What’s New in the California Entertainment Work Permit Office?

California Entertainment Work Permit – If you are pursuing a showbiz career for your child and are in Los Angeles or planning to take a trip to Los Angeles, one thing you’ll need is a California Entertainment Work Permit. And before you can get that entertainment work permit, you’ll first need to submit an entertainment …

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What Information Goes on a Child Actor Resume?

Child Actor Resume – If your child is an actor, something you have to think about is what to put on the actor resume for that child. It may seem strange to think about creating a resume for a child, especially for a young child. But when a child is trying to get a job …

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What Do Talent Agents Look for in a Child?

Talent Agents If you are considering starting a showbiz career for your child, you are probably wondering what talent agents look for in a child. Talent agents meet and interview many children, but they only choose a small number of those they see to be their clients. How can you be sure that talent agents …

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Saying Goodbye to Another Acting Industry Professional and Friend

Several weeks ago, I was informed that an acting industry professional who was very dear to me had passed away. It was sad to experience the loss of a second entertainment industry professional so soon after the loss of Bob Fraser. I was hesitant to post on this topic again when so little time had …

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Will Braces Interfere with the Career of Your Child Actor?

Braces for Your Child Actor Sometimes a child actor, like anyone else, has crooked teeth and needs braces. As parents of a child actor, we are not happy to see crowded teeth since we think braces will interfere with the career of our child actor or model. I know I was not happy to see …

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What Benefits Do You Get When You Become a Child Actor?

There Are Many Benefits When You Become a Child Actor It always seems much easier for everyone to see negative effects rather than paying attention to the benefits you get when you become a child actor. Instead of looking at the benefits achieved when you become a child actor, people tend to concentrate on all …

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How Do You Pay Your Respects to an Acting Industry Professional and Friend?

I was saddened to see that during the time I was away in South Carolina, one of my favorite acting industry professionals, who was also a friend of mine,  passed away.  Bob Fraser was well-known in the acting industry here in the Los Angeles area as well as around the country (and world). Bob Fraser …

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Do You Need to Move to Los Angeles if Your Child Wants to Become a Child Actor?

Moving to Los Angeles  for Your Child to Become a Child Actor I’ve previously talked about the topic of moving to Los Angeles for your child to become a child actor (see “Should You Move to Los Angeles for Your Child to Become a Child Actor?“, “Will You Miss Your Family If You Move to …

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What’s New in the California Entertainment Work Permit Office? What Information Goes on a Child Actor Resume? What Do Talent Agents Look for in a Child? Saying Goodbye to Another Acting Industry Professional and Friend Will Braces Interfere with the Career of Your Child Actor? What Benefits Do You Get When You Become a Child Actor? How Do You Pay Your Respects to an Acting Industry Professional and Friend? Do You Need to Move to Los Angeles if Your Child Wants to Become a Child Actor?

Nov
29

What’s New in the California Entertainment Work Permit Office?

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by Debbie Sikkema

California Entertainment Work Permit -

Entertainment Work Permit Office in State Office Building

Entertainment Work Permit Office, Van Nuys, California

If you are pursuing a showbiz career for your child and are in Los Angeles or planning to take a trip to Los Angeles, one thing you’ll need is a California Entertainment Work Permit. And before you can get that entertainment work permit, you’ll first need to submit an entertainment work permit application with the appropriate paperwork to the California Entertainment Work Permit Office.

For additional information on California entertainment work permits, including a link to the work permit application, check out my previous posts concerning the California Entertainment Work Permit.

I just got my daughter’s entertainment work permit renewed. It was about to expire, and since she is working this Saturday I had to go ahead and take care of it this week.

I left for the work permit office after dropping my son off for classes at the community college nearby. It was around 9:30 am, and the traffic was a little heavier than I expected, especially as I neared the State Office Bldg. That is not unusual on a Monday, especially on a Monday following a holiday. But I still managed to get there in a little less than 30 minutes.

Sometimes I am lucky and find parking right away on one of the side streets, but the office building was bustling with activity.  I ended up circling around on Delano and Calvert and a couple of other side streets before I finally found a metered parking place.

What I failed to think about before this trip (one of so many I’ve made over the last 8 years), was whether I had any quarters.  And guess what? I didn’t. I gave the last few I had to the Salvation Army representative in front of Vons a couple of days ago.

I pulled out my wallet, and dug out a dollar in dimes and nickels and was hopeful that would be enough, though dimes and nickels don’t buy as many minutes as quarters do in the parking meters here. As I started to put the money in, I noticed the meter stated that only quarters or dollar coins could be inserted. Yikes!

I dug through every pocket in my purse and came up empty — not a single quarter. As I was about to return to my car to search every pocket and compartment in the car, the Visa and Mastercard logos caught my eye. I was relieved that I could now use a credit card to pay for my parking in the recently-installed parking meters.

I proceeded inside the entertainment work permit office to get my daughter’s work permit renewed.  And I noticed there were a couple of important changes to report.

So, “What’s New in the California Entertainment Work Permit Office?”

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Nov
07

What Information Goes on a Child Actor Resume?

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by Debbie Sikkema

Child Actor Resume -

If your child is an actor, something you have to think about is what to put on the actor resume for that child. It may seem strange to think about creating a resume for a child, especially for a young child. But when a child is trying to get a job in show business, that child needs an actor resume just as anyone else needs a resume specific to what they want to do when trying to get a job.

Shortly before we came to L.A., I created a very simple resume for my daughter, but I just put her name, her talent agent information (one for her Charleston agency and one for her Atlanta agency), and a few activities on it.  Since she did not have much experience to put on it, I didn’t worry much about it.

My daughter’s first real actor resume was created by her talent manager (see “What Do Talent Managers Do?” for more on talent managers) when we came to L.A. I didn’t have to worry about what to include on it or how to format it.

Her talent manager asked me for information, and we typed it up together and printed it. He put things on it that I would not have thought to include and excluded some of the things I had put on the one I made!

All I had to do was take it to get copies made, attach the copies of her resume to her headshots, and then give some of them to her talent agent and some to her talent manager. We kept the rest to take with us to auditions.

There are all sorts of things to think about when creating an actor resume.  Of course, the first thing you need to think about is what information to include on the resume.

Some questions you may have are:

  • What sort of personal information about your child goes on the resume?
  • What credits do you include? Do you include experience from your child’s school or from church? Do you include community activities or just professional jobs?
  • What sort of training should be included?  Just training related to acting?
  • Does anything else go on the resume?

You also have to think about how to format the child actor resume. You need to know things such as what headings to use, what to include in each listing, and how to organize the information. You also have to decide on a font type and size. You may even be wondering about what kind of paper to print it on.

Obviously, if your child is just starting out, you don’t have any professional experience to list on the resume. So, if you only list professional experience on an actor resume, and your child has none, then do you even need to create a resume for your child?

These are probably only  a few of the questions you have about creating a resume for your child actor. Continue reading to find out “What Information Goes on a Child Actor Resume?” and to access some child actor resume templates that you can use.

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Oct
23

What Do Talent Agents Look for in a Child?

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by Debbie Sikkema

Talent Agents

If you are considering starting a showbiz career for your child, you are probably wondering what talent agents look for in a child. Talent agents meet and interview many children, but they only choose a small number of those they see to be their clients.

How can you be sure that talent agents will chose your child? It is important to look closely at your child before deciding to take them to interview with talent agents.

There are certain characteristics that make a child more likely to succeed in show business, and it is these same characteristics that make them appeal to talent agents and other entertaiment industry professionals. (For more information on talent agents, see “Talent Agents.” Also, check for ATA talent agents in LA, NY, and several other locations -> ATA agents.)

When my daughter was young, she often got the attention of those around her. She possessed a large degree of self-confidence, a desire to entertain, and an infectious smile and laugh. People, even complete strangers, often either commented to us that she’d be president some day or that she was going to be a star.

My daughter’s combination of personality and self-confidence, and to a lesser degree, her looks, was what first got her noticed in the entertainment industry. Her talent in singing and acting also played a big part in her being chosen by show business professionals, including talent agents.

Talent agents are typically looking for a variety of characteristics that are likely to indicate that your child could have a successful acting or modeling career.  So, “What do talent agents look for in a child?”

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Oct
17

Saying Goodbye to Another Acting Industry Professional and Friend

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by Debbie Sikkema

Several weeks ago, I was informed that an acting industry professional who was very dear to me had passed away. It was sad to experience the loss of a second entertainment industry professional so soon after the loss of Bob Fraser.

I was hesitant to post on this topic again when so little time had passed since my post “How Do You Pay Your Respects to an Acting Industry Professional and Friend?,” so I waited a little while. At the same time, I knew that I did not want Ruben’s life to have passed without a tribute on my blog.

I knew Ruben Moreno on a much more personal level than I knew Bob Fraser. He was an assistant director at Dee Studio Productions, and I worked with Ruben at this studio throughout two theatre productions. During this time, I got to know him quite well.

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Sep
30

Will Braces Interfere with the Career of Your Child Actor?

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by Debbie Sikkema

Will Braces Interfere with the Career of Your Child Actor?

Will Braces Interfere with the Career of Your Child Actor? via Wikipedia

Braces for Your Child Actor

Sometimes a child actor, like anyone else, has crooked teeth and needs braces. As parents of a child actor, we are not happy to see crowded teeth since we think braces will interfere with the career of our child actor or model.

I know I was not happy to see my daughter’s very first permanent tooth come in crooked. The teeth that came in after that one were not straight either. It did not give her the kind of smile I wanted her to have, nor one that is good for most modeling and acting jobs.

Crozats

We went to see an orthodontist here in the L.A. area named Dr. Sack. He is best known for crozats but does all kinds of orthodontic treatments. Crozats are a special kind of removable braces that many child actors get when they are young.

I previously discussed another removable dental appliance called a flipper that is common in children pursuing a career in show business (See “Are Dental Flippers Necessary When Child Actors Lose Teeth?“)

My daughter had crozats for a couple of years. The crozats did expand her jaw and gave a little more room for her teeth, but it did not result in straight teeth.

There were a few negatives for us associated with crozats. Since they are removable, sometimes my daughter did not wear them as much as she should have. It is best to take them out to eat, so sometimes she took them out and then forgot to put them back in. Sometimes she misplaced them, and we had to just about tear the house apart looking for them.

Once she took her crozats out to eat lunch at school, wrapped them in a napkin, and then accidentally threw them into the trash. Fortunately, she realized it shortly after it happened and told her teacher.

I got a call from school telling me that she and one of the ladies who worked in the lunchroom were looking through the trash (wearing latex gloves) for the crozats. That sounded pretty disgusting, but I hoped it would be a good lesson for my daughter, and I hoped that they would find them.

I was quite relieved to receive a second call to tell me the crozats had been found. I certainly did not want to have to pay to replace them!

After that, my daughter did become more careful, but her idea of being more careful was mainly to not wear them at school so she would not throw them in the trash! This made her progress with the crozats very slow.

So, my daughter (age 14) now has braces on her teeth (again).  She did not want to get them, and we put it off longer than we should have because we did not want them to interfere with her singing or acting.

The braces my daughter now has are the standard metal braces and wires. That is what she preferred and a good choice for her orthodontic correction.

But since we changed orthodontists to avoid such a long drive from where we now live, we are having to pay the whole amount again for braces. We are talking just under $5000 x 2 for her total orthodontic treatment. (Ouch!) Fortunately, our insurance paid part of this.

So, “Will Braces Interefere with the Career of Your Child Actor?” Continue reading for more information on this topic.

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