Ok, back to the “how to’s” this week. We’ve talked about the audition but not a whole lot about who’s involved and what role each of them plays. Here’s a general idea.
First let’s talk about your child’s agent or manager. There is a good possibility that you have not yet signed with someone and that’s fine when you’re starting out, but it does mean that these tasks then fall on your shoulders. An agent works with a talent agency. Your agent can have anywhere from a dozen to a hundred or more talented clients on their roster for whom they are finding auditions. They get the breakdown of roles that are being offered, i.e. age, height, weight etc..and will offer you an appointment to audition if your child fits the breakdown. Their primary role initially is finding your child auditions, and getting them exposure with the casting directors.
Managers also get the breakdown. They tend to represent far fewer people as they focus not only on finding audition appointments, but will actually “manage” your child’s total career including publicity etc. We actually truly got started with Zack’s career when a friend saw his talent and, knowing how intimidated I was by the business, offered to “manage” Zack and get us started. This was perfect for us and I will be forever grateful for her patience, assistance and guidance. For our first 18 months I relied greatly on her as she coached me through many of the topics already addressed in this blog. Her own children have always been more professionally involved in film and TV so as we became more focused on musical theater, and Zack was signed by an agent specializing in musical theater, her role with us dramatically decreased. This is especially true since I still resist the “career management” piece with all the publicity etc. We will focus more on agent vs manager , and the very personal decision that is, in next weeks blog.
The audition process is generally run by a casting director. This is the next person involved whom we can talk a bit about. This person, or company, is hired by the people directing the project to find the needed “talent” or cast. They are the ones who will host the open calls and/or the agent/manager appointments from the initial call right until the point of booking the roles. There are several names you may have seen in postings or may have heard or read about. Telsey and Company (Finding Neverland & Sound of Music), Tara Rubin Casting (School of Rock), and Nora Brennan Casting (Matilda and Billy Elliot) are a few who seem to do a lot of work with kids. These people have a whole team who work with them. Often Tara or Nora will be present during a call but sometimes it’s one of their associates running the call. It will generally be set up in a room or rooms at one of the local studios in NYC. The two biggest are Pearl Studios at 500 & 519 8th avenue and Ripley Grier Studios at 520 8th avenue. Telsey has its own set up on West 43rd street that is both very impressive and slightly overwhelming depending on how busy their day is. They will have a sign-in sheet outside the room. You should not arrive more than 15 minutes early and if you are going to be more than 10 minutes late and have an appointment, you need to let someone know. Your agent or manager can handle this for you.
For a bigger call like Matilda or School of Rock there may be a “holding” room staffed by the casting company; I have mentioned this room in previous blogs. If there’s not a room to wait in then there are just chairs in the hallway to share with everyone else who is also waiting. If you arrive too early it gets crowded and your child will be able to hear all he competition that’s ahead of him/her and that can cause unnecessary stress.
When your child is called he/she should hand the staff his/her headshot and resumé. If it’s a call back this may not be required, but better to come prepared. The worst case scenario then is that they say they don’t need the information again and you bring it home.
The casting director will be in the room with the accompanist and an associate or two. One of these may be someone who would read sides with your child. Remember sides are lines from the project. Another may be taking notes, and there could be a third person operating a video camera. Notes, video, and observation are what are used for selecting the children moving on to a call back.
In the room for a call back there are generally the same people but the children are asked to perform some additional material. At this point they may ask your child to prepare a cut of music from the actual project or perhaps some additional sides for a certain character. This is where you can start to get an idea for which role your child is being considered. Occasionally there may even be a creative from the actual project at the call back, i.e./ an assistant music director.
The actual creative people from the project are generally not present until final callback. This is when the casting director has narrowed the field down to the children who have the basic look and the talent to fit the part. At final callback for Matilda Nora makes sure the kids know that they are all perfectly capable of being in the show and now it’s just the logistics of seeing who fits where. At this point the audition room can start to feel crowded despite the narrowed down talent pool. Often they will bring in the creative “team” from the show to see the children audition in person so they can discuss them after they’ve seen them all and together make their pick. When Zack made it to final call for School of Rock there were nearly a dozen people in the room and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber was also present to hear the children audition. Poor Zack nearly fell out of his chair when he saw him walk into the audition area! It’s a lot of pressure on these kids, so as the parent your job is to make sure they have the tools they need to be well prepared, but also make sure that they know their job is to be seen and make a good impression. They don’t have control over all the aspects that go into the decision of who is cast in the role. They can’t make themselves shorter or taller nor should they ever be encouraged to change the essence of who they are, beyond basic acting, in order to fit a role.
At this point in the process your child having an agent or manager can be very helpful as he/she can work to communicate with the casting team and advocate for your child as his/her client. Zack’s agent has been exceptional during those moments when he’s had to juggle two or more final call back processes at the same time. I would have combusted under the pressure of those negotiations!
As I mentioned before, if you get as far as a final call back, you should hear about the outcome. This is also the time that I encourage Zack to send a note of thanks to the casting team, in his own words, particularly if he had some great learning moments during the process.
So, there is a little more about the process for you to think about this week. We will definitely talk more next week about having an agent vs. a manager.
Sorry this entry was a bit later than normal. I am currently on tour with Zack and we have been greatly enjoying our last week in the sunshine before returning to the frozen tundra of real winter. There are some very nice benefits that come with all this crazy hard work and sacrifice!