An Interview with...
Lauren Keller meets with the Country Manager of Disney Italia, Daniel Frigo, to discuss ambitions, obstacles and the beautiful city of Milan...
During my reading week, I was fortunate enough to meet with the Country Manager of Disney in Milan, Daniel Frigo. Born in San Francisco in 1962 to an English mother and Italian father, he graduated with a degree in Political Science and Italian Literature from the University of California, Berkeley and also holds an MBA for Marketing from UCLA. He joined the Walt Disney Company in 1992, holding responsibility for the distribution and marketing of all the feature films released in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and travels back and forth between working in Milan and raising a family in England. Throughout our meeting, we discussed various factors such as his background, career path and life in Milan. I then asked him for any advice he had for us, helping with our year abroad and thoughts about our future careers.
What were your plans after university? Did you always know that film was your ambition?
When I graduated from university I wasn't exactly sure where I was going. At that point, I was very interested in fashion, so I went in that direction for a few years. I really enjoyed it and it was a great place to start but in the back of my mind, I knew that I always wanted to pursue film. After a few years of working with Christian Dior, I decided to go back to business school. I took a big leap and made a big change going to UCLA, but it was in Los Angeles and close to the epicentre of the film business. I also took some internships, working for Warner Brothers which helped me understand more about the business by having some great conversations with many people including Rob Freedman, one of the great marketing moguls at that time. It’s important to meet as many people as you can because it helps you slowly find those stepping stones to get you where you want to be. I kept following that north star of how to get into the film business and followed that dream to make it happen, even though there are bound to be challenges along the way.
"I kept following that north star of how to get into the film business, and followed that dream to make it happen, even though there are bound to be challenges"
That moves me nicely onto my next question. What obstacles were you faced with and how did you overcome them?
For me the very beginning was the hardest challenge, deciding what you want to do and knowing that every business is incredibly competitive. It’s not like you open the door and everyone offers you a job. You get rejected continuously. But you must never give up and find a way to meet various people who will help you open doors. The more you understand as much as you can about a subject matter, the more somebody will want to hire you because A, you’re hungry and show tremendous desire to want to be in that business and B, you have knowledge because you’ve taken the time to meet people and read.
ARTE E CULTURA
ARTE E CULTURA