Ask an Assistant: Matthew Threadgill (Disney Branded Entertainment)

*To look up unfamiliar terms, check out our Hollywood Glossary.

Matthew Threadgill

Executive Assistant, Live Action Development at Disney Branded Entertainment

Co-Head of Journalism, The Hollywood Assistant

Interviewed by Maura Consedine, D23 Partnerships & Events Intern at the Walt Disney Company

Hi Matthew! Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me. Can you give me a brief overview of your role as an Assistant with Disney Branded Television’s (DBT) Live Action Development team and walk me through some of your day-to-day responsibilities?

I work in development at Disney Branded Television, which is the department at Disney that includes Disney Junior, Disney+ Originals [not including Marvel], Disney Channel, and Disney XD – essentially all their kids and family channels, shows, and original movies. In my department, I'm on the Live Action Series team, so we make shows for both Disney+ and Disney Channel, including some you might be familiar with like PERCY JACKSON, GOOSEBUMPS, AMERICAN BORN CHINESE. Our Disney Channel shows are all the classic ones like WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE, HANNAH MONTANA, and THAT’S SO RAVEN, and we recently had BUNK’D, RAVEN’S HOME, and we have a reboot of WIZARDS coming out this month. 

In development, for folks who aren't familiar with that, what we're doing is taking pitches from writers, studios, or production companies and we decide what we want to develop and to potentially be greenlit to a series. That process goes from the pitch to an outline of an episode, to the pilot, to a first draft, and then second draft. Over time, we're constantly giving notes and revisions, and having the writers fine-tune the story all the way to a final script that we send to the higher ups, where they decide if they want to make it into a series or not. I am that entry level role supporting the team, so I work for two executives, and my day-to-day looks like what you would expect of an assistant: scheduling meetings, organizing our internal database, when we have visitors getting them into the office. But there's some creative tasks as well – I’ll read scripts that writers have submitted to be considered for development, and then provide my bosses with my thoughts to help them figure out if they want to move forward with it and how it can be fine-tuned. I think the most consistent day-to-day task is having something to read because there's always something to read – whether it's a submission or a new piece of material we have. And always scheduling a meeting!

You have an extremely diverse portfolio of experience, ranging from roles in TV research (Luminate), to talent management (Untitled Entertainment, Independent Artists Group). I think this sense of growth and exploration should be encouraged for anyone just starting their careers and identifying their interests, and would be curious to know what your key takeaways are. And ultimately, what made you settle into the Development side of the business at this stage of your career?

I definitely have kind of bounced around throughout my career. To give you a bit of backstory, I originally was targeting a career in acting, because I went to school for theater. I explored musical theater and some straight acting. That was my passion in high school and about half of college. But towards the end of college, I realized that I was being more drawn to the operational sides of the industry. I love writing and storytelling, the construction of writing, and business decision-making. But just to try it, my first year out of school I acted professionally – I got an agent, I was in New York doing the theater acting thing, and I enjoyed it, but I quickly knew that it wasn't for me. So, after a year I put that to bed, but revisited what I loved in college which were the business ends of entertainment.

I knew early on that development was where I wanted to be, but coming from that theater background I wasn't super sure how to get there. The only thing I knew was that an agency was a great place to start and get a birdseye understanding of the industry. I had done an internship in college at Untitled Entertainment and that helped me end up at Independent Artists Group in Talent. I knew I didn't want to be in Talent and I knew that development was the goal, but I was learning and seeing how the industry moves, how it fluctuates. When I was at IAG, I was thinking of how to get to that next step closer to where I wanted to be, and a piece of advice that someone told me that I thought was very poignant was to never be general – try to be as specific as you can when targeting your career and especially in how you communicate that to others. If you are broad, people won't know how to direct you. Being specific in your goals early on helps you get to where you want to go faster. So, I started thinking about what kind of genre I wanted to be in in development, and I really found that the kids and family space was a space that I would find fulfilling and meaningful. 

Targeting kids and family specifically, I went from Talent to Noggin at Nickelodeon, which was their preschool streaming platform, and there I was the assistant to the EVP of Noggin who oversaw the whole operation. In that role I wasn't quite in development yet, but I was getting insight into kids and family and then also was able to dip my toe into the creative side here and there. I got laid off from Noggin in February so then that chapter closed, which was a bummer, but in some ways it was a blessing because it allowed me to focus on getting that next role in development. While I was at Noggin I began my own side TV & film review website, where I reviewed films that I watched just to give people an idea of how I think about stories and how I critique them. I sent that out to a lot of people just to show them what I was thinking and how my brain works in the development space. I think that helped me make that transition from a broader assistant role to development specifically.

As you mentioned, you have been in-house at studios like Nickelodeon and now Disney, but have also worked for agencies and management companies. What are some differences that you have observed between these environments, and how should people know which is right for them?

Everyone has different takes and perspectives, and I think at the end of the day when you're an assistant it largely does depend on the boss you work for. I've loved all the bosses I've worked for throughout my career, but the agency experience was tough to get through for me, specifically because I knew I didn't want to be an agent. My experience at Noggin was such a 180, though, because I felt so passionate about the work Noggin did and everyone else did, as well. Noggin’s mission was very specific – it was creating educational stories for preschoolers. A lot of folks there came from kids’ backgrounds, so everyone was very connected to that mission, which I think created a very warm environment where we all felt like we were in it together and everyone lifted each other up. Also, because Noggin was smaller than Nickelodeon itself, it wasn't exactly a department that everyone had eyes on – we weren't the most popular kids at Paramount per se, and so there just weren't many egos. Everyone was very humble and very level headed, and I loved that – it was a great environment with great people, and was a great place to go every day.

But honestly, I think in every interview I've had, the way the interview made me feel replicated the environment of the company. So, if you have an interview and you love the person and what they had to say, that’s a good sign. If you have an interview and it's not exactly your vibe, the job may not offer you a great experience.

Tell me about your Disney journey! Most people that I meet working here have a core memory that fueled their desire to pursue a career with Disney, or possess a longstanding passion for the brand as a whole, so I would love to know what drew you to your current role and if you have any sort of special connection to the Disney portfolio.

I think it sounds so corny, but in many ways where I am now is kind of my dream job, because growing up I was a huge Disney Channel kid. I obviously watched all of the shows incessantly like WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE, HANNAH MONTANA, and THAT’S SO RAVEN, but I also ran fan websites about these shows. I would write about new episodes or movies on the channel– I had the Disney Channel press website bookmarked on my family's desktop computer, and I would check it like every day to learn about new pilots, new shows, or new movies. I loved the behind-the-scenes element of it as well, and I ran those websites all the way into mid high school!

But I also think I just loved, not just the shows, but the positivity of the Disney brand and the magic of it. Being in it is really exciting because I totally feel that magic and the excitement as we're reading scripts, and I think about myself when I loved AUSTIN & ALLY or HANNAH MONTANA. I think about what I would have loved as a kid and if I would watch it. I feel like I'm serving the kids of today who can learn from these shows, find themselves through them, and discover corners of the world they haven't ever seen before the same way I did. And all of those shows that came out in the early 2000s, the assistants at DBT all grew up watching them, so you feel this collective nostalgia and connection to the content amongst us, and that makes it really fun to work with.

Disney Branded Television is the segment of the company that includes platforms like Disney+, Disney Channel, and Disney Jr. Knowing that the programming you work on is primarily geared towards young people and families, do you feel a certain sense of pressure or responsibility to produce and promote content that feels substantive and socially relevant, especially for audiences at such a formative age?

Absolutely! I think what's really crazy is we receive research on what kids are watching these days, and I can't speak too specifically about the numbers or when the study was done, but at one point the most watched show among tween boys was that Jeffrey Dahmer show on Netflix, and then for girls at one point it was GREY’S ANATOMY. 

The way kids watch TV today is just so different then how we did as a kid, because they have YouTube and they have streaming, so they're not sitting in front of a TV in the afternoons or evenings that's telling them what to watch– they’re finding it for themselves and they have so many options. I think in some ways more than ever, the platforms that have the resources and the power to make quality content for kids really do need to be trying to make the absolute best they possibly can. Disney is a trusted brand, Nickelodeon is a trusted brand, and it should be those brands that parents can trust and that society can trust to be making content for kids that is the most enriching. 

I think we definitely all feel that pressure, and then on top of that we're trying to juggle what's in line with the brand, what parents want to see, what advertisers want to see, and what's going to sell, so there are a lot of things to balance.

In your LinkedIn bio, you refer to yourself as a “creative at heart” – what are your main sources of creativity and inspiration in your work, and how do your current team’s objectives/projects align with your goal of impactful storytelling?

I feel like I consume a little bit of everything. On a personal level I love reading The New York Times, I love going on social media and scrolling, I love pop culture and music and watching shows, and I think all of it kind of forms my perspective on creative material, particularly creative material that we make today and what connects with audiences. 

This is very specific, but I've been loving the show BLUEY. It feels so real and heartwarming, and I think it takes parts of life that are imperfect and maybe a little bit embarrassing, and paints them in a very relatable but digestible way. I feel like I never watch BLUEY and don't walk away feeling something. I’m always analyzing why does BLUEY work so well and are there things to take away from it for other stories in other genres. I think there definitely are.

It is a tough time to be in the entertainment industry for numerous reasons. For those who may be trying to break in, or to anyone who is already here but still finding their path, do you have any words of wisdom to share?

I think my piece of advice would be, I mean it's corny, but genuinely follow your passion. Stick to your passion and don't wait for someone else to tell you “yes”. If you want to write, just start writing your own stuff and putting it on YouTube. If you want to work in development, start writing and developing your own stuff with your friends. You don't have to wait for people to give you a “yes,” because if you have your own versions of what you want to do and you show that to people, they can see that you have drive, really care about this work, take initiative, and you do things in your free time so they can trust that you would be someone good on their team because you clearly have that passion and energy. 

The big headline advice is don't wait, just follow what you want to do and follow your passion. 

Another piece of advice is to meet with people for coffee chats, all of it, even strangers. Just e-mail people or connect on LinkedIn with whoever you think could be useful to you or has good information or could be interesting to chat with and learn from. This industry is so incredibly relationship driven, so build those relationships, especially because everyone has such a unique path to where they are and learning about that can be very helpful in strategizing your own.