Alan ShapiroIn October 1983, the Disney Channel—which had launched just six months earlier—was already at the forefront of original cable series. But, says Jim Jimirro, founding president of the Disney Channel, “The last thing I was looking to do at that time was get into a feature film business.”Jimirro tells me, “We were just getting our feet wet with the original productions,” 13 of which were part of the channel’s April ‘83 launch.However, a young filmmaker and his production partner seized