Need advice for auditioning kids (and working with parents)

ShivaRodriguez

ShivaRodriguez

I have a small role for a 10-year-old boy in my film that I'm afraid is going to be a nightmare to cast for and could really use some tips or suggestions.

In a nutshell, the kid appears in the very beginning of the movie, is coaxed into drinking a beer by his irresponsible uncle (who thinks it's perfectly okay to give a young child a beer while on a fishing trip) and then is killed by a werewolf.

The role would require the child to drink fake beer and then play dead with heavy FX makeup.

When I've work with kids before in FX I always invite their parents to bring them to my workshop to see how the prosthetics and blood is made, which they seem to really enjoy and takes the "scary" out of the process. But those kids had already gone through the auditioning process.

I've heard many horror stories about auditioning children and dealing with pushy stage parents. (I'm expecting to get a zillion questions about the beer-drinking and the FX involved.) I don't want to cut the scene because it really does set the mood for the story and I don't think having characters just talk about the incident would have the same emotional impact as showing it.

Can anyone give me some pointers as to what to watch out for during the auditioning process?
 
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The first scene in my movie has an 8 year old kid drinking from his father's glass of whiskey. We made sure that this was known in advance as well as its importance to the story - the adult version of the kid character is an alcoholic who shows up repeatedly in the movie. We auditioned kids with experience only and had no problems.
 
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keep it as fun as possible, you want the kids to go away super excited. which will go some way to easing the worries of the parents. The casting part of film making i always find, is a super hard process I just try to let the talent audition, and then talk to them as much as possible and when its kids get their parents involved see what their worries, or issues are, they may not have any!

All pretty obvious stuff i guess, just something to keep in the back of your mind
 
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Just make sure they know all the terms of their contract. Be specific on details about hours of commitment, compensation, transportation...

When you do your casting make sure they have a headshot and a list of credits. Do not even bother if they do not have experience. We did a casting for a lead child role and it was a great experience. The kids were more professional than many of the adults. The mom was always there but she ended up being a great help later when we shorthanded to serve lunch.
 
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I've worked on sets where we've had kids fake- smoking, drinking, taking drugs, swearing..

Firstly, I'd consider casting older - finding a 12 or 13 year old that looks young enough to play a 10 year old. Realisitcally though, go for whoever is best for the part. Make sure you're up front about everything at the start, and make sure you present yourself as a beacon of professionalism.

You want parents to trust you, and to be okay with the script. It also helps if you ensure that you'll be sending your film to festivals blah blah blah, so that they don't think their kid has done this for some backyard film that will go nowhere.

Also, some parents are great and some parents are horrible to deal with. Always meet the parent, and if you can have someone else as your 'receptionist' giving auditionees' parents auditionee information forms, chatting to parents, giving information about the film etc. A parent will generally be much more open to the person outside, rather than on their best behaviour in the audition room.
 
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Thank you all for the advice! This is my first time directing, so I'm probably a little paranoid over every little thing.

A month ago (before I was even thinking about auditions) I had a bloke contact me to try to push his little daughter on me. Very insistant that my film would be an instant success if I just featured his kid. So right now the parents probably worry me more than the kids do.

I am sending copies of all the scenes in the script involving the child character to the parent/guardian/managers of the children applying to audition for the role so that there will be no surprises there.
 
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hi shiva,

there are some extensive federal and state laws which govern the employment of child actors.

a good reference is: THE EMPLOYMENT OF MINORS IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

published by the studio teachers local 884, IATSC

it is in the child actor and your interest to be familiar with these laws.

cheers
 
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