Auditions

[Lostinjuarez]

I hope I’m posting in the right place on the forums - apologies if I’m not.

My daughter (almost 13) is very interested in the performing arts, and, judging by her dancing and singing exam results, has some real talent. We’ve been looking at the possibility of auditioning for musicals/tv/film for a while, but haven’t taken the plunge yet.

The biggest obstacle in her way, as far as I can see, is her height. She’s not huge, but she’s quite tall - about 1 metre 66, or about 5’ 5”, and of course she’s still growing. As far as I understand, it’s advantageous to be quite small as a child actor, presumably because you can play the part of someone a few years younger than you are, but with the added maturity those few years bring. She was too tall to audition for any west end child role we could find by the time she was about 10.

Am I talking nonsense? Will her height hold her back, assuming she’s good enough to get roles in other ways? If so, will it be the same for tv/film as it is for theatre?

As a child, being tall can definitely be a disadvantage, as productions often look for size in proportion to the adults. It’s still worth consulting with a reputable agent, but be ready to see the next few years as time to get really good quality training in preparation for a career in her chosen area, rather than trying to get experiences now. DD is 5’4 at age 14, and is too tall for child dancing roles (and has been for several years now), but is working on her strength, stamina and technique ready to apply for adult roles when she finished her training.

That said, there are lots of opportunities for productions where the cast are all children/ teens, NYMT for example, where they need a range of heights to cover all roles and being tall is not a disadvantage at all. I was thinking solely about professional productions in my previous post :)

To be honest with her age and height, it's going to be tricky for anything professional. At the moment there is also next to nothing to even audition for due to Covid - the last 12 months have been practically dead on the audition front for everyone.

The cut off for West End, and child roles in musical tours, is generally 5ft and 13 years which ever comes first - and most girls roles are much smaller. My DD is 12 and at almost 4ft 10" is now too tall for pretty much everything.

For film/TV they also want small so they can play younger. For everything they want them "undeveloped" - so no signs of puberty etc.

13-16 tends to be dead zone for professional work - unless they already have a strong cv and are small enough/young enough looking to play down. They will generally try and cast a young looking 16 year old instead.

At 16 you are out of license, so no need for school permission, chaperones, tutors etc which massively reduces the costs and there are no rules on hours worked etc.

Best thing to do is focus on training, training, training and trying out for anything she can do in school or locally. Who is she training with at the moment?

Worth also looking at approaching agents and see if she can get rep - without that, you can't access any of the main castings when they do happen. Agents generally take a percentage of your earnings, and you will need to pay for Spotlight (c.£100 a year) and headshots but otherwise there shouldn't be any other costs. You want to go with an agency that doesn't have thousands of kids on their books (too much internal competition) and ideally they should want to meet and assess your child so they understand their strengths/interests and what they are aiming at.

Also worth thinking about whether she will be able to handle the vast amount of rejection in this industry. 99% of the time it's a no, and 98% of the time you don't even get a no... you just never hear again. My DD is relatively successful (WE and film credits) and was lucky to be very small for her age and in the right place at the right time. She's incredibly resilient, but it's an extremely competitive industry and I have mopped a lot of tears and dealt with a lot of anxiety. Most of the kids I know who are regularly cast in things have been training since they were 4, have huge self confidence and a lot of experience in things like audition technique by the time they are pre-teens.

Such a lot of useful info, many thanks to you both! I have promised her we’ll get some photos taken for her headshots, so I think we will do that and sign up to Spotlight and take it from there, but it sounds like she/we shouldn’t hope for much progress in terms of “official” performances before she turns 16, so we’ll concentrate on taking part in am dram and school performances for the time being. She’s also hoping to audition for the Brit school so perhaps something will come of that.

Thanks again.
Dan

One more question for you - do you have any recommendations about where to get photos taken? I was looking at a photographers site, and it’s not cheap - adamhillsphotography.com/ - it would probably set me back about £300-400, depending on the package. I suspect I could get what I needed for a lot less!

For photos we used a local photographer who charged me for the session and the files, but it was too long ago to compare prices sorry. I wasn't connected to any agency

@Lostinjuarez, a child performer can only join Spotlight if they have agency representation - it's their agent who signs them up.

There are open-access casting platforms such as Mandy.com where anyone can create a profile (no agency representation needed). Generally these sites advertise lower-profile, lower-paid jobs, such as student films, but it can be a good way of getting some experience if cast. However, on these sites the parent needs to do the legwork of keeping an eye out for castings and submitting an application, and at the moment there are very few jobs being advertised. You can set up a profile for free but there is a monthly charge for if you want to apply for jobs. I would recommend starting with a free account and only paying the fee if you see a job that you want to apply for.

As a parent, you also need to be clued up about child performance regulations and licensing. Child performers under the age of 16 must have a licence to appear in a production, with some very limited exceptions. Licencing is usually a relatively straightforward process but it takes time (especially in Covid times). Child performers must also be chaperoned at all times while working, either by a parent or a licensed chaperone. Unfortunately some productions that put casting calls on open-access sites either don't know enough about child regulations or licensing or try to bend the rules, so there can be pressure on parents and children to perform without a licence or without a chaperone present. This should never happen with a legitimate production.

There are some very well-respected performing organisations that cater well for children who are too tall for professional productions, such as the National Youth Theatre, National Youth Musical Theatre and British Youth Musical Theatre. You have to be 13 for NYT, but your DD is old enough for NYMT/BYMT (though I think applications have closed for this year). British Theatre Academy is another one to consider.

Do not pay £300-400 for headshots for a 13-yo just starting out! You don't need professional headshots to approach agencies or sign up to Mandy.com. A good-quality image from a phone is fine - head and shoulders only (no hands up to face), looking straight to camera, good lighting, hair away from face so that features can be seen, no make-up or jewellery, age-appropriate clothing that isn't distracting. One image smiling, one serious.

If you really want professional headshots, something like this www.nancycollinsphotography.co.uk/studio-headshots is

Despite my DD being short ( at 17 she still meets the audition criteria for school of rock) we choose to not pursue the child performer apart from BYMT which she was in the 2019 season and will be in the 2021 season ( a delayed 2020 show).

Instead she did GCSEs and auditioned for professional training at sixth form. She successfully gained a place and is aiming for Urdang or Conti for the degree to best place herself for a long term career with the ability to teach should she suffer an injury or no longer want to perform.
For college and BYMT we just had a head shot done when we were having some family photos taken. College will organise the next set of head shots for the degree applications.

You don't need to have professional headshots at this stage. I took the ones that DD had when she got her last agent and they were the ones she had on Spotlight etc until I got organised enough to need to get professional ones done.

Well worth looking at website of headshot photographers and the social media accounts of different agents to see what a proper headshot/set of shots should look like.

As Theatre Taxi says, they shouldn't have jewellery, hair accessories etc and absolutely no make-up (including lipgloss), weird eyebrows etc. They need to be as natural and as young looking as possible.

Most important is good lighting, in focus, no distracting backgrounds, no hands near face.

If your child gets a reputable agent they may well organise photos for you at a reasonable price. So pls don’t get any done yet. A snap on your iPhone will do for now.

I agree with other that the age/height will be problematic unless your child has an unusual look. You can always send off a snap to an agent and see if they reply - no real risk there at this stage.