Travelling from outside of London

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sharoola
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Travelling from outside of London

Post by sharoola »

HI
Im new to this and wondered if anyone can help me?
WE live in Bristol and regularly commute from Bristol to London for Castings and jobs but I wondered if anyone had any tips or travelled further than this to go to casting/jobs or a regular basis and how you cope with school etc
My little boy is only 5 but has already had a few TV jobs and im just trying to get my head around the commuting/school and tying in my life also with a 2 year old.
TIA
ACookie
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Re: Travelling from outside of London

Post by ACookie »

We are in the same part of the country as you and also regularly head to London. My DD is now at secondary school and so a little older than your son. However we have managed to keep everyone happy in the past by limiting castings to tv/film/theatre which are usually planned at least a few days in advance. We don't do 24 hr commercial castings In term time and no modelling. We always ask for as late a time as possible to minimise time needed off school and always make sure work missed is caught up on /asked for by my DD. Only do work under performance licence so absence is authorised. Try and leave school after pm registration so again they are not deemed absent! School then don't get too annoyed by you upsetting their unauthorised absence records. If you get a run of castings coming in, maybe decide which to give a miss to once in a while. You need school on side because although they can't really refuse consent for a performance licence, they can make it awkward - and if you have had too much unauthorised absence they can rightly refuse to sign. You can also ask your agent to focus on school holidays, unless the perfect roles come up - or auditions that require self tape. My DD has been at her secondary school 2 days and already they have signed me a consent for a performance licence! I'm hoping this is good news!
Yorkshirepudding
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Re: Travelling from outside of London

Post by Yorkshirepudding »

We are in the north, and we don't do London castings for TVC. It's too far, too last minute with too many identical children.

We do travel for bigger stuff - usually after a self tape (although DS hates self taping).

We do travel last minute for more local casting, and we are fortunate to have quite a lot of professional theatre opportunities within an hour from here so we do as much of that as we can. I agree, we always try to get late slots for castings and always try to get the pm registration tick. DS managed over 99% attendance last year despite being in two professional shows, plus a little bit of filming, so everyone is happy.

I guess it depends how often you and your child want to work. We work on the basis that it is nice to have a pause after a period of bonkers running around. And it is good to be around to do some training, and feel fully part of school life too. DS loves what he does but doesn't like missing school. (He is y5 now but has been working since Y2)

Good luck and enjoy! :D
sharoola
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Re: Travelling from outside of London

Post by sharoola »

Thank you so much, its good to know all this information as I sometimes question if im doing the right thing.
It is becoming a weekly thing having TVC castings so I am taking him out but after PM register but Im not sure how long I should be doing this for, he's in Yr 1. NO one has said anything yet but I always think I am pushing my luck! He also gets tv and film also so it is a mixture of different things. We do stick to the Pm register and I do ask for late casting so I think I am getting it right. :oops:
Do you think we could get Theatre based castings/jobs even though we live outside of London though?
TIA again
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Re: Travelling from outside of London

Post by ACookie »

There are sometimes roles in touring productions that have local children in for the part of the run close to where you live. London based shows will rarely take out of London children as they need housing and educating which obviously comes at a cost. If you have a London base and are happy to organise tutoring you may be able to access these castings. Some of the musicals make provision for out of London children to be cast, but they rarely take them before about 9 years old as obviously the child needs to be capable of living away from home. Bristol has the pantomime, but you need to be training at BSPA to access auditions. BLOC (which is amateur - but fantastic) have a children's cast in their productions maybe once every other year for their Hippodrome show, worth looking out for that if he wants theatre experience - they have just done Chitty last week. Don't think I've ever seen a casting for children's roles at Old Vic or Tobacco Factory. The Old Vic does have a good children's and youth theatre though.
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