My 13 year old daughter wants to act.....HELP!!!?

Question

I'm not just saying this because I'm her mother, but my daughter has a lot of raw natural talent. She has done a couple of plays for her school for drama club and was on "Slime Time" on Nickelodeon. She can sing, dance, and act. The problem is, we don't have any money to enroll her in professional training. Many of the websites that deal with acting for children are asking for an arm and a leg!!! I'm on disability, so I have a VERY limited income. I don't think that it's right that just because of our unfortunate situation that her dream of becoming an actress won't come true!! What can I do for her? We live about an hour from NYC. I don't know ANYTHING other than there are a lot of scam artists out there wanting money and cannot guarantee a job for my daughter. My doctors don't expect me to live for too much longer, and I want to die knowing that I helped make her dream come true. Please help me.

Answer 1

It's good that you're wary of all the hustlers out there who want to take your money and give nothing in return. Your daughter should continue acting at school and should also look for opportunities with community theatres in your area. (You can check local newspaper listings and your local phone book to discover what theatres are operating near you. Call them to find out if they're holding youth auditions or if they offer any reasonably priced acting classes.) You can also look at the weekly newspaper Backstage for information about auditions that would be appropriate for a performer of her age.

http://www.backstage.com/bso/index.jsp

In two or three years, your daughter will be old enough to look for apprentice and intern jobs with summer theatres in your area. Like school and community theatre plays, those gigs might not seem as glamorous as what she eventually wants to achieve, but they will help her gain experience, develop her skills, and lay the foundations for her future career.

Answer 2

I'm a 13 year old and i have been wanting to act for a long time and I'm in the same situation your daughter is in, I'm not exactly on the rich side of life... but i have lots of family that work in the business and my brother is going into it right now so i have lots of help. i do know that in New york there are a lot alot a lot of scam artists. the way to check it they are real is if they are a real company, have a nice studio dressed nice that kind of thing. but if you don't have the money to do that i suggest finding an after school program that she can do (they aren't very expensive and she will be with people her age) but i got sent this web site and i love it, there are all kinds of tips and it's really helpful! http://www.actingcareerstartup.com/teen_acting.html

I really do wish you, and your daughter luck! I'll keep you in my prayers =)

Answer 3

look into community theatre. after a few years there, she can get a job (when she's old enough) and pay for the formal training herself. or even apply to one of the magnet drama high schools. acting is so much more than tv and movies.

Answer 4

first off please stop thinking so negatively for yourself, because if you believe and have faith that you will make it through this difficult time then you will and live to watch your daughter perform! secondly yes i do have a site though i will admit i dont know much about it but it looked like a good start for young actors. the site is myactingagent.com. best of luck!!

Answer 5

Why don't you contact Rosie Donnell's Broadway kids program.

http://www.rosiesbroadwaykids.org/site.php?module=article&pageid=459

Answer 6

Well, I'm in the film industry, and have been for a long while now, and can offer a great deal of advice about the acting business.

But by review of all other questions you've posted on Y!A, I don't think she's right for the job.

A girl that is failing school, and a trouble maker is not a girl we want on the sets unfortunately.
(hopefuly you show this to her, and she reads it.)

Actually I have kind of a funny story about young girls and mothers in the film industry.
The largest category of actors is the youth/adolescent girl group, there are more of them in the industry than adult men/women, it's true.

Anyways, back to the story, we were casting a couple of weeks ago for the role of a 10 year old blonde girl, so released our breakdowns and had a flood of agents and applicants.
By audition day the casting room was full, and one by one the girls came into the room without their mothers, and did their auditions, but we turned them away one-by-one.

About 8 out of 10 of these young 9-12 year-old little girls were wearing SO much makeup, and big fluffy dresses, hair in pigtails with ribbons, shiny shoes ect. (you can imagine, we were just casting the little sister of the main character) and were just acting like little ballerinas in the room, as we sometimes ask the girls where their mothers are, usually pressing their ears up against the door, we'd call them in sometimes, and they would tell us how much natural talent their daughter has.
We just smile and say "Well, we'll call you!"

There was a little girl that came in about half-way throughout the second day, she was 12 years old, wearing normal jeans/t-shirt combination, sneakers, hair just brushed, and normal.
She performed naturally, and didn't get too wound up, she just gave her audition, said thanks and went to leave.
So the director stopped her at the door, and asked her if he could speak to her parents, she came by herself, and took the bus to downtown Hollywood from Los Angeles County (like an hour away)
*we usually like to speak to the parents if there is a possibility of the child getting the role, because of the parents playing such a huge role on the set, when it comes to supervising your child and getting her there on time, ect.

Needless to say, we knew instantly that girl had gotten the part, she wasn't a bad kid, pretty innocent, motivated, ect.

The children we hire, are usually the ones that drag their parents to the auditions, not the other way around.

Professional training is key for a young artist, but as is experience.
Here is what you could do to help her dreams come true;

Instead of enrolling her in a class, try and get her some regional work, such as student films.
They are almost always non-paying roles, but they offer experience and almost always feed you.

Once she has done 12-25 short films, (they usually take from 2 days, to 2 weeks to film, and she may only have to be present for a day or two of it)
She can begin to assemble what is called a "demo reel".
A demo reel is equivalent to a photographer's portfolio, in that it is a short compilation you send to agents with a montage of her work, in the short films.
Usually once you are finished working on a project, you may ask the director for a sample of the work, along with a release form to use the scenes with her in it for her demo reel.
You can assemble your demo reel with a simple movie-making program, even young children do this all the time and post their music videos ect. on youtube.
Do not, under any circumstances, try and flubb a demo reel, by filming her doing monologues or dancing, making your own "audition tape" or demo reel.
(we always know)

The next thing you are going to need to do is arrange for headshots to be taken, you should expect to pay anywhere from 60-200 dollars for these, anywhere out of that range, you should steer clear of.

Also, you are correct, there are ALOT of scams out there targeting young actresses and sucking their parents.

Never pay an agent to get you jobs, they take a 15% deduction off of your paycheck, so they only get paid if you do. (otherwise they would have no motive to get the actor any jobs)
But then again, if you don't show up to a number of these auditions, your agent will drop you faster than you can say "...but I..."
As they don't get paid unless you do.

Don't sign up for ANY online sites that guarantee auditions and things, instantcast, ect. are all proven scams, and will charge your credit card without your knowledge and disappear.

There are listings for short films and student work on Craigslist and various other free websites.
(there is even a high demand for these nowadays, but it is a great way through the backdoor that not alot of people have caught on to yet.)
Good luck with anything, and if you need any other help with questions ect. I always tell people to feel free to private message me with anything.

If your daughter read the part about school, (and hopefully she did) it might be no surprise to her that this is a tough love industry and is actually work.
We hire actors like we hire a plumber or an electrician, if they are not qualified to do the job, I'm not going to hire him.
Even if he thinks he may know how to un-clog my drain.