Hollywood Mom Blog

EXCLUSIVE: Disney Executive Producer IRENE “The Dray” DREAYER Reveals Top 5 Mistakes Child Actors Make!

Posted on 20. Dec, 2010 by Editor Tracy Bobbitt.

Hollywood Mom Blog is giving the invaluable gift of top notch“inside information” for our Hollywood Moms and Dads this holiday season!

Our friend, Irene “The Dray” Dreayer, Executive Producer of “The Suite Life on Deck” is revealing the Top 5 Mistakes she sees aspiring child actors make. Later this week, we will be sharing the Dray’s newest project, “The Dray Way” mentoring program for aspiring child and teen actors, in addition to an exclusive two-part interview with The Dray herself.

The Dray’s the Top 5 Child Actor No No’s:

1.  The career some kids aspire to is not their dream…they are making someone else happy, i.e. the parents!

2.  It’s great to aspire to have a career like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Raven-Symoné or Dylan and Cole Sprouse, but you have to carve out your own path and not mimic your idol’s career. Be your own type of performer. The key is to be true to yourself and be proud of who you are.

3.  Being unprepared in auditions. Meaning, not understanding the character you are reading for, not listening in character and not taking direction.  For example, when asked to do the scene a different way, some young actors don’t have the ability yet to do that.  As a result, the actor unfortunately ends up doing the reading exactly the same way.

4.  Don’t arrive at an audition sick…stay home!!  Cough-Cough…a No-No!

5.  If a young actor does have success and they’re not prepared for [success] and don’t understand what comes with being famous.  For example dealing with Paparazzi, constant interruptions in any normal activity, too much exposure on Twitter, Facebook, etc.  I say, keep your personal information to yourself and off these sites.

Catch up with HMB later this week for the first half of an incredible two-part interview with one of the biggest talents in town, Irene Dreayer. And Happy Holidays!

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From the Momager Trenches Texas: Keep it to yourselves people…

Posted on 09. Apr, 2010 by Editor Tracy Bobbitt.

Have you ever taken your talented, fabulous child to an audition and heard this in the waiting room: “My Johnny  just booked a major role for a feature film – the director said that he is the most talented child actor he has seen in ages,” or “Oh we’re not too worried about this job; we know the casting director personally.”

Who are these people and why must they shout their stories to other parents sitting across the audition waiting room?  If this is you and I seriously doubt that it is, please just…STOP IT!

We don’t care what your darling actor has booked, which roles they have played, what their residuals are or whether the Casting Director is your child’s godparent!  Okay maybe I care a little about that. But if you are trying to psych me out, don’t bother. It is not working!

As I said before, I’m sure none of you reading this has ever been that parent because we are all up on our “parents of child actors” etiquette and know that such behavior is unacceptable. Right? I thought so.

Now we have to put our heads together and come up with a tactful way of getting the message across to the offending parent(s) during those uncomfortable moments while we are sitting together in the waiting room. Ideas anyone?

Here are a few things I’ve tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to shut that parent up:

• while spouting off their child’s impressive resume, I look over, shake my head at them and then glance back down into my book, blackberry or my very interesting, twiddling thumbs.
• go into a huge coughing fit while staring them directly in the eye.
• get up and move to another area in the waiting room.  Of course, I can still hear the conversation but I try to look as disgusted as possible with hopes that they get my drift.

Don’t get me wrong, once the kids are out of the waiting area and into the audition room having polite, quiet conversation of almost any nature is completely fine. But if you feel the need to share your child’s resume line by line then take it outside because honestly the rest of us just don’t care!

I’m going to ask each and of you for a favor.  If by chance we are sitting together in an audition waiting room and I start going on about “my awesome kid,” please help me and everyone else out and tell me to put a sock in it!

Cari Surch is the momager of young actress www.KennedySurch.com You can follow her adventures on twitter http://www.twitter.com/cariscalling

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