Jul 22
My son went on his very first audition today. I say first but I’m not sure there will be more to come.Â
Since he was tiny he’s had huge piercing blue eyes and this little sideways grin that will probably steal a million hearts. Top that off with the perfect ham and a great performer; he’ll do anything for an audience. My husband and I think he’s the cutest little boy ever but we’re his parents we’re supposed to think he’s the cutest thing ever, but we’ve had several people tell us to get him modelling and acting. Friends, family, even strangers on the street have told us he could pay for college with is good looks. Hmmmm pay for college? Okay – where do I sign up?
Back in the day – way back in the day – I did a little acting.  I was in a couple commercials in grade school and I participated regularly in live community theatre; I even went to a school of the arts studying drama for high school. That being said I never had any concrete plans to take on Hollywood, I certainly dreamt of it but the reality was I just simply enjoyed acting. It’s because of my experience that I delayed getting my son out there. I didn’t want it to be one of those situations where I’m pushing my failed dreams on my kids. It was a recent visit with our financial advisor to discuss the cost of college in 20 years that prompted me to put myself aside and see if my son would enjoy the experience as much as I did with (of course) the added benefit of contributing to his own RESPs.
I started by researching a few reputable agencies in Vancouver (there are a million to choose from!) that dealt specifically with infants and toddlers. I sorted through some pictures of my son up close cropped them down and sent them out. Two agencies replied the same day and the rest within the week. All of them wanted to sign him! How exciting!Â
The first meeting with the first agent didn’t go so well. My son napped in the van and woke just as we arrived. He is not a morning person and always needs a few minutes to rouse himself, which he didn’t have the opportunity to do that day. As we walked in the door I knew he was out of the running. He hung back trying to hide behind me and as I gently suggested he follow me into the office he pitched a fit as two years have been known to do. By the time we left her office fifteen minutes later he was his normal gregarious self waving goodbye and blowing the agent kisses. She admitted he had the “right look” and the “right personality” but he would never get a casting agent to want him if he ever hung back like that. She explained that there is no time for the kids to warm up and that the agent will require the child to go into the audition room alone – as in no mom or dad allowed.  The picture she painted didn’t sit too well with my husband and me. I did remember going into my auditions alone – but I was in school at that time. I hadn’t expected that my two-year-old would be required to do so. We decided to put the whole thing on hold indefinitely.Â
Then about a month later I got a call from another agency that I had turned down a meeting with. She told me that they really wanted to meet our son and had an audition coming up that they wanted to put him forward for. I hesitated and explained the meeting with the first agent. This agent agreed that he would go in alone but that it wasn’t a scary place. She told me that while their patience doesn’t last forever the casting agents do take their time getting the kids into the room and will give them a second chance if they refuse the first time.
We decided to go for it. I told myself I’d take him once and if he wasn’t ready or if it just wasn’t for him that would be the end of it.
I made sure to get there a bit early to give him a chance to acclimatize himself to the situation. I really didn’t need to. Within about 30 seconds of arriving he was tearing around with a couple of other little boys as happy as happy can be. I took the opportunity to assess the situation. I watched as the casting agent came out of the audition room with a toddler that had just finished his audition and called the next name on the list. She seemed really nice. She high fived the boy that was leaving and tried really hard to make the little one coming into the room get excited about being there. The mother of that child also tried as hard as she could to convince her daughter that the place she was headed was the most exciting and most fun place in the world. But as two years have been known to do she pitched a fit. I watched with extreme curiosity. How would this play out? Would the mother start pushing? (I’ve seen the TV show Toddlers and Tiaras – I know how crazy moms can get.) Would the casting agent get frustrated and move on to the next on the list? I wanted to trust this woman – I would be sending my child off with her – I needed to know he was in moderately good hands. I was rapt.
I was supremely happy to see the agent get down on the girl’s level and play with her right there in the hallway. I was also supremely pleased to see her mom back off and let the girl do what she wanted. Within moments the girl happily followed the agent down the hall and came out a few minutes later smiling and dancing. There were six or seven kids ahead of my son and every one of them hesitated or fussed or screamed because they didn’t want to leave their mom. I was horrified. Why were these women here? Why would they drag their kids off to something they didn’t want to do? Why put them through this? The thing is every kid left happy – they had obviously had fun in their auditions but was it worth the fuss to get them there?
I was nervous about my son. How would he react? These kids had all been through this before, my son didn’t have a clue what was coming. Finally they called his name. I walked him over to the door and said “You’re up.” The agent asked him if he wanted to go and play with her. He proclaimed “YES” and walked right in. I could hear him laughing in the audition room and came running out with a big grin on his face. I was so relieved. Not so much because I thought he might actually get the commercial – but because he was happy the whole time.
I’m not sure if we’ll do this again. He truly enjoyed the audition – but I was stressed and nervous the whole time. I’ve decided not to pursue this any further. If an agent calls we’ll go from there but I’m not going to push him into this. Of course I say that now – but the next time an agent calls with an audition for him I may just take a look at his RESP balance and jump at the chance…