There are some things you know by what you hear and then there are things you learn by experiencing them yourselves. Some time ago this smart lady known as me decided to send off some pictures of my beautiful children to some talent agencies. 99% sure nothing would come of it, I was sure I wouldn't hear from anyone and if I did, that would be amazing.
Last week I got a phone call from One Source Talent Agency out of Washington, DC. Once I got past the surprise I booked my babies for an evaluation and photo session to judge their obviously immeasurable talent. I mean, duh. They are destined for great things. Saturday we forayed into the unbearable heat to make this appointment. Were you in the area of this heat wave this weekend? If so, then you know what I'm saying. You don't go out unless you have to. Especially at noon. But there we were, trucking out to this agency for our scheduled evaluations.
I must admit I was feeling pretty excited about this. I did take several opportunities to pray that if this was a door God wanted open for any of these children then let it be so. And if the door was closed then I would know that was God's will too. Honestly, I thought this would be a fun experience for the kids. Photo sesh, talent evaluation? This will be fun! Maybe even a tv camera or two.
Prior to arriving we received strict instructions from our phone convo and an email with even more details. What to wear, thoughts on hair style, promptness...to the tune of if you don't come on time don't bother coming, and don't bother rescheduling...you'll probably be blacklisted by the agency. If their goal was to put us in the "industry" state of mind, that part worked.
We arrived at this mega building, took the elevator up and...I must pause here to tell you that I had told the three youngest children where we were going. Each of them was equally excited just to think they might be evaluated for their modeling and acting potential. My favorite prepped kid would have to be Youngest in this scenario. He wanted some sort of necklace around his neck to complete his look. Couldn't find any necklaces so he settled for a piece of string. No lie. He tied that bad boy around his neck and said it looked good the way it was hanging down. He took it a step further to put his baseball cap on...sideways and threw on his sunglasses for the dramatic look. Five years old and he knew exactly where we were going, what we were going to do there and what he wanted to do to be prepared. That alone is talent.
The girls were ready too. Cute outfits that represented their style. Hair looking cute. You know, you never know how far this would go, so they were ready. Oldest opted out. "Not at all," he told me. As handsome and model-worthy as he is, he has no interest in exploring this option. While I'm thinking "cha-ching! College tuition paid for," he is thinking he couldn't think of anything he would want to do less. So he didn't come...
Back to our arrival. We take the elevator up and promptly see a long line of model/talent wannabe looking folks lined down the hallway. This is not a good first sign for a place where you have an "appointment", nevertheless I brushed past and asked at the front of the line if they were all waiting to go in THAT door. I thought perhaps these lovely over-dressed, high heel wearing, best makeup faces on-having folks were headed someplace I had no part of. But no such luck there. All these wannabe-beauties were waiting to head into this same talent agency. After a few short minutes they opened the door and hustled us in.
This was my experience with any kind of modeling, acting, talent outlet. I wasn't sure what to expect and honestly was thinking not to expect anything. Just go in open-minded and enjoy learning a bit along the way, I thought. As we entered in the office suite, the party music was jumping. Made you want to dance a little, you know? A small waiting room revealed no less than 2 sky-high model-type beauties behind a desk. They couldn't sit? They were already tall enough and standing just made they ginormous. They marked us off on their appointment book and I informed them Oldest opted out. From there, one parent only (me) was ushered into a larger waiting room with the children. The Hub waited in the party music infused waiting room.
Our new waiting area was so American Idol-ish. Totally. Rows of black chairs in a big open room. Flat screen TV on the wall showing a movie for our enjoyment. As each party was hustled in we were handed a form to fill out with the basics, name, address, phone #, etc. I must say that the ushering into this room was completed by no less than 3 sky-high, taller than life women. Beautiful model types. Tall, skinny, fashionable, impeccable makeup. Way to make a girl feel short and fat. We filled out our forms, one for each kid and turned them back into model #1. As we waited Youngest inquired what was the reason for having video cameras pointed directly at us in each corner of the ceilings. Hmmm, Youngest. Interesting observation. Best I could guess, they were pre-evaluating the talent.
Not a few short minutes later they called 4 or 5 names, including the Copeland family. We were hustled back around to near the waiting room where we came from, told to line up against the wall and wait to go into a small room for our headshot photo. Since it was near the waiting room The Hub poked his head in and inquired from model #2 how long will this likely take. Model #2 responded it can take anywhere from 3-45 minutes, depending on how things go. No sooner than that answer was given, the kids went in for their headshot. Youngest didn't even remove his sideways hat and makeshift necklace. As soon as their headshots were completed model #4 said "that's it. We have your headshot and casting information. We'll call you if we are interested. You're done for the day." Say what?
Very perplexed and confused we headed out. What in the world just happened we wondered. We barely got to bounce to the party music before we were bounced out the door. Could it be that in those 5 minutes they decided these kids were not what they were looking for? What happened to the evaluation, scheduled appointment we booked? How is that their talent wasn't even evaluated? Somehow we felt robbed. Confused, maybe is a better synopsis. Oh well. I guess the industry "we'll call you" got dished to us in a slightly fancier form. We headed home and figured this event was a bust.
The next day we get a voicemail message from the booking representative inquiring with Oldest for his no-show. Hey, they wondered, he still interested? If so, give them a call. No matter that he didn't show yesterday. Forget what they said about not bothering to reschedule if you flake on an appointment, apparently. As if that wasn't enough, later on in the evening we get an email asking Oldest to come on out and meet with them. They can't find enough good talent they say...I'll leave that comment to sit with you a minute.
Isn't life just like that? We want what we can't have sometimes. And those that can have it don't want it. Sigh. Such is life.
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