First of all, my car is finally in working order. Knock on wood, nothing will happen from here on out and I can have a reliable source of transportation. The only real thing wrong with the car I've noticed is that the radio is a bit messed up. When I try and scan the stations, it just keeps on scanning without recognizing any stations. Since it has a tape deck, I decided to buy one of those cassette adapters to plug into my Zune (microsoft's version of the Ipod) and listen to music that way.
Last Thursday night, I got off the phone with a friend and got a call from Universal Studios. My first thought was that they made a mistake and that they wanted me to be a tour guide. Unfortunately, so such luck. The woman had called to see if I was interested in any other positions with them. I was like... "maybe... what are they?". She goes on to tell me that they have openings for different positons: ride operator, park attendant, valet parking, ticket sales, etc." She then asks me if I want to apply for them and I say "I guess". So she proceeds to tell me to come in the next morning for an interview. I do, and after arriving there, I have a group interview with 2 other guys in front of a kind middle-aged Universal hiring guy. He starts asking us the obligatory interview questions and then tells us the positions that he has available: food vendor, park attendant, and patio host. At the end of the interview he asks us individually if the jobs appeal to us. Without hesitation I tell him that while I could see myself doing all of the jobs, that none of them really sparked my interest.
I proceed to tell him that I was told about an opening as a valet parker and he tells me that that could be a possibility. After realizing that I would have to drive rich bastard stick shift cars, risking the chance of recking them, and that I didn't have a California license yet, I decided it probably wasn't the best fit for me. The man then takes me aside for an indivual interview and I tell him that I'm interested in being a ticket seller. He agrees that it would be a good fit for me and tells me the perks of the job. Unfortunately it only pays $8 an hour (minimum wage in CA) but that's because Universal is a union job and that's how all the positions start out and you work your way up. He then tells me that it's only one of two jobs in all of Universal where you work in an air-conditioned building and you get to sit. Plus, for every upsell that you do for premium-type tickets you get an extra dollar and you can make an extra $100 a week, which sounds good to me. He then has me take a math test telling me that I have to place high to pass. Luckily, I get all of them right and he has me do another interview with someone from ticket sales. The guy interviewing me was probably mid-twenties, hispanic, and clearly gay. He was very cordial, friendly and asked the typical interview questions. In the end, he asks me to "sell" him something in the room to see how good of a salesperson I am. I choose to sell him my folder and it goes well. In the end, he offers me a job on the spot and I take it!
In the end, tomorrow, I have my new hire paperwork, then 5 days of orientation/training stuff and will start working shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, until Spring Break time, I'm not officially put on the schedule and have to call in any days that I want to work and hope that shifts become available from people calling in sick and other things. I'm really happy that something worked out though, and I can start getting closer to 40 hours between Universal Studios and Hollywood Video. I will be working at Universal during the weeknights and at Universal (when I can) during the mornings and weekends.
Next, after realizing that I needed to start getting my foot in the door with "the business" I decided to join a talent agency that my friend Maggie is in called Virgo Talent. They're a simple agency that does the middle ground work of getting you work as an extra for commercials and film. I drove to there office in downtown and after taking the wrong exit and an hour detour I reach their office right across the street from the LA Times. Seth and I walk in the building and we were greeted by a narrow art gallery. Above, a man is on the loft above us and comes down to greet me. Apparently they share the space with the gallery owners. After asking a few questions and taking my picture for there website and records I was on my way. How it works is that for every gig I book they take a flat fee of $10. The beauty is that every job pays at least $100 and they will never take more than $40 a month no matter how many gigs I get. Apparently about 80% of there extra work is for commercials and the average pay is $125, which still isn't that bad for a days work. I figure it's a good starting point for me and I can work myself up the system the old fashioned way. So long story short, I'll get a call each time I'm needed for extra work and I'll do the shoots that work for my schedule.
In other news, Seth looks like he will be working for a website called Mahalo.com He will be a freelance writer for articles there and get paid per article. He also had an interview to be a writer for police and other articles for a city news service, so hopefully everything will pan out for him soon and he can make decent money working two jobs.
Here's hoping that the next week will transition smoothly for me.
Movie Reviews of the Day:
The Insider - 4.5 stars
Platoon - 5 stars
Martian Child - 3.5 stars
Michael Clayton - 5 stars
In the Valley of Elah - 4.5 stars
Rendition - 4 stars
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