In conjunction with the three-part series on issues facing child actors I’ve just wrapped up, today we launch a two-part series featuring the child actor advocates Anne Henry and Paula Dorn of the non-profit BizParentz Foundation. In this first edition, they’ll discuss pilot season and dispel some myths about kid actors coming to Los Angeles for their big break.
Kid Migration and the New Pilot Season
Every industry professional in Los Angeles has seen it: the annual migration of child actors to the various apartment complexes in Burbank. But why does it happen? What are the odds for those kids? Should you bring your kid to pilot season this year? More importantly, is “pilot season” an obsolete concept?
Why are all those people flocking from out of state?
Because someone back home told them it was a good idea to come to California. It’s kind of like the gold rush… everyone wants to take a chance at stardom. It’s the great American lottery. And every scammer wants a piece too.
An entire cottage industry has now been built around kids and pilot season. Short-term apartment complexes such as Oakwood advertise “child actor programs.” Acting teachers offer “boot camps” and “pilot season intensives.” Competitions such as iPop and IMTA time their events so that kids might be “discovered” by an agent and then encouraged to come to Los Angeles immediately for pilot season. Out-of-town agents arrange kickbacks with Los Angeles agents if they will represent their client for just a few months (even though some of the large, LA-based agencies already have more than 1200 kids on their rosters). It seems every cockroach comes out of the woodwork during pilot season, hoping to feast on anything the starry-eyed new arrivals will supply.
It is true that there are more auditions available during pilot season, but you have to consider that there are also many more kids competing for each audition, so your odds aren’t any better.
What’s different about this year’s pilot season?
Thanks to some new twists, it could be a really bad year for the traveling kids.
Most of the kid-oriented networks have now moved to year-round casting, including Fox, Disney, and Nickelodeon. Pilot season is irrelevant to them.
Technology has made a kid migration obsolete. With YouTube, video conferencing, DVD burners, etc., it has become an acceptable business practice to do the first couple of auditions without ever seeing a live actor. You can now be “seen” from anywhere.
The 2007-2008 labor negotiations forced an early pilot season because studios were stockpiling pilots and series in anticipation of labor strikes by the WGA (writers), DGA (directors), and SAG (actors). Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Newsday, and more than a few other industry sources report that the strike may prove to be the death knell for the traditional January through April pilot season.
How many kids are in LA for pilot season and what are their odds of success?
According to LA Casting, there are more than 20,000 kids with agents auditioning in LA year-round. In pilot season, add more than 1000 who made the pilgrimage to Hollywood.
Their odds of success aren’t good. In the Fall of 2006, only ten new series had series regulars who were children. With the exception of one young actor, the kids all had significant credits and many years in the business prior to booking the pilots. That has been the case for the last few years.
By our estimate, about 95% of kids coming to LA for pilot season go home empty-handed. The other 5% book something, but it is usually a commercial, a student film, or a low-budget independent film. A “success,” but probably not the brass ring they were reaching for, when they uprooted to come to LA for pilot season.
Will they recoup their pilot season investment?
Families tell us that they plan to spend about $5000 a month if they are being conservative. And you can’t plan on any income to offset your expenses. Even if your child has a phenomenal pilot season and books a commercial, a week on a television series, and a couple of days on a feature film, you would be clearing around $3000 — not even enough to pay for your apartment at Oakwood. This is not a moneymaking venture!
I think we want to brave the odds. How do I know my child is ready?
There are host of considerations parents must face when deciding if and when to come to LA. The child’s resume, age, union status, whether parents can leave their own jobs and the rest of the non-acting family, and whether they can afford it. For more help in deciding if your family is ready for an LA move, check out this article: http://bizparentz.org/thebizness/pilotseason.html
Pilot season isn’t all bad, is it?
No! There are great benefits to heading west, aside from money or even getting a real job. Los Angeles offers:
- the opportunity for real auditions in a competitive market
- assessment of your child’s ability to play with the big dogs
- getting opinions from the actual people who cast feature films and network television
- quality training you can’t get elsewhere
- bonding — you can instill in your child that you will support their dreams
- exposure to high-level casting directors, producers, and directors that you might never meet in your home town
- skills increased so that when you return to your home market, you can be more successful than you were when you left
Consider the Alternatives…
Pilot season is not the normal path to success for kids. As you can see from the info above, pilot season is almost obsolete! Lots of successful families have found alternatives to pilot season. They suggest:
- Come for episodic season (August to November) instead.
- Get a local agent who will submit you on LA jobs.
- Ask your local agent to make a connection to an LA agent if you are willing to fly in on a dime.
- Consider obtaining representation in a bigger market, but not as big as LA. Consider Miami, New York, Chicago, or Dallas and build your resume there.
- Wait ’til next year and, meanwhile, get your ducks in a row. Get a few local jobs and save the money for the pilot season trip and/or take on a part-time job to save up. Build your resume locally. Take more classes. Do some local theatre. Work on academics. Be ready so you can hit the ground running next year.
Great tips from pros who know the deal! Join us for the second part of this BizParentz.org series from Anne and Paula as these two child actor advocates (and parents of working kid actors, of course) will share a list of the biggest mistakes they see parents of young actors making. What a great way to be sure you get out of your own way, allowing you to realize the full potential of your success!
About BizParentz.org
BizParentz Foundation is a non-profit organization (501c3) serving families in the entertainment industry through education and advocacy. Since its founding in 2004, BizParentz has maintained a growing website for parents and industry professionals working with children. BizParentz has presented live workshops on Managing Coogan Accounts, Parenting Young Performers, Child Actor Taxes, Incorporation and Emancipation, and Predators and Pedophiles as well as seminars on the realities of having children in the entertainment industry. BizParentz founders Anne Henry and Paula Dorn have become sought-after media and legislative experts on the subject of young performers. In addition to the educational articles on their own website, Anne and Paula have contributed to multiple national publications, web-based venues, and television shows in the US, Canada, the UK, and Brazil.
BizParentz is also the sponsor of the CARE Awards, a red-carpet event held in March at Universal Studios, to honor well-rounded professional young performers.
This contribution originally ran at Bonnie Gillespie’s online column on January 1, 2008.