She got a callback!

Pie is very excited. She has been called back for a second round of auditions. Before anyone gets as excited as she is, a couple of things need to be explained.

The group doing the auditions is Premiere Events. Their commercial is actually very misleading. The commercial implies that they work directly with casting agents and that they are holding a casting call for different movie and television productions. This is kind of true, but not really.

Premiere Events is an annual (or is it semi-annual?) event held at Walt Disney World Resorts. The company has no affiliation with either Disney or Nickelodeon. They work directly with children and teenagers in a variety of different workshops. For some it is acting, others modeling, etc etc. This is basically a large conference that children, teens and their parents attend.

Now at this conference, each child will have the opportunity to perform in front of casting agents, directors, etc. Their is a slim chance that these people will want to see the child perform again. This is termed as a call back. The company claims that 60% of their participants receive a call back.

It's important to remember that a call back doesn't mean a job. And an even slimmer amount of these people get parts. Most of the parts given are as extras, or in commercials. Their speaking parts are very small but as the old saying goes, 'there are no small parts, only small actors.'

So the event itself costs anywhere from $3,000 to $11,000. This includes the package chosen by the child and the cost of a parent to go with the child. It doesn't include the cost of tickets to attend the park itself. If a parent pays this amount of money with the expectation that the child will receive multiple auditions and a paid part in a production, then the parent will feel ripped off.

If the parent, however, recognizes that they are paying for their child to have a positive experience that will build the level of confidence and sense of power within oneself, then they will likely be happy with what they get. (I'm guessing. We haven't been.)

For Princess Pie, that is how we view this potential experience. It's something fun for her to do that may help to boost her level of self confidence, and her own power within herself. If she winds up landing a part, paid or unpaid, fantastic! If she doesn't, though, then she still had a fantastic experience that she will carry with her for the rest of her life.

The company itself is extremely selective in who gets to go to this event. This is the reason for the auditions and the call backs. 

The minimum amount, however, is $3,000. We do not have $3,000. If we had that kind of money, our house foundation would have already been fixed. She would have seen a dentist and we all would have had decent stuff to wear to the auditions yesterday.

So, since Pie wants to go so much, she has to raise the money herself. She has only 6 months to do so. We've scheduled her call back for 6 months from now. If she makes it, she'll be going to Walt Disney World for the Premiere Events conference.

I know that she can do this but it will be a stretch. We will help her every step of the way from helping to find babysitting gigs, to helping her find houses to clean. She can design greeting cards on my computer to sell. She can do bake sales and car washes. And there are some jobs that she can perform online as well, as a teenager. She'll have to work very hard and keep her grades up but she can do this.

She is not allowed to ask people for money. She can only earn it.

So, Pie got a call back. Now it's up to her to make it the rest of the way.