Tests ... Then and Now

When I interviewed animation vet Don Lusk (whose podcast will materialize here the start of next week), he told me about getting a job at Disney's ... in 1933:

"I came in and worked for free at the studio for four days. For free. At the end of the week, a Friday, they hired me."

So essentially, Don had to test for the better part of a week to get a gig at Walt's studio. And today? ...

This morning I got a phone call from a board artist who told me:

"I took a test at Disney TVA a couple weeks ago. It was brutal. They handed out two and a half pages of script. I drew 220+ panels, 70 pages, and it took me over a week. I don't think I'm going to get the job. ..."

Times sure change, don't they? When Disney was a tiny, struggling little studio at the bottom of the Depression, the company had artists test gratis. Imagine that.

And now that Diz Co. is a huge, multi-national conglomerate, the conglom has artists test gratis.

At least in 1933 there was a half-legitimate excuse for doing the abuse.