After one week on a film set in California with my 11-year-old, my short answer is yes. In fact, the past week is the safest I’ve felt since May, when I first began interacting—cautiously—with anyone beyond immediate family. That is because here, on location north of San Francisco, I know:

-Every cast and crew member is being tested for COVID-19 every three days. There is no shopping errand or backyard gathering or kid playdate that offers that level of reassurance.

-Everyone’s temperature is checked as we pull into base camp (literally before we park our car—and we each have our own car—no group vans). Temperatures are checked again as we leave base camp at the end of the day.

Safety signage in our trailer

(Read about Hollywood’s stringent safety reopening guidelines in Deadline)

-Everyone is wearing a mask at all times (except actors after makeup application), even though we are primarily outside and way more than six feet from each other. This rule is followed religiously and respectfully because cast and crew members are experts at functioning as one, like a finely greased machine. Movies/TV shows would not get made otherwise. Politics have no place here. Everyone wants to work and keep working. In this time, it is a privilege to do so. It is a privilege to stand on set in a mask.

-A COVID-19 compliance officer is overseeing safety protocol. If we could have one of those at gatherings with extended family, I’d attend. But we don’t, so give me a movie set any day of a pandemic. He enforces social distancing whenever a clump of people starts to form (which is rarely).

-The hairdresser and makeup artist—those who have to get closest to the talent—are in masks, shields, and plastic body suits. Each actor has her own set of cosmetics and makeup brushes. And remember, these people tested negative three days ago and today and will be tested again a few days from now.

-Anyone who doesn’t have to get close to each other (which means pretty much everyone except the makeup artist, hairdresser, and actors) does not. Again, people are working and no one wants to mess with that. Chairs (which are sanitized, along with tables) at lunch are spaced six feet apart. It doesn’t feel distant emotionally. We are eating our individually packaged lunches and boy do I miss the buffets of yesteryear, but life is good! The cameras are rolling again! Creativity is in the air  (the fresh outdoor air) and, in its shadow, that other C word seems smaller.

2 Surprises of Shooting During COVID

1. It’s still FUN! If you have kids in the biz, that’s the biggest worry. If it’s not fun, you don’t want to be dragging your child away from their captivating virtual schooling (ha) to a set that feels sterile and glum. Even with the significantly pared down crafty offerings and air elbow bump greetings, Natalia is giddy each day she works—the farm animals on set make it extra fun—and bummed when she has a day off (the hotel pool is closed). She is making memories she will cherish and befriending people who are teaching her about collaboration, patience, passion, and storytelling. “I love having a new mom (uh, should I be insulted?), sister, and home, and creating this whole other life,” she gushed after the second day on set. Imagination! It’s hard to fire up in these days of Netflix and Youtube bingeing, so major points to the child actor life.

Cute castmates

2. It doesn’t feel reckless. On the contrary, productions up and running, in a safe atmosphere, are more than just an economic positive to society; they’re a safeguard ensuring fast contact tracing. There is this whole pocket of people who are being tested so frequently that should a breakout happen in their family or social group, it likely will be caught and contained quickly rather than festering and spreading unchecked through who knows how many asymptomatic or symptomatic transmitters.

COVID-19 Concerns for Productions – The Long Answer

Northern Californian ranch country

-We are on location in Northern California, and most people traveled in (by car) from L.A., so they are going home to a hotel room each night, not to their families or roommates. This probably mitigates potential viral spread (unless hotel protocol is sloppy). So it may be a bit of a different story for productions getting up and running in L.A., where cast and crew members have a life off set. It will be up to them to be extremely vigilant at home if the set is to feel as safe as this one does. But again, the frequent testing is a reassuring safeguard and is likely to make people feel safer than they do if not working and not receiving those constant “negative” results.

-Everyone on this production—some 60 people—all tested negative from day 1. With many coming from L.A., where the positive result rate has hit 9% of the population, that was a minor miracle. And a huge coup, considering how inconvenient and costly delays would be. If a positive test comes back mid-production, meaning people on set may have been exposed, that would cause even more of an upheaval—and perhaps scare some people out of returning to work so soon.

-We have been shooting in the summertime, not cold and flu season. Once fevers and symptoms that may look like COVID are swirling around, delays are likely to be more frequent. For each high temp or sore throat, Covid will need to be ruled out as the cause. Unless more rapid testing is readily available, these disruptions may be lengthy and costly. (Test results here are taking two to three days.)

-The majority of the scenes on this shoot have been outdoors, which we know is safer. We also have been eating outside. The soundstage environment will be a different animal but still infinitely more manageable than antiquated schools expected to be filled with thousands of students this fall. I know my kid is safer on set and with a studio teacher than in a crammed classroom and congregating with reckless peers. Everyone has to weigh the pros and cons for themselves, especially anyone who is older and/or has a pre-existing condition.

Post your comments, send your stories and opinions of working—or not—during COVID, and hang in there!

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Model Rivers Reid

Height: 4’7″    Weight: 65 lbs    Age: 8    

Based in Austin, TX

Seeking Representation

Have you ever seen china blue eyes like the pair on this cutie? Rivers is already busy building his career skills as a news anchor and emcee at his school. I have a feeling you will be seeing this guy on your TV screen, one way or another!

Rivers Reid

Remember, your submissions are still eligible for next month and feel free to re-submit with new photos!

Don’t forget to “like” the page of your favorite Model of the Month

“Dream Ballet” with Jamie Mann, by Zoe Bradford

“Dream Ballet” with Ben Kuefler and Jamie Mann, Photo by Zoe Bradford

Jamie Mann as Billy Elliot in “Angry Dance,” by Zoe Bradford

“Boxing,” by Zoe Bradford

If you’ve followed my posts on my son Jamie, you know he’s dreamed of playing Billy Elliot since he was a little kid. Getting cast as Billy in Maltz Jupiter Theatre‘s Florida regional premiere of BETM was the high point of his young career! That run was last December. The hardest part was leaving with no photos or video to treasure, as it was a wonderful show (Actors Equity Union has strict rules on photographing and videotaping actors). Now Jamie is starring as Billy in Company Theatre’s BETM in Massachusetts. Company Theatre has obliged with tons of fantastic images and video footage to share and save for posterity. It’s an experience Jamie will never forget—and the visual record will be added insurance that these memories last forever.

Here is the first video teaser, which will give you a sense of the brilliant work Company Theatre does:

I have so much to write about the Billy Elliot experience. Stay tuned for more to find out what it’s like to prepare, rehearse, and star in a big regional show (and what is involved for the parent or guardian who goes along).

Whether you have an agent or are searching Backstage.com and other casting sites yourself, you are likely to come across opportunities to be an extra or background actor. This means you will not have a speaking role and you will not make the big bucks. The pay—around $150/day on the SAG pay scale—is tiny enough that my son’s agent will always say it’s up to us if we want Jamie submitted for background roles. Most of the time we conclude: no, the pay (and remember, agency fee and taxes have to be subtracted out) is not worth the effort.

Working on a Feature Film like Boychoir

But when Boychoir, a movie starring Dustin Hoffman (Kathy Bates and Debra Winger, as well), happened to be shooting a few towns over from us, we decided it would be a neat experience. After about 6 days on set during the last few weeks, I feel I’m in a position of authority to proclaim the pros and cons of background work.

The Prep School Boys and Dustin Hoffman on the set of “Boychoir”

Pros of Working as an Extra

1. LOTs of time to sit around and get things done. Most of what you will do as an extra is wait.

2. Lots of free food. SAG (if it’s a SAG production) requires that meals are served regularly and “Crafty” is an area with free-for-all snacks and candy, which the kids love.

3. Working as an extra is a great way to learn the ropes on set. From the lingo to the intricacies of how scenes are shot, it’s nice to first be immersed in the microcosm of movie world (or TV world), without worrying about lines to learn or being in the spotlight.

Jamie on Set With the Boychoir Boys

4. Star sightings! My son got to hang out with Dustin and be in a scene with him (of course that was the day my husband chaperoned, so I missed all the excitement. And my husband did too, cuz he was on a work call the whole time, somewhere outside the hotel where they were shooting. “What’s the big deal?” he said. “He’s just an actor.” Dustin Hoffman—just an actor! From the stories I hear on set, DH is so down-to-earth, he’d probably appreciate my husband’s perspective.)

5. You may make more money than you expect. For SAG jobs anyway, you make extra money if you get wet, or work in dust or smoke. You make extra for the number of changes of clothes you wear (technically, the number you are asked to bring, but the wardrobe people appreciate if you bring extra options and you shouldn’t expect to charge for that). Overtime is frequent as well, since shoot days are unpredictable and the schedule often changes last minute. Today my son’s call-time was 6:18 AM (the odd time accounts for travel time, which is figured in apparently. I can’t tell you exactly how that works). But he and seven other boys, some of whom rose at 3 AM and travelled from hours away, ended up not being needed in the morning and by 8 they were released until 1 PM. Thankfully, there will be a “bump”—an inconvenience stipend for that.

Cons of Working as an Extra

1. Lots of time sitting around, not getting as much done as you would like, especially if it involves trying to get your 10-year-old to get school work done. Especially if seven or eight other kids are there with parents who don’t seem to mind if their charges play video games and screw around all day.

2. Lots of free food. This is not necessarily a good thing when you are stuck sitting around all day.

3. There is a high risk of you/your child becoming envious of the featured actors and wishing he had a “real part,” which can turn into a full-on whining session about when his chance will come and how life is not fair.

Jamie Dreaming of a Trailer Upgrade.

4. Letdown when you are expecting to hang out with a bigwig actor when actually the closest you ever get is seeing his name on the booking details.

5. Once you subtract travel expenses, taxes, agency fees, parent’s lost work time, the haircut junior needed, wardrobe items you couldn’t drum up in your closets or those of your neighbors, I promise extra work will not be putting your kid through college or paying the rent. Consider carefully if the missed school hours are worth the pennies in the piggy bank!

Btw, if you think working as an extra will make you a star, read this: Advice for Actors

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My 10-year-old son got an agent in New York at age 8 and we were thrown into the high-pressure, unpredictable audition process in sink-or-swim fashion. We’ve had to learn everything by trial and error. If I’d read casting director Jen Rudin‘s book then, I could have saved my son from a lot of heartache and humiliation.

Inside the Casting Process

The casting process is almost always entirely mysterious and this book works magic: taking the reader behind the scenes of the casting process and into the head of a casting director. It’s an easy and engaging read, covers every question a stage parent/actor might have, and is written by an expert who has been on both sides of the casting table. My son and I loved the “Epic Success” and “Epic Fail” audition sidebars, in which actors shared their audition experiences. All the direct quotes from other experts in the field were illuminating as well.

Jen Rudin’s Mock Audition Boot Camp

Thanks, Jen, for giving actors and stage parents such a useful tool and fun book to read (I read it in one day—could not put it down). I also highly recommend Jen’s acting workshops, which my son has attended. Instruction from the people who actually cast actors in major movies and Broadway shows—it doesn’t get better than that.

Buy “Confessions of a Casting Director”

Top Model Devon Aoki

Top Ten Tips for Aspiring Models

5 Warning Signs You Are Being Scammed by an Agency

Modeling Schools and Scouting Conventions—Scams or Not?

The Best Cities for Models

Top Commercial Agencies in New York

Modeling Tip: What’s the Difference Between an Agent and a Manager?

My Favorite Modeling Articles

If you are seeking advice for kids, reference these links also:

Child Models

Child Actors

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Wake-up call: that is not at all how it works. First, you have to figure out which agencies are legit and which just want your money for classes or fees (read 5 Warning Signs You Are Being Scammed by a Modeling Agency). Then you have to find out if the agency wants to rep your cutest kid ever, whose photos may arrive along with 100 other submissions of cutest kids ever on any given day. Should you “luck out” and land your tyke with an agent, then the real work begins (which is why I used the quotes; you may soon be wishing cutest kid ever got dumped in the trash rather than signed on).

Few clients book from photos alone. They will want to see your kid live, often along with 250 other kids from a 50-mile radius. Some clients will have callbacks, so you may have to schlep your kid two days in a row to photo studios in remote locales (try Union City, NJ, from CT, for example). Usually all for nothing. The odds just aren’t in your favor, no matter how CUTE, with a capital C, your kid is.

And all these castings cost money. It’s not that clients ask you to pay anything (turn and run if that happens!), but believe me, you pay. Here’s an example:

On Monday, both my 10-year-old son and my 3-year-old daughter had castings (for how we “lucked out” and landed with an agency: read More on Kid Modeling) in New York. We paid $25 for train tickets to New York, $16 for a taxi from Grand Central through midtown traffic to 31st and 11th Ave (we usually take the subway but there is no subway that goes close enough to that locale to not leave us all swimming in sweat on a 94-degree day), $17 for a taxi back, and $50 for a parking ticket (I know, this is a recurring theme; read Toys R Us Booking Equals Mega Bucks?) cuz there was a traffic jam on the way to the train station so I had to park in a 2-hour spot. I figured I could have my sitter move it, until I realized the second set of keys was locked inside it. Oops.

We have heard nothing from those castings, which is usually the drill. Especially when the pre-casting prep for the 3-year-old (“big laugh when they say ‘cheese!’”) did not work. She gave ‘em a half-hearted smile that would be unlikely to sell any Children’s Place clothes, even though she is the cutest kid ever. There are no do-over’s at castings. They shuffle the wee ones through the line like parts on a conveyor belt, shoot a Polaroid (time allotment: 10 seconds per kid), and out you go.

Still think it sounds like fun? OK, you may have what it takes then. Hopefully your kid does too. Keep reading. I promise to write more soon about the rewarding aspects of stagemomhood.

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I contemplated whether we should go to the open call and spend Saturday morning in a room full of ambitious kids who can sing like birds—or like Adele or Bruno Mars in this case. The casting directors were looking for kids with “excellent pop voices.” J does a pretty awesome rendition of “Grenade” and we had to be in New York for his dance classes at Alvin Ailey anyway, so off we went…a little late (ok, friends, stop smiling knowingly). My plan had been to catch the 8:07 so we could get to Telsey + Company on West 43rd by 9:45 to sign in early (casting started at 10). But at midnight the 8:32 started sounding a lot better. So we got to the casting at 10 and slapped the white sticky label on J’s shirt that read: #127.

The waiting room soon was packed with 200 eager kids and their parents. Ugh, would we even make it to Alvin Ailey by 1:30? BUT then the audition began and a chirpy brunette with a megaphone voice started calling 10 kids at a time to line up outside each of 3 rooms. Efficient wranglers stood at each door, sending in the young aspiring stars and starlets (way more of the latter) to sing 16 bars of a pop song, a cappella. Before 11 AM, they reached #100 and J started warming up outside the bathroom, where a few mini Katy Perrys and Justin Biebers were doing the same. The kid doesn’t really get nervous so I have to for him. “Don’t you have to go to the bathroom?” I ask him. “No, mom.” “You really should pee. You might get nervous right before and have to go.” “No, mom, I’m fine.” I go to the bathroom instead.

J chats with a teenage Wendy wannabe in line in front of him. 121 goes. Then 122, 123, 124. I need to pee again. I hold it until 127 comes out, and as the woman at the door staples a ticket to his headshot, he asks, “Does everyone get one of those?” NO, they don’t! J has been asked to stay and sing again! We are ushered into a room where about 20 beaming hopefuls are waiting for their next round. Most of these kids seem like veterans. They are talking about their recent auditions, they are flipping through their “books” (containing sheet music for their repetoire of songs). A boy next to us, about 11, sitting alone, starts chatting with two girls and their moms. “I’m from Massachusetts,” he says. “I got a ride down with a friend. She’s out there.” He pointed to the door, now closed to the waiting room where the rejects are filtering out of the casting agency. “I feel really bad that she didn’t get called back, and they gave me a ride here.” He really looks like his heart might break for his friend. The moms reassure him. That’s showbiz. (And a higher percentage of boys were asked to stay, considering all those Lost Boy parts.)

“He’s adorable,” says a mom, leaning over to me and gesturing toward J, who has his head buried in some dark book. Again, like at the “Matilda” audition, no “Dance Moms” in sight.

Yeah, adorable is nice (and not the side a mom sees most of the time!). But mostly I’m proud he made the cut. I manage his expectations by letting him know it’s a long shot to get beyond this audition (poor kid, saddled with a realist for a mom).

Now it’s back to Ballet Etudes “Nutcracker” rehearsals (tickets are on sale now at the Westport Country Playhouse). He’s Fritz this year. He won’t get to fly (although some of the dancers seem to!) but he does get to sword fight. It’s almost as good as Peter Pan.

Ballet Etudes “The Nutcracker” at Westport Playhouse,  Photo by Beth Shepherd Peters

Aspiring models, stay tuned for some tips coming from my Model Advisory Board on Thursday.

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