@CandlesInTeacups congratulations to your DS on signing with an agency! No direct experience with Seaside Kids but my impression is that they have a decent reputation. I think you're absolutely right to go with an agency that you feel communicates well - you'll have lots of questions when you first start out and and good communication makes a huge difference.
In terms of what happens next, your agency is likely to ask you to get some professional headshots, and will arrange for your DS to join Spotlight, the main casting platform for professional work. The agency should be able to recommend some headshot photographers.
The agency will start submitting your DS for roles, and at some point (hopefully!) you'll receive an email about an audition. Read all the audition information carefully. In addition to information about the production, there should be a character breakdown which gives specific information on the role your DS is auditioning for - age (which may be lower than your DS's actual age if he looks younger and can play down), a bit about personality, a little about the part that the character plays in the production. This should include which accent to use - if that information isn't there, check with your agent.
For TV/film and theatre, the audition information will usually contain sides - the sides are one or more scenes that your DS has to perform. Some auditions will be in-person, but these days most first round auditions are via self-tape. This means you tape your Ds doing the scene(s) at home, and then send them to the agent, who submits to the casting director. You don't need fancy equipment for self-taping, you can just tape on a smartphone. Some important self-tape do's and dont's:
- Use a plain, light-coloured background, like a bare wall. If you don't have a suitable wall, hanging up a sheet or similar can create a perfectly adequate background. Your Ds should stand a couple of feet in front of the background (otherwise you get distracting shadows behind the head).
- Make sure your DS's face is well-lit. Natural light directed at the face is ideal - so standing against a wall facing a window, with the light falling evenly on bath sides of the face (so one side isn't too much in shadow). Never tape with the light behind the head because you can't see the face properly.
- Minimise background noise.
- Always film in landscape - never portrait. Frame the shot so that to top edge of the frame is just above your DS's head, and the bottom of the frame is at shoulder or mid-chest level. The camera needs to be steady - propping it up on some books on a table or stool is perfectly fine if you don't have a tripod.
- Your DS should wear something that is approximately appropriate to the character without being full costume. For example, if it's a period role, wear a button-up shirt or something that looks "old-fashioned" rather than a T-shirt. You can style hair to fit the character too, but no need to be OTT. Hair should be off the face so that the eyes are clearly visible during the scene tape. Avoid clothing with large brand logos or distracting images/slogans - go for as plain as possible.
- It generally doesn't matter whether your DS is standing up or sitting down to do a self-tape - go with whichever seems to work best for the scene.
- If the scene involves other characters, another person (not your DS) needs to read the other characters' lines. When taping with my DS, I usually read in as well as operating the camera - I just sit off-camera and read all the lines that aren't his. When you're reading in, try to make your voice quieter than your DS's (I literally speak into a cushion) - he's the one auditioning so his voice needs to be the one that stands out. When reading in just do it in your natural voice - no need to put on an accent or try to be the character. I try to put some expression in the lines, so that DS has something to respond to, but don't go overboard on trying to act out the characters.
- Unless you have a very tight taping deadline, your DS should be off-book to tape - that is, he should have memorised his lines so that he can act the scene without having to look at a script. This is also the case for in-person auditions.
- Your DS shouldn't look straight down the camera during a scene - eyeline should be off-centre. If there are other characters in the scene, it's helpful to imagine in advance where the other characters will be standing in the room so that your DS knows where to look in order to react and talk to them as if they are really there.
- The parts of a scene where your DS isn't speaking but is listening to or reacting to other characters are just as important (and possibly more so) than the parts of a scene where he is delivering lines.
- Scenes will often have directions that are difficult to carry out while keeping the framing on head and shoulders. You don't need to follow all the directions in a scene to the letter - you can adapt them to something that suits the scene without needing to change the framing. For example, if a direction calls for your DS's character to fall to the ground in fright, you can just have him stay standing up in frame, but reacting to whatever is frightening him by making a scared face.
- Avoid using too many props - if an action can't be mimed easily without the actual object, a prop is fine, but otherwise just pretend it's there.
- Ideally, your DS should deliver the script exactly as written, but if he makes a minor mistake or changes a word or two in an otherwise good scene, that's fine.
- Avoid doing tons of takes of a scene - it starts to looks stale and over-rehearsed. General rule of thumb is that if it isn't happening after 3-4 takes, have a break and then try again. My DS is always often keen to stop after a single take (because he's a lazy sod), but I usually persuade him to do another one because his second one is almost always the best.
- As part of a self-tape, you may be asked to do an short clip of your DS introducing himself and giving some basic information (e.g. name, age, height, agency) - this is called a slate or ident. This should be filmed with your DS looking straight into the camera, and in his own accent. The slate is a chance to show a bit of personality, so should be natural rather than overly stiff or serious. In my experience, that information the actor needs to include in a slate is different for each audition, so read the instructions carefully.
- Edit the tape before sending to your agent, so that each scene starts and ends at the right place - not too much "dead time" at the beginning before a character starts to speak, or at the end. If you have 2 takes of a scene but you aren't sure which is the best one, send both to your agent and let them choose.
Your agent will send off a self-tape to the casting director, and the most likely outcome is that you will never hear anything about it again. You very rarely get a definite No or any feedback from a first-round tape. It's best to tape, send off and then try to forget about it - difficult though that is!
Alternatively, your DS may progress to the next round of auditions - this is called a recall or callback. This may consist of another tape, or may be an in-person audition. The number of rounds vary - usually that larger the role, the more rounds. For a smaller role, it may be a case of an initial tape, then an invitation to a final recall round where your DS will meet the casting director and the director of the production and audition for them in person. Sometimes the recall scenes are the same as the first round, sometimes new scenes are sent for recall.
Advert auditions are a little bit different. You will quite often receive eleventy million pages of mood board images, character descriptions etc, to wade through, with instructions for 5 complicated "scenes" to be acted out with no lines. Even if the instructions sound like they expect you to shoot a fully fledged short film with action shots in multiple locations, just do it like a standard self-tape with appropriate actions/reactions/facial expressions in a tape with head-and-upper body framing.
Musical theatre is a bit different again. Auditions are more likely to be in person, and instead of a specific scene, children may be asked to prepare a monologue of their own choosing. If there is a choice, pick something that suits your DS but also suits the character they are auditioning for. The same goes for songs - sometimes the audition involves a song from the musical, sometimes it is own choice (Matilda, for example, specifically say don't do a song from Matilda). Again, if you have a choice, pick something that your DS can sing well and which suits the character they are auditioning for. If dance is part of an MT audition, usually the children are taught the dance at the audition rather than needing to prepare in advance.
The main thing with self-tapes and auditions is to have fun. Most of the time, the tape/audition is their only chance to perform, so it has to be enjoyable and rewarding for your young performer.