I almost worked in Paramount
Paramount’s logo in the 1980s. I lost my chance to work for them and wait until you hear why!
Back in my teen years when I was growing up in Los Angeles, one of my first jobs there was Foto Mat. It was an okay job and it was part-time because being under 18, I wasn’t allowed to work full-time. I was working and supporting myself, and living at the Dharma centre with Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen, where he had an assistant whose name was Barbara. She would write all of his letters and correspondences, she would take his phone calls, and she would make his phone calls and pay his bills. Basically, she was his assistant and she was very devoted to Geshe-la but she wasn’t very good with technology (whatever technology we had back then). Anyway, what is incredible is one day I came home and Barbara said that a Joyce from Paramount Studios had called and asked for me. Joyce said they had some work for me, that they’re going to be doing a movie called The Golden Child with Eddie Murphy.
Venerable Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen. I was living with Geshe-la at the time, and it was Geshe-la’s assistant who accidentally erased Joyce’s number three times.
The movie had not gone into production yet and they needed someone to help them set up a Tibetan background, altar and scene. They had heard that in Los Angeles, there was a young Mongolian boy who was a Tibetan Buddhist, and who was very good at doing altars. Somehow, Joyce had gotten our centre’s number and she was looking for me to come and do the set, or part of the set for the Tibetan scenes in The Golden Child, and she left her number and her name.
I was really excited because I thought this is going to be a great opportunity to make some money. So I asked Barbara for the phone number and she laughed really loud. Then she said, “Sorry” apologetically and explained she had erased the number and the message. That time, all the messages that came in on our phones were recorded on cassette tapes, and she had accidentally erased it.
So I was keeping my Buddhist calm, I recited OM MANI PADME HUM. I was quite upset and really wanted to tell Barbara, “That was a big opportunity you’ve lost for me.” I was quite unhappy but I didn’t want to express it to her because she didn’t do it on purpose, but it was a huge opportunity. So I asked her, “Did you write the number down?” and she said, “No, actually, I wanted to rewind it and write it down, but I erased it by accident.” I was like, “Oh dear.”
Anyway, the next day I went to work as usual. Then, two days later, this lovely lady named Joyce called again and when I went home to the centre, Barbara came up to me and told me the lady called again. She said Joyce had said basically the same things and she was saying to call her back quickly because it’s urgent. I said to Barbara, “Give me the number” and you’re not going to believe this but Barbara told me she erased the message again!
And do you know this happened three times, Barbara erasing the message? That’s how I lost my opportunity to work in Paramount Studios, to do the Buddhist set of The Golden Child? They needed an altar, they needed a background, they need to know what the Buddhas look like – Tibetan Buddhas – how to put the offerings in front, how to set up a throne and all of that. It would have been perfect for me because I’m really good at that but Barbara lost the number. She was extremely apologetic and I was really, really unhappy. I was really irritated and I basically wanted to strangle her but I dare not say anything because she’s Geshe-la’s assistant and I just thought, “Well, I guess it’s my karma.”
A lady called Joyce called me three times to come and do the Tibetan sets for The Golden Child, as pictured here, but I lost my chance.
Fast forward to about two years later, when I got a call from a friend who said they’re looking for people who speak Mongolian to do voiceovers for a show on TV. It was a very popular show, I forgot the name of the show, but they needed someone to do voiceovers in Mongolian. They had found two Mongolian men and needed one more person. I didn’t even know there were other Mongolian men in the city but there were.
Anyways, they asked me and my friend said that I might be interested and gave me a number so I called, and I went in for an interview and I got the job. Me and two other older Mongolian men – there were three of us – had to memorise some lines and we did voiceovers.
Eddie Murphy in The Golden Child
It was really, really good pay because we got between $300, $400 for that voiceover and it was just two hours work and every time that show played, we’d get residuals so I got cheques from that another two, three times. Each time a cheque came it was a certain percentage less, but I got cheques from that over and over. The first time it was between $300 to $400, I forgot how much exactly. The second time I got a check, it was like $300; the next time I got a check it was like $200+ then after that it was like, you know, on the lower end of $200. But it was really good money.
The funny thing is this – after we did the voiceover, I met the lady who had arranged that. She was a very attractive, young black lady with short hair, and she was so well-spoken and dressed so well. She was really with it and you could see she had been in the industry for a few years. She introduced herself to us and she said we did a good job and that she liked to keep our names, as she might need us in the future.
I said, “Hey, you know, if you have any more, let me know because it’s good money” and then she told me her name is Joyce. And I went, “Joyce?” and then she froze. And then I froze because she said, “Aren’t you that guy that I called about two years back to do the set for the Buddhist scenes in The Golden Child?”
“Was that you?” I said and she replied, “Yes! I called you so many times! Why didn’t you call me back?!”
I told her, “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this. You’re the agent I was calling me?!”
She said, “Yes!”
I said, “Listen. I was living at a Buddhist centre and I lived with my teacher, and he has a secretary there, an assistant, and she erased your messages by accident on the old machine.”
Joyce wanted me to come and do the Buddhist sets and altars for The Golden Child but I never got in contact with her because her messages to me were lost.
Joyce said, “You’re kidding!” and I told her, “I can’t believe I’m talking to you. Do you know how badly I wanted to do that work? I know how to do it and I wanted to do it so badly.”
She went, “I can’t believe it, you should have called me back!” and I said, “I wanted to but they lost your number!”
Joyce said to me, “That’s really too bad. Well anyway, you know what? It’s really nice meeting you. I’ll keep you in mind if we have anything else.”
It was just such a pleasure meeting her because she was such a nice, fast, sharp lady. I told Joyce, “You know what? I should have done the set” and she asked, “Why?” I replied, “Because the set wasn’t very nice. It wasn’t very authentic looking in the Tibetan tradition of altars and lama’s rooms.”
She said, “Really?!” and I told her, “Look, no offence, I don’t want to get anybody in trouble here but I could have done so much of a better job because the Tibetan Buddhist sets on The Golden Child were not really authentic looking.”
I know back in the 80s, they didn’t have a lot of people who knew about Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan sets. Anyway, it was so weird because this lady was trying to call me and we met up again two years later, and that’s how small Hollywood is and I lost my chance of working in Paramount Studios on a very good job.
Tsem Rinpoche
For more interesting information:
- This Is Me in Hollywood in the 80s
- How Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen changed my life
- H.E. the 25th Tsem Tulku Rinpoche’s Biography
- Fotomat and Me | 我和Fotomat
- Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen’s special thangka | 属于格西簇亲格而辛的非凡唐卡
- Kyabje Zong Rinpoche Cuts My Hair
- I was an extra in John Carpenter’s Christine movie
- Hollywood Legend Anna May Wong
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Rinpoche has always been very talented and he likes to do some role playing from the TV series, Rinpoche would get his students to act as the character from the TV series, along the way, Rinpoche will show them how to do it properly/correctly, even it is some new series, Rinpoche would memorize the script very quickly. I would say Rinpoche is really good in this field, but too bad, the the voice recording was deleted, and fortunately, it was deleted, or else, Kechara may not exist anymore and this blog may not exist anymore because Rinpoche will be so famous in Hollywood and he got no time for any other things. hehe…
But with Rinpoche’s affinity towards Buddhism, whatever job Rinpoche is in, he will for sure utilize every opportunity in his job to spread Dharma, like what Rinpoche is doing now.
This is the link where Rinpoche will gather together with his students to play some parody of a TV series. https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/funnies/youre-going-to-laugh-so-hard-baby-jane-parody.html
Well…..Rinpoche had missed the opportunity to work in Paramount because of some unfortunate circumstances. Or else Rinpoche would have been a star in Hollywood. For us we are fortunate that Rinpoche’s choice of choosing to be a monk to benefit many across the globe by spreading Dharma. May Rinpoche’s teachings flourish and endure.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing .
Thank Buddha for Rinpoche lost opportunity!Rinpoche would have been very successful in Hollywood as Kyabje Zong Rinpoche predicted. Even if Rinpoche had been in the fast paced life of Hollywood, with Rinpoche’s strong commitment to his spiritual commitment, Rinpoche will play a very strong influencing role in spreading the Dharma wherever he may be.
Fortunate for us that Rinpoche chose the 2nd prediction by his root Guru, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche and entered in the Sangha to benefit others with the Dharma. Now Rinpoche benefits so many worldwide and is one of the top online Guru who teaches through his blog. Total views at this moment is 16.8 million and growing daily. A prediction comes true!
Well, i guess it’s another blessing in disguise that Rinpoche missed the opportunity to work in Paramount due to a missed phone call…otherwise Rinpoche wouldn’t be a highly attained lama benefitting people all over the world now and more people in the near future. ?Anyways, another lovely story sharing from Rinpoche and hope Rinpoche will remain in Malaysia forever. May Rinpoche’s dharma projects in KFR prosper smoothly.????????
Thank you for posting Rinpoche. It must be said, so many of us are grateful you became on Monk and not a movie star. Thank the stars for that! This post, concerning your time working in the film industry, brought to mind an occasion where I too ALMOST worked at Paramount. It was in the early 90’s in Vancouver, and being out of work without many or any options, I found that Paramount was hiring someone to run camera and lighting cable on set for filming. I was very excited at the prospect of working for such a well known film industry giant, what a start for a kid just out of high school! I applied needless to say, got an interview and was over the moon about the whole idea of working there. The day came for the interview and I got prepared thinking of every scenario possible and what I would say to rise above any other candidate for the job ultimately securing the position. I met with a very kind lady at the reception who directed me to another man who would bring me to the fellow in charge of hires for the film crew. Coming to the back of the building I was directed to another warehouse where there was a sea of thick, black heavy cables running every which way that had to be crossed over to get to the interview. The fellow was waving at me to come to him so I started to run, jumping and bouncing over the entanglement of cords, bounding towards glory, proud as an MGM Lion when karma struck! Flat on my face I would land in the mass of cables! The fellow who was going to interview me began to laugh, as did I most embarrassingly as he said, “I guess your not exactly cut out for the cable division!” I agreed with him and left Paramount that day feeling a tad foolish and indeed humbled. I would go on to train and work in the Healthcare Industry, which gave me many great opportunities to help others in need, so at the end of the day the Paramount job wasn’t such a big deal after all. They say everything happens for a reason, cause and effect. Great to read your account and to share this connection Rinpoche, thank you for taking the direction you did, pointing the way for others as you do. May you be well and know peace. All the best!
It was a huge opportunity where he gets an opportunity to work in Paramount. His life eventually will changes if the girl didn’t lost Joyce’s number. He could’ve been worked in Paramount and get a high salary.
But luckily, he gets an opportunity to do voice recordings. By that, he was able to see Joyce and explained her what actually happens. From this story, i can understand that life has to go on, like he doesn’t feel broken for the missed opportunity. Thanks.