Life with The Company

[tealin]

I.
I park my bike behind the studio, so I get to see all the nitty gritty heavy lifting that goes into running the Mouse House. Usually there's some sort of big truck back there; often it's a Buena Vista Studios freight truck either coming or going from storage (resuscitating 2D means moving a lot of furniture) or else it's a garbage truck emptying one of the dumpsters. But on Tuesday it was a Glendale School District truck. Glendale School District? Have they decided to phase out school buses and truck their kids to a field trip? What could they possibly be delivering to Disney? Then I saw they were loading computer monitors into it. I'm sure there's a great big tax incentive behind it, but still – d'AWWWW. I wonder if the kids who use those monitors will know where they came from, or that the screen they're looking at was used to make the movies they watched not long ago.

II.
I pulled up to the bike rack and, next to the dumpsters, was a pile of wooden palettes. But they were not intended to be taken away by the garbagemen. How did I know this? Because stuck to them was a photocopy of Kuzco in a defensive action pose with 'NO TOUCHY!' in big black letters. It's great to know I work with people who are nerdy about their own stuff.

III.
We had a FIRE DRILL! It was very exciting! We all survived! Anyone driving down Riverside at that point must have thought they were looking at the oddest strike ever because everyone was clustered under placards sporting various Disney characters which designate evacuation groups.

Later we had healthy snacks and naptime. (Just kidding.) (About naptime.)

IV.
There's a company-wide initiative to reduce the number of Disney employee cars commuting every day – they've got carpools, vanpools, transit vouchers, and small bonuses for walking/biking, but with the recent release of Wall•E they've stepped it up. For the month of July, every day you take alternative transport to work, you get an entry in a draw whose prize is ... wait for it ... A BIG-SCREEN PLASMA TV AND BLU-RAY PLAYER! So you, too, can become a complacent blob! Who thought this through, and how much were they paid?

Comments

[auraesque.livejournal.com]

Totally random commenting, but I just wanted to say how much I enjoy reading about your work at Disney. I used to intern at Radio Disney, and it was...an experience. :) Still, I'd love to work for their PR team.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I can't imagine working at Radio Disney ... at least animators have enough innate cynicism that the happy happy magic sparkles of the rest of the company don't penetrate much into everyday life.

I was always bitter at Radio Disney for their programming not consisting mostly of songs from their movies – is there a particular reason for this, which would have set them apart from all the other sugary pop stations out there? Besides profits, I mean. ;)

[auraesque.livejournal.com]

It was fun--as an intern I had a little more leeway, and we had tons of crazy antics in the office anyway. :)

The most recent playlists include a lot of songs from their animated musicals covered and revamped by the Disney brand popstars. A lot of Cheetah Girls songs, Jonas Brothers--who sing a really fun rendition of Yo Ho Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me). There was a lot of Crazy Frog, too, and what may have been the Hamster Dance song. Every once and a while, they'd pop out a classic like Supercalli, but Hannah Montana, HSM and the Jonas Brothers are definitely what the kids want to listen to.

I interned in marketing on the East Coast, and there was actually less a focus on profits than other companies I've worked with and more a focus on kids and parents. Sure, we targeted Moms like whoa, but the station was really paranoid about keeping everything wholesome and kidfriendly. We had strict rules about what we could do and say at events and how the on-air advertisements and PSAs were written. We absolutely could not target kids in advertisements--the focus had to be on parents. It was refreshing.

And, as a result of interning there, I know the lyrics to more Hannah Montana and High School Musical songs than any 20-something should know.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

See, I tried listening to it in '96 in the hope of catching some songs from Hunchback. This was before Hannah Montana or any of the other Disney-generated pop sensations, and to my surprise they didn't even have many of those pop covers of animated songs from the credits of movies – it was almost like there was no cross-promotion at all, which seemed vastly out of character. It was mostly pop music you could hear on any other radio station, albeit generally filtered to be kid-friendly. And lots of gratingly enhtusiastic voiceovers.

That's a little surprising but oddly refreshing about the marketing... makes me glad. Thanks for sharing!

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

That would make a sweet (and cheap) Christmas pa-rize for the parental units!

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

[(Anonymous)]

I hope he did sing that for the Glossops! XD

[mariahgem.livejournal.com]

Oh man! Listening to all of this (I mean reading) makes me yearn to work there even more!

Seriously, this last year of school is going to be just so ridiculously hard with WALL-E out and animation as it is! I'm like a kid that can see the ice cream store from the window of the car, but is safely seatbelted in. I can see it, I can smell it, I'm headed for it, but I JUST CAN'T WAIT!

rotfl. Although I have 2 classes this next term with a woman who worked in Disney's 2D dept for YEARS! So that'll be awesome!

[wizardelfgirl.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you didn't take a picture of Kuzco guarding the palettes? I would have loved to see that!

I love your life-at-work posts because it's interesting to know the real stuff, not just the "magic" part we see on TV, but the work behind that magic.

Will we be seeing your credit in the near future?

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I tried to take a picture but my camera's doing a weird thing where it vastly overexposes everything. I'm afraid it's dying...

Haha, I AM THE ANTI-MOVIESURFERS! Take that, vacuous non-programming! Part of why I'm here is being addicted to those serious half hour long making-of specials that used to air on TV, where you actually heard from the people who made the movie. i wonder how many future animators will miss their calling because they never got a good insight into the process ... though I suppose there are DVD special features now.

You won't be seeing any credit of mine until at least 2009, and that's only if they decide to hire me For Reals.

[wizardelfgirl.livejournal.com]

*nods sagely* Ah, yes, those specials changed my life too. I reckon I would never have discovered my passion for SFX -and how to make them- if not for a TV show called Movie Magic that taught me about animatronics, storyboards, CGI, and other tricks. Circumstances didn't allow me to study animation like I wanted, but I am still passionate about all this (and knowing someone who works on it is teh cool).

I'm sure you'll get hired, and when you do, be sure to tell us where to look for your name! (2009 sounds suspiciously to a Froggy themed thing, but I may be wrong...)

[scabrendan.livejournal.com]

Me gusta.

[beckychan.livejournal.com]

:rofl: I can't see you EVER becoming a complacent blob, if it makes you feel any better. Still, that's all really cool. Man, would I love to come see you at work sometime. >_>

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Lemme know when...

[beckychan.livejournal.com]

What are you serious? Yowza! I'm gonna tentatively say after my move. I'll be an indipendent contractor then, and can probably better justify taking a day off work, since I'll be working for me.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Any time! You do know I can only take you to the lot and the Caffeine Patch, right? Huzzah for self-employment!

[beckychan.livejournal.com]

Dude, I didn't anticipate being allowed to go at all! That being the case, though, I may take you up on it BEFORE I move, since I'm moving to Moorpark, and that would make it quite a drive for not a lot.

[lepitot.livejournal.com]

Wait? You work for Disney?!

Since when? I must have missed a lot of your posts or something cause I didn't realize this lol.

[jahboh.livejournal.com]

Haha... seconded! Congrats!

It's been cool following you since Harry Potter fanart back in 2001 ;)

[septentrio.livejournal.com]

I am so, so jealous of you. ;( I don't think I draw well enough to work at Disney, though. I mean, I might be able to learn, but I'd really have to crack down, and I have this inability to focus on ANY single thing unless it's something stupid like my love affairs with various fandoms for very short periods of time. :P

Also, the "no touchy" sign would have made me squee, jump up and down, and take and post lots of pictures, or at least Twitter about it or something lame like that. (That sort of thing is the only reason I *have* a Twitter account; so I blog without being stuck at home!)

Well, if Disney ever needs someone with moderate talent and is willing to be patient with them until they're actually a good artist, let me know. :P

[karalora.livejournal.com]

Dangit, now I want a Kuzco "No touchy!" sign. That's effin' brilliant.

[ubiquitouspitt.livejournal.com]

I have shared your Kuzco story with a handful of people, all of whom now think you live some sort of blessed existence ^_^

[ardys-the-ghoul.livejournal.com]

Did you know if Minnie was a real mouse, she'd have about eight to twelve boobs?

...Why did I just say that?

[scabrendan.livejournal.com]

The inclusion of the Wall-E angle makes it yummily ironic.

[fairy-gany.livejournal.com]

"No touchy" Houahahahahaaaa !
"Anyone driving down Riverside at that point must have thought they were looking at the oddest strike ever because everyone was clustered under placards sporting various Disney characters which designate evacuation groups."
The studios are crazy ! They have a life of their own. You know I'm working on the theory that you can live in it for free for ever ?