Found this story on the AP Newswire. Very sad.
NOVEMBER 02, 15:05 EST
Disney World Actors Given Pink Slips
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press Writer
Mark Lainer
AP/Peter Cosgrove [29K]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — If you've been to Walt Disney World in the past decade, you may have caught Mark Lainer playing a character in the Indiana Jones show. Or he may have made you laugh in one of the improvisational sketches at Pleasure Island.
Until two weeks ago, Lainer was an actor at the theme park.
Now he is a casualty of some of the toughest economic times Disney World faced in decades.
Lainer and more than 100 other actors were laid off two weeks ago.
Lainer no longer goes to work each day to perform improv, play the character ``Six Bits'' in the Hoop-Dee-Doo show, or act the role of a movie director in the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular Show.
Instead, he grew a beard, sleeps in late, works the phones to drum up some acting and writing jobs from conventions, and plans for a move to Los Angeles with his wife and cats early next year. Lainer, who also directs, has been back to Disney to fill some substitute roles but finds that former colleagues treat him ``like someone died.''
``It was such a shock,'' said Lainer, 39. ``I was in a weird state of mind. It was surreal.''
Since February, Disney has laid off more than 180 of the 430 actors who once worked full-time at the theme park resort, or about 40 percent of its Actors Equity performers, according to Lainer. Disney spokesman Bob Jimenez disputed that number as too high but would not say what the actual figure was.
During the latest round, the actors were given the option of working a service job in the park, in merchandising or custodial, but most refused. Lainer said such jobs pay only a third to half of his $22-an-hour wage as an actor.
``I'm an actor. Some people work for Disney because they want to work for Disney,'' he said. ``I worked for Disney because it was a great place to be a performer.''
Jimenez said half of the entertainers whose jobs were cut have accepted other positions at the park.
Other Disney workers are also feeling the pinch. Most of Disney World's 15,000 part-time workers have had their hours eliminated. Hourly workers have had their workweek cut back, and salaried workers were given the option of scaling back their hours.
Lainer had worked at Disney World for more than a decade before he was told to report to the ``Song and Dance'' conference room at the entertainment offices at the Disney-MGM Studios theme park two weeks ago.
Executives in suits arrived and told Lainer and his colleagues that the Indiana Jones show was going to be cut from two casts to one. Instead of eight shows a day, there would be five.
``They said the events of Sept. 11 had put the company in a difficult position,'' Lainer said.
Lainer was given a check worth several thousands of dollars consisting of two-weeks' notice pay, four weeks of severance pay and pay for vacation and sick days not taken. They asked him to turn in his company ID and pass, and they had an escort follow him to his locker to grab his personal items. The escort walked him to the exit.
``He was kind of making sure that I left, and I left,'' Lainer said.
It was a sour end to Lainer's tenure at Disney, where in the past he had given improv workshops to the top Disney executives who now had decided to cut his job.
While acting jobs have dried up in Orlando, he does not fear for his career. Lainer is a familiar face to Orlando TV viewers, having appeared on several local commercials and a few syndicated shows filmed here such as ``The Cape'' and ``Sheena.'' He expects to find more work.
But he is worried about the future of Disney's live entertainment.
``If their live entertainment becomes pedestrian, then they become just another amusement park,'' Lainer said. ``What I've seen is less and less resources devoted to entertainment.''
Jimenez disputed the notion that entertainment has suffered at Disney World's four theme parks. Four new parades and two new shows have been added for its ``100 Years of Magic'' celebration, which honors founder Walt Disney.
``We continue to be very much committed to producing quality entertainment,'' Jimenez said. ``There are actually more entertainment offerings.''
NOVEMBER 02, 15:05 EST
Disney World Actors Given Pink Slips
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press Writer
Mark Lainer
AP/Peter Cosgrove [29K]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — If you've been to Walt Disney World in the past decade, you may have caught Mark Lainer playing a character in the Indiana Jones show. Or he may have made you laugh in one of the improvisational sketches at Pleasure Island.
Until two weeks ago, Lainer was an actor at the theme park.
Now he is a casualty of some of the toughest economic times Disney World faced in decades.
Lainer and more than 100 other actors were laid off two weeks ago.
Lainer no longer goes to work each day to perform improv, play the character ``Six Bits'' in the Hoop-Dee-Doo show, or act the role of a movie director in the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular Show.
Instead, he grew a beard, sleeps in late, works the phones to drum up some acting and writing jobs from conventions, and plans for a move to Los Angeles with his wife and cats early next year. Lainer, who also directs, has been back to Disney to fill some substitute roles but finds that former colleagues treat him ``like someone died.''
``It was such a shock,'' said Lainer, 39. ``I was in a weird state of mind. It was surreal.''
Since February, Disney has laid off more than 180 of the 430 actors who once worked full-time at the theme park resort, or about 40 percent of its Actors Equity performers, according to Lainer. Disney spokesman Bob Jimenez disputed that number as too high but would not say what the actual figure was.
During the latest round, the actors were given the option of working a service job in the park, in merchandising or custodial, but most refused. Lainer said such jobs pay only a third to half of his $22-an-hour wage as an actor.
``I'm an actor. Some people work for Disney because they want to work for Disney,'' he said. ``I worked for Disney because it was a great place to be a performer.''
Jimenez said half of the entertainers whose jobs were cut have accepted other positions at the park.
Other Disney workers are also feeling the pinch. Most of Disney World's 15,000 part-time workers have had their hours eliminated. Hourly workers have had their workweek cut back, and salaried workers were given the option of scaling back their hours.
Lainer had worked at Disney World for more than a decade before he was told to report to the ``Song and Dance'' conference room at the entertainment offices at the Disney-MGM Studios theme park two weeks ago.
Executives in suits arrived and told Lainer and his colleagues that the Indiana Jones show was going to be cut from two casts to one. Instead of eight shows a day, there would be five.
``They said the events of Sept. 11 had put the company in a difficult position,'' Lainer said.
Lainer was given a check worth several thousands of dollars consisting of two-weeks' notice pay, four weeks of severance pay and pay for vacation and sick days not taken. They asked him to turn in his company ID and pass, and they had an escort follow him to his locker to grab his personal items. The escort walked him to the exit.
``He was kind of making sure that I left, and I left,'' Lainer said.
It was a sour end to Lainer's tenure at Disney, where in the past he had given improv workshops to the top Disney executives who now had decided to cut his job.
While acting jobs have dried up in Orlando, he does not fear for his career. Lainer is a familiar face to Orlando TV viewers, having appeared on several local commercials and a few syndicated shows filmed here such as ``The Cape'' and ``Sheena.'' He expects to find more work.
But he is worried about the future of Disney's live entertainment.
``If their live entertainment becomes pedestrian, then they become just another amusement park,'' Lainer said. ``What I've seen is less and less resources devoted to entertainment.''
Jimenez disputed the notion that entertainment has suffered at Disney World's four theme parks. Four new parades and two new shows have been added for its ``100 Years of Magic'' celebration, which honors founder Walt Disney.
``We continue to be very much committed to producing quality entertainment,'' Jimenez said. ``There are actually more entertainment offerings.''
