An Interview with Dylan Sprayberry

* with closing comments from Carl Sprayberry.

"On working, playing and being a kid"

Aspiring Actor Dylan Sprayberry, 9, of Studio City, California shares his candid thoughts and responses to his life as a kid in the biz.

Q: So Dylan, are you excited to be an actor and what are some things you like about it?
D: Yes, very excited. I like going on set and going in the auditioning room and getting callbacks.

Q: For you, what's the hardest part?
D: Well, sometimes it's hard to understand exactly what the director is looking for. They may say words you don't know or understand.

Q: What's the best part?
D: The best part is going to the Studios for shooting, getting up early to go on set and the craft services and going to animated voice-over auditions.

Q: How tough is it to be taught on set?
D: Sometimes a [studio] teacher may give me something new that I don't understand. They may give me fifth grade stuff and I'm only a third grader.

Q: Tell us about your school and how you feel about it.
D: I'm home schooled; I like home schooling because I get to be with my parents all day and for auditions it's easy; I don't have to be picked up in the middle of class. *

Q: Do you and your friends talk about you being an actor? What do they think?
D: They think I will be a great actor. Usually my friends and I watch movies and draw; we don't talk much about my acting.

Q: Do you like going on auditions?
D: I like auditioning, but I like callbacks better because my dad gives me ten dollars and I'm proud of myself. *

Q: Do you get nervous or excited?
D: When I mess up a line on camera I get nervous a little because it looks bad on camera. It is fun because I get to be many different people and I like that a lot.

Q: You sound like you're pretty hard on yourself
D: A little sometimes when I mess up and get mad at myself because I know I can do better than that. *

Q: Has there ever been a time when you didn't want to act anymore?
D: Once because my dad was a little hard on me, but I still want to be an actor because I love meeting new actors and directors and going to new places. *

Q: What made you change your mind and not quit acting?
D: Because I knew I could do acting. I think my dad was pushing me because he believed in me. I didn't want to quit the second thing I love most - acting. Drawing is my first [love].

Q: Do you feel like you want to act forever?
D: Yes because it feels great to go into a room and be on camera; I like seeing myself as a different character, like a giant scarecrow - something scary!

Q: One last question Dylan - and thank you for being straight with us. What are the most important things to you?
D: drawing, acting... and I want to play drums, maybe the saxophone... and play baseball. I would like to travel to Japan; Japan has all the future technology, and they have hover boards that glide a foot about the ground - that's very cool!!!

Comments from Carl Sprayberry:

In regards to home schooling Dylan and Ellery:

• We were unsure of what to do in regards to schooling the children and were concerned on how to balance the pursuit of acting and education. The first thing I did was found an expert on child education. Once we completed an assessment process, we empowered this professional to create a summer curriculum for Dylan and Ellery. This gave me the opportunity to see how we as a family would work in this school arena. With much adjusting and commitment we did a good job of home schooling Dylan & Ellery from May through September. During this process I asked our pro this question: if you could send your children to any choice of home school programs which would it be? Without hesitation she recommended K12. My final decision to home school was simply based on the following: We could control their education, who they played with, their rest, their health, the balancing of their school and education and of course the balancing act of taking two children to auditions and working on set. To date Dylan and Ellery are doing very well with the home schooling process, their teacher has given them good feedback at all of our meeting. It is a challenging process, however, we are very pleased at this stage. The bottom line is this: the program works if you make it work. When you have areas of opportunity you reach out for support just as you would do in any school system.

In regards to Dylan's "$10 reward"

• The $10.00 reward is just that, a reward. In preparing for a theatrical audition, a child works very hard to remember lines and understand the character. The reward is an incentive-based concept which is how our business society works. It's like a bonus: you work hard, you get rewarded. I believe that to incent is to build good work habit and self encouragement to always aspire to do your very best and approach your work with an attitude of knowing that it is just that. This helps the children prepare and then let it all go when it is over, as opposed to holding on to the result of their work. If you know you did a good job then you can walk away; the entire process works together if you allow it to. By law 15% of all minor's earnings goes into a legally protected Coogan account. In the end, a small reward is a positive reminder that above-average expectations are rewarded; this is a family belief and works for us.
  
  

In regards to stressing out and getting "bummed out"

• We believe it is a dangerous thing when your children take on this type of stress, so we do our best to prevent it. Again, when you go in prepared and do your best work it doesn't matter once you leave. Now, in our home we've decided together that this is a commitment and we're teaching our children that when you commit to something you prepare and work hard. It's all in the preparation process - we tell them, "you do that well, nothing else really matters to us." As their father, I will express my disappointment with school, acting and so on when we fail to commit to the things we chose to commit to. I can remember a very important session that Ellery was not at the top of her game; she had been on set working and had played a little hard with her friends that week.
  Ellery excused herself from the work session and took me to the restroom and expressed that her lines were running together and she was trying to do her best but felt like she was not going to do well. I hugged her and encouraged her to just relax and do her best and not to worry about it. This was the toughest job I have had so far - when your child has integrity on this level you want to fall apart for this precious child, but I couldn't. My job was to remain strong and lift her spirits by way of faith, trust in her ability. encouragement and by reminding her of her belief in herself and my belief in her. She came out and did just fine.

In regards to being hard on Dylan:

• I will preface with my personal philosophy: if a child has a talent, we as parents have the responsibility to acknowledge his talent and, within our powers and ability, do our very best to see this talent grow and blossom. This type of philosophy is a learning and growing process more for the parents than the children... well, this is my experience. Just like any thing in raising a child (school, morality, etc) my role is to keep the children on a path and that can be a challenge at times. In these times my reminding him on any level can be interpreted as being hard; I can be quick to react to proper (or improper) preparation, and that is where I get tough. Luckily these tough times are not often at all and we strive to live a path of love, encouragement, support, discipline, and reality.