Basic instructions to start a young (age 5-8 year old) child in the professional acting or modeling world, in the Pacific Northwest.
FIRST– If you expect that you’ll sign your child with an agent and immediately start booking acting/modeling work, and the agent will do all the heavy lifting, please stop reading now and close this page. Getting a young child “into” acting or modeling is a long term commitment that will take a lot of work, training, and at least some cost. There is no guarantee of success, and remember your super-cute kid will be competing against all the super-cutest kids in the area for any job. Please be prepared for a long-term commitment if you want to help your child grow and be successful in our industry.
From a Parent-to-Agent perspective, there’s a couple steps to this, and signing with an agent is kind of in the middle somewhere. The process only works if you plan and work through the whole process though. Getting an agent isn’t the beginning, and it’s far far far from the end of the work for a parent of an acting/modeling child.
1. Take a TON of photos (phone is fine), and work with your child to feel confident in front of the camera. Show photos to them, and do “retakes” to improve. Plan and prepare “dress-up photoshoots”, not just on-the-fly photos. Give them direction in each shoot. Do this over and over again. The results don’t matter, but the experience does. If your child doesn’t love doing this, reconsider going further into the process.
2. Get some professional photos that an agent can use as headshots once your child is feeling comfortable “modeling”, but not acting fake. Headshots for an agency need to feel real and genuine, not fake or cutsie. Look at lots of kids photos on Agency websites to see what’s common, then aim to replicate that with a professional photographer. Don’t try to use your photos from Step 1 to get an agent. That just shows that you’ll be difficult to work with (and cheap).
3. Apply with new headshots, and sign with an agent. Get stuff set up as requested by agent. You’re asking a trained professional adult to work for your child for free until they book a job, so take your agents advice, and get whatever they need to do their job set up quickly and efficiently. Don’t be difficult. Your agent will be your child’s biggest advocate, so you want them to want to work with you.
4. Self Submit your child to Zulily (Seattle area), and any other “kids modeling” castings that you can find. This is a confidence builder, not something that agents need. It’s great for kids to get as much experience early on as possible. Stop doing free (or super low paid) modeling once they start booking well paid work regularly.
5. Start getting your child acting training** (this is TOUGH with young children, and even tougher during Covid) Discuss individually with agent for recommendations. Consider recommendations here: https://ztagency.com/acting-classes/
6. Rinse and Repeat steps 1, 2, 4, & 5, and watch their acting/modeling career grow over time. Hopefully your child loves it, and continues for the rest of their life.
It’s also important to know that this (professional acting and modeling) is not a children’s activity or summer camp. Agents represent serious actors and models for a living, and the people we book our talent with are just as serious about what they do. Every talent (and parent combo) are expected to be professional, communicate fast and clearly, and to have utmost respect for the people we are working with, all while being REALLY flexible and understanding that your child is just one tiny cog in a giant machine that is “production” for film and commercial work. Everything in our industry happens on short notice, exactly the opposite of most kids activities that are scheduled months in advance with every detail planned out. It’s definitely not easy, but can be incredibly rewarding and fun once you “get it”.