"[Orchestral music]" "Springtime." "The world wakes from its winter slumber." "And in Hollywood, an annual rite of spring begins." "They call it pilot season." "♪ ♪" "From late January to April, the networks will cast more than 50 new television shows known as pilots, and every pilot season, the migration begins anew." "Thousands of children flock to Hollywood, hoping to land a part." "They come dreaming of stardom." "Dakota!" "[Overlapping shouting]" "Mary-Kate!" "[Overlapping shouting]" "Many stay at the Oakwood, a temporary housing complex that caters to show business families." "For three months, the Oakwood provides a community, free classes, and a home base." "From here, the children try to make their dreams come true before time runs out." "Okay, we're gonna go ahead and get started." "I want to welcome you all to the speed casting for kids event." "Some of you are going to get the chance to meet with reputable agents, managers, and casting directors from our industry." "Whether or not one of the casting directors casts you in their next big film or whether you sign with an agent or a manager, you are practicing making your first impressions." "Number one." "Okay, so you're gonna sit at one." "You sit at table two on this side." "Take that." "[Overlapping chatter]" "Whoo!" "[Laughs]" "This is Milton." "How are you?" " I'll get your ball." " I don't bite." "How old are you?" "You've got to use your big-person voice." "How old is that?" "How long have you been here?" " I don't know." " You don't know?" "But you're four." "Yeah." "And you've been acting for how many years?" "Seven?" "Seven." "Surprising." "Awesome." "Do you have, like, a monologue or a commercial you can do for me?" "Yes." "Okay, can you stand up and go for it?" "Fruity, tarty, sweet, and tangy." " What's your favorite color?" " Hot pink." " What's it taste like?" " Cherry." "I'm always bright and happy, 'cause I'm just bright and happy 'cause I love happy stuff." "Right." "What do you want to grow up and be?" "I want to grow up to be a surgeon, a zookeeper, something to do with land animals and ocean animals." "Really?" "So what's the acting for?" "Just to have fun now?" "Yeah." "I really wanted to be an actress when I was a kid." "If you run into a dynamite person, you just know it." "They transcend the lens." "They get inside the lens and they end up in the living room or they end up in the theater with you, and you know you know them, but you've never met them." "I thought this girl was great." "These are the ones I took that I thought were good." "Taylor, Shayna." "I hate this child's picture." "He doesn't want to be doing this." "She's got a great character look and she totally wants it." "[Orchestral music]" "♪ ♪" "[dog barks]" "How are you feeling, Viv?" "Huh?" "How are you doing?" "[Kisses]" "Without my grandma, probably none of this acting stuff would be going on." "I was pretty much against it at first, because of all the things that you read and see in the news about the young stars." "They lose sight of what's decent in life." "She promised me that she would stay Shanna Marie." "My goal is to be in sitcoms and movies." "Grandma's like, "you can't miss an opportunity like this." "You have to go to Hollywood."" "I love you." "Mm-hmm." "I do, I do." "Huh, sugar boy?" "[Kisses]" "♪ ♪" "Yay." "[Laughs]" "Oh, my gosh." "Oh, my gosh." "Ooh, that's where the Oscars are, honey." " That's really cool." " That's cool." "I mean, yeah, that is really cool." "Oh, my gosh." " [Gasps] No way." " Yay." " Mom, drive." " I'm driving, sweetie." "She had always said, since she was little, that she was gonna be this, and, uh..." "[Clears throat]" "So finally, when she was seven years old, my husband gets in the phone book and he's, "yeah, there's a photography thing."" "This head-shot was the head-shot that basically got me going." "We sent those pictures off, and three days later, they're like, "get up here,"" "and I was like, "here we go."" "Yeah." "[The Ellen Degeneres Show playing on TV]" "[Audience cheering]" "[Ellen talking indistinct]" "Pilot season, it's a window of opportunity." "It's, like, if you're a salesperson, you know, if you have that chance to get in front of that certain person that might buy whatever it is you're selling, well, we're selling..." "well, that sounds stupid." "We're selling Megan." "[Overlapping chatter]" "It's not an easy business." "You guys know that, right?" "There's tons of scams, rip-offs, and deceits, but you have to go with the right people." "What does that say?" "All: "If you do not run yourself like a business, you will run yourself out of business!"" "Right." "We'll go out there to do it 'cause we love acting." "But you know, underneath, what do we kind of also want?" " We want money." " Money." "How many of you have done student films?" "Yeah, waste of time." "You're going out for something for free for a student who's not doing anything except learning how to shoot film." "Let's not do it for free." "When I get a kid's submission," "I'm getting close to 1,000 to 1,800." "At the most, I can see 40 kids." "Do you know who else gets auditioned when you're there, while you're in the waiting room?" "Who else?" "Your parents." "Your parents, big time." "If we don't like a parent, we delete the child off the tape." "They just erase 'em." "Whatever you want, just think about it and keep that in your mind and see that all the time, that you're gonna get an academy award, you're gonna get an Oscar." "Here's your little motto for today." "If you believe it, you can..." "All:" "Achieve it." "Achieve it and receive it." "Believe, achieve, receive." "Okay, let's give Stuart a big hand for coming today." "[Cheers and applause]" "My policy is that everyone who comes has to do a free seminar, because I feel the families spend enough money doing all the classes and head-shots and everything else, that here at oakwood, I want everything free." "It's something that I think was really Rosie's doing that grew out of nothing." "You know, it was just a place to stay, but it became the place to stay." "In its conception, oakwood was for singles only, and back in the '70s, that all changed." "So we've gone from walking down the aisle to walking down the red carpet." "You know, a lot of famous kids have stayed there." "I'm sure you know Hilary duff, Jennifer love Hewitt." "You know, many famous people have stayed there." "I'm always blown away with the energy these little packages have and the talent." "This is Andrew Astor." "He is on dirty sexy money." "He's six years old." "Vincent Martella." "He's on everyone hates Chris." "Hilary duff lived here." "She came because of her sister, and then she made it on Lizzie Mcguire." "You know, when I think of the oakwood, it is sort of, for me, it's sort of a place that doesn't exist after, like, may 1st." "From may 1st till December, it's just... you know, you see the tumbleweeds." "But then, there, all of a sudden, you know, the circus comes to town." "Cannonball!" "It's just like a trail of hope comes in, and they all take over." "You know, I tell parents all the time, if you're gonna stay at the oakwood, it's a good experience for the kids, because there's a built-in social and classes and all that, but just keep everything to yourself." "I was a soccer mom." "I wasn't the least bit prepared for this." "Would you guys like something to drink or...?" "Scotch and water?" "No, I'm kidding." " You want some water?" " No, thank you, I'm fine." "I'm kidding." " Put everybody on hold." " Yeah." "We'll make it very, very brief." "We're kind of confused about the whole picture and what you're looking for and providing you with the best stuff that we can." "Like, when a casting director gets the 4,832 submissions of people just like you, whose is gonna stand out?" "Somebody that's got a little bit of something or your traditional, nice, posed shot?" "Everybody's got this." "Now, I'm not saying that you can't get an audition with a nice, you know, yearbook-type picture." "You can." "I have a little boy right now that's being coached as we speak by a casting company because they really want... are considering him to play Jennifer Aniston's son in her next movie." "Oh, my gosh, that's unbelievable." "Yeah." "And he's gonna go meet with all of them tomorrow." "And we'll get something like that for you." "I think the new photos will help." "Super." "And let me just... one quick check of the emails here." "Maybe something came up while we were talking." "Well, something did come up." "Let's see what it is." "It's gonna be good, it's gonna be good." "It's for a pilot for nickelodeon, but it's for a boy." "But you see how it could happen anytime." "Are you ready?" "3, 2, 1." "[Camera shutter clicks] Good." "Now bring it back to me just a little more." "Good." "Chin up." "And back up just a little bit." "Good." "Mom?" "Yes, sir." "Want to tighten up the hair?" "We have Photoshop, but the less we use Photoshop..." "The better?" "The perfect... the more perfect the sure... yeah." "She loves when I do that." "And I'm gonna go, "3, 2, 1, turn."" "Turn, turn, turn." "Good." "[Camera shutter clicks]" "Very nice." "Hold it right there." "Good." " That's nice." " Perfect." "I think that's what I said when we shot this one." "Okay, we're done." "[Laughs]" "I mean, she's already a pro." "[Laughs]" "[Music playing]" "And now, the 81st annual academy awards." "[Cheers and applause]" "I grew up in a place called Alcobendas, where this was not a very realistic dream." "When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me to California." "I think I was probably eight years old and staring into the bathroom mirror, and this would have been a shampoo bottle." "[Laughter]" "Well, it's not a shampoo bottle now." "I'd like to thank my mom and dad, who are in this room somewhere." "Dad, whistle or something, 'cause then I'll know where you are." " [Whistles]" " Yes!" "[Applause]" "I love you." "[Applause]" "I visualize holding an Oscar in my hand." "Of course you'd have to thank the... oh, my gosh, I forgot what it's called." "The academy." "The director that made it and the film crew." " Acting coaches." " Dance coaches." "And we would like to thank all the homeless animals out there." "And everybody who helped me along the way." "My mom, first of all, for, like, driving me to auditions." "And my dad, because they've always been there for me." "They've done a lot for me." "And my dad has to be back home by himself." "[Laughs]" "We're in my bedroom." "I decorated it, as you can see, and this is just a lot of my personality in here." "And then, as you can see, we sleep on the floor, um, because we got our apartment unfurnished, so we don't have a bed anymore, so we just started sleeping on the floor." "It's actually pretty comfortable." "These kids are growing up..." "it's, like, the neighborhood." "Guys, what'd your mom say?" "Are you going to the pool, though?" "Instead of sitting on the front porch, you're sitting at the pool, and all the kids, even though there's competition going on, they're all their friends." "Guys!" "Oh!" "Shanna." "Shanna banana." "[Laughter]" "[Overlapping chatter]" "Uh, James, it's says absolutely no diving." "But make sure you don't jump..." "I don't know." "Just... just get in the pool, 'cause you're making me nervous." " All right." " My nerves are up here." " All right." "Watch." " Go on, James." "Don't dive." "Okay." "You're making me nervous." "Yeah, James!" "Whoo-hoo!" "I didn't think it was, like, eight feet." "[Overlapping chatter]" "See?" "I'm okay, mother." " Mom?" " Yeah, sweetie?" "Do you wish you were an Oscar Mayer wiener?" "I do, because then everybody would be in love with me." "Prepare to exit right in three-quarters of a mile." "The audition is for Oscar Mayer." "Take next right." "They want a very real, natural look, so we'll see." "[Overlapping chatter]" " Isn't it cool?" " So cool." " That was cool." " That was really cool." "That was cool." "That was cool." "Wild." "Did you recognize him?" "Mmhmm." " Fourth floor." " Okay, this one." "This is ours." "[Lighthearted music]" "Oh." "♪ ♪" "Excellent." "And then you're gonna look at this pink paper." "One, two, and three." "Excellent." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Bye." " Have a good day." " You too." " Look!" " Look!" "Hi!" "Was that..." "was that too obvious?" "Hi." "Like, just a little obvious." "This will look good on my blog." "Get it, get it." "I think I got it." "[Groans]" "The lady in there was really nice." " At the audition?" " Yeah." "So, what did she Te..." "did she describe to you what you needed to do?" "No." "She didn't even tell me to smile or anything, so..." "All:" "I feel great!" " Come on, believe it!" "All:" "I feel great!" "Lie if you have to!" "All:" "I feel great!" "When you audition for a comedy, a sitcom, or comedy acting, you've got to have energy, and that's got to come from down here, okay?" "[Inhales]" "When you say your name, you're communicating your name, so that you're thinking, I don't want you to forget my name." "So we're gonna do three "huhs" and then your name, your full name, with power and strength." "Huh, huh, huh, Shanna grove." "I want the voice placement down here, further." " Huh, huh, huh, Shanna grove." " Good." " Wuh, wuh, wuh, Ryan Castle." " Ryan Castle." " Huh, huh, huh, Patrick Casa." " Good." "Now, when you go into an audition, don't do the "huh, huh, huh."" "All right?" "[Laughter]" "[Laughter on TV]" " Yes." " Getting kind of hungry." "He's 14 now." "He can say a naughty word if the scene calls for it." "You know, I don't want him in any sexual situations that are beyond what a 14-year-old would normally face." "And I, certainly, I said absolutely nothing that glorifies Satan." "Absolutely nothing." "I don't care if they paid him $1 million." "He's not gonna, you know, play Satan, he's not gonna play a role of a Satan Worshipper, and he's not gonna play anything that glorifies Satan." "I don't care how much money they offer him." "Not gonna do it." "My husband's a pilot in the air force, and because he's a pilot in the air force, we're definitely not rich." "Eat a lot of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese when we're here." "In mom's room, we have this table, and it has, like, snacks and stuff." "We call it the snack table." "It has, like, food where we can get snacks." "And I sleep under the snack table, because there's nowhere else for me to sleep." "I like all the princesses." "And I sleep on this couch." "I keep a pillow and blanket in the closet during the day." "I had an acting coach come to me one time and she said, "can you please speak to this mother?"" "She was allowing her daughter to audition for a part that used foul language, and she ended up, like, ripping her shirt off and wearing some sort of leather bra or some... something an eight-year-old, in my estimation," "just shouldn't be doing." "And I talked to her, and she ended up saying," ""oh, my daughter's not doing that."" "So I kind of..." "I don't want to sound obnoxious or anything, but I think that we were sent here for a purpose, and these children..." "especially the oldest one who's been doing it so long, was given this gift for a reason," "I consider this our mission field." "I mean, you don't have to go to Africa to be an example to others." "Amen." "Very good, Ryan." "Savannah." "It's time to wake up, sleeping beauty." "Smokey." "Smokey." "When I get older," "I know it's really high expectations, but I want to be, like, the next Dakota fanning." "High expectations, but maybe I'll get there someday." "But Ashley did have a theatrical agent, uh, at premiere talent, but that woman left the agency." "And they asked if we wanted to continue with them, but I did not want to continue with them." "What do you consider a good agent?" "Probably an audition a week." "And..." "Especially at your age group." "Yeah." "I mean, if it was Savannah's age group, it'd probably be three auditions a week." "I'm going to school, not an audition." "There's a lot less her age out here, and I guess, like, there's more roles, because that's a really hot market right now, and so, say, if you have a seven-year-old" "in your commercial, that commercial is probably gonna be, like, in the super bowl." " [Squeals] - [Laughs]" "There are so many girls in the business." "I mean, there's an abundance of 12-year-old girls." "Every little 12-year-old girl in this country wants to be a singer, dancer, movie star, and there... and there aren't as many parts." " I'll take that." " Okay." "So if you're coming to California from Denver, you're risking a lot." "Why were you so motivated to become an actress?" "I... it inspires me, and I think it inspires everybody else, and it's good role modeling, I think, and it's a ton of fun, so... so you love it, and there's some part of you" "that says, "I'm supposed to be doing this," right?" "Mm-hmm." "So let's take that and bring it to this scene here." " Okay." " Okay." "Okay, so you know how I went to New York, right?" "Well, Chinatown was so awesome." "We went there after knockoff purses, but in order to get the good ones, you have to go deep into these dark basements." "Okay, good." "Don't work so hard." "Okay." "There's a really nice quality about you that's really open and friendly and sweet." "She's strong enough that that's why she got a theatrical agent, but they're gonna try her in commercials first, and they want her to work in commercials before they're gonna give her, you know, that big part." "What's important is, are you following your passion and are you having a voice in it?" "I'm not just saying this just because Julia's mine, you know what I mean?" "I'm talking from the manager's perspective as well." "She's very talented, and if you ask her to sing right now or dance or cry..." "Julia, let me see you smile." "You see?" "It's a beautiful smile." "This apartment costs $2,400 a month, and plus we have to pay all her classes, all her coaching, and also food, gas, blah, blah, blah." "It's about $5,000 a month." "This is huge money." "[Singing]" ""So, I overslept." ""I want my Kellogg's Corn Pops." ""Like sweet popcorn." "I've just got to have my corn pops."" "I don't get this commercial at all." "Didn't get?" "I can't even read it." ""I want my Kellogg's Corn Pops."" "Yeah." "Kell-ogg-es?" " No, Kell-gogs." " Kellogg's." "You'll always want more Kell-gogs Corn Pops." "I've just got to have my pops." "I can't read the..." "Kellogg's, Kellogg's." "That's a cereal." "Oh, cereal." " Okay, you guys ready?" " Yes, we are." " Almost, yes." " Great." " Julia, how old are you?" " I'm ten." "Ten years old." "Can you do your commercial for me?" " Yes." " Okay, great." "Stand up nice and tall and go for it." "Okay." "Oh, corn pops." "Okay." "So, I overslept." "I want my Kellogg's corn pops." "Like sweet popcorn." "You'll always want more Kellogg's corn pops." "I've just got to have my corn pops." "Pops." "Awesome." "All right." "Good job." "I'll take that." "Let me give you my card." "Terrific." "All right." "You know, Jeremy, if I can just tell you, she can fit anything from, like," "Spanish roles to Italian roles." "Right, and she can play all those roles, which is..." "which is a huge plus." "Now the next step is kind of going through my roster and kind of going through my girls in your age category." "You're 11, is that right?" "I'm ten." "You're ten, okay." "So if I have, you know, too many other girls similar, where it's gonna be a conflict to take her on, we're gonna have to hold off, all right?" "I would like to get extra card for me, please." "Oh, yes, absolutely." "Here you go." " Thank you, thank you." " Thank you very much, guys." " Thank you, Jeremy." " Yes, nice meeting you." " Thank you." " All right." "Thank you, Julia." "Bye." "Thanks for coming, guys." " Thank you." " Bye." "Thank you." " Have a nice day." " You too." "All right, good seeing you." "Thank you." " Bye." " Bye, guys." "I stop and take pictures every now and then, and Shanna will say, "this... not every moment is a Kodak moment, mom."" "Okay, but we are tourists." "My husband said, "no one does that." "No one gets to go back and do that." "Go... you know, takes their kids and goes to California to do this, and I think that that's why Shanna didn't tell a lot of her friends, because you don't want to run into that, you know," ""what are you doing?" "Why are you doing that?" "It's a pipe dream."" "Yeah, yeah." "Most actors get out here, including myself, it takes them two, three years to get their first good part, and it's just a lot of building, so... yes, it takes..." "it takes a long time." "Now, how do you get just that... that nut of experience so that you get on the set and you're able to, you know, to do some things?" "And that's... that's really what were looking for for Shanna." "You need to be a type." "Hollywood is all about a type." "It is." "You need to think about what your type is." "Literally, I have not been in a role that hasn't been a nerd." "I played a gay nerd, um, a basketball playing nerd, a hockey playing nerd." " You made 'em laugh." " Yeah, yeah." " A doctor nerd." " A doctor nerd." " He's a bully." " Yeah, you're a bully." "Yes." "They're always saying, and you'll find out, the first time you see your child being filmed, like, in a movie thing, you cry." "And I didn't believe that." "You walk on the set." "There's the boom, there's the cameras, and I said, "well, I'm not gonna cry."" "I was in for 30 seconds, and I started crying." "I said, "this is so..." Oh, I can't even imagine." "Well, it's the dream come true." "What do you want to be when you grow up?" "An actress." "What would be the best situation possible?" "Hmm." "To be in a big, big, ma... a major motion picture, and me be the main character." "And I want to be a..." "a singer." "And I want to be a famous person." "My goal is to one day have a major motion picture out there and everybody know my name." "It's more my dad's." "I will buy him a hot tub, because I know he really wants one." "[Laughs]" "For my life, not to ever put my hands on a woman, um, not to go to jail, and to stay away from drugs." "And as far as acting-wise, win five Oscars, at least two Grammys, and one Tony award." "A goal board is where you cut out stuff out of magazines and you put 'em on a board and then you can write stuff on there that you want to do, and, um, if you, like," "read it every day and you look at it every day, then it'll bound to become true." "I'm not done with it yet, but this is, "have more money."" "I love that one." "And then, over here, "see my dad more often," ""go back home more often," ""win an Oscar, be a star by the time I'm 13."" "This is my old goal board." ""Have my own fashion line, create my own shoe line, open up a nail salons around the world."" "I don't know how I'm gonna do all this stuff, but I'm gonna try." "This is my mom's." "[Laughs]" " "Escape from Stressville."" " Oh." "Oh, hey." "Yeah, we're..." "it's taken a little work, but it'll come true, probably, 'cause it's on the board." "When we came out here, we were renting a car, but initially, we came out here for two months, and it was like, okay, well, pretty soon we're into three years of renting a car." "Well, $18,000 later, the economy's not so good now, and I thought, well, you know what?" "Now's the time to send the car out." ""Hope you enjoy the special goodies."" "Oh, look at that." "Oh!" "Give me that." "This is the mystery right here." "This is, like, a baby encyclopedia, but we've been gone a long time." "He doesn't..." "you know, sometimes" "I don't think he really, um, gets that she's gonna be 12, 'cause we left when she was eight, you know?" "And... here, chew some gum." "A new dance?" "What is it, dance-a-lot?" "Remember, dance-a-lot's the robot." "Yeah, I know, but, um, why do I need to say it?" "When do you need to say it?" "No wh..." "Why do I need to say it?" "'Cause that's... no, why do I need to say it now?" "I just wanted to make sure you knew it." "I just wanted to make sure you didn't forget, okay?" "Okay, Ryan, you ready?" "Come on in, hon." "Okay, so you're gonna read just that first octopus scene with Melanie, okay?" "You mean, new dance?" "What is the dance?" "Exactly." "That octopus scene." "And just have lots of energy and show us your dance moves." "Hey, everybody, it's time to get into the groove and learn a new dance move with me, dance-a-lot." "Are you ready?" "New dance?" "What is it, dance-a-lot?" "Let's all do it, do it, do it together." "First, wiggle your tentacles..." "I mean arms... way up high, then wiggle them way down low." "You've got it, Danny." " That's his line." " This is way fun." "Now wiggle your whole body." "Got it, Danny?" "[Laughter]" "Yeah, I feel like I'm an octopus." " Good job." " Good job, Ryan." "Good to meet you, hon." "That's all you have to do today." " Okay." " Good to meet you." " Bye." " Bye." "Okay, don't choke her neck, Ryan." "All right." "♪ Dance-a-lot, dance-a-lot ♪" "How 'bout that, Ryan?" "Was that cool?" "Yeah." "As long as you did your best, honey, and you had fun." "You could be in the car and get a phone call all the way up to..." "it could be months before they call you back." "So... and if you don't get a callback, you just won't hear." "They're just too busy and there's too many people." "The fact that you got an audition is amazing." "If you get the job, it's a miracle." "There are 3,000 pictures that I go through to bring in 100 children for one role, so that... and that's on every job." "So your expectation can't be to work, but that you got an audition." "Good step." "Callback, better." "Job, totally out of the blue, luckiest thing that ever happened to you." "Phone's right there." "Waiting for it to ring, you know?" "If you've been training since you were three, you know, there are certainly doors open for those kids." "But people like Shanna who really don't have the experience, there... you know, there are opportunities there." "We just need that..." "that right door to open." "We don't have enough on this calendar." "We don't." "Once you start getting projects under your belt and then people see you, then you can build a reel." ""Student film, non-union, theater." "Theater."" "Episode." "That's okay, honey." "You just need the exposure." "When's the phone gonna ring?" "3, 2, 1." " Next time." " Okay." "Oh, oh, wait." "Once you were talking to, um, my sister, right?" "Uh-huh." "And you were like, "yeah, I never gamble."" "And then she was like," ""what are you doing out there then, mom?"" " Yeah." " [Laughs]" "Yeah." "Like, what do you call it?" "It's got to be..." "it's got... it's the same highs and lows as gambling." "I just think if I would have spent $180,000 in the last three years on power-ball tickets..." "[Laughs]" "We could have made our own movie." "[Laughs]" "You are talking about a significant expenditure of money." "You know, some of the kids who come out here for pilot season," "$5,000 and $6,000 a month, easily." "I've seen everything from families who have so much money that they really think they can buy it to people almost living in their car." "We got a bag for glass bottles, we got a bag for cans, and a bag for plastic bottles." "We're gonna take you on a treasure hunt." "Come on, Patrick." "Don't let it fall on my head like you did earlier." "Ooh, Patrick, jackpot." " Yeah." " Hear a bottle?" "Saving the environment is good, but we're just in it for the cash." "[Laughs] We have our standards." "They're not very high, but we have 'em." "Do what you have to do." "[Overlapping chatter]" "This is the young actors' boot camp." "They can actually take a workshop with an actor that they see on television." "I produce demo reels for children." "We produce scenes that makes it look like they were actually in a real movie." "I'm with independent capital management." "When you have money, all the, uh, termites come out and start eating you up, because there's opportunity there." "I own a company called Tami Erin talent, and I started in the business as an elite model when I was eight, and then I went on to become a movie star." "The movie that I'm most famous for is pippi long-stocking, and I get fan mail, like, every day." "In fact, Cuba Gooding, Jr.," "I was at dinner with him about a week ago, and he's seen the movie over and over." "His little girl loves it." "Yeah, everybody loves this movie." "Everybody loves it." "Paris Hilton has seen it, like, 100 times." "Well, that's me on the red carpet." "You have to love acting." "You've got to love the craft." "If you don't love the craft and you're doing it just to become famous, the odds of becoming a movie star like I did is like winning the lottery." "[Overlapping chatter]" "I was discovered by Groucho Marx, and I lived at the oakwood garden apartments." "I never talk to parents of the little starlets, because it's none of my business what they're doing with their kids, but when I came in this morning and saw the documentary was being shot," "I reached out to you and said there's another side to this." "You're talking about one of the most perverted, dog-eat-dog industries in the world." "It's slavery." "You're being sold." "You're being bought and sold." "There are consequences to turning your child's life into a career pursuit." "It is a colossal risk of the only thing that children truly have that's their own, which is their childhood." "The character's a very sick little girl who's dying in the hospital." "In the next scene, she really is almost dead." "And the character is very frail, very thin, pale, you know, so we're trying to downplay the color, and we want to make Savannah look as thin as possible." "Okay, let me spray your hair." "So, in the first scene, she's very sick." "And then, with the coach, I had her think of something she really hates, that really makes her sick, and she thought of Brussels sprouts." "She's supposed to be really depressed, kind of, and sick." " Sick and sad and..." " Yeah." "And so, thinking of her German Shepherd always makes her feel kind of sad." "Yeah, she said that in the cry on cue class." "Jake's her best friend, and, I mean, she loves him so much." "She cries every couple days for Jake." "The acting coach said to think about her dogs being eaten by coyotes." "She should just keep thinking of Jake, keep looking at the casting director like she's dying." "I didn't even think about that." "If you want to find something on the... yeah." "How would I find something like that on the Internet?" "Any ideas?" "Um, "gravely-ill children," say, I don't know, um..." ""dying child" or something?" " Yeah, which would just be..." " "Hospitalized child"?" "♪ I'll be your friend ♪" "♪ I'll help you carry on ♪" "♪ For it won't be long ♪" "It looks like there's not that much sick kids in this." "♪ I'm gonna need ♪" "♪ Somebody to lean on ♪" "Abrahim made it to one year old, but his ailing heart gave up before he arrived at an Israeli hospital." "The baby had a heart defect requiring..." "Let me know when you're ready." "Where's my dad?" "Your dad is talking to the doctors right now." "You want some water?" "I want my dad." "Do you feel good about that one?" "Did you feel really sad, Savannah?" "Yes." "How is it feeling with Jake being missing?" "Okay, honey, you need to go." "Are you in character?" "Come on." "Okay, hon." "They generally don't want, especially in these kind of bigger auditions, they don't want a sibling going." "Okay." "I'd say it's probably a good idea not in this one." "We'll come straight back, though." "Actually, I was gonna ask..." "Maybe I'll pick you up and we'll do that." " Oh, cool." " You want to do that?" "Or can we go to Citywalk?" "'Cause I... 'cause I need to, for my brochure, and we can go to ice cream, like, any day." "Bye." "So, at the beginning of the year," "I decided that I was going to submit her for everything that even remotely looks like she could do." "I submitted her for 36 projects." "We did not get one call." "[Laughs]" "And I submitted her for 36 projects." "So what keeps you going?" "She does." "She just keeps me going." " Thanks, mom." " I know, honey." "She does keep me going, because I just know I can't take her back to that one-stoplight town." "It's like we opened a Pandora's box." "I went from drinking all the time..." " to ice cream." " Exactly." "And I thought, ooh, I'm gonna..." "I'm gonna save so much money." "But Haagen-dazs is, like, $5 a little thing." "That's a $300 a month habit." "I'm just an old, fat mom who needs some Haagen-dazs." "It's cheaper to drink, you know, Bacardi." "[Laughs] Breakfast, lunch, and dinner." "[Laughs] Instead of... good thing I quit smoking and drinking in order to go into that." "Your tears, everything's in you." "You don't have to drag it out of you when you really feel something, right?" "When you really do get emotional." "Who here has gotten called in for an audition where it's said that you had to cry or something like that?" "Okay." "You know, most people I know are usually intimidated by it, because then you feel like, oh, what if I go in the audition and I don't cry?" "You know, it feels like all this pressure." "So what happens is, when we want to cry, and we're saying to ourselves, "God, cry,"" "yeah, then nothing's gonna come out." "We have kids who actually have auditioned for years and can't book anything, and once they get relaxed, they're able to book, okay?" "So everybody just spread out." "Find a place in the room." "And as you're breathing," "I want you to picture that you're on a beach but now you see the face of someone that you love." "And literally, take your hands out in front of you, with your eyes closed, and start to sculpt their face with your hands." "And while you're doing it, think about the way they make you feel." "And then I want you to look them straight in their eyes and say, "I love you."" "All:" "I love you." "Tell us how you felt." "Were you able to concentrate or not concentrate?" "Tell us what you went through and maybe who you pictured or how you felt." "Why don't you start, hon?" "Um, I was thinking of my sister, who died at birth, and I was picturing how she would look, because my mom told me that... that she could feel that she had a really good personality." "[Sniffles]" "And that I resemble her so much, and I've always wanted to know what she would look like, and today was finally the chance to where I got to experience it." "That's wonderful." "Okay." "That's okay." "That's great." "Thank you, guys." "Thanks for doing that exercise with us." "This is Ryan Malgarini, known for Gary unmarried." "Devon, now what brings you to the young artist awards today?" "I did a movie called funny games, and I'm nominated for that." "My last project was with the Jonas brothers." "It's called Jonas." "We actually worked together." "Both:" "On everybody hates Chris." "Oh, wow." "I've done an episode of house, nip/tuck." "Ghosts of girlfriends past," "I play young Jennifer garner in that." "Look back at me." "Let me see your eyes." "There we go." "Big smile." "Wow." "That's awesome." "This is, like, the real McCoy." "You know, this is our first year, and she's 13 and just started, and so it's, you know, we have learned so much." "I am not going to go to the actual awards." "I just don't know that many people." "Okay, look over your shoulder to me." "There we go." "What advice can you give young kids out there trying to reach their dreams like you?" "Well, you just work hard and then you'll soon, well, be nominated." "Yeah, there you go." "Good advice." "Ladies and gentlemen, lifetime achievement award winner Corey Feldman." "[Cheers and applause]" "I want to say thank you all, and to all of the children out there who are just starting this crazy roller-coaster ride, make sure that you stay strong, make sure that you believe in your family and you keep love in your heart" "and you keep yourself true to what you believe in, because believing is the most powerful thing in the world." "Thank you." "[Cheers and applause]" "[Orchestral music playing]" "♪ ♪" "[overlapping chatter]" " Congratulations." " [Laughs]" "I got an award." "That's fabulous." "That is fabulous." "Way to go." "Way to go." " Joey!" " Joey!" "Get in there." "Congrats." "Thanks." "[Laughter]" "[Dishes clatter] 8:27, guys." "Okay." "Did you guys each get one of these for school?" "They've got their..." "they're... they're packed up." "Okay, everybody in." "[Groans]" "We've done day schools, regular day schools." "We've done home schooling, and this school, the San Fernando valley professional school, is what seems to work best." " Uh..." " Go ahead." "It's a school for, um, actors." "Like, they support actors, unlike my other school, where they would get mad if I left to go to an audition." "One of our very famous, famous Alumnis." "Her name is Janet Jackson." "Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Beverly Hills 90210." "Brittany Murphy." "She was very famous for many movies, but one that really stuck to me was don't say a word." "Brittany Murphy." "And Soleil Moon Frye was one of our Alumnis." "She was well known as the famous punky Brewster." "Go ahead, Joey, you're up." "Uh, the beetle." "Oh, okay." ""The beetle in the pictures below" ""is carrying on another life process." "In what ways do you respond to your environment?"" "Yes, Julie, I see your hand." "Okay, well, um, if, say if you live in a Sandy place." "Mm-hmm." "You're probably gonna wear tennis shoes all the time, 'cause, like..." "I would wear flip-flops." " Me too." " Me three." "Okay, that's not precisely what I was looking for, but..." "Briana, and then we go back to read." "Okay, isn't it true..." "It can be bad, yeah." " Ooh, that's not good." " That's not good at all." "I'm gonna jump out of an airplane before my wedding." " Me too!" " Okay." "No, no, no." "Slow down, slow down." "We're not talk about jumping out of airplanes right now." "Okay, Julie, do you have something to say?" " Yes, um, my rabbit..." " Mm-hmm." " He grew his teeth too long." " Mm-hmm." " Cut the crap..." " Let..." "let..." "let's back up." "Um, I appreciate all the good answers, um, but let's go ahead and get to the lab." "Home school bus driver." "Anybody with a mini van and more than two kids needs one of these." "Patrick is studying for the national geography one." "Christopher is studying his spelling words." "Ryan is excavating some dinosaur bones here." "And Alisa is working with her Disney princess spelling program." "Home schooling fits the child actor's schedule, first of all, because we've been so busy the last two weeks, and school just doesn't fit in to having to get kids to auditions and filmings." "God promised Noah that he would never again send a flood to destroy the whole earth and all living things on it." " God..." " Always keeps his promises." "Yeah." "You can do magnetism now for a little bit if you want." "Cool." " Race to witch Mountain..." " Hang on!" "In theaters next Friday." "Do you miss going to school with other kids at all?" "You know, not really, because since we live at oakwood, there's a bunch of kids everywhere, and they... most of them do online school." "I work from 8:00 to 11:00." "This is seventh-grade math." "It tells me what textbook pages I need." "[TV playing in background]" "I can't do my work, like, silently, so I have the TV on." "With lettuce, tomato, and onion, topped with cheddar cheese and thick-cut pepper bacon." "So good, you'll say, "I'm thinkin' Arby's."" "I haven't cooked yet, so you can go in here and fix you a peanut butter, jelly sandwich or a Turkey sandwich." "All right." "The field trip is this Thursday to the Sepulveda Basin." " The what?" " The Sepulveda basin." " What's that?" " It's, like, a bird center." " How much is it?" " Nothing." "It doesn't cost." "Do you want me to go?" "You can if you want to." "Hmm, you don't want me to go." "You're just saying that." "I can tell." "No, no." "Ma, you always say that." "'Cause I don't think you want me to go with you on your field trips anymore." " No, ma, you can." " Okay." "I know you're getting older." "I want that report completed." "You gonna finish that, okay?" "And if you've got two pages left, I want it done today." "Today." "Yes..." "It shouldn't be so sloppy." "Look how you got it." "We tried the home school, but home schooling was not good." "I'm aggressive, James is laid-back." "I don't get what I want, he gonna see a ugly side of me." "There would be times I'd tell him," ""get out." "Get out the apartment." "Go walk." "I need a break."" "So it wasn't good for us." "And me and James would call his daddy," ""mama getting on to me,"" "and then my husband would call me and I'd tell him, "I'm doing all the work." "I'm sitting here every day."" "We don't... we didn't have no time apart from each other." "We home schooled from..." "James, how long did we home school?" "From what?" "About a week." "No, no." "It was a month." "We were actually getting ready to buy a home, and we decided not to, because James kept asking us to come out here and let him do the acting." "Do I think I'm hard on James?" "No, I actually think I'm laid-back." "Now, if you ask the other people out here in the oakwood family, they look at me like I'm crazy." "But at the end of the day," "James will not be another black male that's gonna be in prison, and I don't care what it takes." "You're going to take your mark there on the "X."" "Have you auditioned before?" "Yeah." "Good." "So you know what to do, right?" " Yeah." " All right." " Okay, um, I have the scene." " Good, can I have that?" " Yeah." " Okay." "Okay." "Is it the same side for both the song... the singing and the dance?" "I'm just gonna do the singing and the dancing at the same time." " Um..." " Is that, like... is that okay or...?" "I would prefer that you not do it that way, and the reason for that is that when you do the song, um, we're tight on your face, and when you do the dance, it's full body," "so I have to reset the camera for that." "On the chorus can I do dancing and stuff, and you, like, show the full body?" "'Cause, like, I want to do both at the same time." "How about we just..." "you do the same song twice." "If you want to sing during your dance, you can." " Okay." " Does that make sense?" "Um..." "All right, we'll do it your way." "I was like, oh..." "[Music playing]" "♪ ♪" "♪ Oh but I get into it ♪" "♪ Which is why we share the ♪" "♪ Everlasting love ♪" "♪ Because these things will change ♪" "♪ I can feel it now ♪" "♪ These walls that they put up to hold us back ♪" "♪ Will fall down ♪" "♪ Exactly where I'm supposed to be now ♪" "No." "♪ In your speech now ♪" "No." "My email was hit with a few thousand, and I can only see ten people out of a couple thousand kids, so I'm in my dilemma." "[Laughs]" " Huh?" " What age range?" "[Laughs]" " That's what..." " [Laughs]" "[Rap music]" "Do we want rapping?" "Is it a positive rap or is it a ghetto rap?" "Russian accent." "No." " I think it takes time..." " Thanks for playing." "[Laughs]" "[Intro to love story]" "Hey, Randy, help me." "Does she have breasts?" "♪ When I first saw you... ♪" " Yes." " Okay." "♪ I'm standing there... ♪" "She's got a great voice, though." "I know, but she has breasts, right?" "♪ See the lights ♪" "♪ See the party, the ball gowns ♪" "I need to do this quickly." "Very small." "I would..." "I would take her." " One down." " It's a nightmare." "Oh, my goodness." " Oh, yeah." "Oh." " Well, kind of, right?" " I can tell this one." " You should see him dance." "I know." " You can dance?" " Yeah." "♪ Hey, pretty baby with the high heels on ♪" "♪ Hee ♪ Oh, wow, how cool." "♪ Like I've never, ever known ♪" "♪ It's just a part of your loveliness ♪" "♪ I like the groove of your walk ♪" "♪ Your talk, your dress ♪" "♪ I feel your fever from Miles around ♪" "I feel like I'm on American idol." "Okay, you're moving on to the next round." "All right, you're going to Hollywood, going to Hollywood." "[Cheers and applause]" "He's hilarious." "He's hilarious." "He's good." "That's just like having a bunch of money on your head." "[Laughter]" " How are you doing?" " Great." "Hello." "Yeah." "Like the really kind of, like, Ivy league kind of look." "You know, school girl kind of thing." "After an audition, if you don't get a callback or if you don't know what you could have done differently or what you could have changed, what would you do?" "You'll never get any feedback." "It's only 'cause we see so many people." "You'll get in the car and you'll try to guess." "You'll never figure it out, so don't try." " Yeah." " Yeah." "You have a good time." "You go." "If you book the job and make money, great." "Yep, okay." "Yeah, thank you." "Bye." " Okay, nice meeting you." " She's just gonna show you..." "Most of the auditions I go on is, like, the nerd, and so I have, like, my little glasses and my fancy case and everything." "A lot of people have told me that I'm the Disney, nickelodeon type." "Sometimes they will say that, uh, just because of my color, I could fit a thug role." "Maybe the girl next door." "I'm sort of the bully or the tough kid, just 'cause of my size and awesomeness." "Sometimes in auditions if they ask for triplets, we go as... the same exact thing." "But when they ask for individuals... we wear, like, the same style... all:" "Different color, or the same color, different styles." " I'm going to... uh-oh." "Shh!" " What happened?" "I was gonna say, "ha ha."" "This is, like, really old school." "My mom..." "Did hair fall?" "No." "My mom taught me how to do this, but..." "I think it's a better way, because it makes your hair more curly." "Yeah, and it stays." "This is my mom's underwear." "[Laughs]" "Don't tell that." "[Laughs]" "It is." "It's clean." "When I walk into the room like this, they're, like, really jealous of me, and then they, like, uh, not be really nice to me." "It's hard, but if you actually get to the point where you're known and you're famous, you're not gonna have that much friends that you can really rely on." "Yeah, a lot of, um, times, we'll... well, my mom and me... we'll go to bed and we'll, like, start crying, because we're like, "well, it's not fair" "that my dad has to stay by himself,"" "and we're like, "should we still keep on doing this?"" "I'm like, "well, mom, my dad wants me to achieve my dream,"" "and we're just crying and stuff, but if you really want this, you have to stay out here, so I just have to tough it out." "It's not worth sacrificing your family." "When I look at the..." "the families that came here about the time that I did with my son, the number of divorces and things that occurred in the family... it's, like, what do you expect?" "You take your kids and you leave your husband, or maybe it's a husband coming out, leaving the wife for ten months of the year?" "What do you expect to happen?" "And do it year after year." "Oh, wait." "There we go." "Oh, wait." "Okay." "It's very... it's..." "that's the hardest part of... you know, obviously being away from my family, because we're..." "we're very close." "Hey." "Hi." "My son, Mac... he even mentioned that he missed his sister the other day." " There." " Oh, there he is." "There he is." "Mac." "Yay, we can see you, honey." "Can you hear us?" "I don't know what the problem is with that." " Oh, there we are." " Mm-hmm." "Oh, there we go." "Oh, that's okay." "If there's a white bar, there's a white bar." "Hi, honey." "Can you hear us?" "Mm-hmm." "Can you?" "Yay." "You know..." "oh, dear." "It just went away, honey." " [Groans]" " No..." "[Sighs]" "[Groans]" "Gee whiz." "That's the first time Mac's seen us." " In..." " A month and a half." "Both: [Sighing]" "That was so close." "Do you get homesick at all?" "I do every once in a while, but since I have, like, pictures of my family," "I sort of..." "I'm okay." "The family, the family." "That's the only thing that I miss." "The family." "I just miss the whole feeling of Missouri, because it's, like, I miss the "country" feeling, so..." "Yeah." "And a lot of my relatives, so..." "And my sister just had twin girls, and I'm going to have to wait, like, till may to see them." "So I'm kind of upset about that, but..." "I miss them." "Okay, so..." "Do you have the lines yet?" "Do you have them kind of memorized where you can do it without looking?" "Yeah, a little bit." "I guess not really." "Okay, let's do it one more time with looking." "Ready?" ""Hey, what are you doing?"" ""Don't you want some help?"" ""No, there are some valuable things in that box."" ""How about this one?"" ""Your mother is probably wondering where you are."" "No, she's at... and it should be, "oh, my mom knows where I am." "She said it was fine."" ""Oh, my mom knows where I am." "She said it was fine."" "Good." "Very good." "I like your..." "I like your attitude on this." "When he asks for a head-shot, I have it in there?" "Well, you don't even wait for him to ask." "You just give it to him, and you take out your script." "Okay?" "So did rob actually read with you?" "He's like, "perfect, perfect, perfect."" "She said that rob said..." "I mean, she showed me the hand movements, like, three times." "She said he said, "perfect, perfect, perfect."" "Yeah." "[Laughs mockingly]" "No one else met rob." "[Hums mockingly]" "What?" " Savannah." " Savannah dawn." "Just kidding." "Come on." "I highly recommend it." "It's just amazing." "Most successful people like tom cruise and most of the celebrities in Hollywood actually practice dianetics." "And, um, yeah." "So I decided to try it, and this is the training class which I've taken." "Was very proud of it, because it takes usually six months to finish it, and I finished it in one day." "They also advised me to take additional training class." "This is continuation..." "is dianetics extension course." "And I will be doing it online." "And this is actually... [laughs]" "This is..." "uh, see... this is actually another book which I'll have to read in the next two weeks." "[Laughs]" "Let me see..." "A silly, happy face." "Happy." "Um..." "Rolling." "And action." "[Tchaikovsky's swan's theme]" "♪ ♪" "And cut." "Okay guys, that was great." "Thank you." "[Cheers and applause]" "♪ Here comes Peter cottontail... ♪" "Happy Easter." "Happy spring, everybody." "Wow." "♪ Hippity hoppin' easter's on it's way ♪" "Can I have an everything bagel?" "Everything..." "you got it." "Thank you." " Think that's everything." " Yup." "Hello, there, everybody." "Happy Easter, happy Easter." "Wow, are you guys new actresses?" "Are you guys going to be in the movies?" " Wow." " Maybe on TV, huh?" "I was on TV once." "I have a couple of cartoon specials that I've done." "Now, after you guys eat your candy, you practice to hop as high as you can, okay?" "That way you can hop over all of those other stars who are trying to make it in this difficult and competitive world of Los Angeles, okay?" " Happy Easter, everybody." " [Laughs]" "Is this the bar?" "I will come back when there are cocktails." ""Kids love Capri sun beverages" ""in 14 refreshing flavors." ""And they're made with no artificial colors, flavors," ""or preservatives." ""And they're made with no artificial colors, flavors," ""or preservatives." ""So mom doesn't need to worry about me" ""having the great taste I enjoy." ""Capri sun... 25% less sugar, 100% cool."" "[Whimsical music]" "You can go ahead all the way in." "Tell everyone to get in here." "Hi, my name is Kenya." "[Indistinct]" "♪ Oh, night ♪" "♪ When Christ was born ♪" "♪ Oh night ♪ [sings loud, high-pitched note]" "♪ Oh, night ♪ [continues singing indistinct]" "[Applause] Thank you." "I did say we can just leave." "We can just say, "oops, sorry."" "No, I wasn't going to do that." "Well, that's always okay." "[Sighs]" "This isn't an idea world, and... and I'm very, um," "I..." "I'm very naive in knowing, you know, what somebody would be willing to do for Shanna without the experience, but I just... if we could get..." "go out on more auditions," "I..." "I just firmly believe she'll do well." "You know... so you're wanting to change your agency?" "Bill's a super, super good guy." "If we could find somebody who really has... is... specialized more in theatrical... it could be a conflict for him." "I'm kind of having to remove myself at this point." "I am to the point where I'm not helping." "I... you know, I may be even hindering more than I'm helping." "Right." "You know, I'm just trying to do what's best to... you know, to help her along." "Well, first off, we don't have an agent." "I have submitted Megan to, I don't know, something stupid, like, 65 projects this year, and not gotten one call, uh, for an audition." " Except now." " Except for now." "And when we got the audition, they said to read the script." "I just about died." "Megan and I stayed up until 2:00 in the morning." "I couldn't believe it." "When I first read it, I couldn't believe the language." "Megan kept saying, "oh my gosh, oh my gosh."" "And I explained to her..." "I said," ""Megan, this little girl is a hermaphrodite..."" "Dite..." "I don't know how you say it, but she said, "I'm not doing it." "I'm not auditioning for that."" "I get up the next day, I call her dad." "Oh, her dad goes, "well, you tell her" ""that if she doesn't audition for this movie, she's coming home."" "So..." "And so we're going to the audition right now, and yeah." "We're going to the audition." "When she walks in, they're going to flip their lid." "Who cares?" "You know what?" "Trisha Simmons says, "you know what?" ""Sometimes you just have to take it over the top, because..."" "not way over the top, but that's pretty way over the top." "I said, "who cares?" [Scoffs]" "Either they want her or they don't." "[Laughs] Oh, look at you all dolled up." "Thank you." "Thank you very much." "I love the glasses, but we just need to take 'em off." " Yeah, I know." " [Indistinct]" ""Oh, wow!" "J.Lo used to be a dancer on in living color?"" "So ghetto." ""I'm gonna chop off that bitch's little pecker" ""the next time I see her." ""I mean, who cares about her effin' wee-wee?" "I need to scar her for life like she did moi."" ""Oh, did you see those blackies breaking it down?" "Like, oh, my God."" ""Mellow yellow, Lucy goosey."" ""You're acting kind of crazy, Betsy Biotch." ""Maybe you should Max and relax a bit?" "You don't want to get wrinkles."" ""Pipe it, bitch." "I made you, and I can break you in an instant."" "[Laughs] And cut." " Good job." " Thank you." " Great outfit." " Thank you." "That's it." "It was really nice to meet you." "Thanks." "Nice to meet you too." "Huh?" "Take care." " Okay." " [Laughs]" "[Laughs] I was, like... okay." " Bye." " Bye." "I think that went really good." "What do you think, mom?" "Megan... what do you think, mom?" "I think it sounds like it went really good." "'Cause I think they'll give me a callback because... at least a callback, because of how I dressed." "Yeah." "'Cause they'll remember me." "Let's see." "Hopefully you'll get a callback." "This is a saying..." ""Los Angeles is the only city where you can die of encouragement."" "[Laughs]" "You know, it's true." "You know, I see still with actors, you know, my age and older." "Who still are..." ""it's going to happen."" "No, it's not." "It's just not going to happen." "And you don't... you don't want to tell that to a kid." "Um, we have a spring break program which is next weekend that was in your packet." "We have several coupons here that you can apply to any facility and or resource at the exposure studio." "These are $50 coupons." "So, literally speaking, we can give you everything that you need all in the same building." "I am a head-shot photographer and a fashion photographer." "Rpm talent agency, which is Tiffany, and then we have the actor's annex, which is our acting school." "Actors don't fail." "They quit." "And you're not quitters." "You're actors." "It's what you do." "Because you're just one more audition away from booking that big job." "Mm-hmm." "All of you, how many of you had callbacks recently?" "Okay." "Bookings?" "Bookings?" "I got a callback for a speaking role on curb your enthusiasm with Larry David." "Great." "Earlier today, I shot for this show called" "Southland." "[Laughter]" "Playhouse Disney called dance-a-lot, and I think I'm on the last callback for them." " Yeah." " Good." "I'm happy to meet with anybody who's looking for an agent." "I'm here to answer any questions." "One of the reasons why I love the exposure studio is that they genuinely care, and really have great stuff to offer." "So it's kind of a mecca." "You guys should come check it out." "When I see you, Shanna, you look like you were born to do this business." "[Laughs]" "Okay?" "You look like you're..." "I mean, you got a great look, the shots are really great." "I think there's some more stuff that we could add to it, but the ones that you do have are very beautiful." "I think what you're missing is some ponytails..." "Mm-hmm." "Maybe some braids with, like, a schoolgirl outfit and glasses." "Have you had any bookings yet?" "No bookings yet." "Okay, that will happen." "That will happen for sure." "I would love to offer you representation." "Yay." "I think we could do so much for you." "Um, I think you've got a beautiful future ahead." "Awesome." "Thank you." "You're so welcome." "Welcome aboard." " Thank you very so much." " Absolutely." "I'll introduce you guys to somebody who is in our building downstairs, who's fabulous." "Okay, great." "All right." "Come with me." "But I think you've got a great look." "I think with the right marketing tools and with an agency that's, you know, really pushing and pitching you, you're going to go very far." "You need new head-shots bad." "What you want is this girl in braids with maybe glasses, maybe a little schoolgirl outfit." " Mm-hmm." " Yeah." "You know, you want this girl to be the, you know, top of the cheer-leading triangle." "So curlier hair, you know, sassy pink outfit." "Or maybe even a cheer-leading outfit." " So you're interested in her?" " Very much." "Okay, because I didn't want to go and take pictures and then go to another agency, and then they go, "no, we want to..."" "okay, you're saying that you're real interested." "Yeah, absolutely." "[Laughter]" "Why don't I take you downstairs?" "I'd like to introduce you guys to a wonderful photographer in our building." "We've got a wonderful acting school too." "And they give our clients really good discounts and deals." "And no way are you pressured to do anything." "You know, and again, we're all separate." "This is just a good place to refer you." " Okay, well that's great." " Well, good." "Well, it's real nice..." "welcome aboard, my dear." "So these are the sets that we use." "Oh, this is super." "And we can even... we can even go back here to the beach." "You want to look like you're... you're in front of a grass hut at Tahiti?" " Whoa." " Well, we've got it." "Awesome, awesome." "Can I see..." "can I see your portfolio?" "Is that your portfolio?" " Yeah." " Where are you from?" "Denver." "Okay, I don't know the Denver people." "If we shoot, I'm going to change five different movies, five different campaigns so that you show your agent that you have five different categories of money." " That's key." " That's key." "Otherwise, God bless you, you look gorgeous and the photographer was very good." "He kind of gets some similar kind of stuff that really doesn't go, "oh, my gosh," ""is that the same person?" "Look how different she is in this shot."" "Most photographers don't give you that inspiration to guide you and direct you." "Most of them go, "good luck."" "You know, I'm not trying to sell them anything, but you should mention that our weekend boot camp we have coming up." "We actually have the head caster from wizards of waverly." "Amazing, I mean, don't get in front of him if you're not ready to book." "Right, right." " We have all these sets." " Oh, this is so cool." "We got 15 sets out here that Jim uses for backgrounds for his photography and everything." "And we also bring our actors out here." "Oh, that's so... she's going to find these classes are so much different than what she's taking." "Oh, yeah, she'll love it." " I can guarantee it." " She'll love it." "I love this already." "Since she was eight years old, she was put in an all-adult acting class..." "Oh, no." "This would be like a picnic." "[Laughs]" "Well, I'll tell you, it's going to be challenging." "For us, it's all about getting the callback." "We want them to get the callback." "This is so... this is..." "I'm going to start crying." " [Laughs]" " Oh, my God." "Thank you." "This is so awesome, so awesome." "Oh, wow." "That's awesome, isn't it?" "Oh, I'm so excited." "Okay, okay." "[Laughs] Dad, seriously, isn't that awesome?" "[Laughs] I love you." "Bye." "Oh, yeah." "Oh, yeah, I'm celebrating." "[Laughs]" "[Lip-syncing]" "♪ Next thing you know ♪" "♪ Shorty got low, low, low ♪" "And that's an old song, right?" "[Laughs]" "Get up, you weirdo." "[Laughs]" "Uh-uh." "I'm canceling payment on that check." "Yeah." "Which is what I told the guy today." "That's actually what she said." "She was, like, "I'm canceling the payment on the check."" "Um, if you want me to pay for that class, I will, but I'm canceling the rest of the payment." "I said, "because this is just not what we thought it was." "And this is not where my daughter is."" "He goes, "well, I guess we can look forward to her booking something really big, really soon."" "And I go, "well, I guess we can."" "I'm thinking though all hell's going to break loose when this agent finds out that we said" ""no, we're not doing this acting class."" "And you're not, uh, we're going to cancel the check." "Okay, now the next step..." "And plus... is the photographer." "Which... he's right in the same building." "No, which is the, uh... which is the, uh..." "The... our agent's husband." "Yeah." "If... if we take photos with the husband, we're probably be going on a lot, but if we don't take things from her husband, then we probably won't." "[Sighs] That's the whole thing right there." "'Cause she'll be, like," ""what, do you have a problem with my husband?"" "No, she'll be saying that you're... you're..." ""I don't get it." "Your pictures just might..." "must not be working."" "I'm not questioning the fact that we're still in the game, but I'm questioning the fact as to whether or not you can really win the game." "Even if you've got all the talent," "I don't know if you can really win the game." "I've literally been standing here throwing up in this sink." "That is what this town will do to you." "Thank you." "The other one." "Let me explain this to you." "This one right here, it's just kind of like you're going, "cheese."" "And this one shows you have a personality." " Yeah." " Okay?" " [Laughs]" " Yeah, we noticed that." "Hello, my man." "How are you?" "Hi, sweetie pie." "How are you?" "Good." " Nice meeting you." " Bye." "[Whistles] Hello?" " [Laughs]" " Sorry, sorry." "I don't know." "Pretty girl, get over here." " Hi." " Hello." "Did I tell you about how much I like your bow in your hair?" " Did I tell you that?" " Thank you." "I thought I did." "You're welcome." "She is very composed." " Yes." " Thank you." "Thank you for pointing it out." "You present yourself very well." "[Laughter] Thank you." "Oh, did I mention the bow in your hair?" "I like it too." "I mean, yeah." "I like that bow." " You can borrow it some time." " All right." "You're going out commercially?" "Yes." "You just haven't gone out on any pilots or anything?" " No." " Okay." "Okay." "Great." "Thank you." "Tell Cindy what you are." "What are you?" "An out-of-work actor." "An out-of-work actor." "You're an out-of-work actor?" "[Laughter]" "Yeah, join the club." "Join the club, buddy." "As my daughter says, "from womb to the tomb,"" "yes." "We had somebody send a live birth to us on the Internet." "Ew." "We have people sending ultrasounds." "I love starting them at five." "I know that... why that's the magic age." "They still have their instincts." "Nobody has made them second-guess themselves." "And if you can keep that magic in your child, it's worth gold for life." "It's a hard time right now." "It's a really hard time." "They had 52 pilots that came out." "37 of them went to name stars, and when you're booking a job, you're one in a million right now." "Pilot season basically ended today." "Most of the networks are done." "We have our last test an hour ago." "So it's for the last test, the last role, and the pilots are filled." "But you know what?" "If this is your dream, and this is what you love, there's nothing better in life." "There is nothing better in life." "That, you know, it's another thing." "There are thousands of talented kids out here." "And that, you know, that's one thing I learned, that it's..." "yet another thing." "That there are just so many kids." "And they are phenomenal." "It's not going to happen overnight." "It... it takes a long time, really, for this whole thing to grow." "So should we stay, I mean..." "[Indistinct]" "You know, I know that I definitely want to go home and be with my family." "Oh, my son." "I just..." "I just missed them so much." "[Sniffles]" "She's a good kid." "Sorry." "It's okay." "Yeah, we're definitely really happy." "Yeah, it's time to go home and see everybody, I think." "Mm-hmm." "Patrick, you take this to the trash." "Thank you." "I've got my emergency watermelon." "I found my magic watermelon." "Oh, dear." "Grab it before it breaks my arms." "Okay, I think we've found a home for the watermelon." "Take a seat over there." "You're going to be okay like that?" "Your feet aren't straight." " I'll be okay." " Okay." " Ready?" " Yup." "Yup." "You hear that people are leaving, and that's good for us." "Why is it good for us, mom?" "Because then your chances are better of getting something." " Right, mom?" " You got it." " Bye, L.A." " Bye." "[Shrieks]" "Bye." "We love you." "And just..." "see you later." "If you are chasing a stratospheric dream, there's no shame in saying, "enough is enough."" "You know, it's time to stop here." "Okay, everyone, we're going to go ahead and get started soon." "So if everyone can find a seat." "There some seats over there, there's some seats back here." "So you guys are in for a treat." "You're going to get to go in and meet with some casting directors." "It's like speed dating for kids." "All right, come on in." "Call it selling out if you like, but I'm going to be a star." "♪ Some day ♪" "♪ Take me to New York ♪ [with Australian accent] Australian accent..." "I'm not too good with it, you know, but I try." "Okay." "Hi." " Hi, how are you?" " Good." " Who's this?" " Me." " Okay." " [Laughs]" " That makes sense, right?" " Yeah." " Presley cash." " Yes." "I'm kind of like a Cyndi Lauper in country music." "That's a good..." "that's a good hook." "♪ Hillbilly nation ♪" "♪ Is a country thing ♪" "♪ Hillbilly nation ♪" "♪ Is a little twang, twang, twang ♪" " Very nice." " Thank you." "[Laughs]" "Yay." "[Laughs]" "Hello?" "Um, who's this?" "Oh, hang on." "[Whispers] It's Jessica from..." "Um, yes." "Here she is." "I wonder what's going on." "Hello?" "Hello." "Yeah?" "Yes." "Sure, that would be great." "Yeah." "That would be great." "Okay, thanks a lot." "See you then." "Bye." "[Screaming and laughter]" "Oh, my God." "Oh, my God." "I'm freaking out." "♪ LA-Di-da-Di-da ♪" "We're famous, we're famous." "Megan, you're famous." "I wonder what I can get with $25 at best buy." "At best buy, nothing." "Both: [Laughing]" "[Slow guitar music]" "♪ ♪ [indistinct]" "We're back now, and it's... it's nice to be home." "Thank you." "It's just really beautiful out here." "I really love it in Colorado." "[Laughs]" "As of now, I've paid off a leg." "So that is my leg." "It belongs to me." "It's just really amazing." "The different opportunities I have, my supportive family, and I'm incredibly, incredibly, lucky." "Much better." "Good girl." "It's pretty normal." "Some normal stuff is kind of nice." "[Opera music]" "♪ ♪" "If you could be any actor, who would it be?" "Bill Cosby." "Hmm..." "He opened doors for young black males to do different things, as we know of as Barack Obama today." "I catch you..." "It's detention." "Catch you in the common room..." "it's detention." "I catch you in the bathroom..." "it's detention." "You don't mess with me." "I don't mess with you." "Probably Jim Carrey." "He's just... super cool guy, and I, like, want to be him." "[Laughter]" "Oh, thank you." "Dad?" "It's me." "I'm not your dad." "I want to be Jay Leno." "He has such an awesome job." "I'd love to host the tonight show, because I'm a comedian too." "[Screaming and cheering]" "For a total of $14,255!" "They're the grand prize winners!" "Congratulations on all you won." "Thank you very much." "I would like to be Angelina Jolie." "She's smart, she's pretty, she can do everything." "You might think you're doing the right thing by spending the majority of your time at work." "Perfect." "That works." "It's not a solution that enhances the greatest number of your dynamics." "Easy." "Dakota fanning." "She's been my idol since I was, like, four." "I like Selena Gomez because she's pretty." " I never said how much." " Keep it going." "[Screaming]" "Ready, and background!" " Savannah!" " Action." "We're one of the lucky families where Savannah has been far more successful than the average child who's tried to go down this path." "She now has a debit card, and she's very frugal with her money." "I want a horse." "That is one thing that I really, really want." "I don't really know who I would want to be like." "'Cause I would want to be like me." "Because I love me." "That's why I want to be me." "[Laughs]"