Joe Inzerillo and Jerrell Jimerson were nearing the next phase in their global rollout of Disney+ when the novel coronavirus shut down everyday activities throughout the world.
The duo, responsible for the technical infrastructure and product experience for the high-priority new streamer, already had brought Disney+ to the U.S.
and Canada with a successful (albeit a tad glitchy) November launch, which garnered 10 million sign-ups in one day. But that was just the beginning.
By early March, they were working at what Inzerillo calls a "breakneck pace" to launch Disney+ in eight more countries, including the U.K., France and Italy. "We knew we were going to be deploying quickly, faster than anyone had done it before," he says.