Casting queries *newbie alert*

Chat about any aspect of your child's Casting or Audition

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dan_gers
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Casting queries *newbie alert*

Post by dan_gers »

Hello All

Firstly, thanks for admin approving my membership on this forum - much appreciated. I am looking for some advice on casting agencies (I am 100% new to this area) and would be grateful for your personal insights into this area (of work) with your little people.

So a bit of context: My wife is keen to access and sign-up to casting agencies for my daughter, who as it tuns out, is quite keen on the idea too. My daughter attends the excellent Scottish Youth Theatre and routinely plays bigger roles in plays/productions etc at school. Up here in Glasgow (we live in East Kilbride) there is not a huge range of agencies as there are down south - however; there are a few big ones, particularly Real People Casting http://www.realpeople.co.uk/kids.asp which has over 100 girls on board roughly the age of my daughter (6 years). I am less keen to join this or other casting agencies due to a number of confused concerns/queries going round my head on this area; most notably -

1) Safety and security reasons: I notice pictures of the wee one's are visible to anyone who is browsing on the site (and some personal info - age, dress size(?), eye colour etc) - do you as parents ever worry about this info being freely available? How safe are casting agencies? Is everyone vetted who has contact with your little ones?
2) Using the casting agency example above - does it provide genuine opportunities for your little people (given the numbers already on the site, for example)? Did you ever regret doing it?
3) If it does provide opportunities, do you ever feel as if it get's a little too much sometimes (as parents to be running round for the agency and your wee one) when there are so many conflicting priorities with other daughters/sons/family commitments?

So bearing these queries in mind would you consider any of the above concerns dumbfounded/nonsense/not realistic etc or have others found this a little nerve wracking?

Don't get me wrong; I want the best for my wee one (and I'm not deliberately being negative here) but hopefully you can see where I am coming from?

Anyway, I would be most grateful for any advice on this (or anything else I have missed and should be considering) and any form of reply is appreciated.

Regards and thanks

Dan
paulears
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Re: Casting queries *newbie alert*

Post by paulears »

It's a common issue to be honest, Dan. As with all things, most casting agencies are fine, and respectable. The Law requires anyone having unsupervised access to children and vulnerable adults to have a DBS check, but many casting agencies never have unsupervised access, so perhaps it's a bit pointless. What is certain is that any agency with a bad perception won't do any business.

The catch 22 situation is that for them to 'hawk' the kids around to casting directors the personal information is pretty essential. They need to see good photos, have detailed blogs, and for all sorts of thing, including chaperone considerations, they need ages and addresses. Most do remove from the public listings the details that would allow somebody to knock on the door, but with a bit of effort, it's usually quite possible to track people down. I guess that if the idea is to get the kids work in this industry, parents need to find their own comfortable position on what is ok and what isn't. Parents play a critical role in the safety aspect.

Frankly - from my viewpoint as a 'consumer' of what the performing children do, the parents spend a ridiculous amount of time, energy and money promoting the kids, and minding them. From what I see, here and overseas, despite this site being called 'not a pushy mum', in most cases that is exactly what they have to be - the production companies want the earth, promise little and expect performance above the call of duty. The parents here are single minded and want the very best for their kids. They are not pushovers, and the safety of the kids is primary to their way of doing it. Sometimes, an agency want the kids to do things the parents don't like - one, last year was a job overseas and the parents were unsure how safe they'd be, so got themselves on the job too to just to make sure they were ok - and I believe that was done at their own cost.

It's worthwhile for the kids, but a real headache for parents. Seems worthwhile, though!
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Flosmom
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Re: Casting queries *newbie alert*

Post by Flosmom »

Hi Dan and welcome.

My starting point would be with your DD. Does she absolutely, totally, completely want to do this? You mention your wife's interest first. It's great that she wants to support your DD, but it's not an easy path to navigate so if it isn't your DD who is leading the way, I would probably advise that she continues with her stage school and local productions, has fun and learns on the way. At 6 years of age, she needs to have fun first and foremost, anything else can wait.

If she is keen as mustard, begging you to find her an agent, scouring the web for opportunities to perform and comes alive when she is on stage/on camera (whether for weeks and weeks of rehearsals or night after night of performances or take after take for the most pedantic director) then it could be 'game on'.

To educate yourself and your wife about what is in store for you, my advice is to put the kettle on, put your feet up and read through all the threads in this forum. You will find all you could possibly want to know about agents, auditions, stage school, dance education - you name it, someone in here has done it. And NAPM is the place where everyone has shared their experiences, generously and candidly. You just can't beat the in-the-moment stories that are on here for a richness and completeness that answers questions you didn't know you needed to ask.

As for the on-line stuff, it kinda goes with the territory. Some agents put the info on their websites, some don't. But as soon as your DD is cast in a production, the details will be on-line. If she is on TV, she will be on-line. Ditto films, promos, commercials, recordings etc. Its a very public occupation. And the things they do hang around forever, so your DD needs to be comfortable with clips and pics of herself as a cute 6 year old still being searchable when she is 12 or 15 or adult. My DD took the decision not to do commercials for this reason.

From a safeguarding point of view, it's a harsh reality that kids are statistically more at risk from friends and family members than strangers. However, they are very well chaperoned, by law, when they work in performing arts. You, as their parent, are their best safeguard, along with age-appropriate education about risk and disclosure. An on-line persona adds another dimension of risk. It's up to you to decide whether you want to manage this but in my experience it isn't onerous.

There is another dimension, which is how your DD copes with rejection. Unless she is very different from the many other successful kids in performing arts, she will get more nos than yeses. Getting auditions isn't hard, getting a job is a much more remote possibility. She - and you - have to be prepared to travel miles, be seen for minutes, and probably never hear another word about it. Over and over again. Or get callback after callback, over and over, usually at short notice and inconvenient times, and maybe get cut at the final round. This is a subjective and brutal business -the potential for heartbreak is massive.

Financially - there are no fees for attending auditions and even if you get a callback fee it's probably not going to cover your costs - especially if you include your own time to take your DD there. Some jobs pay well, others barely clear expenses.

So, that's the food for thought. If your DD isn't wired for this, she probably won't thrive however talented she is. My younger DD retired age 8, having followed her older sister into performing arts and been cast in several small film projects. Once the novelty wore off, it bored her. Bigger DD gets involved in everything she can. Performing isn't what she does, it's who she is. Auditions are never a problem. Rejection is part of the scene. She will travel for hours, work her heart out, in soul-less rehearsal rooms and studios, just to be part of a creative process. She loves it.

Which curves back round to my first point - what does your DD want?

I probably haven't answered your questions, bit I hope this helps - let us know what you decide to do.

Good luck!

Deb x
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Caroline A-C
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Re: Casting queries *newbie alert*

Post by Caroline A-C »

Looking at this agency's website, it looks as though they are essentially an extras agency which are often actually a good way for somebody to see if they really do want to go down this route. From my experience with extras work it is just good fun for the children involved who are looked after by fully qualified and vetted chaperones. There are no auditions involved for most extras work. Most theatrical/film/tv agencies (not extras agencies) would not have 1,000+ on their books as it is just too many clients to build any sort of report with. Whatever you decide, it really is so so important that it is totally driven by the child's desire and not the parents. Even extras work requires a lot of commitment from Mummy and Daddy.
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fartoomuchtodo
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Re: Casting queries *newbie alert*

Post by fartoomuchtodo »

Hi Dan,

Paulears and Flosmum both offer very sound advice and I would echo all of it. One more thing to bear in mind - I don't know your circumstances but it's very hard to support a child though all this if you have other commitments - a job, another DC, anything that requires regular attendance. Auditions are often last minute, a long way away and can take ages (that's because of lots of waiting about - not time the casting director is with your child!). If your child actually gets a job it's a whole different ballgame - yes there are excellent licensed chaperones (I'm one ;) ) but at 6 your wife may feel she (or you) want to stay with your DD. That's understandable and often possible (you can chaperone your own child without a licence) but it can mean very early starts (we've had to be on set for 7.30 am a two hour drive away) and late finishes (DS shot an advert which over ran - we finished at 11.45pm - not legal but I'm just not brave enough to call a whole shoot to a stop for a 45 min over-run!). It can also mean staying away from home for days or weeks at a time.

Personally I think you are right to be cautious but as Flosmum said - if you can support her then it really depends on how much your DD wants it. The main downside for the kids, I think, is the rejection. In this age of 'everybody wins' they can take 'nos' very hard. If you do proceed, try to teach her to see auditions as a bit of fun then forget them - you'll only hear if she gets a callback (or a job!).

If, as Caroline A-C says, this is for extras work then most of this doesn't apply and you can happily ignore us :D If it's not then you won't find more helpful, supportive people anywhere (IMHO!) Good luck - let us know what you decide.
paulears
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Re: Casting queries *newbie alert*

Post by paulears »

Perhaps also worth noting that in the great scheme of things, very often the kids are not really part of the project in the same way that the grown up actors are, simply because of the protection aspect. Not that long ago, the kids did have more fun, and would spend time with the stars (well, some of them) and they really had a good time. Now there is more distance, huge increases in supervision and monitoring. We all know why, but it has created some barriers - and it's often difficult for the kids to understand why they cannot do some things. I think we're now in the safest and most protected stage we've ever been in. Production companies do see that they have to take special care of the kids. As a result, it also means that the experience is perhaps less than it was, and I suspect this colours the impression the kids get.

All the parents on here are very special people. Single minded, blinkered and knowledgeable - they have to be after spending hours in the cold and rain in a force ten (well, almost). Trouble is very often the kids, as has been said, don't take to this quite so well - so it could be a lifetime career, or one-shot wonder. As long as you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

I'm now really an employer of kids, so have sometimes a less exciting viewpoint. One of my two grown up sons was in the business - last seen in Shakespeare with somebody from Hollyoaks on a tour, but he is now about to get married, move into his first home with a mortgage ............ and sells cars! He loved the business, but heart and wallet came to the front, and he gave up the unsocial long hours, months away from home and no possibility of getting a mortgage. He misses it, but at 24, it was time!
pg
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Re: Casting queries *newbie alert*

Post by pg »

A very minor point : don't ever judge an agent's quality (or influence ) by the numbers on their books.

Extras/background agencies do often have large numbers. Decent acting agencies (which are different ) have relatively small numbers per agent so that they can properly represent each actor.

Also, you don't have to be represented by an agent who is close to you geographically. The business is rather London centric (though of course there are some opportunities elsewhere ) so that's another thing to bear in mind.
dan_gers
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Re: Casting queries *newbie alert*

Post by dan_gers »

Hi All

Thank you so, so much for your replies - there is a wealth of information; even in these 6 posts and I have a fair bit to consider in light of your advice. You have all settled me slightly with the safety/security fears as it sounds as if the industry/business is tighter/more organised on that now.

Practically all of you made a good point (which we had considered, but perhaps not taken onboard enough) that we absolutely must take her wishes/desires fully on board and also remember she is just 6 years old!! I also never thought about the rejection thing - so another point to consider seriously (def in the future anyway). We intend on always supporting her through the Scottish Youth Theatre and perhaps this combined with a little bit of extras work over the next few years will help her decide what she really wants to do.

Thanks again for the info provided so far and I will have a good trawl around the forums - what I have looked at so far has been both fascinating and enlightening!

I'll we keep you all posted - hopefully sooner; rather than later

Regards

Dan
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nextinline
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Re: Casting queries *newbie alert*

Post by nextinline »

First of all welcome to the forum, you have found just the right place for the best advice. The members here have so much experience in this field that it is invaluable. The decision to start with an agent for me came after my ds was approached at an open audition that we had attended just for fun. My dd joined the following year. It is a busy hectic lifestyle with no guarantee of success but I have found that my children have benefited from the all round experience. They have got used to rejections and have enjoyed many opportunities that they would not have had. I wish you all the best as you start the journey. Go in with open eyes, expect little and be prepared to drop all your plans at the last minute to go to that audition halfway around the country.
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