About Us
Our girls begged for years to get into acting and modeling. We were hesitant in the beginning (not knowing what to expect). Not long after I began working for our local cable company, I was approached by local Studio employees to do a commercial. I didn't think much of it and agreed to be in it. After the success of the commercial I was soon asked to be in several other commercials informing customers about our services.
What really got my girls involved was when the camera crew came to our house and shot a commercial highlighting our Direct Sales Dept and our search for new Sales Reps. They loved seeing themselves on TV.
In the summer of 2006 we heard one of those radio ads for some company looking for local talent for movies, print ads, commercials, and more. I had heard these radio ads for several years. After 3 or 4 consecutive years of begging from my girls, my wife and I finally decided to "go to the hotel" and see what this stuff was all about. The ad told people to come to a local hotel to get information about the modeling business. All ages showed up for this event in hopes of "getting discovered" by the Miley Cyrus's talent agent (like that was really gonna happen). Nonetheless, 150 people or more showed up for this event. The company holding the event was called Proscout. I hadn't heard of them before and they would have to prove their reputation for me to give them a true listening ear. Oddly enough, the person giving the speech was the owner of Proscout himself. He usually sends one of his employees to these "local" smaller events.
After the speech he gave everyone the opportunity to "audition" for him with their talents. He sent about 70% of the people home and told them thanks for coming. The remaining 30 % was invited to a regional event in Chicago slated for the following January 2007. Both Marissa and Mychala were given the opportunity to attend.
The event in Chicago was actually pretty interesting. What Proscout does is invite potential talent to this event and fly all the major Scouting agencies in from around the world. Attendies would have the opportunity of a lifetime and be seen by 50-70 agents in one single weekend. The event did cost about $500.00 per person. But if you consider the alternative it wasn't a bad deal. The cost to purchase a flight, stay in a hotel, wait in traffic, and hope to get into an agency and see a decision maker could easily be in the thousands of dollars. So we figured it was worth giving them this opportunity.
So, we attended the January event in Chicago. I will say that if you are serious about giving your child (or yourself) a real chance at working in this industry you MUST look into Proscout. NOTE: Proscout is no longer in business. The weekend event consisted of serious training. They showed our girls how to present themselves, perform a monologue, practiced their "runway" walk and presentation, and much more. The next day the attendies went upon a large stage and basically did a runway walk. All along the floor were rows of tables with agents from the major talent agencies. Ford, BMG, Lily's, Elite, and more. Every attendie had a number pinned to their shirts so agents could easliy write it down and make quick notes. A few hours later was the Big Event... The Call Backs. This is when each agencies called out the numbers of the individuals they were interested in signing to represent. The more call back the better position you were in. Some didn't get any call backs at all. Mychala got one call back and Marissa got two. We were blown away. Mychala was signed by BMG in Chicago and started working within a couple of months. Marissa was signed by an agencie in Los Angeles. This was exciting, but disappointing due to us not being in a positionto get her there for over a year and a half. We finally spent the summer of 2008 in LA. She had several neat opportunites presented. She recently signed with BMG in Chicago as well.
Marissa was actually chosen to sing with a new all girls group called Blu' Rush. She was excited and ready to take on the world. After getting the contract she had second thoughts. The job would require her to stay in LA (at times without us). She could have to give up other aspirations for working on movies or TV shows (her goal was to be on the Disney channel). So she reluctantly backed out of this amazing chance for the opportunity for other work. Things are slow for Marissa at this time due to the nature of the Chicago market (where we go for most of our jobs). In Chicago, unless a girl is 5'9", girls generally have few opportunities between the ages of 13 and 16. We plan to visit LA again during Pilot Season. This is when most of the new shows are being shot and presented to TV and studio Execs. Pilot Season is in January-April each year.
Collectively, we've done commercials for American Cancer Society, Walmart, Sears, Serta, Harris Bank, National PTA, Country Wide Financial, T-Mobile, Visa, Walgreens, Honda, and more. We've done print work for American Girl, Finish Line, Citi Bank, State Farm, Six Flags, Kohl's, The Ad Council, and more. We've played an Extra role in the upcoming Miley Cyrus movie LOL.
Shanda and I recently got our start in the industry due to taking them to their jobs. I figured why not at least audition for parental roles since we're going to be there anyways. So I signed with BMG in Chicago (same agency as the girls). Our intent was to do jobs with our girls. Citi Bank was our first "family" job together.
What really got my girls involved was when the camera crew came to our house and shot a commercial highlighting our Direct Sales Dept and our search for new Sales Reps. They loved seeing themselves on TV.
In the summer of 2006 we heard one of those radio ads for some company looking for local talent for movies, print ads, commercials, and more. I had heard these radio ads for several years. After 3 or 4 consecutive years of begging from my girls, my wife and I finally decided to "go to the hotel" and see what this stuff was all about. The ad told people to come to a local hotel to get information about the modeling business. All ages showed up for this event in hopes of "getting discovered" by the Miley Cyrus's talent agent (like that was really gonna happen). Nonetheless, 150 people or more showed up for this event. The company holding the event was called Proscout. I hadn't heard of them before and they would have to prove their reputation for me to give them a true listening ear. Oddly enough, the person giving the speech was the owner of Proscout himself. He usually sends one of his employees to these "local" smaller events.
After the speech he gave everyone the opportunity to "audition" for him with their talents. He sent about 70% of the people home and told them thanks for coming. The remaining 30 % was invited to a regional event in Chicago slated for the following January 2007. Both Marissa and Mychala were given the opportunity to attend.
The event in Chicago was actually pretty interesting. What Proscout does is invite potential talent to this event and fly all the major Scouting agencies in from around the world. Attendies would have the opportunity of a lifetime and be seen by 50-70 agents in one single weekend. The event did cost about $500.00 per person. But if you consider the alternative it wasn't a bad deal. The cost to purchase a flight, stay in a hotel, wait in traffic, and hope to get into an agency and see a decision maker could easily be in the thousands of dollars. So we figured it was worth giving them this opportunity.
So, we attended the January event in Chicago. I will say that if you are serious about giving your child (or yourself) a real chance at working in this industry you MUST look into Proscout. NOTE: Proscout is no longer in business. The weekend event consisted of serious training. They showed our girls how to present themselves, perform a monologue, practiced their "runway" walk and presentation, and much more. The next day the attendies went upon a large stage and basically did a runway walk. All along the floor were rows of tables with agents from the major talent agencies. Ford, BMG, Lily's, Elite, and more. Every attendie had a number pinned to their shirts so agents could easliy write it down and make quick notes. A few hours later was the Big Event... The Call Backs. This is when each agencies called out the numbers of the individuals they were interested in signing to represent. The more call back the better position you were in. Some didn't get any call backs at all. Mychala got one call back and Marissa got two. We were blown away. Mychala was signed by BMG in Chicago and started working within a couple of months. Marissa was signed by an agencie in Los Angeles. This was exciting, but disappointing due to us not being in a positionto get her there for over a year and a half. We finally spent the summer of 2008 in LA. She had several neat opportunites presented. She recently signed with BMG in Chicago as well.
Marissa was actually chosen to sing with a new all girls group called Blu' Rush. She was excited and ready to take on the world. After getting the contract she had second thoughts. The job would require her to stay in LA (at times without us). She could have to give up other aspirations for working on movies or TV shows (her goal was to be on the Disney channel). So she reluctantly backed out of this amazing chance for the opportunity for other work. Things are slow for Marissa at this time due to the nature of the Chicago market (where we go for most of our jobs). In Chicago, unless a girl is 5'9", girls generally have few opportunities between the ages of 13 and 16. We plan to visit LA again during Pilot Season. This is when most of the new shows are being shot and presented to TV and studio Execs. Pilot Season is in January-April each year.
Collectively, we've done commercials for American Cancer Society, Walmart, Sears, Serta, Harris Bank, National PTA, Country Wide Financial, T-Mobile, Visa, Walgreens, Honda, and more. We've done print work for American Girl, Finish Line, Citi Bank, State Farm, Six Flags, Kohl's, The Ad Council, and more. We've played an Extra role in the upcoming Miley Cyrus movie LOL.
Shanda and I recently got our start in the industry due to taking them to their jobs. I figured why not at least audition for parental roles since we're going to be there anyways. So I signed with BMG in Chicago (same agency as the girls). Our intent was to do jobs with our girls. Citi Bank was our first "family" job together.
