Working at Universal Studios was a cool job, I just wish I could have earned enough money to live on, they were paying me minimum wage, I was working for a giant Japanese corporation at that time that owned Universal, Lew Wasserman was the Boss, but a Japanese corporation owned Universal then. The Japanese corporation was rich and they could have paid me enough money to rent an apartment and to buy food and to live on, and I had a college degree and years of work experience working with the public, and working with people in the Entertainment Industry, etc. If I was working for the Vatican to help orphans then I would work for free, but I am not going to work for free for a giant wealthy Japanese corporation.
I was skin and bones when I worked for Universal, they paid me minimum wage, and there was no reason for that, Universal was owned by a wealthy Japanese corporation. I should have earned enough money for food and shelter. I did not feel like I was respected at Universal, they show respect when they pay you well and when they treat you good, and they just paid me the bare minimum.
Universal is owned by Americans now I guess, I have not been keeping track of who owns the studios anymore. I guess the headquarters for Universal is in New York City.
After I quit Universal I kept training, and I attended the AADA after I quit Universal. I received my AA degree in 1992-1994, then I worked at Universal in 1995, and then I attended the AADA in 1996-1997. Then I did a student film at USC in 1998, my student film is on You Tube, it is cool that I am able to share it. Of course, I did lots of other stuff too, I was a limousine driver when I lived in Malibu, and I worked for Suzanne Pleshette at Empire West, etc.
If Universal would have paid me fair, and if they would have treated me well then I would have stayed there, and I would have loved to have been able to act and make movies and television shows at Universal, but it was a Japanese corporation that wanted cheap labor, they did not want to pay the workers enough money for food and shelter. I do not know how they expected me to survive on minimum wage, and I was a serious adult trying to earn a living, I was not working just for the fun of it.
But, Angela Lansbury was treated like a queen at Universal, the Japanese paid her very well and she was treated very well.
Salute,
Tony V.