Exclusive interview with Marty Sklar

Marty Sklar, former vice-chair of Walt Disney Imagineering, a Disney Legend, with an amazing career spanning half a century at The Walt Disney Company and multiple awards, is probably one of the most well-known creative leaders in the world. Marty collaborated with Walt Disney and was instrumental in the development of Epcot. It is with great pride and excitement that I invite you to read Marty’s latest book- ‘One Little Spark!: Mickey’s Ten Commandments and The Road to Imagineering’ and enjoy this discussion.

Yariv Padva:

First of all, congratulations on your new book, One Little Spark!.  I thought the first part when you award the Mousecars and then discussed the goofs according to your Mickey’s 10 commandments (Marty’s guidelines for imagineers and future imagineers) was extremely interesting.

Marty Sklar:

Thank you, that was fun to do that way.

Yariv Padva:

I’m very curious to know if you could name a close second for any of the commandments.  It can be an attraction or one of the theme parks that didn’t quite make it, but almost had, what would it be?

Marty Sklar:

Oh, I don’t know, there’s so many that we were involved in.  You know, I’ve done three more sets of commandments that I use in different ways.  Two of them are about leadership and the third one was about followership.  I actually have more commandments than Moses did because he only had 10 and I have 40 now.

Yariv Padva:

Marty Sklar:

There’s so many great projects.  It would depend upon what the category was, what the commandment was, and then we could discuss another attraction to fit under that.  These are the ones that seem to me, to be from my view point, probably the best example, which is why I used them in the book.

Yariv Padva:

Can you think of an attraction that strayed away from the 10 commandments, but still succeeded?

Marty Sklar:

Oh yes, when we fixed it.  I think that maybe the best example is in the way we laid out some of the pathways in the Animal Kingdom.  As Joe Rohde wrote in the book, the whole idea was that this was an adventurous park and people should, therefore, not have things as clear as we have made them in other parks.  Well, that only confused the public.  They want some indication where they’re going, that they understand where they’re going.  We had to open up a lot of the landscaping and provide clearer paths to the various attractions so that the park would work from a directional standpoint.  People knew where they were going and were not confused as they were when we first opened.

Yariv Padva:

As described in both One Little Spark and Dream It! Do It! each attraction or park is a collaborative effort of many minds and people also known as imagineers.  I remember you mentioned that there is only one name on the door and it’s Walt Disney’s name, so my question is, in a collaborative environment such as this, where you are expected to help your friend succeed and be very humble about your achievements, how do you set yourself to eventually be in a position of leadership?

Marty Sklar:

Well, first of all, I think you get your satisfaction out of being part of something that is bigger and more successful than you could have done yourself.  That’s one of the reasons why the key imagineers, in fact all imagineers, don’t worry about having their name in lights somewhere.  The people that do, they move on and they leave Disney and they go out and develop their own name and the importance of their name as part of a project.  We don’t need that as imagineers because I think almost every imaginer can say their biggest satisfaction is when they go to the opening of a new attraction and watch the people enjoying themselves and having fun.  That is a wonderful satisfaction.  I remember at one point in time we hired a lot of engineers out of aerospace and those people were so happy when they were finally part of an attraction because they could take their own family and instead of making weapons and things that injured and killed people. they were part of something that created joy and happiness, and fun for people and they could take their own family on it and say, “Hey, I was part of creating this magic.”  That is a huge piece of satisfaction we get out of the things that we create as imagineers.

Now, in almost every project you’ll find someone who emerges as a leader whether it’s from the idea standpoint or concept standpoint, or whether it’s from a technical standpoint.  Quite often, someone who combines those skills, which always reminds me of a line that I wrote that Walt Disney really liked in the early 1960s and that was a description of Imagineering.  The description was that Imagineering is the blending of creative imagination with technical knowhow.  I think particularly today, that the key leadership in an organization like Imagineering has to one, be creative and two, they have to understand how the technology plays a huge role in the success of an attraction.  Therefore, they have to have an understanding of that technology.  Today, when I go in to talk to imagineers today I say I’m so jealous because 10 years ago we couldn’t have done that.  Today, the technology has come so far that it opens many doors to people with creative imagination.

Yariv Padva:

In the second part of the book, imagineers share their stories and advice to future imagineers.  What one advice can you give in terms of becoming an imagineer that you think is the most important?  Can you give a personal story to go with that advice?

Marty Sklar:

Well, I don’t think there’s one of those principals that is more important than all the others.  I think they are a blending of many of those principles.  I love to have people that I worked with before I retired, that had passion for what they were doing, but I also wanted them to continue to learn and discover new things because they were interested in what was going on around them in the world.  I don’t think there is one of those principles that’s more important than the others.  I think they’re all part of a holistic individual who can play a part as a leader in developing stories and mentoring other people, and working together as a group, the collaboration that you talked to and who are willing to take a chance and try something brand new, and want to become the best in what they’re doing.  I think it’s a combination of all those things.  I think you start with a real passion for the business and a real passion for creating something that other people are going to enjoy.

Yariv Padva:

You speak about the significance of songs as an integral part of an attraction.  Can you give an example of a song that for you made an attraction a success or at the very least, played a huge part of its success?  Can you remember a time when you had to make an adjustment of a soundtrack so that it would work better within the context of an attraction?

Marty Sklar:

Oh we have so many examples of music and songs in the parks.  Of course, It’s a Small World, it really is the whole story wrapped up in the words of Bob and Dick Sherman wrote: “There’s just one moon and one golden sun, and a smile means friendship to everyone”.  Those are wonderful words.  Think about how wonderful the world would be if we could get everybody to think that way and act that way towards each other.  I get very emotional when I hear the song that ends the American Adventure, Golden Dreams it’s called.  It’s a beautiful song that really sums up a lot of the things that we were trying to say about America in that show, and Epcot.  Of course [the title of] my book One Little Spark!, that song by Bob and Dick Sherman, is just a wonderful example of something that tells a story that we’re trying to tell in the attraction.  I really love that.  As Richard Sherman wrote in the introduction to my book One Little Spark!, that song is really kind of the theme of what the imagineers do.

Yariv Padva:

It’s a wonderful song.  In your book, Dream It! Do It!, you discussed your amazing experience and achievements at the Walt Disney Company.  It was unbelievably interesting to read about how it all came to be, the efforts that were involved in the creation of Epcot and your personal story.  As one of the few people who actually got to work with Walt Disney himself, can you recall the special or personal moment with him that you can share?

Marty Sklar:

Well, I think as I mentioned in the book, Dream It! Do It!, when I wrote the film about Walt Disney World and Epcot, I think it’s generally referred to under the company as Walt Disney’s Epcot film. It’s about a 25-minute film that really expresses his direction and his passion for creating something that would make community living and all its aspects better for people.  In terms of writing that script, I had two meetings with Walt Disney, just the two of us in his office and I have seven pages of notes from one of those meetings that I think really made it so easy to for me to write the script because he expressed himself so well about what he wanted to accomplish, what he wanted to communicate.  I think that was a great thrill because it turned out to be the very last time that Walt Disney ever appeared on film late October 1966 about six weeks before he passed away and so it’s got particular relevance in my work in my life to be trusted to do that and to be so inspired by the concepts and the words that Walt wanted to communicate.

Yariv Padva:

What is the most important lesson you learned from Walt Disney?

Marty Sklar:

I think it was optimism.  Walt always had a way of giving us a challenge that made us be better at what we did.  He was very optimistic that the future could be a better place for all of us to live in.  That’s one of the things he wanted to communicate about through the Epcot community idea that he had.  He was someone who was anxious to let people know that he thought the future could be better than what came before because we could learn from what we had done in so many different fields, and those could come along and help us improve our transportation, improve our home living, improve all aspects of our lives.  That optimism is something I think it is hugely important for a leader to be able to communicate to the people working with him or her because if you’re not optimistic, who is going to be?  That, I think, is a fundamental part of leadership.

I recently wrote something for the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco and there were three things I wrote, three words that I wrote, that I felt really expressed who Walt Disney was.  The first one was trust because if he trusted you and you trusted him, that was a solid, really working relationship.  The second was inspiration because Walt’s dreams were so wonderful that we were all inspired to try to make them happen.  The third was optimism as I talked about before because a belief that the future can be better than yesterday is really important, I think, in our own lives.

Yariv Padva:

How do you think your experience writing for Walt Disney himself has effected your relations with him and in general?

Marty Sklar:

Well, it was a thrill to be trusted, that Walt believed I could communicate what he wanted to communicate to the public, and that kind of trust was mutual because it was easy to trust Walt Disney.  All you had to do was look at what he had accomplished in his life and you know that if you did well and you continued to grow, that was an important piece of working with Walt Disney.  He always sat out the challenge that what all of us did yesterday was never going to be good enough again because he was moving on and he wanted to improve what he had done the last time.  He didn’t want to repeat himself.  He didn’t do sequels to his movies so we all had to continue to grow all the time and become better at what we did.  That was really a thrill when I look back at it and say wow, this man was always trying to make each of us better at what we did because it was important to him so that he could accomplish what he set out to do.  Without growth of all of us as artists, as story tellers, as writers, as technicians, as engineers, he couldn’t have accomplished that.

Yariv Padva:

About Epcot, how do you see Epcot’s greatest impacts on today in terms of industry and in general?

Marty Sklar:

Well, a lot of things have changed in the way companies communicate these days from when we started with Epcot.  It was more of a world fair approach like the old world fair that used to be in New York and Chicago, and other places around the world.  I think there’s a different dynamic today.  The important thing is to be able to tell stories about different subjects whether it’s energy or the oceans, or health, or communications, and about the world.  I think the world showcase at Epcot has introduced so many things about different cultures and different people to our guests who have come to Epcot over the years.  I think I’m very proud of the fact that Epcot is still very different than the other Disney parks from the standpoint that you’re taking real stories, real information, and communicating those to the public in ways that they enjoy and can participate in.  The other Disney parks are wonderful about magic and fantasy, and fun, and all of that, but Epcot includes those with an information overlay, which is very important in today’s world, I think.

Yariv Padva:

I agree. Of the unrealized pavilions for Epcot, can you elaborate on some of the ideas?

Marty Sklar:

Well, in the World Showcase, we developed a lot of different pavilions for different countries that we could never make happen.  I remember we had a wonderful Swiss pavilion and we had a concept for an African Nations pavilion, and a number of others that unfortunately we could never [make happen]— Spain, we did a concept for Spain.  They were wonderful.  I think as time goes on, Disney will develop new pavilions for the World Showcase from different areas of the world.  I’d love to see something from Australia.  I’d love to see something from South America.  They would be wonderful.  Then, of course, from the subjects in the future world, there’s quite a bit covered there.  I do miss something that was in Epcot originally and that was what we called The Wonders of Life pavilion about health.  I think that should, in some form of that, should be back in the park.  There are other subjects today that technology has opened up and different aspects of the future, important aspects of the future that should be communicated through pavilions at Epcot.  I know they’re doing a lot of work right now to continue to grow Epcot and continue to make it relevant to our guests.

Yariv Padva:

I want to speak the future of themed entertainment for a bit.  You mentioned Disney Quest is an example for a virtual theme park that you like.  How do you see VR, virtual reality experiences, connect with the physical world of theme parks?

Marty Sklar:

Oh, there’s so many different aspects of technology that can be incorporated into either an individual attraction or a whole subject in a pavilion.  If you were doing a pavilion in Epcot about, let’s just say about the future, think about all the things that look like they could become wonderful aspects of our life in the future.  That would really be wonderful to be able to create a story and a subject, and a pavilion that inspired people to think about things that could happen in the future as a result of new technologies that have now recently been developed or will be developed over time. I think that would make a great subject.  There’s so many things that if you sit down and think about it, you can create a story that would be motivating to the public and interesting to the public, and fun for people to think wow, I’m so excited to be able to see that technology, I can’t wait to see it in something that I can use in my house or my car, or my daily life.

Yariv Padva:

Yes.  As you know, today, there is a whole buzz about virtual reality glasses and you can visit a lot of places right from the comfort of your home.  So that’s interesting in terms of making a similar experience to going to theme parks.

Marty Sklar:

Well, it is, but one thing we have to do when we’re creating something for the park is try to do something that you can’t do at home.  That’s important because otherwise, you can sit at home and do these things.  What we try to do is to put you in an environment where other people are enjoying themselves and you can get satisfaction of being part of a dynamic audience and enjoy something that perhaps you can’t do in any way at home or in other places.  I think that’s always a challenge because the speed of change in technical things is so amazing these days that what is brand new today is going to be old hat in a few years.  You have to pick and choose, and hope you pick the right one.

Yariv Padva:

With today’s generation using mobile and the short attention span that the young generation has, how do you see that impacts the way things are designed today and in general if at all?

Marty Sklar:

Well, I think that’s one of the biggest challenge that parks have.  That is, that all of the communications that people have between each other while they’re in the park and dealing with technology, the speed of change, and the things that divide us, because most of those things divide us and don’t bring us together.  They can be done as individuals and they’re often enjoyed that way and the parks are really a group dynamic getting people together in the seat or getting people together on our ride system enjoying the same thing at the same time.  I think that’s the biggest challenge that all theme parks have, not just Disney, but all theme parks have is finding ways to make technology work for you that does not divide you, but rather it brings you together.

Yariv Padva:

As someone who was active in the development of every single Disney theme park with Disney extending to other cultures and places, can you share your thoughts on maintaining the original attributes of the original American theme parks versus coming up with unique localized attractions and designs?

Marty Sklar:

Well, I think when you’re in Hong Kong, or Shanghai, or Paris, or Tokyo, you have to pay attention to where you are, but there are fundamental things that people look for at a Disney Park and it all comes back to Disneyland originally, the way we treat people, the cleanliness of the park.  It’s the whole attitude of our cast members as they host people from around the world.  I think those things are mostly universal.  They’re mostly things that people can enjoy wherever they are, but also you have to pay attention to individual cultures.  Whether it’s in food or the way you communicate to people, the way you write your stories.  One thing we found, for example, early on in terms of Tokyo Disneyland, which was the first of our international parks is that if we just translated our English scripts into Japanese for example, they didn’t translate properly, so we had to go to writers in those countries who understood the idiom, understood some of the ways of turning a phrase so that it means the same thing as what we had written in English, but it communicates in the language of that country whether it’s Japanese or Chinese, Cantonese, or Mandarin, or French, or whatever language you’re dealing with.  You have to pay attention to the location where you are, but there is a fundamental basis that Disney, an underpinning, an attitude that the Disney parks have communicated since the beginning of Disneyland.  That’s what has made them what they are today.  That’s the most important part, but paying attention to the local language, local customs, is also very important.

Yariv Padva:

I know from my personal experience, having visited for example Hong Kong Disneyland or Tokyo Disneyland, there is that sense of familiarity, something I found very enjoyable.  Seeing the differences and the things that are the same, it was a fun experience in itself.

Marty Sklar:

I think that’s true.  I think the cast members in each of those countries, they have a pride that goes back to the whole attitude that Walt wanted conveyed to the public yet there are individual customs in those countries that are important to pay attention to.  If you don’t then I think you’re regarded as a foreigner, you’re regarded as an interloper rather than as part of the culture of that country.  I think that’s very important that people feel that you are, that the park itself conveys the attitude and spirit of not only Disney, but of the nation that it is located in.

Yariv Padva:

On more personal note, how do you think your career in the Walt Disney Company effected your personal life?

Marty Sklar:

Yariv Padva:

Marty, thank you so much for speaking with me, I really, really appreciate it.

It was truly great speaking with Marty, who supervised the design of almost every Disney theme park around the world, and created so many life-long happy memories for me, my family and friends and many others around the world.