Expert: Kitty Kavey - 5/7/2006

Question
my daughter is 12, and eager to be an actress. she is very mature for her age, and also very smart. we are attending this week an interview session held by proscout.com. i have also heard of a kid agency in maryland called kid international talent agency, located on the sag website. is there any good recommendations you can offer for us to get cori started in an acting career. we live in virginia, but are willing to do what it takes.
thanks
brian


Answer
I am not personally a fan of model/talent searches or conventions.  I don't believe the cost that's generally involved is necessary, nor are these events usually all that helpful to the majority of participants, particularly since one can attend open calls or mail in one's information to nearly any agency in the US for consideration, for simply the cost of snapshots or photo duplicates and postage/mailers.  

While I'm sure there may be exceptions to the usually high expenses associated with scouting conventions/searches, I would pass on the interview at Proscout.  I do trust the Screen Actors Guild, and therefore am much more comfortable with encouraging you to visit the agency in Maryland.  They may ask you to get headshots/resumes for your daughter, but there shouldn't be other costs or classes.

In your local community there may be low-cost opportunities for your daughter to practice her craft.  Community colleges and similar places sometimes offer acting classes, as do individuals and theater groups.

While actors can certainly work without training of any kind, I feel it does help to at least take an auditioning class just to get familiar with the lingo and/or monologues, and what to do to really shine at auditions.

Best of luck to you, and your daughter.
~Kitty