EXCLUSIVE: Michelle Sewell, EVP Global publicity for Walt Disney Studios, will be retiring in the spring after 33 years with Disney.
She just shared her decision with her team in a note you can read below and informed them that she will be working on a transition plan with Asad Ayaz — Chief Brand Officer of the Walt Disney Company and President of Disney Entertainment Marketing to whom she reports — and the PR team over the next few months before officially retiring in April. No word on when someone new to the role will be named, but Sewell tells Deadline that, given her long history at the company, she wanted to provide ample notice.
A respected and well-liked industry veteran, Sewell oversees worldwide PR strategy for theatrical and streaming titles under the Disney Live Action, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Pixar and the Walt Disney Animation Studios and 20th Century Studios banners. She takes pride in running what became the first-ever global publicity team in the industry, developing innovative, fully integrated end-to-end campaigns across domestic and international markets and across release windows. She also oversees Walt Disney Studios’ theatrical and streaming awards campaigns and will remain at the studio to also continue to do that for the current awards season and Oscar campaigns before leaving in April.
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During her tenure, Sewell has spearheaded strategic campaigns for 11 of the top 20 all-time highest-grossing films worldwide including Marvel Studios’ Black Panther (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), 20th Century Studios’ Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2 (2024), WDAS’ Frozen (2013), Disney’s The Lion King (2019), along with Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), among others.
On the awards front, she has supervised countless campaigns garnering more than 85 Oscar and 80 Emmy nominations, resulting in 28 Academy Awards and more than 15 Emmy wins for the company.
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Sewell tells Deadline she has been trying to count up all the awards campaigns she has spearheaded before joking that it became “too epic.” She notes though that she is particularly proud of the rare Best Picture nominations for animated features Up and Toy Story 3, as well as Black Panther as the only superhero movie to get a Best Picture nomination. She says, though, that the achievements of all the honored films were first and foremost due to the filmmakers, not the campaigns.
Sewell and her team are working on upcoming campaigns for several anticipated 2025 theatrical releases, including 20th Century Studios’ Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (opening October 24), Predator: Badlands (November 7), and Avatar: Fire and Ash (December 19); and Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Zootopia 2 (November 26).
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Sewell has been with Disney since 1992 and previously led the studio’s European and International publicity efforts before coming to Burbank in 2007 as SVP International Publicity (working with then- Worldwide PR head Teri Meyer). In 2010 she was named EVP Global Publicity. She is a member of AMPAS, BAFTA and the TV Academy and has been recognized as a PRWeek Woman of Distinction.
Here is the email Sewell sent to team:
After 33 amazing years and exponentially more emails written, I’m writing this one today to share the news that I’m going to be retiring from Disney after we wrap up this awards season in April.
While it’s not happening anytime soon, I’ve started having some conversations internally to prepare for it, and we know better than anyone that news always gets out. I’ll be working closely with Asad and the PR team on our transition plan over the next few months, but I wanted you to hear it directly from me as soon as possible.
That said, it’s a bit surreal to be typing this! It’s truly astonishing when I look back on my time here. To quote Bob Iger himself, it’s been “the ride of a lifetime” – and that’s not only because of the many, many pinch-me experiences I’ve had here, but primarily because of the exceptionally talented and passionate team of incredible people I’ve been fortunate to lead and to work amongst. I know I’ve developed a reputation for my long emails, but trying to encapsulate all that we’ve accomplished together would be longer than most novels so I will save you from that (for now)!
I am so thankful to each and every one of you for making this the absolute best place to spend so much of my life. I’m also deeply grateful to Bob, Alan and Asad for their constant leadership and support through the years – I could not have asked for better bosses. The decision to move on is one of the hardest I’ve ever had to make, yet I’m excited to unplug from the grid when the time comes and see what’s next.
So, it’s not goodbye yet, of course – no rest for the wicked as we have several more big films this year (along with their globe-spanning press tours), and awards season just beginning. Let’s have a great time with it.
Thank you again for everything.
Michelle
