INSPIRED - The Butterfly Room

OK, all child actor parents or any parent of an actor love to see their kids perform on set RIGHT!!! What an honor it is to actually work on set and eventually see oneself on TV or the big screen. This is a short story of how my little Actor Princess Ellery inspired me on set in July 2010.

Ellery was cast as a lead for a Feature Horror film titled “The Butterfly Room”. This film is being funded by the Italian Government and as you can guess the Director is Italian, super gent to work with and an excellent Director.

The film shot earlier this year for a number of weeks and locations then a few weeks ago Ellery enjoyed 3 days of pickups. And as you might have guessed most of the scenes she shot were the more intense emotional scenes. So most of the “Butterfly Room” family is back on set for a few days, the camera is rolling and we are all moving right along. The first 2 days of the pickups Dana joined Ellery on set, so not to be left out of the fun I offered to take day 3.

Day 3 - Its like the scenes build throughout the day until the final scene, which is a very intense, tricky and emotional one. There were no props or dialog from any other actor for Ellery to draw from, so it was her chops solely that had to make the scene believable. Ellery throughout the day was being her usual spunky self and having a blast working and filming. Back to the scene, Ellery comes over to me and shares with me that she isn’t sure if she can turn the fountain on, you know the TEARS. So I’m saying things like you are so talented and such a great actress, this is a walk in the park for an actress like you. I’m attempting to inspire her thus building her confidence, you must appreciate how tricky this scene really was, and I can’t wait to see the final cut.

So its time to film the scene; Ellery comes over to me and directs me to where she wants me to stand while she’s filming. She is ensuring that I’m in her sight at all times; it’s very interesting to me what makes an actor tick!

I move toward my directed mark when Ellery stops ask me to help her get to that place in her mind where she can subtext her thoughts then connect with the emotion of the scene.

So I kneel down on my knees and start to personalize the visual image I think will work for her and she likes it, we lock it in then starts for her mark. So I’m in position and Ellery is ready to shoot – ACTION!!! Ellery works through this layered scene then turns around for the end of the scene where she is beyond frightened and scared then here comes the crying, screaming for her mommy and the tears that go with it all. Cut! The entire crew is astonished at her amazing performance and I am too. Ellery totally drew me in as I found myself completely lost in the truth of the scene, I mean blown away by her work WOW!!!! The same scene is shot again for an even a closer view and Ellery does it again just as before. Once the director called out cut I watched and comforted Ellery as she came out of her emotionally shaken state. Now the director wraps Ellery compliments her many times over and eventually hands her a beautiful bouquet of flowers followed by a warm applause from everyone, Ellery was so touched and proud.

Once Ellery and I bid our farewells we jumped in our car and headed home. As we talked of the day I shared with Ellery that she cried as easy as I can breath and for her to never ever doubt her ability to become so emotionally real. As we spoke it occurred to me how inspiring it was for me to see my 9 year old daughter reach the depth she did and how very talented she really is. This day renewed my faith and belief as to why we are out here working so hard to create a career path for our children. I was truly INSPIRED by Ellery to continue our journey. You must understand that I had not been that involved over the past 2 years due to my busy work schedule, managing a large and busy hotel keeps you rolling 24x7.

In the end Ellery did excellent work and the film, which will premiere in Italy 2011, will be a great one I’m sure. I will always remember this particular scene and appreciate how much Ellery has grown as an actress since her start in the summer of 2006.

May The Force Be With You!

CS

Preparing for School on Set

When it comes to working on set during the school year it becomes very important that we accomplish our schoolwork each day and in a quality fashion. From the beginning we've always prepared and organized the kids' schoolwork the night before they filmed. As a home schooling family it has been simple to have our act together - K12 has a nicely laid out plan for each day/week making it much easier to prepare. K12, to us, is the perfect home school program; It's as if it were designed with our industry in mind. Plus, this award winning school learning system is free and excellent! Our new school SFVSFP has changed how we approach going on set. As referenced in another BLOG ,one of the reasons we chose this school was because of their experience with industry working children; as always the trick is communication and planning. There are times when last minute work opportunities or other preparation demands arise, and when this happens we e-mail our teachers and work as a team to accomplish staying on schedule. There have been times when we will place Dylan in an afternoon tutoring math class for insurance that he is on track and he feels confident. Dylan will ask us for tutoring support if he needs it which is a beautiful thing to see: a kid asking for help then experiencing successful one-on-one learning. We are fortunate we have the tutoring available at our school. It is very convenient and helpful. You arrive on set, meet the set teacher and review your objectives for the day and show her/him that you have your schoolwork in order... and there you have it.

I will interject this: I have spoken with many set teachers that shared experiences of kids not coming to set prepared for the schoolwork day. The set teachers have a few responsibilities: physical safety of the child, ensuring breaks and work hour guidelines are respected and that schoolwork is done. If you do not bring your schoolwork, the set teacher will typically have a bag of schoolwork related tricks to work on; however, your child's regular schoolwork may get neglected. I guess it is just important to remember that it isn't the set teacher's responsibility to prepare lessons, simply to act more as a tutor in helping your child complete his or her regular assignments (whether those assignments are coming from a public/private school, online school or directly from you). We have learned that the better we prepare for schoolwork the better the set-teacher processes flows. We have three things in mind when we are on set: do great work for the director/production team, complete schoolwork with quality, and having a fun/safe/respectable time. I have not met a set teacher that didn’t work with us on our school objectives or who failed to appreciate our schoolwork game plan. We are responsible for our kids' grades, so we make sure it gets done and nothing within reason can get in the way of that objective. With Ellery in particular, Dana will often take a portion of the schoolwork and work through it herself; it’s that important to ensure we accomplish clearing any hurdle in our learning path. In a nutshell: get ready for school the night before, meet the set teacher and review as a team what needs to happen for your child’s education that day and stay on track with it. Occasionally we work on tricky shoots and when that happens we work as a team to ensure production accomplishes their objectives too. We realize we too are part of a team so being a team player is essential. It can get tricky when production gets behind schedule - this is a whole different situation and that requires finesse which we will BOLG about at another time. Be it home, public or private school, the success of the day comes down to the parent’s quality planning/preparation and then ensuring the school game plan is followed through. The kids too have a responsibility, but as we know, we must (with most kids) guide them or they will float off... if you know what I mean. Ultimately we want our kids to grow up and take responsibility of their lives.

Do The Right Things...

I believe we are setting the example in everything we do and they will follow. If you believe this, then you can appreciate how instrumental we are to what they learn and what values they take from us when it comes to responsibility an education. Often I say to Ellery & Dylan you gotta MAKE IT HAPPEN!!! Have a great school year kids! ~CS

Alyson Stoner: "The Best Way To Reach My Peers Is To 'Walk-The-Walk' Myself"

Alyson Stoner: "The Best Way To Reach My Peers Is To 'Walk-The-Walk' Myself"

Back to School

Here comes that time of year when the reality of school begins and summer fun ends! For Ellery and Dylan, getting back in the school grove is a process just like filming; it’s strategic and comes with a good amount of direction and conversation.

Now, I don’t know about your children, but my kids would rather play and have fun all the time, thus making the beginning of the new school year school a chore for them and us. They do, however, recognize the value of a good education and enjoy school, but I would be less than honest if I failed to say they do fight against school at times. Like most kids they would like to sleep in stay up late and so on; going to school is like going to work for many parents.

Before moving forward I must be respectful and clear that each family must do what’s best for them. We were so set on home schooling and did it for 3 years; then one day Dana realized that she was not doing the kids or herself justice with this schooling choice so we moved on to something different. In retrospect we could have evaluated the school options earlier than we did and maybe we would have changed our game plan. My point would be to take a look at what is taking place with school so that you may ensure that, to the best of your ability, you and your children are pleased with the setup. This review could be based on educational objectives to be accomplished not necessarily changing schools, the idea is to ensure our children are set up for success!

The one great thing we have going for us currently, education wise, is that we made the choice to enroll Ellery & Dylan into San Fernando Valley School for Professionals. This school is designed to focus on the core fundamentals of education: Math, Science, Language Arts and History and offers on-site tutoring when/where needed. Additionally SFVSFP offers excellent educational field trips and more. The school is all about student unity and parental involvement with a tight group and team working for the kid’s education.



One of the things I’ve noticed and appreciate is how the kids seem to all get along with no bullying taking place amongst the group. For the most part, these kids have career objectives (or it could be that their family's work schedules fits with SFVSFP school hours and education system. The thought of Ellery & Dylan being around bullying children has always been a concern of ours; it is so great to see the kindness and respect amongst these kids. We do not worry about them being picked on and all of that mean stuff that can often occur amongst young people!

There is, at times, drama amongst the kids, which is more entertaining than harmful. The drama experiences allow us to help our kids understand matters they were not dealing with when they were home-schooled. A big reason for enrolling them in a social school system was so that they could experience the daily exchange of interacting with students and teachers- an element we were missing before. For this reason their manager was very persuasive when it came to enrolling them into a school. As a team we discussed the objectives and what outcome we wanted, and I must say it turned out excellently.

The kids start school each day at 8:30am and wrap at 1:00pm. This schedule allows us the time for their coaching, auditions and other athletic personal choice activities that fit with their needs and our schedules. Many schools are not designed to work with the industry demands, which is why the school choice is so important when it comes to working with industry children. When the time comes to be on set you must have a school that embraces your objectives and knows how to balance your child’s education while allowing them to fulfill their pursuit of acting.

Shortly we will start preparing for the new school year, we will start warming up with reading and math, a couple of weeks out we will start with a new sleep schedule so we may ease them into the morning wakeup call and so on. There is no easy route to get these two great kids to fall right into the school schedule. Come September 2010 the starting of school will take inspiring conversations which focus/target on our family balance: school, health, friends, family and of course ... acting!

Have a great school year kids!
~CS

Balance - a word about homeschooling

Balance:

A condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions


Life-School-Acting


After weeks of discussion we finally agreed to home-school Ellery and Dylan and boy what a feat it was to home-school! We had no idea what we were doing and were very nervous once realizing we were taking on the responsibility of our children’s early education. In Houston Ellery had only attended one semester of Montessori School and Dylan was a first grader at the time, thus making us, for the most part, starting from scratch.

After reaching out to a professional school administrator who ultimately created a summer 2006 curriculum for Ellery & Dylan (Dad as the teacher) and who guided us to our K12 home-schooling journey we moved forward. K12 is an award-winning program funded by the state of California, an excellent teaching system it is. We worked with and enjoyed K12 for three challenging years; what an experience for all of us, good and at times, crazy! Then one day in the fall of 2009 Dana had it with home schooling; she was done with it and ready to get the kids into a new school system of some kind. Her final words to me were, "I’m their mother and as such I am not intended to be their teacher too." That was the end of it for Dana, and so again we moved on.

So the school search began. Dana looked into public and private schools then quickly decided on San Fernando Valley School For Professionals. SFVSFP came highly recommended to us for many reasons. We quickly gathered what an excellent school it was- a school designed to work with industry children- plus, its convenient location to Studio City and lastly, the Principle and staff made it a no-brainer decision.

We have figured out for us that the balance of school, work and everyday life for our family members should come with a break from each other. Ellery and Dylan are experiencing a busy life schedule that is topped off by an excellent education at San Fernando Valley School For Professionals. The school provides us with an outstanding team of teachers and principle that work very closely with our young child actors' educations while supporting their career dreams.

The Big Bonus is the many new friends Ellery and Dylan have enjoyed meeting through SFVSP and the friends of friends to even broaden their social life and activities.

The kids are so pleased to start a new year at SFVSFP... yes another year of educational success, fun and social fulfillment!

For more information on SFVSFP you may contact Angie Peiris at 818.985.9485 and please reach out to our family for any support we may offer you and yours.

Have a great school year and may 2010 be the beginning of many great HOLLYWOOD years to come.

Love your children first!
~CS

Slating

A little while back we got a question on the Children In Film forum about slating. A parent wanted to know if there are different ways to slate depending on what type of audition you are on.

To start, let's define slating. Slating is what occurs, usually, when your child goes in for an audition. It is the first thing the actor does, while looking in to the camera. She states her name and the part she will be auditioning for.

However, as far as I am aware (from my experience with Dylan and Ellery), a slate is a slate. Some (print, commercial, theatrical) may ask for profile turns (meaning your child will need to turn to the side for a profile view; hair may need to be pulled away from the face in a mock pony tail), but some may not ask your child to do this.

While we're on the topic, the slate is the moment and opportunity your child has for his/her audience (the client/director/producer/casting associates/etc) to see him/her for the first time on tape. The casting crew in the room, conducting the slate are equally important. They are the ones that pass you on.

Make your slate count. Be real, with energy and most of all confidence. Own the room!

Taking a class from a well-known casting director can help you perfect your slate and your own personal "slating style."

In the beginning, before you are known by the casting offices, slates and headshots are your on-the-spot calling cards, in my experience. Make it count!

Best of luck from our family to yours,

~CS

"Mojado"

It was March of this year, and very bad things were taking place within the boarder towns of Mexico. So, I rightfully passed on the opportunity for Dylan to shoot the film "Mojado." The storyline takes place in a boarder town of Mexico and Texas and was scheduled to be shot in the deep southern desert of Mexico.

After declining, our manager called us back and informed us that the director only wanted Dylan for the role and does not want to use anyone else which we appreciated. My fear, however, is kidnapping which is common in certain areas of Mexico and South America. And I was concerned that the public awareness of the film production could allow any potential "bad guys" to know about our arrival. Simply put, it seemed like a potentially nightmarish situation.

As I thought about the situation, I could hear the logic of crazy kidnapping cartel playing out in my head: "cute American actor kid must be rich, so a nice ransom would be no problem." And I could only think of the potential wear and tear that such an occurrence would have on our son's soul. So, I don't consider the option. I say thank you, but no thank you to our manager.

Our team thought I was being over cautions until some of the realities and research on kidnappings started to be discussed. Soon everyone became aware and sensitive to the possibilities. Our manager, now on board with my concerns, calls production to once again pass on the opportunity.

We then learned that the production office here in LA once lived and worked out of Mexico City. An extended and established relationship still exists between the director who is out of London, the LA team, and the production team in Mexico City. I soon became much more comfortable knowing the extended history of our contact here with whom we had met and felt more than comfortable. Additionally, our manager decided to orchestrate a driver and guard for Dylan's protection throughout the entire shoot.

So, we were off to Mexico City. Once we landed, we had another three hour drive to our hotel location and yes, our driver and guard were there to greet us at the gate. Each day we drove 45 minutes to the film location, which was located within the Mexican Desert. The days were hot and the nights cold, but the film will be excellent and that's what matters.

It's good to be cautious and careful when traveling abroad especially in known areas of violence, so make sure you know the details of where you're going and all precautions that will be in place before making a final decision.

May your trips be safe and fun,

~CS

The Casting "Look Factor"

A couple of weeks ago Dylan, Ellery and I were intentionally standing in the office of a casting director after an audition. Our purpose was to thank this casting director for choosing Dylan as the boy in a film that was shot in March 2010. After introductions, Dylan thanked the CD and they chatted about the shoot and how it went. (More on that shoot later).

The casting director made a point to share something very significant with Dylan. He made it very clear to Dylan that over 120 boys were auditioned for the role and that Dylan earned it not by looks, but by his acting chops.

This film is extreme drama; a lost mother flips her car over and lands 50 feet below after flying off a bridge in a boarder town somewhere in Texas. The mother eventually dies in the presence of her young son. We find a banged-up little boy all-alone in the hot and vast Mexican desert. The boy has recently lost his father too.

Dylan was chosen for his acting chops, not because of his look or matching (which is when a child is picked to match the look of the actors playing his parents). This dramatic film required Dylan to remain mostly in a fearful and emotional state throughout the shoot.

We have learned that many times it's a look that lands the role. One must possess talent, but the look often comes first. But not in this case, which was nice to learn.

I'm sure many of you have felt like your child did a fantastic job on an audition but received no callback or booking. How could that be??? Simple: it's often the "Look/Match Factor"

But when you have a CD articulate this to your child it only confirms how true and real the casting/look factor truly is. As we know, more often than not the kids are matching with adult actors.

We had a seasoned and tenured actress share something with us recently - in her experience the look/match and essence of what casting is looking for is number one and if you have that and can pull of 60% of the actual acting in the auditions you will have a shot at the role.

It's when you get the callback that you want to be able to deliver 100% of the audition. This makes great sense to me. Think about it; if you look or match the lead actors and you can act, you're more than half way there.

By the way, this person's entire family is in the entertainment business and has been for decades. When I talk with people like this who have walked the path we walk, I do listen up.

Have a great family summer CIF Friends!!!

~CS

Leadership Changes

When it comes to making changes, or considering changes, to your current agency or management situation, the subject is less than simple. In fact, it can be a very touchy and sensitive point of discussion.

I will start off by saying that Ellery and Dylan are represented by the very finest team of agents and managers. They have worked very hard to earn their representation. As for many others in the business, this did not come easily for our family. It required a lot of work to find the outstanding team with whom we are now in partnership.

Without getting into all the details, I will express that things happen at the time they should happen when we as entertainment families logically understand the big picture. The flip side to this is that we must hold ourselves accountable for our part of the deal, thus placing ourselves in a position to make a good and strategic decision once a change is in mind.

Contemplating the Change:

The thought process is this: is a move even necessary or (the reverse) have we waited too long to change? I have friends who moved too quickly and friends who have waited years too long. Because timing is everything, you want to make sure you aren't jumping the gun or waiting until it is too late.

When we enter into constructive conversations on this important matter we realize there is no easy answer to this vital process of timing.

Here is how our family views this topic: (keep in mind that one could actually write a book or a few chapters on this subject matter. I will attempt to make it quick & easy from my point of view.)

The real responsibility for making the decision as to whether or not to change representation lies in the hands of the parents and the young actors; remember this is a business and as much as it is personal you can't take it personally. You cannot wait on your representation to give you some sort of sign that it is time to move on, nor can you fear the confrontation involved in discussing a change with your reps.

How to Assess Your Situation:

First, we have learned to take on the responsibility of viewing each audition as a privilege and opportunity where we prepare accordingly. Once it’s over its over. Our gauge is simply good feedback, callbacks, then bookings. If you are receiving callbacks you are doing great; booking the job is simply the bonus.

Second, we get that agents and managers make their living from bookings. They care for everyone, but we must realize there is only so much time in a day to give. Their job is to facilitate bookings and support growing talent. We must, however, earn our position in their list of priorities; this is done through a quality talent growth process that takes time.

We believe presenting our family as a good business partner and non-troublesome family yields a very good relationship builder. If there is a shortcut, it is simply being busy with bookings, and thus creating a natural presence in the day-to-day lives of our reps. But, as you know, keeping busy with bookings is much easier said than done.

So how do the previous paragraphs fit into deciding whether or not to make a leadership change? When you are determining whether or not to change your representation, you have to make sure you'd be leaving your current representation for the right reasons. Ask yourself if you're considering leaving because you aren't booking enough jobs. This may not be the right reason to leave. Also, are you being a good team member to your agent and/or manager? Are you doing your part? Do you know what your part is? Have you had discussions with your reps on this matter?

If you are at a talent level where you are receiving callbacks and bookings and you don’t feel the agent/manager connection, call your manager and work through your thoughts. Ask for the truth but always be prepared to logically receive it.

We recognize that sometimes people don’t really connect, and as a result a relationship doesn’t materialize which could be a big part of the puzzle.

If you are confident that your family has logically evaluated the various aspects of your situation, take another check and reach out to a non-entertainment friend or colleague who posses a strong business acumen. Doing this can be a good sounding board; sometimes we just don’t see the bigger picture and need help.

We learned this lesson the hard way a long time ago and are often challenged to remember the “Entertainment Rules of Emotion and/or Logic.” As I said before, as much as this business is personal, you can't take it personally. This, of course, is not easy especially when our children are involved.


Risks and Results:

When we discuss family business changes, risks are always involved and change is often a good thing when thought through.

Needless to say, how one handles a change such as this is very important. We are always respectful with change as we are the ones who live with the end result of our decisions and how we’ve conveyed them to others.

For us communication is king; quality work is imperative. Add this to the kids having fun ... and success is around the corner!

~CS