Walt Disney World

July 1990 – February 1992 (1 year 8 months) Lake Buena Visa (Orlando), Florida

After 13 interviews with Senior Management, I was hired and shown to my office by one of the Company’s highest-ranking executives, and sent off with a “good luck” and…no job description. When inquiring of the CEO Michael Eisner’s right-hand man what was expected of me, I was told “F*ck this place up.” The place he was speaking of was Pleasure Island, Disney World’s nighttime entertainment complex; an actual island created by Disney, which included six themed nightclubs, 2 outdoor concert and entertainment stages, specialty shops and restaurants, and a raging party street which ran through the entire Island, which featured a “New Year’s Eve every night” celebration. The problem was, Pleasure Island was not raging. In fact, it was failing. I was given nearly free reign to bring the Island up-to-date. My responsibilities, largely self-created, ultimately included attracting cutting-edge celebrities to the island, re-designing the clubs, creating and producing original television programming which originated from the Island, and booking live, name entertainment. It was a good run, while it lasted.