The Next Big Thing....

I'm still so mad about this I can hardly write, but I guess I'll try. A week ago, my 13 year old and I were driving to the city, and listening to the radio (her station.) This is unusual because I usually cannot stand all that pop - hip/hop - boy band stuff and she listens to her iPod, but, as fate would have it, we were that day. She had just said she wanted to go on a casting call (which there are next to none in Texas) when a commercial came on and said, "Do YOU want to be on a Disney show with Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato? Well, here's your chance... call this number, blah, blah, blah. This seemed propitious, and too good to be true! (Always tell yourself, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, but I digress.) She put me on the phone and the guy said to show up at this hotel in downtown San Antonio this weekend with a headshot and body shot and read a script. Oh, and he says to dress nicely.

So....... we buy a new outfit, I cajole a coworker to take her pix, and we head out yesterday. I wasn't sure if it was a scam, but we arrive, and there are lots of other sucker parents there with their children, and we are herded like cattle into a conference room. We're in a long line of hopefuls and talk with a nice grandma in front of us with her precocious grandaughter, Savannah, (who is cute) and her daughter and mine bond over singing, dancing, and Justin Bieber. My older daughter, Alex, in her late 20's is also amused as several ask us if she too is trying out (the age limit is 17) so it was kind of a "yea! I got carded moment."

We listen to 'a real Hollywood agent' and 'real Hollywood casting person' tell us that they line up and read script for 30 seconds on tape. They give us parents a packet, and tell us to email them today with phone numbers to see if our child is chosen to go to the next level, which is some big shindig at Disney World December 18-22. Already that's a conflict since it's just before Christmas, but we continue. My daughter has some stage fright but did better than all the others I saw. Then we head home and I read the packet... If she is chosen, then I have to choose between the options which range from $1950 to $7900 just for her. The 'Parent Pass' is $895. And none of this includes the transportation or hotel in Orlando.

AND it says that BEFORE you email the numbers, you have to have read the packet and IF CHOSEN today, then you have to pay all the option and pass money today, which if you're not paying attention is about $3,000. Hmmmm.... ok, and at this shindig, you meet with agents and you MIGHT get 'callbacks' or you might NOT (but they say, it's still a "really good experience.")

I cannot imagine that many of the parents I saw could afford to do this today or any other day. And in this economy? Give me a break.... Meanwhile, my daughter, who thought she would be on a Disney show soon was heartbroken.

Welcome to Hollywood...