And the parent can do whatever they want with that money ?
Well the parent can do whatever they want with that money . Hopefully they ’ ll put it into an account with the kid ’ s name and they ’ ll start using that for expenses .
So that twenty percent is to protect that kid a little bit ?
A little bit . Just a little bit . But there are expenses , especially if you ’ re getting good photos , getting videos , taking classes , paying SAG dues .
Talk about … well let ’ s finish this up and then I want you to talk about the parental commitment that ’ s involved that I think a lot of them don ’ t realize .
Yeah , and I think the importance of a kid wanting to do this is so that the parent is not dragging the kid around . And anybody who has been a parent and has made a kid do something they haven ’ t wanted to do , like maybe piano lessons – and it ’ s just torture doing this . So there is such a commitment to this that it has to be driven by the kid . Because just like if you ’ re going to be a soccer player , you can ’ t expect to show up at games at the premier league and not take any classes or go to any soccer lessons . Yet parents literally think “ why is my kid not going up for that role , they would be good ”. No ! You need to take classes . You need to take regular classes . You need to be doing student films . You need to be working on things that you can build . So the parents have to do that . They have to drive them to their auditions . They have to get them with their photographer . They basically have to manage their career . You know , do everything marketing wise to help their kid , because it ’ s a product and it ’ s called show business , except the product is the kid .
Let ’ s talk about the commitment for the parent for a child that ’ s in the industry that isn ’ t maybe at the top but just a working actress or actor , what is the commitment on a weekly basis that that mom ’ s going to have to do for that child ’ s career .
For a working actress , print model , commercial kid , a parent needs to be available every day of the week . And if they ’ re not , they need to be able to book out . So that means if you ’ re going to see grandma on Wednesday , you need to let your agent know because any day need to be open .
What do you mean by book out ? What does book out mean ?
Book out means call the agent or send an email to the agent and say we can ’ t go to an audition on this particular day . Otherwise , agents expect the kids
72 | Child Photo Magazine