what can I do to help my child, is he talented or gifted?

[flower56]

My child is 11 years old. he has been always an active confident and amazing at Performing. He is at year7 now and he has already been taken into account to perform and read a story in representation of all year7 students. apart from that we have taken him into an auddition at Celebrity Talent Academy where he has been choosen from 200 children but the lack of money we could not go further. So if you know any way that I can help my child please give me a hand.:)

Thank you

drama lessons/drama club/dancing lessons- whatever there is locally that you can afford

is there a drama club at school? or a local drama school where he can do after school classes? can he do drama GCSE?

If he has talent, imo you should aim at him learning solid performance skills rather than being picked for celebrity as such an early age.

and I believe there have been scam warnings re CTA, though could be wrong, don't quote me on that

to give you an idea, the kind of child who is aiming at that kind of career round here would typically attend drama lessons several hours a week, take part in drama school performances several times a year, often take dancing and singing lessons, be doing drama GCSE and drama A-level

and even so, most of them know they will never be doing this professionally- but it's a good skill to take with you into life

Thanks Cory, for all the ideas you have given me.
He has been in drama courses he usually takes part in all performances that are going on at the school
I've heard that there are some charities that help young children with talent to get into profesinal academys have u heard about it? actually a friend told me that.

There may be- but they must be very overstretched.

But then again, why is it so important to get into a professional academy this young? The majority of actors and other performers attend ordinary schools until they have done their A-levels (ballet dancers of course are different).

Yes, thats righ but there is also many talented children as they said they need children for films, tv programs, adverts and much more so how can a kid with a lot of enthisasthic personality be leaving out.

There are thousands of children with enthusiastic personalities round the country, not everybody is going to get a part in a film. You seem very focused on him getting spotted right now- where is the hurry?

Wouldn't it be better for him to get a solid grounding through drama clubs etc, at the same time as concentrating on his GCSEs, just in case the acting doesn't work out for him.

I think you should ask yourself why this is so important to you. If it is about his fulfilling his own acting dreams, then there are loads of different ways of doing that, most of which involve mainstream school and lots of extra-curricular activities.

I know this is an old topic, but just in case anyone comes across it via Google, as I did:

First of all, to introduce myself, I'm an actor and director with two children - one of whom is a professional (adult) actor.

I would recommend steering well clear of Celebrity Talent Academy. They charge huge sums of money and give very misleading advice. The way they try to recruit people is - to put it bluntly - dishonest. I'd be more than happy to debate with someone from the academy about my doubts and opinions!

If you are looking for good training for your son, steer well clear of anything that has the words "celebrity" or "fame" in its literature. It is NOT necessary to pay for expensive "training" to give your son opportunities. Please don't be misled by the information you get from Celebrity Talent Academy. If your son wants to pursue professional work while he is young, then the best possible support you can give him is to equip yourself with knowledge about how the industry works. No-one in the industry will be remotely impressed by someone attending CTA so he is not losing out by not attending! I'd be happy to give specific information if you think it would be useful. To get professional work you really need an agent - you DON'T need CTA.

If your son enjoys performing he will, almost certainly, get far more opportunties to do this as an amateur in local opportunities (youth groups and amateur dramatic societies) than he would as a "professional". It will also be much less costly and disruptive. I can expand on that if it's useful.

My son attended a state school in a small town, he went to a local Saturday drama club, set up his own theatre company with his mates in his teens, did GCSE's and A levels, went to drama school at 18 and is now making his way as an actor. He's with the RSC at the moment which is wonderful - but he was pulling pints at a local pub for several months last year! The only certain thing about a career as a performer is that it's an uncertain one...no matter how talented you are.

I just wanted to add: there are also lots of scams around involving agencies! Don't pay an agent anything up front for representation if you decide to go down this route. An agent should make money from commission on work the actor gets whilst represented by that agent.

Hi,

I have to agree with pgpg and would recommend that you steer well clear of CTA. I have had a personal experience with them and it was not good. They encourage 100's of children to audition at a weekend and when they say your child has been picked out of hundred's, it is simply not true. I believe they call everyone back the next day but spread the appointments over the day so that when you arrive, it seems like a much quieter and personal experience. The fee's are ridiculously expensive. Cannot emphasise enough how bad an experience this was.

My daughter has just auditioned for CTA and had been invited to attend a celebrity acting workshop at universal studios in los angeles in July, we have to pay up front, does anyone know if this is a scam or is there a real workshop to go to?

Sounds like a scam to me even if there is a workshop to go to. I doubt she'd get anything more out of going there other than your bank balance reducing.

Anybody else got experience with CTA universal please call me, John 07951920145

My Daughter has also been chosen, and they want £3000 today from us with all flights and hotel as an extra

damn, I wish I saw this before paying a hefty deposit!! Bad gut feeling about it, very rushed, information was vague, overheard 1 family being charged £700 deposit yet I was to pay much and still I paid?? They saw me coming!! Theyre off to Germany now, heres hoping the Germans get access to these posts before paying up and here goes my fight to get my money back!!

I agree with all the above posts warning about CTA (Celebrity Talent Academy). My son just attended their 'audition' in Edinburgh. The radio advert suggested that the audition was for jobs in commercials, TV shows or movies but it turned out that they were just looking for people to spend a fortune on a 'workshop' in L.A. at a cost of $5000, flights and accommodation not included. Their way of luring people there under false pretences, then hyping up the children and teenagers by raising their hopes to be talent-spotted in Hollywood (CTA "Do you want to work with celebrities?" Kids "Yes!", CTA "Do you want to be in movies?" Kids "Yes!", CTA "Do you want to be in commercials and earn $6000?" Kids (and some parents) "Yeeeeessss!") was utterly unethical. As it is only once the child actually goes into the audition (which lasts barely two minutes) that the parent is informed of the cost of this workshop, parents are left to deal with the child's huge disappointment when they can't or are not willing to pay such an amount of money for a five-day workshop. They are using the children to put pressure on the parents. Everyone I know who went to this event got a call-back the next day and was offered a place and we were supposed to pay a deposit of £735.
Altogether it was a disappointing experience and felt like a time-share sales event. Not at all like any proper audition we had ever been to. So, I would advise everyone to stay away from CTA and do not part with your money as their deposits seem to be non-refundable!!

P.S.: I do not know if this is a scam, whether there is a workshop at the end or not. But just attending a short workshop with a few celebrities does not make you a good actor. That takes years of acting lessons and practice. Save your money for that! $5000 pays for A LOT of lessons!!

Most people who try to be performers end up failures waiting to tables, to be brutally honest about it. I would encourage him to get very good standard GCSEs and A levels and go to a great university with a good amateur drama group like Cambridge Footlights and keep drama as a hobby.

To be fair, most people who go to the top accredited stage schools and go through the BA honours course in acting do not end up failures: the statistics show a fairly high level of employment even within the industry, and a fair few more end up in similar white collar jobs to what they would have got if they had done a BA at a traditional university (friend's dd works for local council, other acquaintances teach drama or run youth theatres).

The Cambridge Footlights did provide a group of very, very successful actors a couple of decades ago, but most more recent well-known actors have actually gone through the stage schools.

Still, I don't suppose having been spotted in some kind of celebrity contest at a tender age is going to help you to get into stage school: they are looking for things like maturity and potential.

I can confirm the experience related by lsl05 above. My daughter persuaded me to take her along to an audition in London this weekend - she saw advertised on Disney channel - something like "...do you want the chance to work alongside your favourite Disney stars etc.".
I was a bit suspicious when we were all sat down in a room and they handed out 1 page A4 flyer with some stuff about CTA universal on it, no mention of Disney, Nickelodeon etc. It was an incredibly amateurish flyer you could have knocked up in 2 minutes in word. The "take home pack" was even worse, a bit like a holiday brochure, only in that does it mention the ludicrous price of their product. At no time in the process was it made clear that the whole purpose of the "audition" was an attempt to sell either a $5,000 5-day workshop in LA or a £1,000 3-day workshop in London.
For the "audition" my daughter did literally 2 lines to a couple of "celebrities" and of course we got the call back on the Sunday saying "your daughter has been selected to go to Hollywood, just what we are looking for.." etc. etc. I just laughed out load at the lady on the phone. $5,000 for 5 days in LA? I asked her straight up do you call everyone? She was rather defensive saying of course the advert didn't promise an audition for Disney etc. etc. She confirmed that it was just their way of marketing for her company. I am absolutely certain they call back everyone until they get enough to fill the workshop. I am astounded people fall for this marketing. Now I have one super-disappointed teenager to look after. Overall the most ridiculous and phoney company I have come across for a while. CTA should be at the very least reword their adverts to make you know what is in store if you attend this garbage. A complaint to ASA is in order. Avoid CTA at all costs.

Complain to the ASA and to trading standards. Misleading advertising (if it is that) is a criminal offence.

My child attendance CTA IS IT FAKE OR NOT please hit me back....what should I do???????

looks totally fake to me....

Hi Ladies, I was looking for some advice regarding casting website for kids? My son is 9 and really into acting / performing. Together with my husband we signed him to Razzamataz schools where the headteacher advised us to go on Kids Casting Call Pro as Danny is very talented and she saw a huge potential in him. We registered on the site and he got a student film role (paid! whoaaa) after 2 weeks.. I'm about to extend the premium membership, but before we do so, I'm looking for some advice from experienced mums who are already using this site? How do you feel about it? is it safe? Ok? We didn't have any bad experiences so far, but I'd rather ask and be safe than sorry
x

Thank you!

Yes KCCP is fine.

I like it because we're miles from London with a severely disabled eldest son who requires 2:1 care, so the last thing we need is to be at the beck & call of an agent, but KCCP gets ds2 additional opportunities.

The big theatre roles he's done have been either open auditions, or ones where anyone can send in a cv & then they invite you to audition (look at Jo Hawes/Jessica Ronane/Debbie O'Brien's websites/facebook etc for suggestions they're seeking). So you don't actually need anything - ds2 did quite a lot before joining KCCP & his biggest jobs were not through there, but KCCP is cheap & well respected & UK wide.

Look at BRIT school in Selhurst. I think it's the only drama school in the country that's free and it has a very good success rate considering what a tough industry this is. He's too young now but this is what I would aim for initially and then follow their recommendations after that. Good luck!