

Pablo Larrain

Filmmaker, producer

The productive Chilean director and producer is participating in the Oscar race again this year Maryhis ambitious Maria Callas biopic in which Angelina Jolie plays the iconic opera diva. He continues to live in Chile, where he and his brother have a thriving production company.

Friday October 25, 2024

7 hours Alarm clock goes off.

8 hours Expresso round 1. Larraín is rarely in LA and needs a good dose of caffeine after landing late the night before from London, where Mary premiered at the London Film Festival.

9 o’clock Call manager Eryn Brown to discuss incoming scripts, scheduling and ideas.

9:30 am Drive to Burbank.

10:15 am Arrives in Burbank with his brother Juan de Dios and production/business partner Juan de Dios Larraín to discuss an upcoming project with an actor. “Fabula Producciones is the production company that I founded with my brother in 2004 and with which we produce film, television and commercials,” says Pablo. “All my films were produced through Fabula, with my brother acting as producer. We currently have two films in post-production and four TV shows. We are also currently working on a huge production for an American studio that we will hopefully be able to talk about soon.”

12:00 noon Mixing session with Los Bunkers, a well-known and popular Chilean rock band that Larraín recently recorded in Santiago. “We’re doing an acoustic mix for their set, the classic MTV disconnected,” he says.

2 p.m The Fabula trio holds another actors meeting in Burbank.

3:00 PM Lunch: green salad and the last espresso of the day (hard rule).

4:30 PM Meeting with an international writer/producer to discuss how they can best work together to improve a script they hope to collaborate on.

6 p.m Fitted suit for Mary‘s AFI gala premiere

6:05 PM Dinner. After he eats, he says he unwinds from the day by calling his children in Chile and hearing about their days: “They know I’ll be back soon, thanks to them.”

10 p.m Go to bed with a book of poetry by any poet from Chile or Latin America, a country beautifully and primarily defined and described by its poetry.

A version of this story appeared in the Oct. 30 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.