KIDS' ACTING FOR BRAIN SURGEONS

A Hollywood insider’s how-to guide for parents who want to get their children into show business.

In this honest, comprehensive and accessible guide to the wild, woolly and sometimes nefarious world of child acting, Bertolino aims to educate readers about all the nooks and crannies of the process. As the author documents in case after case–and she names names–there are countless scam artists out there with big promises, fat retainers and zero results. She first advises parents to take a hard look at their kids: Have they expressed a desire to act? Are they outgoing and adaptable? Do they have the ability to concentrate? Can they sit still? Do they have a sensible degree of comfort around strangers? Can they put themselves in other people’s shoes? After a thorough overview of the necessary legalities involved and an introduction to guilds and unions (including extensive resource lists), readers are squired through how to best use professional photographs, fashion a resume to attract the eye of a casting director and locate and interview an agent. The guide then offers serious advice on parental behavior–“Your job as a showbiz parent is to still be a parent”; you must still raise your kid, protect them emotionally and physically, give them character, keep their studies up and narcissism down and their range of interests broad. Bertolino also includes hair-raising stories of agent scams and telemarketers with bad intentions. The author is a caring and experienced guide who has mapped all the potholes, dangerous curves and speed traps of the acting world for aspiring young stars and their parents.

An antidote to snake oil and delusional expectations.