Guest Blog Written By: Susan J. Burych
When children act & role play, they naturally become someone or something else. Role play stimulates their imagination and enhances their social development, encourages friendship through cooperation, listening and turn taking. Therefore, role play is a really vital activity for our children!
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
Albert Einstein
Hello my name is Susan J. Burych, the owner and founder of Susan J. Model and Talent Managementand Toronto Academy of Acting.
Over the past twenty years we have seen young talent grow up and proud to see them flourish not only in Toronto but also in Los Angeles, Hollywood, California!
The agency prides itself in developing young talent and watching them grow! From commercial & print projects, to feature films & television series!
Our motto is: “We help guide you, you make it happen”!
So now the next generation of talent is here to begin their journey! Some will do extremely well in the industry, some will try and fall to the wayside.
If your child shows interest in acting, the best thing to do is to sign them up for a class! This is the first step to see if they really want to do this, or if the desire will fade once things become more structured.
So what makes a child stand out from many others that have the “IT factor”?
Parents it’s about the child who gets up in the morning and is constantly entertaining family members, teachers and their peers at school. It’s about the child who begs a parent they want to be on television when watching their favorite show. It’s about the child who makes the family sit down so that the child can put on their performance.
These children have a natural born instinct to want to entertain, what they need is to be shown how to bring the natural talent out by knowing what to do in front of the camera.
These children usually are involved in arts, drama, dancing and acting classes and continuously want more and more to learn. These are the ones that usually go far in the industry!
Many parents may take a young one to a talent agent only to find out they have to spend a lot of money on a portfolio and be found going out for numerous t.v.commercial auditions and being disappointed after countless auditions not landing the role.
The sad reality is when a child turns 6 years of age it does star to get competitive and casting directors, production companies & advertising clients will want to see a little “pro”. What does this mean, production, casting directors have no time on set to coach a little one, time is money so casting directors, producers, advertising companies will definitely choose the child who has experience or at least who can take direction well and knows what to do in front of the camera!
The agency has seen countless of children over the years and many are simply not ready for the T.V. commercial industry nor the film and television industry. The agency will ask parents if this is truly something you want for your child, if you believe in your child then the best gift you can give them is to have them taught professionally film acting techniques, yes 5 years of age and up.
You and your child will find out quickly if your child has the temperament for this industry as well as the talent. The ones that do will continue working on their craft in film acting to get ready for their big moments either in commercials and/ or the big screen!
So you think your child is ready for show biz. Remember you and your child are a team, when your child is learning film acting techniques as well as t.v.commercial techniques you become the driver, the coach, the mentor. It takes dedication, discipline and drive for the family and the child to get over the hurdles to make it big in this industry but it does happen all the time.
In the end, if you are going to invest in your child, do not spend a fortune on professional photos if in the end they have no idea what to do when they go out for auditions and in front of the camera.
Finally when ready to look for an Agent, always make sure to:
- Do your research & get referrals
- Beware of big promises and high pressure sales pitches
- Read the fine print and get everything in writing – (contracts are not necessary for talent just starting out in the industry- a policy and procedure will do until they are ready for the big screen).
Good luck 🙂
For more information be sure to check out
Susan J. Model and Talent Management and Toronto Academy of Acting.