Archive for Acting Tips
Preparing Your Child Actor for Auditions
Posted by: | CommentsYour child has been called for an audition. You have selected the appropriate wardrobe for the part and planned your day to get there in plenty of time. Now what?
At some auditions, they are just looking for a particular look either to fit into a family look or to fit the clothing. At others, they want an excited kid or a nerdy kid or a tough kid and your child already has that look. At others, you child will be given lines – called sides – to memorize and perform at the audition.
Madelyn on set or Ear 4 Art
We cannot emphasize how crucial it is for you child actor to know the lines by heart.
In some auditions, the actual writer, director and producer will be watching the auditions live or on tape. Some are looking for a particular look, feel or expression. All are looking for a child actor who can take directions well. And some, want to see the right child actor say the right words with the right energy and style.
Now, if they are just looking for a look or feel for the character, you won’t go wrong by having your child know the lines. If the lines come out naturally, it can only help them present the appropriate expression when directed to do so.
If they are looking for a child actor to say the right words, with the right energy and able to change based on spoken direction, it is critical that your child knows the lines inside and out. A child scanning his/her memory for the next word will invariably have a challenge changing intonation or expression when asked to.
Now, some children are receptive to working with their parents, but in our experience, far more find it difficult to work with their parents when preparing a role. This is where an acting coach comes in very handy. The best place to find a coach is through your child’s acting school. Most acting teachers offer one-on-one training. This method has some natural plusses, not the least of which is that your child is familiar with working with that person.
In many cases, the teacher is also a working actor, very familiar with the audition process. They can work with your child on the lines as well as with different expressions and reactions they may be asked to perform at the audition.
If time or money makes it impossible to set up a coaching session, still work with your child to make sure they know the lines and can perform the lines “naturally” and can make changes based on direction.
While there is little way to guarantee your child will book the part, it will go a long way toward that goal.
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5 Good Reasons to Consider Extra Work for Your Child Actor
Posted by: | CommentsThere are pros and cons to every aspect of the Entertainment Business and a lot of panic about what NOT to do. If you and your child actor have been around the business for any amount of time, you will have heard pros and a lot of panicky cons about taking work as an extra or background.
Baram & Hamza Set
You will hear things like not to include extra work on a resume. You’ll hear that extra work isn’t considered to be “real” acting. You’ll hear that most extras never go on to “real” acting gigs. And in general, these generalizations are true.
However, there are some very good reasons you may want to consider extra work for your child actor when you are considering whether or not to get involved in professional acting. Here are five reasons that extra work may be a great introduction to your child actor’s career.
1) No Auditions – 90% of the time, when your child is called, they are booked. The other 10%, either you were too slow and others booked ahead of you or they need a particular skill or look and will require an audition or fitting (and wardrobe time is paid).
2) Get Paid – If you book the job, you show up with your child actor and your child gets paid. This is especially important if you have to take off from work to bring your child. You will do a lot of driving and taking off from work to go to auditions before booking your first job. Every so often, a booked extra gig gets canceled for reasons beyond your or your agent’s control. But most of the time, if you accept the booking, your child works and gets paid.
3) Gain Set Experience – TV and Movie Sets have a lot of rules and not all children are cut out for it. The hardest rule to live with on is the unwritten rule of “hurry up and wait.” TV and Movie sets are actually very boring between the waiting for set-up, to sitting in the homework room completing the compulsory on-set study time, to doing the same actions over and over and over again. It is great to get that experience relatively quickly before investing a lot of time driving to auditions and classes and headshots and demo-reels.
4) Tax Deductions – All of the money you spend on headshots, classes, driving, casting services are just money out of your pocket until your child actually gets paid. You will want to check the tax laws as they change all the time, but many of your child’s acting expenses become tax deductions as soon as they start getting paid.
5) Get Paid – did I say that already? Well, that’s because that is likely the biggest reason people considering acting careers for their children consider extra work. With all of the things you have to pay for, its good to have a payday every once in a while.
Now of course, there are some myths about extra work that are not true.
Most extras aren’t “discovered” and made into instant stars for that matter, neither are most working actors. Yes, there are times when your child will get a bump for doing something special, but again, you can’t depend on bumps or instant stardom.
But if you and your child are getting into acting solely to become as star, you are more likely to be disappointed than walking the red carpet. However, if your child has some skills and likes the process, you still have to go about the business of acting and build it with a solid base for auditions and potential future acting jobs.
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Understanding On-Set Hierarchy
Posted by: | CommentsRecently, we were on a set with a wide variety of people. It reminded me that as a parent of child actors how low in the TV and film set hierarchy we sit.
If you are newer to the biz, this is a very basic introduction to a general TV and Film set hierarchy. If you have been around a while, you will surely be able to come up with exceptions to this hierarchy, but as always, this describes generalities of Showbiz and is not written in stone.
Depending on the size of the production, this layer cake can have two or more layers of importance and ability of each of these players to act like a Diva on set or off. The most basic is, the more you get paid, the higher you are on the hierarchy. But most people know only what they are making. Another clue is where you hang out between scenes and where you eat. If your name is on a dressing room door, you’re pretty high up. Even if your title or job description is on a door, you are still somewhere in the top 50%. If between scenes and for meals you are outside in a tent, you are likely lower on the totem pole. So here’s a guide.
The top layer is occupied by box office stars, directors, producers, top-name writers, top-name directors of photography and in certain cases, investors and/or advertisers. Each has their own star power and the top layer shifts between these entities. Until you are earning millions of dollars per picture, you’re not here yet.
Layer Two includes ensemble cast members (or the rest of the ensemble if there is a major-named star), assistant directors, assistant producers, maybe the writer(s) and director of photography (if they aren’t top names), and specialized contributors like special effects experts.
Layer Three includes crew members (which can be its own layer for some productions), supporting cast, make-up, wardrobe, props department, assistants to people higher up, set photographers, electricians, lighting – just about everyone who isn’t you.
Layer Four includes craft services, gophers or runners, other credited, but un-named cast – boy 1, friend 2, and set teachers.
Layer Five includes background players or extras, janitors, laborers, honey wagon drivers.
Layer Six and below is us, parents or guardians of child actors on any level above. Please don’t take offense if you consider yourself higher, but the truth is, you are the only unpaid person here even below interns. They are also unpaid, but at least have been chosen by the producers and/or directors. We are just necessary distractions.
It doesn’t matter if you are the CEO of a multi-gazillion dollar business off set. On-set you are just a stage-parent. Like the old adage about children, Showbiz parents are expected to be “seen, but not heard.” You are expected to keep your child in line if they get unruly and to make sure your child is on set and ready to shoot when the director calls “action”. Other than that, no one involved in the production wants to know what you think.
O.K., that sounds a bit harsh, but one way to be quickly dismissed as troublesome is to assume as the parent of a child actor (even a star) that you have ANYTHING to say. The surest way to be out of showbiz almost as soon as you’ve gotten in is to be a parent or guardian of a child actor and to demand things on-set or off. (We’ll talk about how to handle problems on set without being labeled as trouble in a later blog.)
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Attention Parents of Child Actors – Nobody Likes a Diva
Posted by: | CommentsAdmit it, you have considered what your child’s life (and yours) will be like after some visible success in acting. After some big success, so-called stars can get too big for their own good. Even before reaching success, some people are tempted to be “helpful” in a manner that ends up appearing overbearing and demanding. Integrity and the quest for excellence are good things, but not when presented in the manner of a petulant child or bossy so-and-so.
In short, nobody likes a Diva.
Sure, if your child actor is making enough money for people, they will put up with a certain amount of Diva-ness. But, have a few poor performances, stop making money for the people kissing your butt, or worse, not making much money for anyone else including yourself…and the Diva act will get you nothing more than a bad reputation.
The newer you are on the scene, the smaller the part, the less leeway you have and the less likely you will get away with Diva behavior. There is a definite hierarchy on TV and film sets. The lower you are, the less input you have on anything more than whether you will take the job assuming one is offered to you.
Unless you are extremely lucky, on most jobs you will get in your first few years as an actor, you will be Supporting Cast (also sometimes Featured Extra) or Background Extra. Even if your child is hired as “Hero Child”, you may not be considered more than “Supporting Cast.”
On TV Commercial shoots, which are short (2-3 days at most, often 1 day or part of a day) you will be treated respectfully, but certainly not given much input to the production. To attempt to discuss your child’s motivation with the director or to question your child’s part or lines is presumptuous at best, un-earned Diva behavior at worst. Your child is expected to show up, on-time, know the lines (if there are any) and to wait quietly, patiently, and without complaint until called.
When called, you are expected to get your child to wardrobe and make-up, and on set on time. There, you sit quietly while your child actor must do their part, over and over and over again with exactly the same energy and movements until the director has all of the shots, angles necessary to cut down to 15 seconds of pure magic – in other words, a typical TV commercial.
On shoots for TV series and films, time may be tighter and tempers shorter as the stakes are even higher. Anything you as a parent or your child actor does to make that process more difficult is a problem.
Anything you do to act professionally will not be praised…it is expected. To get to the point where you have any right to express your input, your child actor needs a strong history of bringing in audiences.
It may be your child’s face on screen, but “talent” on a typical set is not considered much higher than the level of a trained chimpanzee. (O.K., that was maybe unnecessarily harsh, but it got your attention).
It doesn’t matter if you’re child actor has been on 2, 10 or even 100 shoots, unless you are a bona fide star, don’t try to pull rank on anyone if you expect to continue working. It is a very small industry. You can’t afford to gain the reputation of being a difficult parent of a difficult child, because there are too many actors just like your child waiting in line to gratefully step in.
We can’t say it often enough or with great enough emphasis…Nobody likes a Diva!
How to get your Child Actor to – Act Natural
Posted by: | CommentsAct Natural – two of the most difficult words for child actors even adult actors to follow. Without getting all philosophical, when someone tells you to not think about something, that’s exactly what you think about. As soon as someone tells you to act natural, it becomes one of the most difficult things to do.
- Adam & Madelyn with SpongeBob
Go ahead. Try it. ACT NATURAL.
It reminds me of one of my children’s favorite episodes of “SpongeBob Squarepants.” SpongeBob is about to cheat on his boating exam. As the teacher drives up, Patrick tells SpongeBob to “act natural.” SpongeBob drops on all fours, moos and starts nibbling grass. It’s a funny scenario, but surprisingly accurate.
You’re child finally has an audition for a part as a “regular” kid and suddenly, you’re child has no idea how to act natural. Your child has 90 seconds to BE the kid – just a kid, trying to act like a kid, while saying memorized lines and taking directions from someone. It is about as far from “natural” as it gets for most children.
This is why it is so important for actors, especially child actors, to take acting class. In class, actors have a chance to observe their reactions, to interact with others, to take direction, and to experiment with techniques all designed to appear natural when they “act natural.”
With practice, your child will be able to act natural whether its in class, at an audition or at a paid acting job.