[CONTENT] B03 - Mae Ross - Child Acting & Modeling (Success Summit 2013)

hi i'm aaron marcus and welcome back to the summit i'm really excited here we've got mae ross who is the owner of 321 acting studios in los angeles and this is a place that's designed for you know teaching teens uh kids young adults uh it's really it's a very very good acting school and they have wonderful classes there she also has directed and produced an incredible talent showcase for the past 15 years so me thank you so much for being here on the summit thank you for asking me aaron it is a pleasure to be here great so look there are lots of acting schools out there there aren't you know that many of them that are really geared to the market that you um have things marketed to where you really primarily work with younger children correct yes i do i work with children from four and teams years and then into the young adult years but yes i love working with children teens and young adults it truly is my passion i love the youngsters absolutely and so basically at your school you are gearing them to begin auditioning hopefully at some point for film and tv and commercials yes we are definitely an on camera school and at three to one acting schools here in los angeles we do prepare children teens and young adults for a career or if you want to call it a hobby and show business so that is acting and modeling and tv film roles everything from sitcoms to soap operas movies of the week everything that you see in the media new media also internet so we are prepping them and preparing them for a career or a hobby in show business yes you know i always find it really interesting it is makes me smile a little bit when sometimes people will say well for kids they're just natural you know you really don't have to do anything with kids they just know how to do this and i've seen enough kids audition for things and it's very clear that that's not necessarily the case so what what do you say for people who say kids they really don't need to you know learn technique and and you know sense memory what are your thoughts on that my thoughts on that you know children do have a natural ability but we need to sort of flush that out a little bit and bring it to the forefront and what we really like to instill in our children here and our teens and young adults confidence the kids need confidence and getting in front of that camera will always help them develop and build their confidence showbiz wants to hire confident young people people that are happy that want to be there and so getting in front of a camera can be intimidating for children and teens and so this is really a way for them to learn how to be comfortable in front of a camera thus they're comfortable everywhere they can walk into a party walk across their stage at school to receive an award so it's the confidence building that really is such an attractive part of tv and film acting they get to see themselves back every class so they're watching what they're doing and learning and yes if there is technique to be learned absolutely techniques camera techniques you know i assume that sometimes you must spend a pretty good amount of time kind of on teaching kids what they might have learned at home where you know a kid comes in to read for a commercial and the mom has taught the child that you know when the word heart is said in the commercial they absolutely you know have to grab their you know heart and when something is big they have to you know put their hands up and um is it is that difficult to you know get kids to unlearn things or is that is that a pretty simple process kids are amazing i never underestimate children but yes there are those history annex you know history on it's like uh three cheeses it comes with three jesus but we get rid of all that or the pointing that's one thing i always teach that directors really don't like to see the children point it looks too reprimanding it looks too scolding so yes any of those habits that they've gotten from their parents or who knows we will definitely get rid of those and when they watch themselves back every week they definitely will see what they like and what they don't like and what we like and what we don't like and the kids are amazing they will learn so fast you know it's interesting because you know when let's say somebody comes in and the you know the child might have said to the mom or the dad you know i i really i want to do commercials you know i want to be on a tv show and then they walk in and you go to meet them and they are hiding behind the parents you can tell they're scared to death and and i'm sure that you know that certainly doesn't mean that they can't be phenomenal how do you go about relaxing the child enough to actually get them to to talk to go in front of the camera to you know do lines well actually you know what i do aaron is i say you know what little johnny if you don't have fun miss may's gonna eat your shoe and that one gets them every time because they go oh really uh and we have fabulous teachers here that really know how to relax them and you know we get down on our knees and we're right at the same level as the child and we talk to them and we say hi you want to come in and have some fun and afterwards you get a little lollipop and we just have so much fun i introduce them to another child that's usually a really great way to get a kid to come into class is i'll get come here susie say hello to little johnny and let's take him into the classroom together so we have lots of wonderful ways that we can get the kids to relax and to uh want to be in the class i have so many stories of kids that have come in that weren't sure about the acting i have a child right now that is in the new movie with um jim carrell and bert wonderstone and he came in and he was so shy i'm not going to name names for the sake of the camera he was so shy and three weeks later he was just coming at us and uh no sooner did that happen is that he showcased in front of the talent agents which i do here at three two one and got a really good agent here in hollywood and started booking and he's booked ipad 5 and iphone and and the movie and it's wonderful and this is a child who came in shy but we know how to spot them and we know how to train them so it's it's really really fun here that's that's that's an incredible story now for somebody for you know a child who's never done this before and all of a sudden they are given uh sides to read for film and let's say you know it's a scary situation and this is something you know hopefully the child has never experienced before in their lives how do you work with them to get them to tap into emotions that they've never never seen well you know kids are amazing they're a lot smarter than we think and what we do is whatever audition that they have whatever sides they have they bring those into class and we work with it in class and we basically ask them well have you ever been mad what are you mad at right now and basically we do a little bit of method acting on them it will say well what do you what what made you mad this week and they'll say yeah when my mom you know gave me a timeout and it was well think about that and they'll think about it and also their face expression has changed to this like the yeah i'm mad you know i don't want to do that anymore and they know to use that in their script and uh we teach them that it's probably going to be a casting director who's not an actor and how to do it and we do it on camera and we just get them to feel so confident that's the key if they feel confident about themselves if they feel special about themselves if they feel like they can almost go out and do anything that's going to be a good factor because let's face it for children they want that confident child yeah you know and and not to head off into like a completely new territory but one of the things that you said that really made me think about this i mean it's just so true that you know no matter what they wind up doing in their lives the the lessons that they have learned uh from you know studying with you these are lifelong lessons and whether it's you know going in for a business meeting and having to talk like you were saying to a class and just having the confidence to look at an adult and shake their hand and look them in the eye right that's just really um those are really incredible things to be able to do they really are life skills aaron and uh the parents love it because these children are growing up and they're learning them now so they know whether they go into college or whether they're just talking in front of the class these are life skills and you can't beat it for the benefits of self-development and self-esteem and we do have many many kids that work here in hollywood that actually really are doing movies and tv and film and modeling and that is just that's a fabulous product that they can get from coming here to these studios is is to be able to actually work on tv and film and they like that now when somebody who really hasn't done this kind of work before and all of a sudden they are given a script you know they booked the job and now they've got a lot of lines to memorize are there ways that you teach younger people how to go about memorizing things as opposed to adults well one thing that we use a lot is images i tell them to uh like there's a commercial where yuck i hate vegetables peas broccoli yuck and i'll tell them see the uh peas see the broccoli see the vegetables so that way if they have strong images in their mind it's really easy for them to memorize because they're seeing those images so yuck i hate vegetables peas broccoli yuck so all i have to really do is see the peas and broccolis in their mind and that's one way for them to to really memorize we also do a lot of repeating and basically they're pretty set up to memorize because they're in school and so they're learning having to memorize certain um text and things like that because for tests so they're pretty set up to memorize already but we do help them on that level seeing the images and so so you also have uh showcases and so for these showcases what what types of people would you be bringing in well what we do is we have a talent showcase where we usually have uh well we do have for sure top hollywood hall agents that come in and we also have sometimes a few managers but mainly top hollywood talent agents come in and we usually showcase anywhere from about 25 to 35 children teens and young adults and we keep it small and it's amazing we had 36 showcases last time and 31 got agent callbacks so we really do prepare them we have a two-month program here where they learn everything from auditioning technique to how to slate and we put their resumes together and we figure out their pictures and we are doing an agent interview how do you interview with an agent what how do you do that and what questions will an agent answer so we're going to give them ideas of what kind of questions like one of the big ones that most agents will ask you people out there that are listening is why do you want to be an actor that's a good question it's a great question and so what how do you prepare somebody to answer something like that i tell them don't say for the money don't say for the fame i tell them you say you want to be an actor because it's fun and you have a passion for it and you like it and that's what we train our people to say and those that really want to stay with the business will stay with the business and those that decide that they're not sure fine they've just gained such tremendous benefits by being here and developing their self-esteem and their self-confidence now you mentioned a term before and i just want to make sure everybody understands it when you were saying slate would you describe to everybody exactly what a slate is the first time that any client casting director is going to see you on camera it's the first thing you do when you actually walk into the actual audition room where the camera's there and the casting director's there and the first thing they're going to ask you to do is slate and they're going to roll the camera and you're going to say your first name your last name and whatever else they've instructed you to do it maybe they want to know your age or what agent you're with and that's what you do so would be like hi there i'm mae ross and i'm not telling you my age got it and so you know what a lot of people don't understand is just how important that slate is because you can lose people before you even start to say any of the lines if your slate is horrible absolutely it's so important i tell them that's the first time they see you and a first impression is a lasting impression and you don't get a second chance to make a first impression and we all know this but sometimes you know they get a little lazy and so that's what class is for classes to practice it's your rehearsal room so you're practicing every time that that slate is warm and it's believable and it's coming from you and that you're looking into the camera almost pretending you're introducing yourself to somebody that you really want to meet whether it be a justin bieber or whoever it is and so that you have that that light that bubble in your eyes so that the casting people and the clients and everybody who watches back your slate says i want to get to know that child better i think we're going to have him or her in her callback now now do you um discuss resumes as well yes we do in fact the talent showcase acting career program has a acting career seminar in it it's included and so the parents come in and the teens and we write resumes we do it from the beginning to the end and actually i will edit them and complete them so that's part of it you'll get a really good resume if you come to three to one acting studios because they've still been doing it for a long time so here's my question and there are many things in this industry that people have different opinions about and then you really just have to make your own decision so for an adult um you know we would never at least my recommendation is you never put your age on a resume it's it's it's it's not necessary and i think it could only hurt you i i don't even put age range i mean some people do that but yeah i'm feeling my feeling is look if your headshot doesn't tell the casting director what range to bring you in for then it's not a very good head shot so don't potentially lose out on certain auditions by you know giving a specific number now i love it go ahead now i was just going to say but for kids you know it's a little bit trickier uh because on one hand that same philosophy holds true you know there could be a kid who's 12 but he kind of looks nine and it's better that you bring him in for you know the the age that he looks like but then on the you know on the other hand uh especially when they're you know a little bit older and you know maybe they are you know 18 you know or i actually i always forget exactly what that age is where they don't have to deal with school anymore so if you can play a younger child then in that case then it makes a lot of sense to put that down so that way they don't have to bring in you know tutors and they can work you all day and you can so what what what are your thoughts about yeah people it's very important yes thank you thank you aaron people it's very important out there that you look like your picture that it is a really exact representation of you so before you do your pictures make sure you have your hair the way you like it do you want to cut it do you want to color it make sure that you keep that same hairstyle for a while so that when the picture comes across their computer screen that they they recognize you so don't change your hair very often and you really want to look your age and that's really important because uh if you don't then it's going to mess up the casting people the thing is really is that hollywood and new york and wherever they're shooting london they do like to have people that are 18 and can play younger because that means that they can work you longer on the set they don't have to have somebody to teach you they don't have to have a studio teacher on the set and that you are a little more mature so that you can handle a lot more work and a lot more copies so we prepare them for that too here but how about as far as ages go like if you have a six-year-old or an eight-year-old or a nine-year-old do you put date of birth on the resume or do you not no we do because they really want that uh the agents still really want that date of birth on there not all agents i really can't speak for all agents and uh but they do kind of want to know how old the kid is or you can still put an age range it's when they get into those uh later teen years that if you're 18 and you look 14 you definitely want to put on your resume legally 18 or put an age range if you put an adrian on your resume when you're 18 then they'll pretty much know that you're over 18. but they do need to know that you're legally 18 that's really important but yes the age date of birth is still on the resumes and so basically so you would keep the date of birth on there up until um until the agent decides to take it off until somebody else what we do here three two one our program our acting career program is designed to get the agent to get that agent and so we put everything on the resume uh church plays talent shows uh dance recitals music recitals we put any time anybody's gone like this afterwards on these resumes here at three two one so that they can get the agent let the agent decide what they want to take off and actually that's a really good point because every agent might have a different philosophy about things and you want to follow whatever you know rules and regulations your agent has so yeah that makes sense well look we are starting to run out of time here and i do want to get to some questions and i'm seeing that we do have some questions in so let me start off by asking you a question from alastair in ireland what types of questions should i be asking when considering signing my daughter up at an acting school well first of all i would want to find out because i'm a mom too and that is i would like to know if there is a audit available and what that means is can the child come in and at least watch the class honestly my philosophy is to have them participate right away our newcomers when they come into three-to-one acting studios here in los angeles they get a free class that's their first class is free and they get in and participate right away because you want to know before you put any money down is my child really into this you want to get your child's buy-in and you do want to ask who the teachers are and you might want to ask what type of things they do in class so you can get a list of are they doing voice addiction exercises are they doing some improv do they get to do scripts and particularly that on camera if you're looking for an on-camera school theater it doesn't really matter if uh you have to ask if it's on camera but basically how much can the parents see what the children are doing that's always great because then you get to see the progress so i i guess it's really helpful then for the parents to get an opportunity to learn who the teachers are what kinds of experiences they've had is that something they they do at your place yes i think it's really important for a parent i'm a parent and as a parent i want to know who are teaching my my children so i think it's important to go ahead and ask gee when can i meet the teachers uh when we bring a newcomer in we introduce them to the teachers right away and because of the playback that automatically gets the parents back in the last 15 minutes of every class watching the playback meeting the teacher chatting so i think it's very important that you know who are teaching your children and uh to find out about them a little bit actually you know something that you said i thought was really fascinating um that the parents come in to watch the playback they do so that way they are not in there while the kids are actually working so that way they're really getting up the kids get an opportunity to relax not feel any kind of pressure from a parent they might do things they might not do if a parent is staring at them and i think that's a that's a really smart idea oh it's very smart and uh you know my years of experience always shows even with the showcase rehearsals i'm like parents let's have you stay out parents children love you so much they're so interested in doing their very best for you so it does put pressure on them and make them a little nervous so it's best for you to step aside let them do their work just work with the director one-on-one and then you'll get to see what the pla the playback you get to see after but it's uh children like i said they love you so much and they just want to please you so it's best that you're not in the room and that's why on the set you're basically sequestered into a room with a monitor one thing that's great about at least here in the states is that there is a union rule or maybe it's a child labor law rule where the parents always will get to see the children on the monitor you know on a tv screen uh but not have to sit in the actual you know on set so that they can go like hey let me see um we've got oh actually well this other question was uh it was from julian delaware about auditing a class so you've already answered that one yes definitely audit the class okay here's here's an interesting one this is from mimi in new hampshire and she is asking how does she go about or how does someone go about even trying to find a great acting school that's a good question mimi i think what i would do is go online and look for reviews look for the reviews on yelp y-e-l-p-com on google find out what other people are saying about the acting schools in new hampshire and in your area that's your best bet there's something called ripoff report that you want to look at and that'll really help you determine which schools are the ones that you will take your child to see what other parents are saying that's your best bet i think those are good ideas one thing that i would like to add to that is that you know in today's time period as great as the internet is sometimes you have to be very careful because like you could have one very angry parent who was expecting you know their child to become the next superstar and for whatever reason that didn't happen and all of a sudden they're spending a lot of time online simply killing an institution you know it's true one interview can really ruin us aaron i'll tell you it's not easy out there anymore so i i agree you should do as much research as you can but even if you do find one or two negative uh comments it doesn't necessarily mean that the place isn't phenomenal i agree you do definitely have to take the time to visit and if it's something that your child wants to do then of course you want to be the good parent take their lead find a good acting school for them and go check it around just like you would a college okay you're just going to go check them out for her or him before you go let me see if i can squeeze one more in here um oh okay from devorah in ontario hey is it better for me to find a class to work on my acting skills or a private coach personally i really like a class because that's where the acting happens you really need to act with another actor because there's the relationship you're creating the relationship you're taking a set of circumstances that are not real and you're making them as real as possible so acting is really in the doing with another actor so i really really recommend doing classes first you can always do coaching but the magic really happens in the classes so go to classes you know and i i agree with you 100 and i think actually both can be extremely uh you know invaluable to people but i i would also say starting off with a class because one of the things that you will also get from a class is getting an opportunity to watch other people and i can tell you from classes that i have taken and still take sometimes i learn more from watching other people sure than from what i'm working on and then you know after you've been involved and you've taken you know a number of classes and then if there's something specific that you want to work on you know you know privately then absolutely that would make a lot of sense but yeah trying to learn the craft of acting uh isolated is really it's very difficult because you know you're not just doing monologues uh on every project that you're working on it's like trying to trap tap dance without your collapsed views yeah and remember we're making instant relationships you have to create instant relationships in acting so how do you create that instant relationship you need another person to create that instant relationship absolutely well mate ross i want to thank you so much for people who want to you know if they're going to be anywhere in the area of los angeles what is the best way of finding out more about your school yes we would love to have you come and take a free class uh and we are here at 3131 foothill boulevard in la crescent at 9 12 13 and our website is a fabulous way to find out more about us my reviews are there and everything about the school our programs and that is three two one acting studios dot com it's easy to remember i hope you remember it and we would love to have you come in for a free class fantastic well thank you so much for being here today really really appreciate it i'm sorry i couldn't get to you know any other questions but you will get an opportunity to ask more questions i will be sticking around uh at the very end of the day and i will go through any other questions that you might have so anyhow thank you so much again we're going to take about a two minute break here and then we're going to keep going with the summit thanks again thank you bye everybody good luck thanks aaron you