Q: I would like your advice on a plan of action for our daughter. We would like to take her to L.A. in the winter of 2013 for pilot season. That gives her a year to prepare and get dialed. Do you have any suggestions for us?
A: Here is my advice re: going to LA for pilot season. If the intent is to go to a locale of permanent sunshine and have a California vacation while also dabbling in the film industry, then I think it’s a great idea and sounds like fun. If the goal is specifically to advance your daughter’s career, I think you are both much better served by staying in Vancouver. You might want to check out Parents Q&A: Working in LA basically until it’s clear that she’s highly in demand in the local market (i.e. booking regularly), moving her to a much much much larger and more saturated/competitive market is a bad gamble. Especially if she’s not legal to work there. Vancouver has at least 5000 Union actors (UBCP) and maybe 20,000 non-union actors. LA has at least 75,000 Union actors (SAG) and maybe 300,000 non-union actors. That’s the difference between fifty girls who look like your daughter and eight hundred girls who look like her. Or more, because the kid end of the market tends to be weighted more heavily, with attrition kicking in as actors get older.
Michael Bean
Owner+Head Coach
Biz Studio
“Helping young actors get work in film and television.”