Transcript: Twins and Talent Agencies

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Twin Talks
Twins and Talent Agencies

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Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Thinking about getting a Talent Agent for your twins? What’s the submission process like? How do we find the right agency? And what should you expect when it comes to auditioning for jobs? If you’re daydreaming over your twins becoming the next Mary-Kate or Ashley Olsen or perhaps you’re just trying to pay for college. Then this is the episode for you. This is Twin Talks.

[Theme Music/Intro]

SUNNY GAULT: Welcome to Twin talks, broadcasting from the birth education centre of San Diego. Twin Talks is your weekly online on the go support group for expecting and new parents of twins.

I’m Sunny Gault and I’m sitting in as host for today. Have you heard about the Twin Talks club? Our members get bonus content after each new show, plus special giveaways and discounts. You can subscribe to our Twin Talks newsletter and learn about our latest episodes available. And another great way for you to stay connected is by downloading our free Twin Talks app it’s available on the Android, iTunes and Windows marketplace.

So today in the studio, let’s basically introduce ourselves, you guys know whose part of the conversation today. I’ll start, my name is Sunny and I’m producing today’s show, hosting today’s show but I’m also the owner of New Mommy Media which produces Twin Talks, Parent Savers, The Boob Group and Preggie Pals.

I have four children myself all under, all age four and under so I have a four year old son, a two year old son and then identical twin girls Ainsley and Addison who are going to be a year next week actually. As far as my family getting involved I did it a little bit with my older son. We kind of got him involved, did some things and the moment I found out I was pregnant with twins, I thought I have to get them involved. This make sense, they need to get an agent. And we really haven’t endeavoured too much in that with them yet. So, that’s why I want to do this episode

ALLISON ROGERS: It’s going to be an education for you

SUNNY GAULT: It’s going to be a little bit of an education for me for sure and for other parents out there. So Allison let’s start with you. Tell us a little bit about yourself

ALLISON ROGERS: My name is Allison Rogers. I’m 46. I was a graphic artist until I had my twins and I was laid off. And so that’s actually one of the reasons why we got in to the entertainment business. Everyone was like ‘oh they’re so cute, you need to put them in movies’. I’m just like, yeah. I’m from Los Angeles, I’m really not interested at it and I’m like ‘yeah actually I’ll give it a try’ cause we got a friend who is an actor and so that’s how we got involved

SUNNY GAULT: Okay

ALLISON ROGERS: So my girls are 12, they’re identical and we’ve been in the business since they were eight months or nine months old

SUNNY GAULT: Wow. Okay, Gabbie

GABRIELA KENT: Hi my name is Gabriela Kent and I’m forty years old. And I do work a full time job. I’m a pharmaceutical rep. I also am a stylist with Style and Dot and I also have a third job which I say is a stage mom because

SUNNY GAULT: [laughing]

ALLISON ROGERS: It’s a full time job

GABRIELA KENT: Yes it is a full time job as well. So, and I have three children and I have twins that are nine years old and got in to the industry when they were three months old. And I have a daughter that’s five that started in the industry when she was fourteen days old

SUNNY GAULT: Gosh

GABRIELA KENT: So, she kind of grandfathered in because the boys already had an agent. And the way that we got into the industry was I say somewhat of luck and an act of God because while I was pregnant with the twins I was on bed rest. I was at the hospital and the hospital psychologist came to talk to me because I was there for nine days for, on bed rest. They gave me a bunch of information about twins.

And one of the sheets on was about getting Hollywood Loves Twins. Didn’t think much of it. Then when they were six weeks old we went to Baby’s R Us and I was stopped by an agent there. And I was ‘Oh no’ and one other thing I forgot to say is I’m also military family so my husband was gone all the time. So, and I was like no, no, no. We’re military family, we cannot afford like anything. Like, this is not for me. And then when they were two months old at their christening at church. I got another agent that approached me

SUNNY GAULT: Oh my God

GABRIELA KENT: At the christening, so I kind of thought, well this one, you know it kind of goes it own way and that’s how that happened so

SUNNY GAULT: Okay. Well I’m excited to hear your guy’s stories, thanks so much for being with us today

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright so before we start today’s show we’re going to talk about a headline that is kind of interesting. Since we’re talking about talent agencies and twins, we automatically think of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsens so let’s just get it out there. Let’s just talk about them for a second because they’re

ALLISON ROGERS: Oh boy

SUNNY GAULT: I know right there in the headlines right now simply because Mary Kate it appears that she has had some plastic surgery. I’m not sure if this is the first time she’s had it. But what’s interesting is, she’s really trying to make herself look different from her sister. And she’s now referring to herself as a former twin. Which I think is really weird, but I don’t want

ALLISON ROGERS: Strange

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah , I wanted to throw it out there to ladies like if your twins suddenly you know started to look a little bit different and you know. And I understand why, they’re constantly grouped together right? But referring to themselves as a, you know a former twin just seems weird to me

GABRIELA KENT: Yeah I would agree that is a weird statement because you can’t be a [inaudible] twin. You we’re born the same day, you were sisters

ALLISON ROGERS: Enjoy being twin

GABRIELA KENT: Yes but one thing to know about the Olsen twins is that most people thought that they are identical. They are not

SUNNY GAULT: I just read that

GABRIELA KENT: You know what, who knows if they have another test because my girls, my doctor said they were fraternal. And I had them tested and they’re identical

SUNNY GAULT: Did they have a test?

GABRIELA KENT: They have different eye colour

SUNNY GAULT: Wow

GABRIELA KENT: Yeah if you really look at the picture of them, they are fraternal. They are not identical and they have different eye colours

SUNNY GAULT: What do you think about the Olsen twins?

ALLISON ROGERS: Well first of all they weight like 90 pounds. They look, they’re tiny little things. And maybe her looking different means she gained 10 pounds, the other one has lost ten pounds as soon as. They’re, the, I don’t know, I there are special circumstances too. They’ve been in the lime light for so long that I don’t think they have the same reality that we do

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. And you say that with other people too. It’s obviously not just the Olsen twins but when you’re kind of trust into the spotlight as you guys know, your children are treated differently

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah differently

SUNNY GAULT: They’re not treated as children, they’re working children, there are different expectations. I’m sure they have to grow up faster; you know you hear about this all time

GABRIELA KENT: I think its part of friend’s wise too. Where you have to be the person whose friends with my twins. Has to have enough self-confidence to be okay with them getting a little more attention

SUNNY GAULT: Right

GABRIELA KENT: So they’ve had problems with friends that are used to getting all the attention and they can’t be friends with them because they get more, that’s too bad

SUNNY GAULT: Right. Good points

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, today we’re talking about twins and talent agencies and what it’s like to go out on auditions and get jobs. We basically want all the twin parents out there to know what is expected if you try to get your kids involved in the entertainment industry. So, why do you guys think the entertainment industry loves twins? What are some reasons?

ALLISON ROGERS: They can work twice as much

SUNNY GAULT: Okay explain that a little bit

ALLISON ROGERS: There are labour laws when your kid is, I forget what they are but maybe it’s at zero until like one year old; they’re only allowed to be on set three hours

GABRIELA KENT: Uh actually, less than that, I think they can only be on camera for twenty minutes

ALLISON ROGERS: That’s new born

GABRIELA KENT: Oh new born, right.

ALLISON ROGERS: I think it’s different like new born to one, one to two or two to three. There are different increments of how much you’re allowed to be on camera. So with twins, legally, let’s say one over three hours on set and then they’ll go switch and then the other one will go in. So realistically they can work six whole hours as one person. No other kids can do that

SUNNY GAULT: Right

GABRIELA KENT: The really opportunity for twins is under five because after five years old they’re able to work more than six hours each. So that’s where the competition comes in for the singletons

SUNNY GAULT: Okay

GABRIELA KENT: They would come in for that. Prior before that, under five is where your key nitch for twins is going to be

SUNNY GAULT: So why did you guys decide to, we may have eluded this a little bit in the introductions and stuff but why did you decided that your twins involved with a talent agency as opposed to trying to do this on your own? Did you always think that if I do this, I have to have an agent?

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah. I never thought of doing it on my own

SUNNY GAULT: Never thought of it

GABRIELA KENT: I never thought of doing it on my own either. And with that being said though it can be done on your own

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah people self-submit all the time, I’ve never done that

GABRIELA KENT: Yeah. There’s a lot of websites that you can go to and you can self-submit. But with that being said, being that, we did start from the get go and we like Allison we’ve had a lot of luck with our children and have them on very reputable shows with really good you know HBO and Showtime and NBC and so forth. We’ve had an opportunity to see that it was interesting to see what the breakdown really was and how better we were treated when you had an agent than if you didn’t. Because your agent is kind of looking whether

SUNNY GAULT: Looking out for you. They’re looking out for you like a representative

GABRIELA KENT: Absolutely. So you know there are many jobs that I had been on where our kids were doing the exact same things. We had an agent the other parent didn’t and you know in conversation, you, in our industry we, you don’t talk money. But you know the simple thing of like ‘oh’ you know a comment of ‘oh well, you know this is, this isn’t so bad worth three hundred dollars a day and instead they’re going

ALLISON ROGERS: What?

GABRIELA KENT: Three hundred dollars a day? We’re getting paid 800 like how was that

ALLISON ROGERS: And there are so many people out there willing to do it for nothing just to like be on TV. I’m like, no; I won’t even go to those jobs unless they pay a certain amount

SUNNY GAULT: So let’s talk about that because I know pay, like you said, it’s kind of hush a little bit. Can you talk in some general terms about what a parent should expect when it comes to pay? And I know it varies on the opportunity right?

ALLISON ROGERS: Print is anywhere from seventy five to a hundred and twenty five or two hundred dollars an hour

SUNNY GAULT: Okay

ALLISON ROGERS: Those are just are just strict print jobs. Side jobs there it is . . .

GABRIELA KENT: It’s usually by the day. And most of my experience so far even with the boys, it was about eight seventy five a day

SUNNY GAULT: Okay

GABRIELA KENT: And that’s usually you’re working your full six or eight or whatever it is that you can do

ALLISON ROGERS: But then I’m trying to think when they were at the soap opera that wasn’t said it was that after?

GABRIELA KENT: After was different

ALLISON ROGERS: After was only three hundred a day

GABRIELA KENT: Right. So

ALLISON ROGERS: But they paid for both so it was really six

GABRIELA KENT: Exactly. And that’s where the twin’s benefit. So they may only be paying hypothetically, three hundred dollars. But your each child is getting paid in 300 hundred dollars so six hundred dollar a day

SUNNY GAULT: Right

ALLISON ROGERS: And sometimes if they knew you were coming from out of town like we were, they would film two episodes in one day and we would get both

SUNNY GAULT: Okay

ALLISON ROGERS: So we get six hundred each for the day because they did knew that we were there just for the day and so they did back to back episodes

SUNNY GAULT: Okay

GABRIELA KENT: It also depends on what your classification is. So you could be an extra or you can be a featured extra meaning you’re not just a background person but a featured extra which is what they usually used twins that are non-speaking they call them feature extras. And that pay can be anywhere from two hundred dollars an hour to it just kind of depends on how much, how long they need you. And obviously with the little babies than you know they know they’re only going to get so much from them and at some point they need to nap and they need to eat they knew that.

But once again that’s when you kind of look in that, the , you need to kind of consider what the job and what it’s entailed, and what you’re willing to give. Now when you’re first starting out and you’re trying to get your name out there and stuff, you kind of have to take those lower paying jobs. And a lot of times they’ll do an exchange, meaning for print they may not pay you but they will give you the pictures or do head shots for you and that’s where that kind of, you know, you kind of have to know, you know what you’re willing to do for your children. I know like party city

ALLISON ROGERS: You learn a lot as you go on

GABRIELA KENT: Party city doesn’t pay very much

ALLISON ROGERS: No

GABRIELA KENT: but it’s such a fun job

ALLISON ROGERS: And we were saying target too, target hardly pays anything but you got a lot of notoriety

SUNNY GAULT: Right

GABRIELA KENT: Right. A lot of exposure at Disneyland, people think Disneyland is woohoo, oh my gosh

ALLISON ROGERS: Lego Land too, you know

GABRIELA KENT: They don’t pay nothing but, but with that being said the kids have so much fun

SUNNY GAULT: Right

ALLISON ROGERS: Oh my kids yeah

GABRIELA KENT: So it’s like, okay well and they’re getting you know it’s all about, if you’re really trying to get into this industry, it’s all about your resume building and it starts from day one

SUNNY GAULT: So let’s talk about, in finding a talent agency, I know you guys have different past that you guys took to find the agencies you guys are with. What advice do you have out there for parents who may be looking for an agent? You know not everyone is located here in the San Diego area so they may be all over the country. What advice do you have for them? What should they look out for?

ALLISON ROGERS: I would definitely go on a referral. Don’t cold call and find anyone out there. If they ask for money they’re not legitimate.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay

ALLISON ROGERS: They’ll never ask you for money and the agent always gets a percentage of what they booked for you. Period.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay

ALLISON ROGERS: So if anyone ask ‘oh you need to take headshot, you need to have a professional photography. All that stuff cost. No you don’t. For the first like three years of my kid’s life I just took pictures and printed out their headshots on my printer at home.

GABRIELA KENT: If they’re charging money, run the other way. This is, I mean and I tell people that all the time, like ‘oh this agency is calling’ this you know they wanted to, they love my child, they’re . . .

ALLISON ROGERS: And there are radio spots on . . .

GABRIELA KENT: Oh those radio spots will tell you yes ‘oh who wants to be the next

SUNNY GAULT: They got some sort of seminar or whatever that you’re supposed to go to

GABRIELA KENT: They get you there and then they want you to take classes and they want you to take pictures. And they want you to use their photographers. Next thing you know, and I’ve heard crazy, outrageous amount of fees of like

ALLISON ROGERS: Ridiculous

GABRIELA KENT: Twelve hundred, five thousand. And as parents we want to believe their children are the next big thing

SUNNY GAULT: I know sure

GABRIELA KENT: So they do, they pray on that

ALLISON ROGERS: But it’s really their own personality they’re going for. I don’t think an acting class can give you personality. And my kids are twelve; they’ve never had an acting class

GABRIELA KENT: Mine haven’t either

ALLISON ROGERS: They get all their jobs basically because they’re cute. They’re outgoing and they’re mature

GABRIELA KENT: And the cute only gets you so far

SUNNY GAULT: I tell them that too

GABRIELA KENT: More personality

SUNNY GAULT: Definitely

GABRIELA KENT: As well because my, what I will say about my kids is that they will never cry or say we never . . . they would go with strangers and they had an outgoing personality and I think that’s what really set them apart

SUNNY GAULT: Are the any start-up cost, I know we talked about maybe companies taking advantage of parents but genuinely speaking are there any start-up cost that you should be aware of? If you’ve got younger children, let’s say they’re not really old enough to really need headshots

ALLISON ROGERS: For me there wasn’t. We did everything ourselves

GABRIELA KENT: No and that’s important to know that there is not, I mean, yes it is important to have good pictures because it’s your first impression. It’s what the first thing that’s what you’re presenting as your child.

But when you’re first submitting, what they’re looking for is they want natural lighting, they want your natural hair colour, they want natural stuff like we were frequently were told to go take a picture outside.

And they’re not looking for anything professional initially until you’re signed on. But if you just, they want to see what your child’s natural element is. And that’s one thing to know, you know, there’s different agents that are going to get more jobs than others. So you’re children, you have dry spiels and then you have spiels that your kids are going to work on a lot

ALLISON ROGERS: And like you said earlier its luck, it’s a lot of luck I really believe

GABRIELA KENT: Right place at the right time and the right look

ALLISON ROGERS: My girls did a toilet commercial and they wanted crawlers. They were barely crawling but they were so I mean we got lucky but who’s to say you’re not going to bring your kid that day and they’re not going to crawl

SUNNY GAULT: Right. That’s a scary issue. You just don’t know how kids are going to behave

ALLISON ROGERS: They don’t

SUNNY GAULT: But I’m going to save that because we’re going to take a quick break and when we come back we’re going to talk about the audition process as well as what to expect if your twins are cast in a job opportunity. So, we’ll be right back

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Welcome back, today we’re talking about twins and talent agencies. So, let’s assume your twins now have an agent; they’re with an agency, now it’s time to audition and hopefully get some job opportunity. So what can we kind of reveal about the audition process?

ALLISON ROGERS: When your kids go in for the audition, they don’t allow mommies. So we have no idea what they’re doing in there

SUNNY GAULT: Okay

ALLISON ROGERS: So like they call your name, your kid goes into a room and they close the door

SUNNY GAULT: Well at some point you have to like if you’re talking about babies

ALLISON ROGERS: Maybe baby, not even

GABRIELA KENT: Not even

ALLISON ROGERS: No

GABRIELA KENT: Because they want to see how the baby

ALLISON ROGERS: Can separate

GABRIELA KENT: That there’s no

ALLISON ROGERS: That you can be on camera without your mom there, separation anxiety

GABRIELA KENT: Thank you

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah

SUNNY GAULT: Wow

ALLISON ROGERS: It’s because if the kids are going to cry the entire time the mommy’s in the room, they can’t book that kid

SUNNY GAULT: Well, the mom could be on set. I mean I see where you’re going with

ALLISON ROGERS: But then they always look in the direction of their mother

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah. It’s true

GABRIELA KENT: But the model, it’s how they are with the model, how the actress or whoever, and whatever it they’re expecting the baby

ALLISON ROGERS: And that’s another thing too I try and tell people like you can have the cutest kid, the best like demeanour and mannerisms and all those things but sometimes they’re going to put the pretend parents first so then they’re going to obviously book the kids later who looks more like that person.

SUNNY GAULT: Right. So it may not be just about how well your kids get these

ALLISON ROGERS: Right

SUNNY GAULT: There are a lot of other factors

GABRIELA KENT: Absolutely a lot of times they’re phoning families

SUNNY GAULT: So, do you ever find out about job opportunities where an audition isn’t required where they can just cast out photos

GABRIELA KENT: Yes

ALLISON ROGERS: We’ve been cast, it’s at least two or three times that way, we did a Pentax catalogue that way, we did a best buy Sony spot, just a video submission I took a video on my phone, send it to the agent and they sent it to the casting person. Yeah, those are nice, I wish they’d Skype auditions

SUNNY GAULT: I have been saying that for a while and I don’t know again, you know we talked about you know, meeting the babies to be separate from their parents, that’s part of the reason but I’m like it would save so many parents so much time

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah but then again I’m sure there’s, I mean think about like, how like when a celebrity looks really nice in the picture than you see in real life they’re like ‘no way’, it’s not the same person

SUNNY GAULT: Right

GABRIELA KENT: And that’s the importance of having really good pictures. And once you really are involved and ready to dive into this industry. Decide that this is what you wanted to do with your children. I think that’s where you do need to invest in some really good pictures and actually have some really good photos because once again it’s your first impression. So, yeah I mean that is a possibility

ALLISON ROGERS: But it’s not common

GABRIELA KENT: But it’s not right, it’s not common

SUNNY GAULT: And you have to be willing to go out on the auditions, I want to make it very clear to parents out there

ALLISON ROGERS: And in multiple

SUNNY GAULT: Right

ALLISON ROGERS: As you go for the audition, you go for call back and then you go for the job so that’s three

SUNNY GAULT: And then you’re taking two babies

ALLISON ROGERS: And sometimes there’s a fitting

GABRIELA KENT: My very first experience, when initially we got in to this, my twins were three months old. We drove out there, and when I, on the way out there they were screaming bloody murder and of course we’re driving from San Diego

ALLISON ROGERS: Go to sleep

GABRIELA KENT: To LA. And they just, it was the most horrid experience I ever had. And I got lost, I couldn’t find it. And then when we got there, I can’t find a parking. And then I had to take what I used to call the beast

ALLISON ROGERS: That’s stressful

GABRIELA KENT: You know the double stroller. There so many nice ones now that’s already compact

ALLISON ROGERS: They don’t even fit through handicapped doorways they’re awful

GABRIELA KENT: No but I had. But you know so here I am pushing my little babies and I’m just going well I’m already here so I’m going to do this. And when after we were done they were like can you hold the baby, can you do this and one’s screaming and I look like a crazy woman, trying to hold two babies while they’re taking pictures. And ironically, they took a picture of me with the kids because I was one holding them.

And then when we left I was like ‘ oh I’m not, never doing that again’ But I’m glad that we tried it out. We ended up booking it and on our way home I was like ‘there’s no way I’m ever doing this again, this is crazy’ The funniest thing is when people like ‘oh can you do this with your kid and you do that with the kid’ no usually people who don’t have kids themselves and you’re like, this isn’t possible.

My kids book to a Toyota commercial and it was at Griffet Park in the back seat of a Toyota Highlander. So it was already a hundred and six degrees outside, inside the car? It’s even hotter, and they were like, ‘why isn’t she smiling?, why isn’t she happy?’ and I’m like, she’s sweating and it’s hot. Do you have children? They’re like No, but can’t she just do this? I’m like, she’s nine months old.

So we did and this was actually my ingenuity, I’m just like what if you just did a close up on the ground, you wouldn’t know that she’s not in the back seat of the trunk, and they’re like ‘oh okay’ and they did. So the last scene was actually on one of our blankets outside. And sometimes they do listen to the parents

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah

GABRIELA KENT: I put them down for a nap and you’re like

ALLISON ROGERS: It doesn’t work that way

GABRIELA KENT: Okay. Okay good, I can put them down for a nap coz it’s nap time and they’d be like ‘okay yeah go ahead’ and they give you forty five minutes and then they’re calling them back up and you’re like woah woah woah. They don’t go down that easy. And well just wake them up and it’s like well is he going to be happy? I’m like, are you happy when they wake you up? I don’t know. You know but, you know camera time it’s expensive to do all that stuff

ALLISON ROGERS: Time is money

GABRIELA KENT: Because they are

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

GABRIELA KENT: on a time constraint

ALLISON ROGERS: Time is money

SUNNY GAULT: Right

ALLISON ROGERS: So they don’t have the luxury of saying ‘oh yeah go take a two hour nap’

GABRIELA KENT: No they don’t and that’s where you have to say you know when people go ‘oh how sad I can’t believe they did that to your child or to your baby and it’s like you are not a normal baby you are a working baby. And you’re a baby that’s getting paid

ALLISON ROGERS: And that’s when they like twins even more too because one is essentially a backup for the other

SUNNY GAULT: Right

ALLISON ROGERS: So if like let’s say when my kids when in the soap opera and started to get fidgety and crying, they switch and then they bring in the other one and that one would be happier

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

ALLISON ROGERS: And we do that all the time

GABRIELA KENT: Right

SUNNY GAULT: Let’s jump back just a little bit because I want to talk about the actual process and what parents can expect when it comes to getting a casting, you know,

ALLISON ROGERS: Or a call back

SUNNY GAULT: A notice, a call back. But it starts with finding all about an audition, right? So, how does that process work? What? Will the agency . . .

ALLISON ROGERS: Usually they’re going to email a day before

SUNNY GAULT: The day before

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah so like

SUNNY GAULT: So you have twenty four hours to prepare

GABRIELA KENT: Yes.

ALLISON ROGERS: So Monday I’ll get audition notice that I have an audition Tuesday at three o’clock

SUNNY GAULT: And they already come up with the time for you

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah they give you a time and sometimes your requested time change would they really like you to stick to that time

SUNNY GAULT: Whose they?

ALLISON ROGERS: The agent, the casting people because they’re casting people like every five minutes

GABRIELA KENT: We’ll it’s the casting; the agent just gets the notice and then the notice so

ALLISON ROGERS: We’ll try to accommodate you but for the most part of it, they want you to stick to the schedule

GABRIELA KENT: And that’s where I think a good relationship with your agent to say look on, you know, now the kids are in school age, but before I was working part time before I was working full time. And I would say I had very specific days like on these days it doesn’t matter but on these days I can’t go anywhere past five or you know they

ALLISON ROGERS: But they also accommodate kids. They accommodate the older kids, they’ll put them at the latest times slot but you’ll get like a

GABRIELA KENT: For school

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah like a five to six time period

SUNNY GAULT: Okay

ALLISON ROGERS: Whereas like a smaller kid will obviously get like ten AM or something because that would just

GABRIELA KENT: They’re not at school

ALLISON ROGERS: Our kid’s whole day and for them it doesn’t matter but for us it does

SUNNY GAULT: So this is my question and I’m not even sure if your guys can answer this. But, do you have any idea why you don’t have this much notice? Because I have a hard time believing that, that they don’t have the hall booked or wherever they’re gonna do the auditions. Sometimes I think they’re just trying to weed out the serious parents from the parents that are not serious

ALLISON ROGERS: I don’t know it’s always been that way

GABRIELA KENT: You know, it’s always been that way and something

ALLISON ROGERS: Always

GABRIELA KENT: That’s always bothered my husband of, in the sense of this last minute running to LA and last minute trying to get it together and re arranging schedules. Even when they were younger and he would say, I don’t, I can’t believe that you, you know our agent is so well known and she got, how can you know we would get the calls sometimes at five o’clock at night and they want them there at ten o’clock. Once again we’re talking about little tots when they were younger

SUNNY GAULT: Right

GABRIELA KENT: And so yeah and to be honest I think it’s a weeding, it’s a weeding out process. And I don’t know that as a fact but I just kind of my good guess but it has always been that way

ALLISON ROGERS: It’s always

GABRIELA KENT: If you can’t just

ALLISON ROGERS: For twelve years I’ve been doing this

GABRIELA KENT: If you can’t just go up to LA tomorrow, then this is not for you

SUNNY GAULT: Explain the book out process

GABRIELA KENT: You can let the agent know that you are not available from November 7 thru November 22 so that you don’t get

ALLISON ROGERS: But you have to also do it on three website

GABRIELA KENT: Yes you have to book out because they do get upset because if they, if an agent sometimes an agent will submit hypothetically fifty children for one role and they only get two call backs. Meaning they only want to see two of their children or they

ALLISON ROGERS: One of you is you’re saying No

GABRIELA KENT: And one of them and you’re saying no I’m not available

ALLISON ROGERS: And looks poorly on the agent

GABRIELA KENT: Yes

ALLISON ROGERS: That they submitted a kid who can’t go

GABRIELA KENT: Yes

ALLISON ROGERS: So they get very upset with you

GABRIELA KENT: Yes

SUNNY GAULT: Wow, okay

GABRIELA KENT: So, it’s important to book out. Now, with that being said you have your dry spiels. So sometimes what happens to us is that we get out of sight out of mind and there are two, three auditions that come back to back and we’re in the groove. And then we don’t hear for any job for like a month and a half

ALLISON ROGERS: Yes

GABRIELA KENT: So I forget to book out and I don’t forget to say we’re not available these days because it’s feast or famine

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah. And there have been times I’ve been on vacation, like a last minute vacation like Easter. Like my friend invited me to Arrowhead. So we went to Arrowhead for four days. While we were in arrowhead I get an audition notice for the next day and I’m like ‘oh I’m so sorry. We’re in arrowhead.

Why didn’t you book out? I’m like ‘I didn’t think of it’ it was the weekend and it’s a holiday. I mean I’ll obviously book out for vacations that I know I’m going on but sometimes you go on a last minute vacation on the weekend. And then yeah, you’re going to have to deal with your agent getting upset with you

GABRIELA KENT: And then if you also have other siblings, you know Alison and Addison are twins but like you mentioned, Sunny you have four, I have three. And sometimes either my daughters are getting the audition or the twins, now the twins get

ALLISON ROGERS: And sometimes they don’t want you to bring their siblings

GABRIELA KENT: They don’t want the sibling there

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah

GABRIELA KENT: No

ALLISON ROGERS: They’ll get mad at you left if for one kid, you bring three. They’re like why are all these kids here?

GABRIELA KENT: Yeah

ALLISON ROGERS: But what do you supposed to do with your kids?

SUNNY GAULT: That’s a great question what do you do? I mean they . . .

GABRIELA KENT: No you need to have a support system. You need to have somewhere that you’re going to leave your child. Now no you’re not leaving them for two hours, you’re leaving them for six because you’re driving them to LA and back and. And you know you had talked about what the actual audition process was. Realistically you go out there and they see your child for five minutes

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah after five or six hours of driving. You’re there for two minutes, not even two minutes

GABRIELA KENT: And then they go in and

ALLISON ROGERS: you stand in a mark, they say their name and then they leave

GABRIELA KENT: And then because we’re not in there with them, it’s hard to know what they ask. And I tried to you know pry out of my children

ALLISON ROGERS: But that’s a good thing about having twins. Because one starts talking and then the other one will go ‘oh and this happened and this happened’ but then if you ask them individually what happened? ‘I don’t remember’ But what I wanted to say too, I think this is important when people are starting out and they have an audition, and then they go home and they’re like ‘what am I going to hear? What am I going to hear, what am I going to hear?’ And I’m just like, honestly, and from the beginning, and we still do this, when we go on audition, it leaves my head as soon as we leave there. I don’t ever expect a call back. If I get like if my phone rings and it says the agent’s name like ‘oh good!’ but I’ll never look and say ‘oh that’s from . . .

GABRIELA KENT: No news is bad news

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah

GABRIELA KENT: They’re really going to tell you, you didn’t get it

ALLISON ROGERS: And the mom’s that are like new in this and are like ‘I really think my kid got this, they did so well’ I’m like you can’t think that way. Honestly when we went, I’m from Los Angeles, so when we went for auditions, I would make a day of it. And I would just visit my friends from high school or my family. And that’s what my kids look forward to is the play date after the audition, not the actual audition because it only takes two seconds

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

ALLISON ROGERS: So you, you really should keep your expectations in check and not ever expect to get a call back and just be happy if you do

GABRIELA KENT: One of the things that you want to make sure that you have when you do start up, you need a

ALLISON ROGERS: Coogan

GABRIELA KENT: a work permit is what I was going to say?

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah

GABRIELA KENT: That cost you nothing. You need to replace them every six, every six months. When they’re under fourteen days, it needs to be signed off by a doctor that says that they are healthy little babies and that I had to do that with my daughter. And then under after once they become, after kindergarten, first grade,

ALLISON ROGERS: They have to prove their school records that they’re

GABRIELA KENT: yes they want school records that they’re have good citizenship and that they have good attendance

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah if they miss more than a certain amount of days, they’re not going to sign it

GABRIELA KENT: Yeah. And the school can have a big huge impact on whether your child works or not. So if you don’t have good grades and good attendance and good citizenship, they will not sign off on that. So that and that cost you nothing other than time. You can submit online to do it or you can go to the office here luckily in San Diego or even LA. It’s a two, three day turn around. And then the other thing that you must have is a Coogan Account which is a fifteen percent locked trust right. Its court mandated that has to go and that has to go, I forgot the whole background story but you know you hear these crazy stories about how McCauley Culkin and

ALLISON ROGERS: Well that’s called Coogan because it was named after one of the kids from, oh my God

GABRIELA KENT: I know I’m thinking I . . .

ALLISON ROGERS: Took off with all those money and so now they call it a Coogan Account so it doesn’t happen to other children

SUNNY GAULT: For jobs, our parents usually allowed on set for jobs

GABRIELA KENT: You must be on set

SUNNY GAULT: You must be on set

ALLISON ROGERS: It depends on how old your kid is

GABRIELA KENT: Well a parent needs to be on set with each child so if you have twins, realistically you need to take a nanny with you. Now there are nannies that you can hire. I know, I mean beautiful, wonderful people that we worked with for the last nine years. And they’re the ones that have made this opportunity. And you pay them and you pay them well because it’s important that your child and you cannot take siblings.

They do not want looking lose, they do not want star struck people. You’re there to work, you are a working child, you are not there to get autographs and take pictures because that was like, that’s not the way I mean, if you’re going to get paid, they’re treating you like a paid employee

ALLISON ROGERS: It’s not one of those you know easy ‘oh yeah, let’s do this’ it’s a full time job. If you have a full time job, you can’t do this, realistically, unless you, maybe you’re, you’re company is you know lenient and say ‘oh yeah’

SUNNY GAULT: Very flexible

ALLISON ROGERS: Yeah very flexible

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah

ALLISON ROGERS: But yeah you have to you know a days’ notice you got to be there and there goes your whole day so and it does cost you know. Gas every job or every audition’s not going to be a job. You can audition like I was saying, some people have auditioned for years but never got anything. Those people really just stop

GABRIELA KENT: The statistic that I have heard is that you have to hear seven No’s before you hear one yes. And we’re talking about like just one call back. Not necessarily that you get the job

SUNNY GAULT: Alright well ladies we talked about a lot. Thank you so much for being with us today and for sharing some insights on what it’s like to be in the entertainment business with your twins. So our conversation continues for members of our Twin Talks club. After the show we’ll discuss some tricks our parents have to make the audition process run as smoothly as possible. For more information about the Twin Talks club, you can visit our website at www.newmommymedia.com

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: We have a question from one of our listeners for one of our experts and this comes from Angelica of Bookertown Florida. Angelica writes: I’m uncomfortable with something and feel powerless. My mother-in-law takes care of my five month old boy girl twins for the three days of the week that I work. We have started feeding them purees once per day. She calls any food that she gives them dessert. Be it pumpkin, oatmeal cereal, pears, everything gets the “dessert” tag.

I’m of the opinion that “dessert” should not be made important or even relevant for them so they don’t want it. I eat super healthy at home and then my in-laws they think they do but I’ve never seen a leafy vegetable on their table. What should I do? How to fight this one? I feel like she’s paving the road for picky eating. I listen to your Parent Savers chapter on that. I plan on using baby lead weaning when they have teeth for them to follow my example not others. And have pretty clear ideas on how to raise my twins.

Should I put conditions to my MIL (mother-in-law)? How do I share my preferences with her without hurting her feelings? This is really important to me. Please help

DR. JENNIFER SCHEER: Hi everyone this is Doctor Jennifer Scheer, I’m a psychologist and I work with moms around perinatal issues and transitions to motherhood. And Angelica, I love your question. I think it is in fact multi layered. On the surface it can look solely like a question about what’s the best way to talk to kids about food and appropriate language choice.

Certainly the way we speak to them has impact on their long term relationships with food and I think that’s really important and be conscious about it. However, I am wondering if some of the emotions behind your questions have something to do with what I think all moms grapple with. And that is, once a baby is out of the womb, we are somewhat dependent and reliant on other care givers. And other important people in our kids’ lives. And the question is, how do we navigate our parental authority in light of all these influences.

So, that’s something I always ask people to think about to process these feelings around that, because it makes us so vulnerable. But in terms of talking to your mother-in-law, I strongly encourage you to speak with her, I would, my recommendations about how to do so would be to just share with her your readings and your research and ask her say this is important to me, I’d like us to be on the same page and be consistent in how we speak to the kids. And so, and again I strongly encourage you to as warmly and directly approach the conversation with her.

I think the most important thing as a mom is to move away from feeling powerless. We should be really feeling like you’ve got the ability to make the choices in things that happen to your kids that you want to. Okay? So Good Luck! Go have a good conversation. Okay, ba-bye

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to Twin Talks.
Don’t forget to check our sister shows:
• Preggie Pals for expecting parents
• The Boob Group for moms who breastfeed their babies
• Parent Savers, your parenting resource on the go.

This is Twin Talks, parenting times two.

[Disclaimer]

This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: New Mommy Media is expanding our line up of shows for new and expecting parents. If you have an idea for a new series or if you’re a business or organization interested in joining our network of shows through a co-branded podcast, visit www.NewMommyMedia.com

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