Photo and Video Shoots

As Disney Store cast members in the greater Los Angeles area, we would often be called upon to help out on projects that weren't necessarily within the scope of day-to-day retail sales within a mall. I previously wrote about working at Disneyland as part of the summer utilization study team surveying guest flow within the park. There were times that I served as a greeter at the local Cineplex welcoming guests to the theater for a special sneak preview of Disney movies. We worked crowd control at character visits, art displays and concerts. These extracurricular events were usually a thrilling change of pace from our usual jobs and we were happy to be selected to work them. But the reality was, we were cheap labor. Excited, enthusiastic and great ambassadors for the company but ultimately cheap.

The most "Hollywood" thing that we would be requested to participate in was serving in training videos that would be shown at Disney Stores throughout the country. We would be given roles as guests or cast members and be given scenarios that we'd be involved in and sometimes scripts to follow. It was always fun to sit down at one of our monthly cast meetings and be treated to one of these videos looking for one of our co-workers in their "starring" roles.

Kathy made the cover of the March/April 1992 issue of the "Scoop," the Disney Store employee newsletter, appearing on the same page as Michael Eisner and Frank Wells in celebration of the Store's 5th anniversary.

I was involved in one video shoot. Kathy had been asked to appear in a video, as was another cast member from our store. The filming was at the Main Place Mall in Santa Ana, California. I was off that day and decided to drive them the 50 miles or so that we needed to go to get there from home. The shoot started before store hours. Though I wasn't going to get paid for my participation since I hadn't actually been invited to the filming, I was excited that I was going to get to film a scene as a guest looking through a rack of shirts and needing the assistance of a cast member. I was a star of two plays in high school so acting the part of a guest wasn't that difficult.

The filming lasted through morning and eventually continued with the store open, which logistically was more difficult. While some guests were certainly interested in the filming, areas of the store were inaccessible at times. And while every store strove to have its on-stage areas clean, neat and fully stocked each day, it was even more of an imperative with cameras rolling.

Kathy's picture was featured on the back cover of the application for the Disney Credit Card, which was available from various Disney properties such as the Disney Store and Disney theme park locations.

I had actually brought my costume with me, which was still in the car. I asked the store manager whether he'd like for me to suit up and help with keeping the store in tip-top condition. He was appreciative of the offer for help and after I changed, we set about cleaning and restocking fixtures. For some reason, the director really liked what we were doing and kept filming us doing our work around the store. Once, when we came out of the stockroom with our arms loaded with boxes of dolls for a shelf, the director asked that we go backstage again and re-do our entry onstage so that he could record it. I remember wiping dust from a fixture and being filmed as part of it. It was a bit surreal as I was simply trying to keep the store in top operating condition for the day's guests.

I wish I had a copy of the final video. To me it seemed pretty funny. I was in there quite a bit as both the guest and a cast member stocking and cleaning. My fifteen minutes of fame, I suppose. Kathy was only in one quick scene and I think was a little disappointed that I got as much screen time as I did when I wasn't the one asked to do the video in the first place.

Kathy, a Japanese-American, had a full-page shot on the inside flap of a recruitment brochure for the Disney Store. On the back cover it says, "The Disney Store is committed to supporting cultural diversity in the workplace because ... 'It's a Small World After All.'"

But this training video was nothing new for Kathy. She had already participated in a photo shoot for the Disney Store. We think the reason that Kathy was asked to do so many of these projects (besides being cheap labor) is that she is an attractive minority that helped show the diversity of the Disney cast. If Kathy was jealous that I got an extra 10 seconds of screen time in the training video, I would have to say that I'm jealous that Kathy was the face of the Disney Store because of that shoot. Her picture was used in a recruitment brochure. She was on the cover of a special fifth-anniversary Disney Store newsletter, "Scoop." And another picture was used on applications for the Disney Credit Card. (I used to love being at Disneyland and casually grabbing and application and pretend that I was looking through it before exclaiming, "Hey, that's you!" The people around used to think it was pretty neat but I think it got old really fast for Kathy everytime I would do that.)

Though we certainly were never celebrities because of our photo and video shoots, it was fun to play the part every once in a while. And the end results were good for a laugh at ourselves, if nothing else. As much as I tease Kathy because of her photo being used for tons of printed collateral materials, the truth is that I'm very proud of my "cover girl." Having the chance to participate in these promotional events was a nice respite from the everyday grind that all workers go through. And it helped to create many happy memories of our days as Disney Store cast members.

- Story by Matthew Walker; Graphics ©Disney
Matt started working at the Disney Store as an 18-year-old in 1991. "I Was A Teen-Age Cast Member" is a look at the magical Disney memories of a former cast member as remembered years later.
Posted April 15, 2005

E-mail Matt at matt@startedbyamouse.com, discuss this article in the StartedByAMouse.com Disney Discussion Forums or use the Talkback feature below.

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