Archive for Audition 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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Are You Helping or Hurting Your Child’s Career
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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10 Questions for Potential Actor’ Moms
On Set Behavior for Acting Kids
So You Think Your Kid Can be a Successful Child Actor