Has this recently happened to you? Having taken your kids to see a show, do they now think and talk about nothing but performing? Do they mimic commercials, film, videos, and CDs? Will they grab any opportunity to perform for family, friends, neighbors, or in school and local productions? After watching your kids, do total strangers say your child belongs on Broadway? Are you pleased, proud, panicking?
Not to worry, Back Stage has gathered advice from agents, managers, teachers, parents, and kids successfully navigating the show-biz waters, to help you separate the hope from the hype and decide if your child or teen has what it takes to realistically pursue this rewarding, but highly competitive, career.
As Maria would sing in "The Sound of Music": "Let's start at the very beginning." The pros we've spoken to agree: Even if everyone believes your child has talent and you want him to have the accolades‹and hopefully earnings‹that can come from this career choice, the equation just doesn't work unless the dream of being a performer is first and foremost his.
Especially in very young children, what agents, managers, and casting directors are looking for isn't just natural talent or past resume experience, but a child who is outgoing and gregarious‹one who can easily talk to and be left with strangers, who has his own opinions and doesn't need parents to finish sentences or coach him on what to say. If your child sings flawlessly, or can dance up a storm, but is shy verbally, best to wait until he develops self-assurance.
Agent Ellen Gilbert, of Abrams Artists & Associates, Ltd., opens every piece of mail she receives personally. (See our agents and managers lists, pages TK, for details on the Abrams agency and other New York City-based pros mentioned here.) She used the same phrase most of the professionals we interviewed chose when describing what they look for in a first interview. "I'm often asked this question on panels and conventions, and after 10 years I still say the same thing: I look for that "special something' in their personality." Gilbert adds with warm enthusiasm, "It can't be defined, but I can tell as soon as we start talking."
So, what questions might she ask your child? "To see if they really want to be doing this themselves, I'll ask if they want to be on TV, then to tell me about a new toy or a story." She advises, "Parents don't always realize kids have better instincts and shouldn't be over-coached on what to say. If kids learn only one way to do something and can't take direction after memorizing, that's a problem. I've had casting directors call me about parents over-coaching."
The agent observes, "Kids don't have to look "perfect.' They do have to be real and natural, and it takes luck as well as talent, because there are plenty of talented kids out there." She's seeing an interest especially in teenagers this pilot season, because of the success of the WB network's "Dawson's Creek." Gilbert is one of many agents who are willing to accept snapshots rather than professional 8x10s. "I like to make it as easy on the parents' wallet as I can," she confides.
Gilbert advises parents to support their kids' involvement in performances for school and community theatre and in hobbies and special skills, which are an important part of a beginner's resume and give kids more to talk about in an interview. She estimates that 80% of the kids she sees have already done some performing. Since early readers (starting at six if not before) have the edge at auditions, she stresses that parents can help their kids best by guiding them towards becoming enthusiastic readers.
Reading Is FUNdamental
One of Gilbert's busy clients is 13-year-old Jason Fuchs, who began acting at age seven, acing his very first audition for a reading of the film "The Object of My Affection." He was soon cast in "A Christmas Carol" at Madison Square Garden for which he also sang on the cast album. He made his film debut at nine in the film version of "Flipper," and has two feature films set for 1999 release: "Isn't She Great," starring Bette Midler, and "Spooky House," starring Mercedes Ruehl and Ben Kingsley.
Jason says he owes a great deal of his success to an early love of reading: "Because I read a lot, I have an advantage. Reading scripts or commercial copy isn't a problem for me, so I can really focus on the acting instead of it being secondary." He believes reading is so important that he recently donated 100 of his books to New York City's Ronald McDonald House. The bright, upbeat, and well-spoken honor student has as a goal one day to attend Columbia University. "You have to keep your grades up and make sure school comes first," he advises kids interested in performing, and he suggests, "If you're not having fun, don't do it."
Jason reminds kids that there's a need to change the way you say lines for the different media you'll be performing in. "For film and TV, try to have a more conversational tone. For stage, you'll need better diction and bigger vocal production." He cautions, "You'll need to show you understand the difference, even in your first auditions." The young teenager maintains many other interests to balance his performing, including playing point guard for his favorite sport, basketball, and recently participating in his seventh-grade science fair.
Jason is aware of wanting to be an actor as early as three years old. He recalls, "I convinced my parents to let me see an agent, but because I had been taught never to speak to strangers, I was so quiet during the interview, they said to bring me back when I was older." This brings up an important tip: Agents and managers in their initial meetings are trying to get a feel for how your child will behave during future auditions and interviews. If kids are too focused on the need to be polite, or to not speak unless spoken to, they may be viewed as too shy or serious.
You should also remember that the audition or interview really begins the moment your child walks through the door. Anyone a child meets, from the receptionist to the assistant, may be asked how they perceived your child. An outgoing, courteous, relaxed, and friendly manner with everyone may be as important as audition talent.
We asked Jason's mom, Lillian Fuchs, to tell us what it was like early on. As a former educational and vocational counselor working with teens, she was wary of turning her son into a "show-biz kid," but she noticed that even as a baby he would find creative ways to turn all his toys into microphones for singing. Fuchs began sending Jason at the age of seven to a "non-professional" improv acting class after seeing a brochure for it at his school. She knew that her son had a great interest but she had no idea how to get started. Her husband, who works in the financial sector, got agency suggestions from a friend, and then their son impressed immediately with his flair for reading copy.
When asked how she first guided her seven-year-old towards dealing with rejection, she answers, "You try to help them know people are looking for a certain look or type and that it isn't a personal rejection. This is also not the most important thing in his life; there are many things he does well." She sees Jason's career as a wonderful way to spend more time with him than some moms get. Fuchs adds, however, that if she didn't live in Manhattan and she hadn't already been a full-time, at-home mom with only one child, it would be difficult, especially going away for location filming. "You need stamina, just like being a soccer mom."
Career Building for Terrific Talents
Manager Marianne Leone of Terrific Talent Associates Inc. tells us she has one of her kids in every show on Broadway. She sees the role of a manager as a "career builder" (and has built the careers of Robin Givens, Lauren Holly, Debbie Gibson, Matt LeBlanc, and Kirsten Dunst), but explains to readers that, while she may get her clients the opportunity, they get the jobs. Leone works with triple-threats (actor-singer-dancers). She finds clients from referrals but will consider snapshots rather than professional photos and cautions parents about anyone who asks them for money or expects them to invest in expensive photography.
Asked what she is looking for in a client Leone realistically replies, "A kid either has it or they don't, and you can tell in a second. For three- to five-year-olds it's all about their personality. By five and six they must be reading. At 14 to 16 some performing experience is expected, and for 18-year-olds, they already need to be in the unions." On the important subject of rejection, Leone confides sympathetically, "You have to be careful about rejection. I was a mom first before I was a manager. I won't send a client unless they are really right for a part."
Agent H. Shep Pamplin, of Oppenheim-Christie Associates, Ltd., prefers to work with managers rather than parents. He believes the former know best how to "prepare pictures and resumes professionally and have the child look and be ready to go out for an audition." Pamplin attends talent shows that focus on young people and watches the Talent America regional competitions in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York City. He does accept pictures through the mail, but looks for professional 8x10s because they show him that the parents already understand the business and aren't looking for him to be a teacher rather than an agent. Pamplin looks for what a child has done outside of school and believes that classes can be helpful. He also recommends Stagedoor Manor, a theatre camp in New York State that combines camp for children 8-18 with the opportunity to constantly be in shows and learn all types of performance. It adds resume credits and experience.
In an interview he looks for parents to be able to let go of their kids enough so that he can get to know the child's personality and see if "they know what they're doing and truly enjoy performing." While multi-ethnic kids are more popular than ever before, he still sees redheads with freckles and middle-suburbia all-American looks as being big bookers. This year he's finding that 10- to 16-year-olds are also great for film.
Tobe Gibson, of Young Talent Inc., has been a manager for 24 years and works with kids from age three to adults. She counts as one of her discoveries Tom Cruise, and a current client is sitcom-ready Brittany Tyler, seen in many familiar national commercials, including one in which she throws a tea party for a major long-distance telephone company. Gibson scouts competitions and is also one of the judges for the Talent America conferences. She looks for "charisma" and feels that "quirky" is now just as in as pretty.
Gibson sees a manager's job as being a personal guide to the business, and explains to Back Stage the merits of her clients signing exclusively with an agent rather than freelancing. "Being exclusive or "front line' means you're going to get rewarded with that agent's best calls and hear from them steadily." She suggests that, whenever possible, parents who can should opt for kids to have study hall or gym in the afternoons, so that auditions won't interfere with important classes.
Three's a Charmer
The hills are alive‹as is Broadway bundle of energy Christiana Anbri, currently playing Gretl in "The Sound of Music." At the age of a very petite eight she has appeared in three Broadway shows, having already played the much-coveted roles of Molly in the 20th-anniversary production of "Annie" and Young Eponine/Cosette in "Les Mis rables. She's also had a reoccurring role on ABC's "One Life To Live" since 1997, as young Melinda in the flashback sequences. So how is Broadway treating her? She has "lots of fun" and is "very excited to be working with Richard Chamberlain."
Christiana sees auditions as "a chance to be in a roomful of people enjoying what I'm doing." She has wanted to sing since she was four and advises kids to "audition with a song you really like." She usually has one or two auditions a week, loves to ice skate, dance jazz and lyrical ballet, and play with her white dog, Dinky, and her friends in Philadelphia, where she returns every Monday and Tuesday. She dreams of being an ice dancer and getting to act in movies.
The young actress describes for Back Stage what it's like when she's rehearsing a show. In "The Sound of Music," while she learned blocking, someone wrote the instructions in her script. There are also numbered areas on the stage so the kids can remember where to stand. In New York Christiana stays in an apartment with her mom, dance and gymnastics instructor Carla DeSautel; all of the family‹Christiana, Carla, dad Daniel and younger sister Ciara‹gathers two days a week back home in Philly. In both cities, Christiana circles her lines in the script and studies them twice. She then goes to play with her friends and afterwards they help her study her script again.
Christiana loves to read, and writes and draws pictures constantly in her journal, where she includes all of her experiences. She feels it's important for her to rest during intermission so that she is always energetic, and says she hardly notices the mini-clip mike she has to wear onstage.
Being a theatre family, especially one having to live in two locations with two budgets, was a totally foreign experience to DeSautel. She's thankful for the guidance she's received from Christiana's manager, Patti Abbott Claffy, as well as support from friends, family, and especially Grandma. "I had never been to New York City before, but you get used to it real fast."
Because DeSautel had been a dancer, as soon as her daughter showed a big interest at two, she was enrolled in dance class. So many people commented that her daughter should be a model that DeSautel did some research. First she looked in the phonebook under "modeling" for a reputable agency. Then she asked mothers of models at her dance school for their opinons on the firms she had found. A print career was born. "From the moment she started performing you could tell she was loving every minute," says mom with pride. "I've seen her develop self-esteem from performing; it's brought out her personality, improved her singing because of what she's been taught by the show's staff, and she's made lots of friends."
Philadelphian Patti Abbott Claffy was herself a successful young performer. Along with her brother, she was managed by manager Barbara Jarrett, before becoming Jarrett's associate, and then began to manage full-time on her own nine years ago. Claffy has many clients in commercials and onstage. She'll look at snapshots in the mail as well as referrals, and because of her background feels that she is very attuned to what clients and parents are experiencing. She got into the business originally because of her friendship with Andrea McArdle when they were youngsters.
Claffy now likes to interview parents as well as their kids. She likes to see "who's driving the boat. Ultimately if the parents want it more than the kids, that will make a nervous child who worries and crumbles," she observes. "Kids deserve to have fun and not live with that kind of pressure." She suggests that the industry is looking at the way kids act with their peers around the lunch table, rather than kids who are on their best behavior. Her number one golden rule to parents is to stay away from gossiping and comparing and commenting on other children's careers. She finds kids that in the upper half of their class do better performing, because they are willing to put in the study time and are good readers with good comprehension. In return, performing gives them confidence for their schoolwork and better people skills.
The manager suggests that when handling auditions and callbacks it's "okay to ask a child how the call went, but then drop it and move on to another subject. If you set goals for your auditions, then each can be a success whether or not you get the booking. If a child feels too pressured, switch to community theatre. Life and your finances can't rely on this; it can only be the icing on the cake." Her favorite quote is from Dick Van Patten, who says, "People give this business a bad rap, but there have been a lot of success stories. Little League can be negative too."
It's a Matter of Trust
Agent Barry Kolker, of the Carson Organization Ltd., has an excitement about his job that's positively catchy. After being an actor as a child and a young adult, he began to work as an agent at Fifi Oscard Agency Inc. There he met Steve Carson and now has the "brilliant opportunity" to work as a team with Carson and his wife, Maria Burton Carson, a duo Kolker greatly admires. He finds clients through many avenues, including teachers, managers, referrals, family, friends, and snap- or school shots sent through the mail. He attends productions by the New York Youth Theatre, the Roger Simon Studio, and TADA!
This agent, who just celebrated booking his fifth child into Broadway's "Miss Saigon," has booked as well two young Simbas in "The Lion King," six kids on daytime series, three on prime time, and two of the principal children in Broadway's current "Annie Get Your Gun." He is also as interested in beginners. "I just met a three-and-a-half-year-old boy who told me he can't wait to grow up and be a chicken! Experience is not as important as the child who has that winning personality." He points out that kids especially 12 and under who are small for their age do very well, and that your child doesn't have to sing and dance for acting jobs.
For a typical audition with a youngster, unless the child is clinging to his parent, Kolker will take him into his office for an interview with the door open and the parents waiting outside. He asks about the child's favorite color, food and "why [he] wants to do this." Especially with younger kids he'll say lines and have them repeat, and if they sing it's a cappella or with a tape they've brought. Kolker feels problems that most hinder a child's chances of working include "Accents and regionalisms that limit a child; also kids who become fidgety and can't concentrate, or whose state of mind wanders when they have to be onstage but don't have lines."
What can parents do to help the agent who is working with them? "We work very hard, and life is too short to stay with difficult situations," he explains. "Parents need to trust the agent. It's inappropriate to constantly be calling and asking why other children were sent on a certain audition and your child wasn't. There's always a good reason why. I also get calls from casting offices after auditions when children's pictures and resumes aren't attached properly."
On the subject of dealing with rejection, "When parents take things hard, so will kids. You have to be able to say, "So you'll get the next one,' and it always has to be the child's decision to continue."
While it's very important for kids to enjoy other activities and maintain school work, parents must learn to advise agents of tests, sports responsibilities, vacations, and school or community plays to avoid double scheduling. One area where parents make early mistakes is in "booking out" improperly. Kolker believes strongly in children's acting classes and also recommends Stagedoor Manor, which he attended himself. Kids are often recommended to him by Rita Litton of ACTeen and Sharon Richardson, from Weist-Barron's Kids Love Acting program. He advises, "Children shouldn't be mechanical from over-coaching. That doesn't mean they can't study, because kids need training, especially in how to audition, and to give them more confidence."
The ABC's of Acting
Having your child attend classes is not mandatory, and some industry and parents shy away from classes that develop a child so that he seems "too professional." You may find, however, that classes can provide a winning edge, especially in the areas of self-confidence, learning to take direction and work with others. They also give early audition, performance, and on-camera experience. Class is also a way to initially see if your child enjoys the work and discipline involved in performing.
We asked some teachers for their observations on what they see as the pluses of training. Rita Litton is the director of ACTeen in New York City and works with performers age 13 to 20. Most of these students are beginners and her focus is on acting as reacting, kids learning to listen and respond, and using the camera as a teaching tool. "No one wants phony or un-spontaneous work, but how can kids distinguish what doing it right or real feels like? The camera doesn't lie. Especially after puberty, kids can feel inhibited, so we try to help them remember what it feels like to play. Classes explore developing the tools to make your own choices. Directors expect that teens should be able to make 90% of their own choices in an audition." Schools can answer parents' questions about the business, and Litton holds industry showcases to introduce advanced students to agents and casting directors.
Sharon Richardson, children's director of the New York-based Weist-Barron's Kids Love Acting program, works with seven- to 12-year-olds and some four- to six-year-old pre-readers. She points out that lessons or coaching can help put talented newcomers on the same footing as kids who are already working. In classes, she says, you learn by doing and are exposed to all kinds of scripts, from sitcoms and commercials to movies, in a nurturing environment. Kids get to watch themselves on camera, and parents are invited to watch their children's playbacks, too. "It's important to remember that acting is about being and doing, not "showing and performing,' and that's what makes it natural and real." She observes, "Teachers and directors help a child learn to be a detective, finding the clues to their characters and to the motivations and changes that make acting exciting and fun. If you focus on having a wonderful time in every audition, then it's always fun, and each one brings a new opportunity to learn and grow."
Alan Croft, of the KD Studio in Dallas, Tex., whose students include Eric Sullivan from the upcoming film "Cider House Rules," opens the last 15 minutes of class to parents to learn the nuts and bolts of what will be required for a film or commercial audition. Here are some tips and terms you might learn in a class like Croft's: Remember that the audition really begins when you walk in the door. Especially for commercials and film, try to arrive early so you'll be able to take a look at the "copy" or "sides" (script) or "storyboard" (when there are no lines, comic book-like pictures of the action are often provided for commercials).
Always bring extra pictures and resumes (already properly attached), even if you know they have one from you or your agent/manager. There may be more than one person in the audition who wants to be able to look at the information, and there are often in-boxes for commercial extra work in casting offices where you can leave a photo for future consideration. A Polaroid of your child may be taken (like a passport picture you usually get one try), and you should know all sizes and measurements in case you're asked to fill out an information card.
In the audition as the video camera starts rolling they'll ask your child to "slate" (say his name and who sent him‹remember this is already part of the audition and needs as much personality as anything else your child does).
That lets you in on some of the on-camera basics. We'll add, too, that for musical auditions, your child may be asked to bring a whole song or 16 bars (measures of music) of an up-tempo (a fast, usually upbeat song) and a ballad (a slow, usually serious song). If it's a new musical, try to find out the style of the music (ragtime, rock, traditional show tune, etc.) by checking the casting information or looking for articles about the project on the Internet) and bring similarly styled music. If it's an audition for an existing show, prepare the songs your child's character sings in the show. Music needs to be sung in the correct show-score key (not the key in a songbook) and should be readable and easily played by any accompanist. An elaborate arrangement or little-known song won't show off your child if it's too difficult for the pianist to sight-read.
If your child's talent doesn't match his great love of performing, remember: There are numerous careers in entertainment behind the scenes, including set and costume design, directing, casting, and even writing about the theatre. One day one of these may be just the right fit. You might also start looking through our pages right now and find your child's first audition or industry contact, so "break a leg" from Back Stage, and happy hunting!