So your child wants go to Hollywood to be a Star!

It all started with a moment when my 4 year old said to me "Mom someday I am going to be a famous actor and move to Hollywood" Well let me tell you it was like a scary horror movie, in my head I was yelling "NOOO, talk her out of it, don't go there it's gonna be BAAD"

Ok so I am exaggerating a little bit, but I really was a little hesitant, I mean, I am far from a stage mom and I knew nothing about acting, Hmmm except maybe when I was a kid and I acted like I did my homework so I could play with my friends but that was a whole different kind of acting, oops and I am getting off track, sorry.

I told my daughter, you are too young let's wait a while, since I figured it was a phase, sorta like Barney the dinosaur.

Well it wasn't, she was very persistent, I put her in dance thinking that would keep her busy so she would forget the whole "I wanna go to Hollywood thing"

Skip forward to a nine year old, and by that time she started making her own movies on the computer, with guess who, played the lead part as the star, that's right she was, so at this point I knew I had to make this happen and that's where the story starts.

I am going to give parents out there who have a child who wants to be in the entertainment industry, information and helpful advice so you don't lose your mind on this journey and say “now where did I last leave my sanity.

I am going to start with the basics for now, to get you going on this crazy ride.

The first thing you need to do before you even spend one dime, and believe me you will be spending a lot of dimes, is take the time to sit down with your child and let them know this is a very, very unpredictable industry, you can be the most beautiful child out there and yikes that is not what they want this season., so your child has to be able to take rejection and criticism, I will give you ideas about how to handle this on a later post.

Acting is such a random field these days, with reality TV leading the way for more shows now than there used to be, so the competition for kids shows is challenging, but if your child wants this to be his or her career, don't give up.

That being said you need to prepare yourself and your child for the ferocious mom's and kids that will try to unnerve both of you at auditions. I'm not saying all mom's will do this, but often as not, this is par for the course in Hollywood, now I am a pretty tough New Yorker, and I will tell you there are times even I feel a bit intimidated, it's like swimming with the sharks, they smell fear, so if you run into a stage mom at an audition, look away, quickly.

That's it for now, join me again when I tell you how to begin getting your child ready for their acting career.