Expert: Peter Messaline - 9/16/2010

Question
Hi There,
I cannot get information anywhere on what my 9 year old should do to start getting into the acting/modelling industry without investing millions of dollars. Websites don't work or they are really unprofessional or simply poorly constructed. Someone could really revamp that industry technologically! Single worse site is canadianactor.com but it's how I found your name at least! Do you have information or links to what she should consider? I don't want to invest money where her interest may change or perhaps her talent isn't strong enough.
Does this make sense?  

Answer
My apologies for having taken solong to reply -- I am working at Theatre New Brunswick in Fredericton, and my internet access is restricted.
I can hear your frustration, which is common among performer parents who want to do their best for their children.
I would advise you to use the canadianactor site as a source of background informayion. The big sections of performer FAQs are an excellent source of the broad picture which you need to understand.
Low tech in this case is more persuasive than the whizzbang sites of concerns making big money by poresenting a focussed but inaccurate series of statements and challenges.
The first thing you need to do is to find out if your child can actually act professionally. Find some classes (the TAAS websites lists lots, or your local school may offer evening or weekend sessions) and see if the kid enjoys the playing and pretending process, and what her attention span is. Ask the teacher if they think she is ready to take on adult responsibilities on set.
Then from the CAOnline site and our book "The Actor's Survival Kit", look at the responsibilities of a parent for a working child. Look at the long and irregular hours for auditions and work days, and the stress from being the only person who is not ready to sacrifice your child's health and happiness for the sake of the production. Check out the ACTRA site for advice to performer parents. Look at the obligations to your kid's school.

If you are responding to your child's expressed wish to be on television, explain to her that the girl on the screen laughing with the cute boy has been working for six hours on that scene, in a cold dirty warehouse in Hamilton. She went to three auditions for that part, and before that she went to twenty-five auditions for other parts she didn't get. Her agent is pleased with her because she is getting so many auditions and working -- other kids with the agency audition, but don't work, and some were hot last year but never even audition this year.

Taking your kid to some classes (not the camera and commercial classes some cheaters offer) will let her find out just a taste of the discipline and grunt work behind the job. It is likely that she will enjoy the classes for their own sake, and lose the aim of being on TV, which could easilly have been the only outlet she could see for her desire to act.

Don't rush into something which may cause her unhappiness even if everything goes right, nobody treats her badly,  and she gets the opportunities without your being ripped off.

Please take this advice and do enough research to avoid the meatgrinder you are trying to enter. You are like a parent aiming for Little League from Hell, with more inconvenience and less sympathy, and with the only success being to get your kid into a major league team.

Sympathetically

Peter M