I’m a thirteen-- well, fourteen in about a month-- year old girl, and I want to act. I have since the fifth grade. Preferably film or TV, but I love the stage too. I’m in two drama classes, am somewhat of a teacher’s pet in them both, and take any and all school acting opportunities. About two months ago, I realized I’d been ‘waiting for a miracle’. For a talent scout or some such to turn up in Drama class one day. I decided I wasn’t going to wait for that, because it’s not going to happen. I have to find a chance myself. Soudns like a nice, inspirational little story, right? Well, I’ve been scouring the classifieds and Internet since then, and I cannot find a single audition. Technically there’ve been a few, but they all want, for example, a Japanese grandfather and grandson. Nobody wants a 14-ish Caucasian girl. It might be because I don’t live anywhere interesting like New York or Los Angeles- I’m in the San Francisco Bay area. So I need advice. Where else should I look? Anything to try and spot on the net? What do I do?
Thank you.
On a lighter note, it’s nice to be here- I only just signed up after reading the boards for many months- if not a year. Huzzah- I finally get to post!
Have you tried contacting local community theatre groups? Some of them do a children’s show as a regular part of their season, and will sometimes have parts for kids in adult shows as well. Same deal for local college theatre departments…
That’s a pretty decent sized city, there. When commercials or local theatre groups are looking for people, they will occasionally put audition notices in the paper. Your drama teachers will probably also be able to help you out connecting you to people. Local theatre companies are usually always looking for volunteers to help with behind-the-scenes stuff for shows, and that can be a good connection. You’ll at least have an easier time finding out whether they’re casting something you might be good for.
I’d go with ‘start with community theater first’. Not only does it help build the resume, but it gets you contacts, and in the beginning, getting contacts really helps.
On the flipside of that, don’t do it just for the contacts. I know it sounds hypocritical, but do it for the experience of actually doing the work. I did community for a little while before doing some professional stage stuff. In the end I found that it was the people I met that made all the difference.
Wow that sounded cliched. But it was very true at the time. In fact, if the snow lets up a bit, I’m going off to visit a pair of old directors of mine who eventually married each other, and are still trying to get me to come back for ‘one more run’. 