Inside Marvel Studios w/ Founder David Maisel

Marvel had a massive dormant asset. I was given an assignment by Michael and I had no office yet. So I went and I saw in a conference room and there was three secretaries in the room and I said, I need this room. I have a project for Michael Lovitz. And that's it. And they scurried out of the room. Those weren't secretaries. That was Diane Keaton and Goldie Hahn and Ped Midler. If I had to pick one thing that I'm proudest about, it was the one and only David Mazel. Let's hear for David.

Thank you. And by the way, David is a real publicity whore. Um he has he has appeared everywhere or not. This is only the second time he's ever been on a podcast. The first was Tim Ferris, who is at times had the number one podcast in the world, and he did a speaking engagement for the South Korean government, uh, and now us. So this is Dan Fleischmann Source. Let's hear it for David one more time. Thank you, David. Okay, so first did I overly hype this or is this actually uh User?

No, you got me pumped about it. This is um I need you to walk by my side all the time. That's a deal. Um so Dave, thank you. It is seriously, it is an honor and privilege and I am so grateful for everybody who's coming to speak at this immersion and it's one remarkable person after another. But in terms of what personally um I believe will create the most value is what lies in this conversation.

And every speaker has massive value. And the reason is because everything we teach is what David not only lives, but is in a one in a billion level of mastery. And it's just the truth. So, you know, Dave and I had the blessing and privilege of spending a bunch of time together today. And speaking of these things, and so the first thing that I really want to bring forward is the fact that we're like this is real and accurate.

So would you guys be up for hearing like how this all unfolded, the yeses David had a cause, the mindset of David, would that be helpful for you? If yes, say yes. So David, please wanna take it from the beginning of uh you were born, just kidding. Um you know, but yeah, what drove you? You were a comic fan as a child, your mom was gonna

Get rid of your comic books at one time. Iron Man was your favorite character. What would you like us to know of everything leading up to two thousand three and how we get there, if you don't mind? Yeah, I think two thousand three is a a great place to start, um, Sean and Um imagine um not being a kid anymore, you're in your 30s, um, you've worked really hard uh and you've done well, but you still want to do a lot more. Um prior to that time

I had a love for entertainment and movies and Marvel. Um and I also didn't have any money and uh had done well in school. and knew I was creative but thought it would be more predictable to make an income using the rational business side of my mind. So I had spent many years, uh went to Harvard Business School. And then McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group. And then I quit those and went out and wrote a cold call letter to the most powerful man in Hollywood.

A guy named Michael Ovitz who had created the biggest talent agency, Creative Artists Agency in the eighties. This was now ninety five we're talking about when I wrote the letter. And I figured I needed to go out to Hollywood. I was in upstate New York and Boston to really learn the entertainment industry. and live it and no one better than Michael to be by his side. And I got very fortunate that I got an interview and he hired me. So

From ninety five to about two thousand. And if I guess David, if it's okay, I'm I'm I'm gonna interrupt only in service of you in footnotes. So was that warm or cold? What did David say? Cold. Cold. Number one. And I don't mean cold like he was selling solar. I mean cold like he was speaking to the most powerful man in Hollywood. Did you hear that? So what happened do you think that he saw in your identity, in you, that caused him this idea?

No, it's a really good question and I've thought about that um because y number one, just to get the interview was a miracle with him and then to get hired. And There's two things that became a a learning from me from this when I look back at my career. One was the initiative. Um the worst that could happen is I didn't hear back from OVI. You know, this was back in the day of actual printing out your resume at Kinkos and sending a letter. Um

So it's costing me a postage stamp to do this. Um and then you never know if the timing is right. It turns out He had just been hired by the owners of Universal Studios, Matsusha, a Japanese company, to sell that company secretly. And as a good agent, he had sold the job and got himself the engagement, but he had no capability to do the work that was needed. In walks a Harvard MBA who's hungry, will do anything for a job.

And has has a stellar resume. And I was there at the right time when Michael needed somebody. And then, as we talked about earlier with Marvel, it was a very low risk deal for him. Again, he said, What are you making at McKinsey? I'll match your salary. No contract. I can fire you at any time. And I said, Thank you. Um

And because this was a secret project, I wasn't employee four hundred, even though it's what it looked like out of four hundred on the org chart. I was had a secret with the head guy. And that created a degree of trust. Um and I also so I uh you know, why the job, right place at the right time? And and that was about ninety percent of it and ten percent

that he thought it would be great to have a Harvard MBA by his side when he talks to his clients like Tom Cruise or Warren Beatty, because it just makes those clients feel like they have a better team. I do remember saying to him I'm not normally what I'd call, you know, cocky, um, especially, you know, on on these types of things, um, but I told him I came across with a lot of confidence.

that I was gonna help somebody in Hollywood and I'd love it to be him. So I said it in a nice way. Um but i he told me later on that that confidence Resonated with him and also brought in him some competitiveness that he didn't want to see me with one of his. Friends or enemies across the table next week. Integra scarcity. Let's put up tank back and forth. Integra scarcity congruence fully present.

Right. So please. So Dave Exactly. So now it begins. So you know, this period before two thousand three was an education period. That's how I think about it. Because I was now at a talent agency.

and my boss was the king, I could see everything that happened in that agency and that was the center of all the secrets and deals in Hollywood. So I had a very privileged ability to see the truth of what made money in Hollywood. I got to be by his side and see how deals were done. I had no Street Smarts at the time. I was very book smart um but no street smarts and I got to see how he operated with people. Um I remember um my first day

I was given an assignment by Michael and I had no office yet. So I went and I saw in a conference room and there was three secretaries in the room and I said, I need this room. I have a project for Michael Lovitz. And that's it. And they scurried out of the room. At about you know, you talked about late nights. I think he called me into his office at eleven PM and said, What do you got? And I showed him what I did.

And I didn't see an expression on his face. He just looked up and said Well Before I get into what you did, do you realise what you did earlier today? when you stormed into that office and kicked out those three people Those weren't secretaries, that was Diane Keaton and Goldie Hahn and Bette Midler. Oh my god. And they weren't very happy about how they were treated. You know, he he didn't use the word you were blind, but he insinuated that I was blind to seeing what was in front of me.

that I needed to open my eyes. So I got my first of all I thought I was gonna be fired my first day. All right? But you know, I still remember that that was my first lesson. Boy, I have a lot to learn. It's not just delivering a report to him which he likes. It was how do I handle the people I see in the hallway? How do I handle the people that I don't know? Um and never underestimating the importance of relationships and reputation. Um

So I got very privileged to see how the town works in so many different ways. And then Michael Lovitz, quit his job at the Pinnacle of Hollywood and famously said yes to his best friend Michael Eisner and became president of the Wall Wow. So next thing I know, in ninety-six I'm over at Disney. Michael brought me and two other people with him. And my basically dad is the president of the Walt Disney Company. And again, I have open access to how a studio works.

Now all the good and the bad. And they ask me what I like. I say I like sport. And they said, Oh, we just fought ABC and ESPN, so why don't you go to the upper west side of New York? And there's a guy named Bob Iger who's the president of that division. And uh you can help Bob out. And so I actually was put into what's called strategic planning, corporate development at Disney, a very powerful group. Uh my office was next to somebody you're gonna see in two days, Kevin Mayer.

Um and on the other side Tom Stags. Both of them almost became CEO of the Walt Disney Company. They were Eisner's guys, I was Ovitz's guys, so it's a nice little soap opera going on after every meeting. But I got to meet Bob I. who I eventually, as you guys all are aware, sold Marvel to um over ten years later. Um and Kevin Mayer was there as well.

Ten years later, David will sell Marvel to Bob Iger at this as Disney's CEO and Kevin Mayer helping and supporting and running the transaction, who will be here speaking on Friday.

How completely insane is the power of the idea? That's the story of this man's life. A cold letter. He worked at a you know one of the top consulting companies in the country. And a couple years later, he's rolling with people that are running Hollywood, running Disney. And he'll later sell the company he creates from startup for ten billion to Disney. Could we hear it for that, for David for a second? Please, David. And and to that Sean, I think just thinking about this in real time.

Um, I told you about my meeting with Bob Iger to sell in the company. We'll get to that later on. But one of the questions that the reason that meeting went so well. is Bob remembered and trusted me and my integrity from the time that we worked together. I actually wrote some of Bob's presentation to the board of directors at Disney for him.

So we got to know each other pretty intimately and he knew that what I was saying about Marvel could be backed up. And I remember Bob in that secret meeting said, if I say yes to fifty dollars Will my board and will my team, Kevin Mayer and others, um think I made a good deal? And I said, Bob, they won't they'll think you got a

And he he didn't take that as salesmanship. He took that as substance. And I think um you know the reputation that uh I had back then uh really helped me facilitate a lot of those transactions. You know, then the rest of the time before two thousand three, Ovitz got event eventually got famously fired from Disney uh by his best friend. Um and I was loyal and went with Michael in the next chapter of his life. Um Uh he he is uh a and still is a legend. Um

And I was able to do a Broadway show here in New York and do my first creative endeavor. So I g I won the Tony for Best Musical for this show called Fosse and I was able to get my creative confidence. So by you know, by the time two thousand three came And David, would you mind sharing'cause we had this you you brought this point so clearly home, David r refused to accept the false framing of people.

And there was a standard in Hollywood, and would you mind sharing that? Suits versus creative yeah, frame. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um I I had a dilemma because as Sean is saying, I I very much love the creative arts and I love the art of the business too. And in Hollywood there's a dichotomy. You're basically classified as a suit, you know, the the business guy, but you're not supposed to talk about creative.

Or the creative guy, like, you know, but you're not supposed to talk about business, that makes you less creative. Um and I think one of the keys that allowed me to have the vision for Marvel and make it happen was I love mixing those two things. And I realized working in those years before the MCU and Marvel. that I had to choose and I didn't want to. And the only people that didn't have to choose were the bosses.

The studio chairman. And there was only six of them, and they were in their jobs for decades, and it wasn't a meritocracy. It wasn't like a law firm or consulting firm where there's some degree of meritocracy. And so I really had a choice in 2003 to work my way up um a studio and gamble. to finance a movie completely that will let you have both business and creative, but I didn't have that kind of capital. Or to create my own studio.

And as silly as it sounds, I thought, you know, I'll create my own studio and appoint myself chairman. And that started the thinking about what became Marvel. I should say I had another gig that's important. There's a guy named R. E. Manuel that you a lot of you guys have.

now probably heard about the inspiration for the Ari Gold character in Entourage and and now the CEO of William Morris Endeavor. And Ari was just starting Endeavor. And again the power of relationship Um a famous agent who Ari teamed up with

Thought Ari and I should meet. And I ended up working with Ari for two years as he founded Endeavor, which is now William Morris Endeavor. And so those relationships at both of the talent agencies and at Disney, all of that stuff was in my mind and the learnings. In two thousand three when I realized I need to figure out what I'm gonna do.

And I re I you know, spent the weekends, now we're back in two thousand three, basically in my sweatpants. in the apartment I still live in, um thinking about what I'm gonna do, and I put together the thoughts, business plan, creative thoughts of what the MCU became. um which was the idea from a business point of view to make a movie which has a degree of risk for every first movie that comes out, no matter who the star is or the IP.

But to have, if that movie is successful, not just one or two or three sequels, but a hundred sequels or quasi sequels. And then you have asymmetrical reward to risk. seemed like from all the analysis that I did the smartest way to make a movie. You can make an R rated movie. and hope it works, but there's normally you're limiting the audience, it has to be seventeen and older, there's never probably sequels. You know, so there's movies that are not necessarily as good a business investment.

As uh the idea of what became a universe. We didn't even have that word. With that idea in my mind, I knew I needed to make all those quasi-sequels. I needed a group of characters that you'd want to see two or three times a year. So I needed to have a a universe of characters that or a set of characters that are in each other's stories. And as a huge Marvel fan, uh you know that clearly an investor by the way at the time was

my first choice. Now Marvel wasn't the Marvel it is now. Marvel had been bankrupt three years earlier. Um it was only market cap was a hundred million dollars out of bankruptcy. Um it had licensed as Sean said Spider Man to Sony and X Men to Fox. Both those movies had done well. But nobody wanted the other characters and Marvel if I can I'm sorry. So and just for everybody's presence that fair that that would have been the equivalent of DC comic.

having licensed out Batman and Superman, would that be a fair correlation to X Men and Spider Man mm-hmm and then deciding they're gonna launch their own D C studio without Batman and Superman. Is that fair or not fair? Yeah, it is fair. It's you know, those were the prime jewels that were perceived by by the audience. And I think as with many businesses, people look at success and they extrapolate that that's the only thing that will be successful. Um

With Marvel, um every the way movies are made, um if you own intellectual property, a brand, nobody would ever finance their own movies. They would just Uh license and so a studio would pay for the film and have creative control and you might get a small piece of the profit. So yeah, it was revolutionary to think that Marvel would finance its own movies. And the reason why that was important

was if you didn't finance, if you licensed, each of the studios would have these characters in perpetuity. They never could be mixed together in, say, a movie like The Inventor. So self-financing was required to make a universe. It also was beneficial because it gives you 100% of the profits. There's no way we get to ten billion if we had licensed the movies. We'd been lucky to get to a 500 million market cap. And also by self-financing you have full creative control.

So if you love the Marvel movies, a huge part of that was it's only been run by me and my protege, Kevin Feige, over the past 20 years. And s and we never really had to listen to anyone else's opinions. Um, and studio notes. And so what you see is a large amount of love and care and tender loving care. We like to put it into the films. All those benefits came out of that. Beginner's mind of thinking, hell no, let's make the movies ourselves. Yeah. Unbelievable. So it's here for that.

So so David Marvel um I believe went bankrupt. Right. And at some point it's purchased out of bankruptcy before two thousand three. And now how do you end up at Marvel in two thousand three and what does that all look like from there if if you feel comfortable going? The good news is in two thousand three and that weekend I'm talking about, I got really excited about my idea.

The bad news was I knew nobody at Marvel and I never had made a movie before. Um And so I thought about that for a few minutes. Like no heroic unique identity as filmmaker. Zero. No. Yeah. And at that time, even though I had done well with the the Broadway show Um everyone in Hollywood would have thought that I was pure business basically. Um

And so I had to first meet somebody there and there's also where the relationships come into play. Um Essentially just going out to the vast you know, the to my network of people, it turns out one of a lawyer that I previously had used was also representing one of the Marvel executives. And that led to my invitation to go to Mar a Lago to meet with the man who controlled sixty percent of Marvel, a man named Mike Promutter.

And I was able to have my hour and a half lunch pitched to Ike, to use that word. And what was important about that meeting and is I researched it and learned just from the information out there that Ike was very private, um, that he um didn't trust Hollywood necessarily for good reason. Um a lot of games in Hollywood, a lot of crazy accounting, things like that. And as an IP holder, you know, your legal department is your biggest department. And he also didn't like to spend money.

So in that meeting with him, which you're right, um you know, his close friend Donald Trump came by who was about to launch The Apprentice at the time and wanted to talk about Hollywood. Um so it was a very memorable meeting even without what's happened since. Um And I could tell that Ike was not interested in my pit. that the idea of Marvel who had ten million dollars in the bank making a hundred and fifty million dollar movie would never happen.

And so just like with Ovitz, I gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. Um you know I said give me just cash, I mean a small amount of cash, stock options at market. I only make money if you make money and you can fire me at any time. Just let me into the hen house. Um and that started the journey that Irresistible offer, integris, transparency to relevant truth, adding more value than to be received, and claiming he knew how to make it work, and obviously he did.

So he caused yes that he had, David, had no on paper rights to be causing that yes. So when you think about well uh I don't do that. Well he didn't do that, but it it's all the same thing. He was masterful at causing yes. He was masterful at producing sequencing of yeses. He understood and mastered, David Mazel did, how to create value. And that's what the man did, and he took that in as

difficult challenging, scrutinizing a person he was working with imaginable and he's sitting with that guy that makes Donald Trump look easy. Is that a fair statement? Yeah, I think uh I think um yes. Yeah. Um it's uh I've had the privilege of working with some very um tough, smart, complicated men. Um

with Michael Ovitz and uh Ari Manuel and and Ike fromutter, all who've done extremely well. And um I think working with with gentlemen like that um You know, it's it's about getting trust like you said, making it feel like It might be a lopsided equation in their favor. And having them see your dedication and passion. Everyone responds to that.

And I think they could see that in my eyes sitting at that table in Mar-a-Lago. I wasn't looking around at the what was going on there at that country club. I was missile locked. on this vision for the MCU and it stayed that way for the next eight years. Uh if you could feel that certainty emanating from David, say yes. Yes. Yeah, awesome. So David, um It becomes a yes.

Anything else you want to share with that or then please take us from two thousand three forward now. Um and again you guide me because each one of these things uh has a lot of obviously Details that it can go into. Um you're dealing with it to be a masterful communicator sales. Obviously that's how he did all this. Um so I remember vividly that um Ike drove me to the airport to leave uh Florida at the time.

And I still wasn't sure if I was gonna be hired and I and I got the the offer to join. Um and that was the end of two thousand three. Um Between then and the launch of Iron Man

basically five and a half years later, a large amount of hurdles had to get done. I was telling Sean earlier today, if I had to pick one thing that I'm proudest about, it was the vision over that weekend. of what could be. and looking at an industry in Hollywood and realizing it wasn't an efficient market. Not all the opportunities were tapped. There was chance for entrepreneurship, there was chance for innovation.

Um and there's not a lot of innovation in Hollywood. Uh you know, uh Steve Jobs famously innovated in the animation space with Pixar, um Reed Hastings did an amazing innovation coming up with streaming and Netflix. Um and what we did at Marvel was really the third innovation of the past 25, 30 years. that changed the industry and and created significant, significant value.

Um, all of those things were done by outsiders, Steve and Reed Hastings, and even though I'm in Hollywood, I live in Hollywood, my social network's in Hollywood, I'm definitely in and out of it. I look at it from a different angle. And everything I did with Marvel, for example, was independent movies. So, you know, this is somewhat of a zero sum game with the box office.

Um and I think that part looking at something fresh and learning about it and really thinking about what could be is the part that got me the most excited and then there was a huge amount of execution that had to happen. including meeting Ike, including getting hired, that led up to the opening night of Iron B. So the hurdles in you know that had to go through sequentially were one I had to convince the board. I was now there, I was made president of

was called a studio, but it wasn't really a studio at the time. It was just giving notes on scripts to licensed movies. But I realized what Ike really wanted me to do was get a higher percentage of the next license. So if I could get it from three percent to five percent, that'd be a win. And so I had to do things to gain the trust of the board, but I also continue to talk about this opportunity with film, to the point of being kicked out of board meetings.

And being told don't ever talk about movies again, your last name is not Spielberg. Um correct us if we're wrong. And oh by the way, if we have zero money at risk, maybe come back and talk about it. Which as you guys are aware in business. Um things that have zero risk are normally too good to be true, or they don't exist at all. David, before you were green-lighted. for the more ver more cinematic universe, Iron Man, the beginning. I guess two quick questions, actually one back a half a step.

Who are you? I know the answer, but please share it with these amazing folks. Who are you who In relationship to the Marvel cinematic universe. Like the design of this entire world and landscape was this just like, hey, we should do a something, or how involved were you in the macro construct of Yeah, I'd say um it would be impossible to be more involved um because I gave birth to the idea that weekend. The idea of a hundred it's a fine cinematic universe.

i by if you one movie and has a hundred plus sequels and quasi-sequels. That's that was the breakthrough. Like I said, we didn't have the word universe at the time. But that concept, that simple concept in retrospect, then necessitated all the elements you need for a universe.

The group of characters that live in the same time period that would interrelate, that are all interesting enough that they could have their own backstories and their own movies. And there, in my view, needed to be something that was New and fresh to people. So most people have learned about Marvel through the movies, not through the comics.

But it was had a legacy, so it had the combination so that once they learned about it, they could nerd out and go deep into the Easter eggs and to the backstories. And that combination of newness and legacy is very rare. So the concept of the MCU, the concept of a universe was the foundation for every reason I went to Marvel and pitched and and tried to get in and the reason why we created our our own self financed studio.

And then the fun part was, okay, what is our first movie's going to be? Right? So all the characters there, like Sean mentioned, many we didn't have the rights to, um, and I started my working of my relationship. to get the rights back. I guess the fun story there for you all is we didn't have the incredible hulk. And Universal had the rights. And again, these deals are in perpetuity. I think we were making nothing on the on Hulk movies. They only had made one.

50-50 or something like that. But my ex-boss from Michael Part Michael Ovitz's partner, Ron Meyer, was the chairman of Universal Studios. When Michael went to Disney, he went to Universal. And when I successfully helped them sell Universal to Edgar Brafman Jr., I think CA got a a huge fee, of which Ron Meyer got a big check for being a partner. So he was

very happy with me. So I called him on his cell phone and I said, Are you ever gonna make another Hulk movie? And he said, I don't know. We're owned by General Electric now. Who knows if we ever do? And I said, Well I get if I have the money to make it

I'll finance it and I'll give you ten percent of the distribu of the revenues to distribute it. So you basically have zero risk. You put up the last money to market, get the first money out, and you get ten percent of all revenues. You can make thirty, forty million dollars. Um And he said, almost like Bob said in retrospect, Bob said, will Kevin Mayer and my board like this deal? Um Ron said, will General Electric like this deal? And I said, I think they will.

And so because of that relationship, I was able to get Hulk back into our universe. Um and I'll go even further for the people here. It's you can get a win But then there's different types of wins. So that was a win. But I didn't want to just go there. I wanted to I was thinking ahead, if I ever sell this company to a Disney. I don't want to be obligated to distribute every movie with Hulk in it through Universal.

'Cause you wanna control the marketing, you wanna control that and you want you don't want to pay the fees. And so when I had to go do the legal contract for this, I actually handle that myself, um, which you'll appreciate as a lawyer. And you have defined terms and uh Universal got the rights to distribute Capital H Hulk movies, a defined term in perpetuity. Wow. But then I define Hulk movies as Hulk as the star.

Um or in the title. So when you see Avengers and you see Hulk in the Avengers movie and you see Disney distributing it, it's all because of that one sentence. Wow. The contract. Well it's here for Naval. Thank you. And that sentence when we sold the company to Disney probably increased the value in a nine figure amount to what they paid. Wow. Um Where we didn't have that language, Paramount for five movies, Disney actually bought Paramount out for almost a hundred million dollars per movie.

Wow. So I say that like there was a little there was so many of those things to do. Once we got the characters back, back to the fun. Imagine sitting in a room, you you now I had to raise five hundred and twenty five million, a whole nother story. That actually turned out to be risk free. There was a bond bubble in two thousand four, thank God for that. Thank God that the bankers wanted to go to premieres and to clubs in Hollywood. Amazing. Um

And and I knew some of the doormen and the club owners, so that helped. Um And And what year is the state two thousand four you're raising half a million dollars? I was in New York for a year in two thousand four to raise the money. And I put on my MBA hat, but again it was Passion Two. It was probably the worst loan on paper that a bank could ever make.

Um but it turned out to be obviously a great loan for them. No equity component, all debt, low cost, LIBAR plus a half, non recourse to Marvel, no cash collateral. Oh my god. Um Marvel was able to get we got five two. So you think this dude can go from hellodies? And it all was worked, right? So this is not like he was making deals that were bad for people. This worked, please.

And also it's understanding this deal couldn't be bad for the bank that underwrote it because we ended up I spent an extra six months insuring it, so they held the paper for all of five minutes and got paid Three percent of the facility, eighteen million dollars for their trouble. Um so even if it went back

it it they didn't have the paper and most of it was insured by AMBAC. So a long story there, but there is a ways to really facilitate the yeses from each of the people along the line. Um So with that money now, we're sitting in a fun room and you're in a conference room um with mov with comic books all around and we have

our money, um we have a right back to a lot of characters. Iron Man was at Warner Brothers for a decade and they let it expire and we got it back even after I announced the studio. And to Sean's point earlier, Marvel's so people a lot of times get surprised when I say this, also especially if they're younger. You know, our stock went down for five years after I announced the studio. People really didn't believe in this. So when I say

You know, M Warner Brothers let the rights for Iron Man go. You know, they were in an environment where that wasn't a crazy thing. Nobody they just saw it as a robot movie. You know, in retrospect, it looks like a big mistake. Um they could have extended their option, never made the movie, and just sort of blocked our ability to use it.

So now with all those characters back, our big question was do we start with Avengers, which was our big team, and then do the individual movies, or do we do the individual movies and then the Avengers movie? Now We were leaning towards the second because As I was telling Sean earlier. I don't know if you care as much about the Avengers if you don't really know Robert Downey, Tony Stark, if you don't know Chris Evans, Captain America, if you don't know and love.

like ever almost everyone does, Chris Hemsworth and Thor, you care not as much when you see them all together because you only get to see them for two hours for a few minutes, each of the characters. The problem was We might never be able to do an Avengers movie if the first two movies didn't work. Right? So the plan of making them all individual was the riskier plan because we weren't leading with our best product, our most commercially pro product.

We were leading with Iron Man, so we had to make sure Iron Man, everyone loved Ironman. So in that room we all decided to go for it. That we weren't gonna think about the negative, we were gonna think about the best thing for this thing long term, and that was to invest in these individual movies. before adventures came out. Unbelievable. Uh it if you're like this is really happening. Like just be like present to that, that you're hearing from a person that created the Marvel cinematic universe.

that, as he uh David described, created um arguably only one of three major innovations in Hollywood in the last 25 years. to make all this a reality. And these numbers are my numbing and all the way along the way. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no is the song that David is hearing from everyone at every step on the journey. At the end, there had to be hundreds of yes.

that you caused. Is that fair? From the beginning of this journey all the way through just to get to the point of Iron Man being made. Fair enough. Like I mentioned, the You know, if there wasn't the bond bubble and you know we were required to put up you know, ten million dollars of collateral or something like that, or write recourse to Marvel or whatever it might be, or take on an equity partner, I'm not sure I would have gotten and buy my board. Um if um

you know, if if Robert Downey had a huge hit the year before Ironman, maybe he'd be less hungry to do Iron Man and and cut a good deal with me. So, you know, it life is interesting but I I I realize and looking back on it the tenacity and and the focus, you know, you you can't have good luck unless you're in the arena and in the game. And if you are, then if the good luck happens, you can take advantage of.

Um there was many times uh during those five years where I almost quit and was frustrated um internally with my company in terms of getting the approval to do this or politics. with other people in the company. And there's many times where Ike almost fired me. And um I r and i I I'll remember a funny time where on this financing Um the the bank um Who did the financing um

I won't mention them now, but they should be proud. It was a really good bank. Um so I can mention it, it was Merrill Lynch, it's public. Um We had negotiated this and they retraded the deal and I was at their office and they said we're we'll fund two thirds of the movie, not a hundred percent of the movie. You gotta put up a third of the money. And I literally was in a conference room and I said, I'm not going to leave. This is wrong.

You can't retrade this deal. We're a public company. This was negotiated for a year. Um and basically held my breath in the conference room. Um I remember calling Ike and telling him what was happening. And Ike's like, yes, hold your breath. Just stay in the conference room. He goes, I'll send you some pizza. Um and uh we ended up making an arrangement. that we would keep five territories, sell those territories. It's called pre sales.

And it came down to two words. They said, okay, sell the territories for at least a third of the budget. And I changed it to to a target of a third of the budget.

And that changed that allowed us to get that done. So part of it is just not taking no for an answer, but you know also looking for a solution once the person at the other side of the table is Realizing that you're resolute and then also in I wasn't as kind here, but you know, direct threatening that you know would go public with this retrade, which wasn't good for the reputation of Wall Street. Mm-hmm. And to their benefit, they compromised and we ended up making a win win together.

Robert Downey, why him, the resistance, the timing, what was happening, please. So Robert Downey i was part of the equation is once we decided to do the individual movies. Then I was like, Oh shit, like how do I get people to go see Iron Man? And I mean, me and my comic book nerd friends were excited.

But that would maybe give us you know, we were selling four or five thousand comics a month at five dollars a comic, right? So do the math. That's not gonna make a blockbuster. So I realized I had to get my mom, my girlfriend at the time. um interested in seeing this movie. And so and I had to make the core fans happy.

The making the core fans happy was the easiest because me and my protege, Kevin Feige, who runs a studio now. We are the ultimate nerds and core fans here. But getting everyone else in the world interested, including international audiences, You know, the Ironman's very much an American story, and this was during the George Bush regime where America wasn't being viewed too positively at that time.

So all these challenges were there. So I realized I need to cast people that have a wide appeal, that were authentically that character, and Also had a wide appeal and had a respected artistry so that people realized these weren't just superhero movies. These were great movies that happened to be about superheroes. Because there was other people out there.

And even people that from our licensed movie that could use the Marvel brand. And I wanted to create a Marvel Studios brand that said that this is for everybody and this is better films than you might expect. And thankfully

Robert Downing checked all those boxes. An amazing actor. He is Tony Stark. I mean he is brilliant. He is funny. He can say anything. He can be an asshole, but you love him. Um And he also um appeals to Everybody, including women. It's strongly. Um you know, I I told Sean I think after getting to know him, my mother would have chosen for her son, first Robert, um second Dan Fleischman, and uh third myself. So at least I was in the top three, you know. Um

And um because Robert tried to pick her up, Dan was more respectful and I was just I was just David. So You know, Robert came out of all that, but there's a lot of analytics behind it, plus gut feel. He really is Tony Stark, and I needed his humor too. I wanted to throw humor into these movies.

And that's why John Favre was hired as director. John wasn't the guy who did Star Wars, he wasn't a technology superstar guy at that time. He was coming off of um swingers and things where he got the best humor out of character. And I knew also, this was all in my mind, so this is all happening at the same time in a sort of simultaneously equation, that I wanted to make the movie for a hundred and three million dollars. When Batman that year was two fifty. Now why a hundred and three? Well

I was the second largest shareholder now of Marvel after Ike as an individual shareholder in the company. Obviously there was mutual funds and others that were bigger. And I cared about the movie, but I also cared about the profits of the company and the market cap of what this could be. And I in in Hollywood you write a script and then you cost out the script. I said, you know, no.

Um I think a hundred and three million, that's we can make the best hundred and three m million movie we can have. And then that way, if the film does two thirds of X Men where two thirds of Spider Men we break even and we make money on the And that last sentence again I'm some of this I'm sorry is coming to me in real time was something I said to my board to get a yes. I had these very conservative guys, I said guys I can do a third less and we still make money from the toys, you know?

And so I had to set the budget that level, which meant I only had money for ten minutes of action, which meant I needed to have an hour and fifty minutes of Robert sitting in the workshop working on his car, talking to Gwenet Paltero at the dinner table. And Robert and John Favreau are so good at those scenes.

You know? And that's why I think people to this day love that movie. Yeah, of course they love the Iron Man's suit, but they remember the humor, they remember the romance, they remember the fun, you know, intimate moments with the character. How just Like can you are you present to the precise

Value-driven mastery of every micro-distinction. And listen, David's a smart dude, there's no question about it. But all of this is also about David's investment in his own thought process to the mastery of information. In each of these pieces in agreement formation, he is creating more value and making it clear. He's contextualizing He's contrasting to bring present to all these folks he's got to create yes with. Why yes is the right answer.

He's not and this is why we distinguish, David, and and I know that Hollywood language is pitching and that may be a language you use, how we distinguish pit uh pitching from Integra's influence. is in our language, like pitching is where you present your thing and they say yes or no. With what David did in our language, David is forming agreements.

Because he's moving through framing and reframing, contextualizing and recontextualizing, contrasting and contextualizing, contrasting and contrasting to cause the truth to come forward. And he's isolating every specific objection. And he's not overcoming them with a slick sentence. He's working through them because all that integrals influences is the loving pursuit of the relevant truth. And David wasn't a slick hustler.

He's a master, and he integrously influenced by creating the right answer in the loving pursuit of the relevant truth. And the relevant truth was Marvel had a massive dormant asset. There was incongruity, as Peter Drucker would say in the his the Creative Modern MBA program, he found incongruity. He mentioned inefficiency before in the market.

There was untapped value. It was sitting there in all these incredible characters, in all these incredible books. And he outlined the design, how it could all happen. And but he wasn't just a visionary. He executed. And he was a master of process and influence and self mastery. But the influence mastery was rooted on the value, discernment, and creation.

And then at each step in the process from job to job, position to position, board to board, funding to funding, like the iron man, okay fine, the banks Robert Downey Jr. as the person after a recent scandal, which I'm sure David hasn't told me the the story, I'm sure he took that scandal and turned it into a positive asset from um the perspective of getting Robert Downey for less.

I presume. I don't know that. But at each of these things that David did, he took every one of these things and he didn't manipulate it. He integrously influenced it. He brought truth. How am I doing in terms of hearing and seeing you, sir? No, I I think that's true. It's it's funny you go through this. I wish I had the benefit of going to one of these things with you twenty years ago.

I I would have been doing this stuff much more intentionally if for me it was a little bit more instinct at the time. Um but they've made that's exactly why we do this. Yeah. Because all we're saying is that we have codified reality. And so you had to find your way to this.

And it was way more stressful. I mean it's stressful even if you have intentional influence mastery and frameworks of communicating, but in the exact same way that David and I'll pro I'll see how you feel about this statement. In the exact same way that David went to Hollywood to understand the patterns of Hollywood. the dynamics, these patterns of human influence are what are present here.

And Charlie Sheen, now David, and we'll proceed through. We have a saying, David, it's all the same thing. It is not to remotely minimize anything we've done, but you simply built emotional rapport. At step two, access the truth of their pain and their yes strategy, conveyed his heroic, unique identity into that truth pain, and caused agreement.

Of course, when agreement's on the line, the question always is, people back up, just like if you're gonna feed a deer and you move towards it, first have your hand out from your hand, they say, well, will the the board like it? Are we sure okay? And these are icons, legends, and everybody is afraid. At the moment of yes, everyone becomes concerned. Since the dawn of humanity, we have been survival creatures, primarily driven, not thriving creatures, designed to conserve resources.

The resources in a capitalist structure are money, time and energy. And so every time David is moving to Yes with people, like every person you're gonna move to Yes with, whether it's which movie you go see or which restaurant you go to, or whether Disney is buying Marvel Studios or not. At the moment of yes, or hiring David or not, every step along the way, there's this consideration, am I making a mistake?

Can I really do this? And if you are simply presenting and lobbying it over the fence and believing that the person is going to say yes or no if they should, that's crazy. If David left these yes or no's in a pitch over the fence, and if it made sense to them, then they'd say yes, and he decided he didn't want to be pushy, he was never pushy. He was pulley.

He created integrity. He had scarcity. He brought truth forward. But he did not leave the decision in the hands of these people after his initial share or presentation.

He worked through their concerns to get to truth. Am I hearing it correctly? A hundred percent. And and and to really trying to understand, like you said, their concerns and proactively lead with those concerns. I got better at this as I got more experience. But I would I would present as offense the things that they might

basically shit on for lack of a better word on a deal. So for example, that led to years later when I went into see Aiger in that meeting, one of the first things I said is here's what Kevin Mayer's gonna say to you when I leave the room. Oh, David doesn't have the rights to Spider Man. That's with Sony in perpetuity. Oh, Marvel doesn't have the rights for theme parks east of the Mississippi. Which was true, that deal went to universal in an old Ron Perlman deal years a earlier.

Um Fox has the rights to all these other characters like Silver Surfer and Deadpool and X Men, you know, not minor characters. Um he's only at that time released one movie, Iron Man. And here's why, Bob, you should not be concerned about those things. Yes, I don't have Spider Man and X Men. If I did, the price wouldn't be four billion, it would be Twelve billion. And I created a universe that doesn't require them. Here's the plan for the next twenty movies.

Right. You don't see a even a hole for Spider Man or an X Men movie. I never knew that he was gonna buy Fox decade later and bring us back X Men, thank God he did, um, for our Smart fans. Um And yes, we don't have the theme park rights east of the Mississippi, but there's a big world out there. You have it every other place in the world. Um but even though I couldn't necessarily eliminate those objections. It diluted it so that he was hearing it from me and not a a gotcha from somebody else.

And I think that helped a lot in that situation. And then it also giving somebody attachment. Like I wanted people to fall in love with the characters and the idea. So I remember giving Bob the Marvel encyclopedia. Uh when I walked into for that first meeting.

And a year later he did an interview and said he had put that on his nightstand and with his wife they'd look at a couple of pages every night, you know. And they started getting as excited as I was when I read my comics before I went to bed. As a kid. Robert Downing used to hang out at our offices and you know, would I have hired him if he was just doing a payday? That's the question I. I

You know, I was so believed in him as an actor, I probably would have, to be honest, but it helped so much to see how much he cared about these characters. And when I had trouble with my board, I asked him, Would you do a video audition? that I could show my board. And Robert was way beyond video auditions, but he did one. And that video audition, which I think is available online if you Google it, helped me convince the board once they saw his

His talent and also his dedication. And and are you getting like how much David did? So he created the concepts, he caused the S's, he handled financing. Like all dude, did anybody else work at Marvel? Okay. So I mean it's uh did you clean the pizza and make the pizza? I I learned something which I really believe in is that constraints in life can either cause you to get depressed or they can make you greater.

And um I think we all have our our our constraints that we could look at one way or the other. Um and you're a living example of that and and that inspires me. The um You know, with the budget I think we made a much better movie because we only could spend a hundred million dollars. So it became the movie that people still talk about rather than just two hours of action. And you know, with um

Other elements of what we were doing, you know, it always turned out to be a positive thing. I didn't have money to go hire people for the studio. Um so I had to look inward at the people I had. And there was a young kid named Kevin Feige that I did a battlefield promotion after um somebody left the company two years before Iron Man.

I needed a right hand person because I was also co CEO of the public company in addition to chairman and producer of of the studio and producer of the movies. So I had to be on Wall Street, I had to do a lot of things. I couldn't be on set every day. And because I focused internally, I discovered this kid who's turned out to be a great talent and has, you know, run the company and and done such a great job with the with the films these past ten years.

Um and so yeah, I I think a lot about that. I definitely would have missed that probably and gone to hire some name on the outside rather than I'm very proud of everything, but I'm also proud of spotting the talent in Kevin. Let's here for these three. Team, do we have thank you, thank you? Team. Do we have the the clip uh right around the time with the video from the uh Iron Man red carpet? What you're about to see, I didn't know existed till a couple of years ago when somebody dug it up.

And to show you how much people didn't believe in this thing This is the w the world premiere of Iron Man, which sounds very sexy, right? But it was one where we battled within Marvel whether we should treat people the popcorn or not. That's how much we looked at the costs. There there was a sign on our offices that I paid for out of my own pocket. We were very scrappy. But you're gonna see me on the red carpet.

This is four days before Iron Man's released, where the projection was we were going to bomb and do$30 million. And that would have been the end of the MCU, and it would have turned out to be a waste of my eight years.

So what you're gonna see is the first time I spoke publicly to some reporter and essentially, as you'll see I'm talking about Avengers and Thor and Captain America and Ant Man, which was the whole vision. But at the time I this came out, this was sort of crazy. So you're gonna see a much younger me. David Mazel. And you're with Paramount for now I'm the chairman of Marvel Studios. Yes. Specifically, this is the first one out of the gig for you guys. It is. How do you feel?

We couldn't be more excited. This has been five years of creating a new studio, raising the money, putting together a team and developing and making Hireman. And now it's here. To see people so excited and to see the reviews coming in and the enthusiasm for the Ironman brand is just beyond our wildest dream.

The process. I know some of the some of your team had film experience of course. But a lot of these guys over at Martin Linger team at you know, they've been married with other films. Yeah, first time your your process, how was that working with with Well you know, we uh put together a team, we had a group of people, uh Kevin Feige, my president of production, who had worked at every single one of our movies with our studio partners at the time.

And the two of us put together a great team and made both Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk for the summer. And so we're just extremely excited. For Marvel to move and make its own movies and for the first one to get this amount of excitement and enthusiasm. What are the future plans?

More of the same. Uh we're developing a whole bunch of movies um In addition to the ones this summer Iron Man and Hulk are developing Captain America, we're developing Thor, we're developing Antland, we're developing the Avengers, we're gonna keep bringing the Marvel universe In hopefully with the same tender loving care that we did with Iron Man since people seem to be reacting so well to that and keep bringing it to our fans and bringing it to the world.

Okay, well now the funny question. If you had an iron suit tonight, what would you wear? What what would you do if you had an iron suit? If I had iron suit tonight, oh jeez. You know, I would have flown here so I could have missed the traffic. That's exactly what I would have done. Thank you very much and good luck today. So David.

David, how crazy did people think you were after saying those things, if anyone, and like what are you talking about with all these movies going to the future? Was that something that came up and was present? Yeah, it it that was the first time actually that I ever had announced.

that we're making an Avengers movie or Captain America store. So it um you know, we're a public company, so we you know you're supposed to be a little bit more coordinated on those things, but I was excited. Um Yeah, I mean do you guys see why I love this man already?

I mean to be honest, at a premiere it's primarily your friends, um, your family. And so it's a very friendly, friendly crowd. Like you never go to premiere and and say you don't like the movie, right? So it's basically the ultimate um excitement and and boost. Um but um yeah the the idea at the time, like to show you how how bad this was, the

my board the day of Iron Man was being released, it was the first time we had a board meeting in LA and they flew out and they asked me to come and sit with them privately. And um I was like, this is interesting. And they offered me, they said, David, listen, we we know the movie's not looking to do so well, and we know how hard you work. And we want you to feel better. So we want you to know that we have a half a million dollar bonus for you if the Iron Man movie breaks even.

We'll make the money on the toys. So that was the confidence they had a couple hours before it was released. I was like at the time I felt pretty confident I'd get over that hurdle. And I was like, thanks guys. And and what did Iron Man end up doing? So again the projection was like thirty five million and we end up doing a hundred and like eight million for the weekend. And the weekend? Yeah. Wow, what's here for that? Um that's crazy.

And you know, to put that in in in um context, you know, this year Superman did a hundred and twenty five million for its opening weekend, but that was two thousand and twenty five dollars versus two thousand and eight dollars. Um obviously we were before COVID um and the market hasn't really recovered from the COVID uh depression on theaters. Um but the way it works, which is sort of fun, is

You get d Paramount was our distributor. We paid them a fee to really just physically take the negatives to theaters back in the time. Um and the chairman of Paramount called me every hour from eight o'clock on and I was at a man named Ron Burkle's house who's a famous man, uh billionaire in LA and a great person and businessman. And he was having a party and I kept getting a call, Hey, we're gonna do fifty, we're gonna do sixty.

We're gonna do seventy and it's all word of mouth, Sean. So like you can do everything, you know, all the stuff you've heard today, all the planning, all the work over the years. But once that theater is on a screen, especially today with social media, it's word of mouth, right? So there's nothing you can really affect. Um you know and

Um, thank God the word of mouth did really well. And you know, I think it was at ten o'clock at night. He said we're gonna break a hundred million dollars. Dude. And that's when I knew. One day I'd be sitting here with you, Sean, talking about this. So um do we have we team, do we have Cali? Would you be cool with uh we talked about Cali a little bit, the uh act I agent to ask a question or two. Okay. Is Cali right there function team?

Alright, let's bring Callie forward if you don't mind. What a moment of pure magic and validation where years of vision, risk Your happiness radiates like sunlight after a long storm. Proof that when vision, courage, and integrity align, joy is the natural reward. This is the heart of agreement formation, not just achieving the outcome, but feeling the resonance of a journey well traveled.

What part of this story fills you with the most pride or excitement right now? We use the word joy. Um and by the way that that question from AI was very um nuanced and very touched me. It really did, which is which is rare because uh honestly like at the end of the day

Uh as Sean mentioned about the use of hours, you know, we're gonna look back at what brought us joy. And and I think that word is is really key. And what brings me the most joy is when I get out like this, which I don't do often like Sean said Um Dan Fleischmann such a good friend has been prodding me to do this for a decade or more and he he cares about my happiness and my joy, so I know he was right. But for all any reasons I couldn't do that.

So when I see The joy that the Marvel films brought to so many people, parents and kids who watched the movies during Covid together. Um when I travel overseas and meet people that we might not necessarily get along with politically or

other things they tell me how they grew up watching these movies and suddenly I'm bonded with you know people that we never would have that bond before. I was telling Sean when I was caretaking for my mother and she was in the hospital, the nurses and the orderlies. You know, the the excitement they got from meeting the person behind the scenes here and they could share that with their kids when they went home and the added benefit that my mom got treated like.

the godfather's mother, you know so she was a win win for everybody. I think that I pinch myself every day still, you know, um, that all these things came together. Um I'm still the biggest Marvel fan, um, and I know how rare having this level of success is. Um You know, yeah. It's one thing I as I told Sean I became friends with many people because they love Marvel, but you know, Kobe Bryant became a very dear friend at at the end of his life he was moving into my business, the movie business.

And so he asked me to tutor him on that, which I happily did, and he taught me many lessons. Um but he said once, you know, David, when I decided to become a basketball player Ninety-five percent of what I needed to do was under my control. It was my physical athletic ability and my training and my getting up at four in the morning and my working hard. What I need to do in movies, what you did in movies, it requires so many other people, and like you said, so many other yeses.

And so I feel blessed that I had the inherent capabilities and skills and sensitivities and passions to do this, but also just realize how fortunate I was. Um to be there at the right time and and or one of these dominoes might not have happened. Um, so joy is a interesting question, but I get so much joy from that and and seeing th this reaction um from people and and seeing people smile and understanding, you know, that there was heart and authenticity besides something that they might have

enjoyed or fall in love with on their own. What's here for that? And and Callie. Um and also I I enjoy beating the other movies at the box office. Yes. And Callie, any any final acknowledgement from you, uh David. Measel here and what you're present to, what you're feeling about him, and you'd like the audience to be taking away, please, from David Kelly. David, your journey is a living testament to the power of joy as both compass and reward. You didn't just build a cinematic universe.

You built bridges of connection, healing, and wonder across the world. Your story reveals that true influence is not about control, but about co-creating moments that unite, inspire, and heal. The joy you feel and the joy you've sparked in millions. is the echo of your integrity, vision, and heart. If there is one gift your path offers us all, it's this.

When we lead with authenticity and serve with love, our impact ripples far beyond what we can measure. Thank you for reminding us that the greatest legacy is the joy we ignite in others. What would you most want the next generation of creators and dreamers to remember? Yeah. Let's pause Callie the Captain. Absolutely. Thanks, thanks, Callie. Let's hear for Callie, by the way.

And please, yeah. What would you want these folks to be taking away, David, and final final from you? You know I said I need you by my side all the time. I think I need Cali by my side all the time. Yeah. Let's go with that. Let's go create that universe. Um I I I guess I would say in the reality of the world, which as we know is has a lot of hurdles and obstacles and things that we might not like and things that might surprise us and things that might disappoint us.

Um and we ha and if you have goals, business and or creative, um and you know, to As you could tell from the stories that we told here today that I told, you know, you have to deal with those realities and those hurdles and you have to not ignore them to be successful. But at the same time, try to protect your spirit, your playfulness, your optimism, your passion. and that will have two benefits. People will see that

And respect that. They'll feel closer to you. They'll want to be with you. They'll want to help you. Especially if you combine that with dealing with the issues. Um they will f follow you if you're if if y they have something that gets them excited um and motivated and people it's contagious when People um see someone that has a a drive that they really believe in. Um you have to be careful with that. And it also will serve you in your life. With your family and your friends.

yourself that you you've kept that inner spark. Um I there's many times in my life where I felt that spark might get extinguished. You know, it can happen when I read the paper these days almost ten times a day. Um and you know, it's it's a a constant emphasis that I I tried to keep. And Marvel in many ways turned out to be me creating my own cocoon, my own playground to protect that part of my soul while also allowing me to achieve my business and my creative goals. So it's a hard thing to do.

And and the world is is real and you have to deal with it. Um but as best as you can, give yourself the grace of of nurturing um the parts of yourself that you might remember as a child and care about the most when you deal with your own children. Thank you. And and David, so just curious and of course looking for only uh authenticity, which is all that you're capable of, Cali, the Acti Agent, the acknowledgement.

That's not scripted. Obviously, we we prepared nothing for Cali with you coming in. Um I'm just curious, you see a lot out there. Um what are you thinking or present to around that? Uh if anything. Yeah, no, I'm I'm very interested in AI and if you guys remember Elon Musk was in Iron Man two. If you don't remember that, there's a great cameo. Um So I follow that world pretty closely. Um I guess what impresses me here with her question.

is her question could have been about anything. It could have been about any element of the story. She asked the question that actually meant the most to me. Um and read me in a way that was very empathetic. For an AI program, in the sense of what is the continuity of all these different stories that I was telling to Sean, all these different hurdles. What kept me getting up in the morning was the the joy and the happiness and the that aspect of of m me that Callie was asking about.

I was very surprised about that. I I felt it and am I feeling it correctly that you shifted in your body language. You move deeper into your heart even and even soul time And just your tonality, vocal qualities shifted to an even more deep heart place. Um, did I feel that correctly? No, you're right. you know, part of my my superpower to get this all stuff done is I can be extremely focused. I can be extremely diligent on what I'm doing.

And on top of all the details, and as as Dan, who's so great that he's here watching because he knows me so well, there might be months, if not a year, where he's down the street and I don't show up. and I'm in my studio. Um and what people can miss sometimes. When you're that way is the part that Cali identifies.

You know, so when you're when you drill deep on the financing and the non recourse or the board mechanics, it can sound very business and hard and mechanical, but what's really driving that is the joy I still get every day when I walk into my office, which is set up like the ultimate Marvel Dream Office, okay? Um so the second I walk in there I forget about everything in the outside world and I'm back into that playpen.

um just playing with, you know, my favorite characters and the the current characters I'm working with. And so she was very however you guys have put this together, um, that can't just be by chance. She read through all and heard all that stuff we were talking about and figured out this is what drives the guy. And that was really, really amazing. Well done. Thank you. Thank you.

And so as we draw to a conclusion, Dan Fleischman, brother, thank you, love you. David, it has been such a profound honor. to not only have the opportunity to communicate with you here in this space, our certification partners, our elite, our mastery program members, new friends that are here today, but also the time we spent in the green room. And what I'll share about this man is he was so um diligent and caring about serving to them.

And the amount of time and energy he spent, he was in his hotel room. He wasn't there's a separate green room for each person that's gonna be coming on here and I had one. He was in the room with me and a few people on the team the entire time.

And sh speaking about life, about the history, about the future, about his news studio and the creations and empathy and everything he's doing in the world and serving leadership, caring, value, integrity just emanates from you in one of the most extraordinary, mind blowing and shockingly yet truly untold stories in the history of Hollywood and American business.

And in the room I share for several different reasons. Walt Disney, as you know, is such an inspiration to me. But there's aspects of this Disney w and there's no bulleting of Walt Disney is an incredible inspiration to David as well. Walt Disney w created a new space, which is remarkable in what he did with Snow White in the first full animated movie. What David had to do was penetrate a marketplace that existed.

Coming from nowhere with the studio on a relative, relatively shoestring budget of$103 million abatment costing$250 million, and with a not frontline character. and cause this massive series of entrepreneurial impossible yes after yes after yes, leading to not an eight, not a nine, not a ten. But as I count it, I think ten billion is an eleven figure number to make this magic happen, selling it to disappear.

Somebody he honored, was inspired by, and now he's creating more. And what he's creating sits in the space of empathetic superheroic animated characters in a new studio that he's creating a brand new universe, which I can only begin to imagine what that will mean. David, I hope this is not the end but the beginning and if it is the end, the last time we ever speak.

You have profoundly affected my life. You've profoundly affected lives in this room. And every time I ever feel exhausted or feel like quitting, I will think of what you did in taking five years. two thousand three to eight to get to Iron Man first happening and the creation of the MCU and everything happened before it. I mean it, you're a new hero, inspiration, and teacher to me. And I thank you, brother, for being here today. Thank you, Sean.

Thank you so much. I feel very fortunate. Thank you. More time, let's hear from Mr. David Mazel. Great job, brother.