is it worth paying for starnow??

[Georgeoliver]

Hi I am wondering if all you mums and dads with experience that use starnow pay for the service? I am building my sons profile and it will only let me add 3 pictures and then says I need to become a full member and pay. Is it worth paying? please help

[sapphire]

Personally, I would only pay if you see something you really want to apply for!

[riverdancefan]

It can also depend on the age group and talents your son has as to whether it is worth paying? Some age groups have far less options on offer.
We pay and the paid work my son has had has more than paid the fees and that's not counting the unpaid stuff which I have been very selective about and it has been excellent experience for him.
My son has regular paid singing work via starnow as he has a great voice, so we are really happy with it.

[Georgeoliver]

Oh I'm so glad I found napm! Thankyou so much for your quick advice.
So by having a full profile and paying, casting directors can view his profile and get in touch is that right?
He is age 6 and done lots of modelling shoots since he was signed at age 3. He has only done two TVC to date and has attended a performing arts school for a year. I am now trying to find someone other than his modelling agency to represent him to try and get him more acting roles really as he seems to enjoy it. Not looking for paid work as such, just want to give him the experience. There are so many agents its hard work just looking, I havn't a clue who to try and go with at the moment!
Do you have showreels of your son singing on starnow? this maybe something I could try and do aswell as he has a lovely singing voice thanks again

[riverdancefan]

Paying means you can apply for jobs, if you don't pay you can still be contacted by employers themselves, you just cannot pick what you want to apply for.

My son does not have a showreel yet but this is his profile and you can upload audio as well.

http://www.starnow.co.uk/tobyturpin

If you search on the" helping each other" thread on here , there are plenty of good NAPM links to starnow profiles so you have examples ........

[Georgeoliver]

thanks for being so helpful riverdancefan. Toby's profile is fantastic My younger son is called Toby
Im starting to understand how starnow works now. Do employers always phone if they want to contact you or do they email?

[riverdancefan]

They really should contact you via starnow, you get a message via email saying someone has messaged you, I have only been rung once I have made contact and applied for something. Skype is popular for auditions so worth having up and running on your PC if you haven't already.


Hope that helps







X

[francescasmum]

My dd has had lots of work through star now. As far as we are concerned it has been worth while, others have had different experiences. My dd has had paid and unpaid jobs, some brilliant, some not so, but even the not so brilliant experiences have tought us both something. Several of the unpaid jobs have lead to other work (paid), either with the same director, through word of mouth or simply because dd got a show reel out of it which someone watched and liked what they saw.
One good thing about star now is they are often student films, whilst a lot of NAPMs won't touch student films we have found them invaluble (especially at the begining of dds acting career when she needed experience to get a job and needed a job to get experience). They are often local, will give first timers a chance and you can ask all sorts of questions you would not be able to ask a 'real' director/producer enabling my dd and myself to get a greater understanding of 'why' and 'how'.

[Georgeoliver]

Thanks for replying Francescasmum. we really are at that beginning stage as never done a short film before so hoping something will come up soon. I have decided to pay and see what happens although a bit worried now as I wouldnt know if a casting was genuine or not as I read somewhere anyone can put castings on star now. I have also noticed photography competitions that I thought would be good for more experience but some say they charge a booking fee of around £15. Do you know if thIs is something we should avoid? says things like winner will get a certificate and £500 in prizes. Doesnt say we get any of the pictures that they take.
thanks again

[Flosmom]

Both of my girls are on Star Now and getting loads of opportunities, paid and unpaid. They aren't as experienced as Francescasmum's dd but my advice is that the experience builds as quickly as they want it to, as long as you are prepared to develop their site, keep applying for roles (most of which you won't even get a reply from) and help them to fulfil the castings they are offered.

There is no need to pay to participate anything from Star Now unless you want to. Yes, you do need to watch out for scams, or even legit opportunities that ask for payment. My rule of thumb is that if it feels like a rip-off, don't do it. Like buses, there will be plenty of other things coming along.

Most of the film opportunities are unpaid student films. They can be good fun, just don't jump through too many casting hoops for them. They can audition via Skype or video, so there's no need to travel just for an audition (unless you want to). But don't expect to be paid a fee or even anything beyond basic expenses for this type of work. The occasional paid job balances it out a bit, but your unlikely to get rich quick!

As with any other hobby, do the things that the kids enjoy. Have fun. If it stops being fun, stop doing it.

In my mind, the fees for Star Now are the equivalent to their weekly subs if they joined the Brownies.

Good luck - hope this helps

Deb x

[TotallycluelessMum]

[quote="Flosmom"]Both of my girls are on Star Now and getting loads of opportunities, paid and unpaid.

Do you get a discount for a second child? Any chance of a BOGOF with star now??

[Panda]

Hi

Really good advice from everyone and if I can just add re FlosMum comment re student films. They are really good for experience but as FlosMum says don't bend over backwards for them. I have found them to be in two categories - really organised - hopefully the ones who will make a living out of it - and then the others who tbh are very unprofessional (probably just because of their age they just do not realise/bother about other peoples commitments and time).

From our personal experience the unprofessional are usually the ones who expect the most and give the least, they will expect you to attend castings in person (however far away), prob recalls, poss give scripts with ridiculous amount of lines for the child to learn (in relation to the time allowed and lack of renumeration), then change the filming dates the day before because someone has "forgot" to do something, have no idea about child working hours and then decide halfway through to scrap it and try something else meaning you dont even get anything for your childs showreel! Luckily you can usually spot these a mile away due to lack of regular communication an unrealistic demands from the start!

The more organised students are usually much better at communicating, will be happy to audition re Skype if you ask, have a definite plan of action with dates in advance etc and generally tbh are much more well .... professional !

I hope this hasn't put you off, as FrancescasMum says even the bad experiences you can learn from, but I would just reiterate about not putting yourself out for student films otherwise you might end up getting fed up and not bothering any more which would be a great shame for lots of other super opportunities.

good luck

P.S. Both types of students usually have no ideas about child licencing, they just dont seem to cover this in the syllabus!

[francescasmum]

That reminded me Panda of one of dds early experiences in a student film, when I mentioned licensing they said oh yes that's all taken care of, we are all CRB checked, they went quite white when I explained and quite panic stricken over the next few e-mails. Everything else was really well organised (but it did take 17 months to get the showreel). So patients is definately needed and remember most of use were students once!!