It was incredibly hectic around the set today, as a new commercial was to be filmed for a new ride opening at Disneyland. Grip crew were setting up lights and diffusers on one side and cameras were being set up on the other. The cable wranglers were setting down the cables to make sure no one trips over them, they couldn't have another case like in '01. The director was giving directions to the crowd visiting the park, making sure to not bother the cast or crew during their visit. Chaos was everywhere.
In Dot's trailer, she was getting her makeup done by an artist, she always missed this part of her childhood. Sure, she, and her siblings were always treated poorly due to their reputation, but it didn't matter. It felt great getting makeup done on you.
"Okay, and we're done!" the makeup artist pulled back from Dot's face to let her take a good look at herself in the mirror. "How do you like it?" she asked nervously.
"Oh! This looks great! Thank you!" Dot exclaimed at the sight of her reflection. Dot put her iconic flower back on at the side of her head as the makeup artist made her way out the trailer. Not even a minute passed when Mickey's sudden entrance startled Dot.
"Dot, I hope you actually have your lines memorized for this shoot because I swear if you don't-"
"What are you gonna do? Fire me?" Dot teased. Mickey groaned before continuing.
"Dot, this is the first time we're bringing in the CEO for a park commercial since Eisner. You can't mess this up, especially with your status as Warner."
Dot was getting tired of Mickey constantly bringing up her affiliations with Warner Bros. He always mentioned it at least once a week.
"What do you want me to do? Change my name to Dot Disney? Wait, that doesn't sound too bad, actually. I might do it." Dot rebutted.
"Dot." Mickey sternly said, getting genuinely irritated.
"Don't worry Mickey. I am, as you say, a Warner. I'm sure this shoot will go fine! Just trust your CEO." Dot brushed Mickey's irritation aside. Dot never really lost her acting skills after the reboot. She had to constantly do interviews, attend conventions for company news, and, more importantly, keep a cute marketable smile.
From outside the trailer, the mouse and… whatever Dot is, heard the director call for places. Just before the two leave the trailer, Mickey stops to look back up at Dot with a tense look.
"This commercial better get people to come, or else this new ride is gonna be a huge market loss."
Out of Mickey's hearing range, Dot just murmured under her breath.
"And you say I'm the dramatic one. How bad do you think I'm gonna screw up?"
That particular day of shooting was easily one of the worst days of Dot's acting career.
The first mistake of the afternoon was the fact that Dot, in fact, did not memorize her lines. Being an absolute nightmare for everyone on set. If Dot had to put it in her own words, it was 'Cutie and the Beast' all over again. She considered herself lucky that her brothers weren't around to watch the fiasco. Why did the ride name have to feel as long as her name?
"Hello. I'm Dot Warner, CEO of the Walt Disney Company. And I am so excited to be introducing you lovely folks to our newest attraction at Disneyland: The Daring Raging Races of R- Ugh!"
"Cut." the director groaned. Everyone else groaned after the director.
"Before you blame me, who's idea was it to name the Raya ride that? The movie isn't even that popular compared to the others that came out around that time."
"It was yours, dumbass!" Mickey yelled from afar. Dot just sighed and insisted she'd get it right the next take. Then the next. Then the next. It took 16 takes for Dot to get the name right. And that's not counting her having to repeat the name for the ending.
Dot will admit, the second mistake was a complete oversight on her end. Since she only skimmed through the script, she didn't read the part where she had to ride the attraction for glamour shots. That wasn't the bad part, far from it, Dot was always down for cutting lines at any attraction. What she didn't realize was that since it was a roller coaster with water like Splash Mountain, she had to get her makeup redone if the shot didn't come out right.
Which it didn't.
A lot.
Either a bird was covering the shot since the cameras had to be far to avoid the splash zone, or a guest accidentally knocked over a stand. Someone almost tripped on a cable and almost caused a whole fiasco like in '01, fortunately someone caught the light stand before it could've gotten worse. Then the camera's exposure was too high, then too low. As much fun as Dot was having on the rollercoaster, she was getting tired of having her makeup done numerous times. The only pro to all this was that Dot got to know her makeup artist's background and befriended her a little.
"Let's hope this take actually works, then we can both catch a break." Dot sighed after her makeup was done for who knows how many times now.
"Ma'am, you do realize this is the first shot out of four? We have three more shots." The artist nervously told her boss.
The atmosphere felt tense as Dot could feel her left eye twitch nonstop.
"SOMEONE GIVE MY MAKEUP ARTIST A RAISE CAUSE SHE DAMN WELL DESERVES IT AFTER THIS MANY TAKES FOR SHOT A! FUCK, LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH!" Dot yelled at the top of her lungs before marching to get on the ride again. A mother outside the set's territory covered her child's ears as she yelled at Dot.
"There's children in this park, you know? What's wrong with you?"
"Fuck you, lady. I am Disney." As all the woman heard.
The final nail in the coffin for this shoot was beyond her control, but it still pissed her off. The ride broke down. This was its second week of operation, and the ride was reported to have broken down over 20 times now, which is horrible for its second week.
Dot quickly pulled out her phone to text Mickey the second the ride halted in the middle of a turn.
'Dude, what's going on with the ride?'
'Guess the ride must've malfunctioned. I'll get someone to see it. Let me know once five minutes have passed, if the ride doesn't work by then we'll have to get you off through some stairs on the side.'
'Mickey, are you trying to strand me here to become CEO?'
'Shut up.'
Damn it, and this was the martini shot too. She was ready to leave the park and drive to the Warners Bros. lot just to scream at Yakko about everything.
Deep in her thoughts, Dot didn't notice the woman next to her was staring intensely at her. She seemed young, around her mid 20s, and was wearing the park's iconic Mickey hats. Oh god. Dot was sitting next to a Disney Adult™.
Since Dot sat in the front row for the commercial, it was no surprise a Disney Adult™, who probably killed a child, would sit in the front too. She had heard horror stories about Disney Adults™, but she didn't think she'd be sitting next to one. Even worse if it's over five minutes.
"Hi." The woman broke the awkward silence between the two.
"Um.. Hello…" Dot mumbled.
"I couldn't help but notice that you were able to get on the ride over 10 times while I was in the fastpass line. How many fastpasses did you get?"
Christ, it was worse than Dot thought.
"I'm just shooting for a commercial, it's not that deep." Dot answered reluctantly. The woman gasped in excitement, rambling afterwards.
"Oh my goodness! You're filming a commercial? Are the cameras still rolling? Am I in the shot? Hi everyone! Give up your lives for Mickey! You know, I think I would make a great face for one of these commercials. Maybe better than you, no offense! I've been collecting park pins since I was 15. Bet you didn't know they had pins. I've even met the CEO of Disney, haha."
"Okay that's bullshit cause I'm the CEO of Disney." Dot snapped back. She couldn't get away with that plantant lie. The woman couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah right. I would give my life for these parks and I've never heard of a new CEO. Tell me, what's your name?" The Disney Adult™ asked.
"Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third. Or just Dot Warner."
"Warner? Now I know you're lying." The woman proceeded to not only belittle the Warner title, but continue to boast about her Disney Adult™ status with her stories and collections. Dot looked at the time on her phone. Who knew two minutes could feel like an eternity to a Warner?
A few days after that wretched day, Dot and Mickey were called to the building's editing lab to check out the rough cut of the commercials. It resembled the commercials Michael Eisner filmed during his time as CEO, sure it had some entertainment, but it was still boring enough to make Dot yawn.
"Fellas, I think this is perfect! You captured that 2000s charm I've been missing for a while now! What do you think, Dot?" Mickey turned up to look at Dot's eyes feeling heavy.
"Dot!" Mickey snapped his fingers to wake her up.
"It's so boring! This is what you were going for? This is what the 'oh so cursed' '01 incident happened for? Did Eisner have to ride the same ride for three hours straight? This isn't even funny!" Dot snapped at Mickey. The editor began chuckling. Dot and Mickey turned to the editor confused.
"I'm sorry, but those outtakes and bloopers were really funny. My assistant saved them to a hard drive to edit a blooper after this project."
A lightbulb appeared over Dot's head. Mickey's face turned to shock.
"Dot no."
"Dot yes."
"Hello. I'm Dot Warner, CEO of the Walt Disney Company. And I am so excited to be introducing you lovely folks to our newest attraction at Disneyland: The Daring Raging Races of R- Ugh!"
Dot decided to scrap Mickey's vision of the commercial for a blooper reel of everything that happened that day. She let the editors go crazy and to just make her laugh, which worked tremendously. During screening for executive approval, Dot was just breaking down in laughter, while Mickey couldn't watch his vision be wrecked.
"Why did you do this? We're gonna get horrible ratings. No one's gonna wanna go to the parks after this. Why, Dot?" Mickey asked.
"Don't you get it, Mickey? You're trying to replicate a style that's dead. I'm Warner, while he's Eisner. My style should be unique, and I wanna show people that even though we strive for the perfect parks, we ourselves aren't. We shouldn't be afraid to show our imperfections!" Dot said with intense passion and inspiration.
"Really, Dot?" Mickey asked genuinely.
"Of course not, you idiot. It's to make up for all that wasted time on the stupid Raya ride! Plus, I hate you and it's funny." Dot revealed.
Mickey was right. The week Dot's version of the commercial aired, ratings and park attendance plummeted. The company lost another million dollars that it'll probably never make up. But it's okay because it was super funny.
