On Friday, I took my 6 year old daughter to an interview for a casting call a photographer friend of mine told me I should take her to. (Yes, I just go and jump off bridges whenever my friends say I should.) I didn't know at all what it was for- photo shoot, commercial, movie, whatever, I just figured we'd check it out and if it wasn't something we were interested in, we'd say no thanks and  that would  be that. 

We walked in to Stars Talent Studios here in Draper, Utah, and I immediately fell in love. 

Lilly, like her father and I, has the dream of becoming a professional actress. She would prefer broadway, but as we don't live in New York at the moment, I have a hard time figuring out how to pursue that with her at this age. I don't have the money to fly her over there to see shows or take classes from the Broadway stars the way some of our community theatre counterparts do. (yes. i'm extremely jealous. But they are awesome, so they deserve it.) However, I have been hesitant to get her an agent and really get this going. Not because I'm lazy or cheap or don't support her desires, but because I'm more than a little terrified of raising a Brittany Spears or Lindsay Lohan. I am still learning to be a mother and I'm afraid of what the spotlight can do. I know what it does to me. As an adult, I have a background rooted in family and religion and choices that I've made already that help me make correct decisions for me. I want my daughter to have that too. I don't want her decisions to be made by the media. I don't want worldly expectations to dictate what she wears, if she does drugs, if she sleeps around or becomes  a slutty dressing chit. I want her inner spirit to dictate that. Modestly, kindness, sobriety. She shouldn't have to choose one or the other. Unfortunately, that is a lot of what we see in "child stars" who can't handle the pressure. 

What I found in my research of STS, though, is that they are, instead of being dedicated to putting out hot, steamy actresses, exploiting innocent people by making them rich and famous, their goal is to place admirable ROLE MODELS into the media. This means modesty, sobriety, and otherwise admirable traits in their clients. In signing, we initialed an agreement saying that we would not smoke or drink in public. That we will not use flamboyant language (swearing) in our social networking, that we would promote modesty (and this doesn't mean wearing a collar to your chin or sleeves to your wrists- it just means that we will not take naked pictures or other inappropriate pictures- in or out of our professional life. If we do, we can be dropped by the agency.) This made me very happy.

In talking to Lilly, the owner of the agency, looked at her and immediately said "She definitely has the look to her. That popular look that we really want to use." then she went on to talk to her about school and friends and so on, and said that she definitely has a personality that she thinks is just adorable. She said "Lilly, do you know that you are just beautiful?" Lilly answered "yes."- not out of conceit. Just out of confidence. They then did a mini catwalk session and taught her to walk, pose, take off her sweater, throw it over her shoulder and walk back and pose. For her, they recommended one 11 week class to teach her all the professional things about catwalking, marking for the camera, and cold script reading. 

Then, my husband and my other children came inside. They looked at Brandon and said they needed him for a Franklin Covey casting. He fit the bill exactly, and could they sign him and me and our other children too? Brandon and I did a cold read and they determined us to be "Tier 1" which means we don't need any training, we can be sent out on  auditions without further training, and all the kids are Tier 2, which means they need training. 

Mahone, though, isn't interested in the slightest. I figure we'll skip the classes for him, and if he never gets any jobs, then fine. If he gets some ad shoots, then great- he'll have some money saved for college or his mission. He's really adorable and has the biggest personality out there...but I think NOT pushing HIM is as important as supporting Lilly. Scarlet? Well, I just don't know about her yet. SHe loved being in Peter Pan with us this summer, but I don't know how much of that was just being with her family and how much of it might become a passion. Mostly, I think she needs some art classes, but same as Mahone, if she does a few things, and makes some money, she has a college fund and that's always good. 

As for me, I'm over the moon! I need to get some head shots and send in my official resume before I can be sent out on auditions, but they already have me in mind for a movie!!!! Now, maybe nothing will come of any of this. Maybe directors will think I suck. Maybe I will discover it's not what I want anyway...but you know, it's been a dream of mine for a long long time, and it won't hurt to try! 

I'm hoping that Brandon at least does well. In high school, his parents told him that if he wanted, he could skip college and go to Hollywood or New York and they would support him in any endeavors to pursue a professional acting career. He said no, because of the same lifestyle fears as I have for Lilly. But he's good. Really good. And maybe it would fix our financial problems.