7 Traits Casting Directors Look for When Casting Kids

Kid appearing for an audition

1. Easy to work with

Firstly, casting directors look for a child or an actor who is easy to work with. A casting director prefers someone committed and dedicated to their project and is a normal reliable child. On the other hand, no casting director would want someone who is either rowdy and runs around, arrogant or unable to perform confidently. They want an actor who is easy to work with and talk to, and have a nice, friendly personality.

Lesson 1: Teach your kid good manners

2. Appearance

Casting directors often look for a 'certain appearance' of a potential child actor. Whenever a casting director or a reader reads a script, they have a certain image of that character. When a director looks at a headshot, they may see something they like that would suit the character. Therefore they always tend to look for a child actor who fits what they have pictured, although there may be a chance they may consider a different face that stands out too!

Lesson 2: Find out if possible, whether your child meets the physical, mental, cultural and social requirements of a character before you take your kid for an audition

3. Easy to direct

Furthermore, at auditions, casting directors, definitely look to see if you are easy to direct. As a director they picture a scene and how it should be performed. It is important that their child actor is flexible and spontaneous, so that they can follow the direction of what the director wants. There may be in some cases during auditions, when, after performing, a casting director may ask the candidate to do it in a certain way. For example, saying it faster, doing a specific gesture or being more emotive. This may highlight they see potential, but they want to see if you can act their vision of what they have for a scene.

Lesson 3: Ensure that the kid has a proper and professional training

4. Acting abilities

Casting directors also want to see if you can act! Though it is simple as it sounds, they want to see if you can express that particular emotion very well. In some cases, they would want to see you really exaggerate a certain expression, for example a comedic scene, or at times they want you to be as natural as possible, or 'normal'.

Lesson 4: Develop the power of imagination

5. Past experience and training

A definite advantage. If you have experience in films, TV or commercials or being trained by a good acting coach or a kid's acting school, they know that while on a set, you will not waste their time in learning acting for camera, blocking(movements), focus and being in character. They would know probably you may not get distracted by chaos on a set.

Lesson 5: Encourage your kid to participate in school plays, community functions, social engagements and in commercial ads, TV shows irrespective of whether it's small or a big event
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5 Ultimate Acting Tips for Kids for Bollywood and TV Serials

Riya Vij in film 'Gippi'

Acting is a great career for those who are interested, and of course talented. People aspiring to be successful actors in the future actually start nurturing their talent from childhood itself. With the rising demand for more and more child actors in different media of the showbiz industry, including Bollywood, television, advertisements and theater, nurturing this young talent has become even more essential. As children are not much aware of how the acting world works, it becomes the responsibility of the parents and mentors to train the child to act. Though some kids are experts in mimicking other actors as well as the people they meet in their daily life, acting professionally is totally different.

Pros and Cons

• There are numerous pros and cons of making children act at a very young age. Acting in Bollywood, stage (and other media) firstly cultivates a positive attitude within a child. Frequent stage appearances and acting before a big audience helps the child shed his or her premonitions and overcome any weaknesses. A child, at a very early age, learns the importance of teamwork and sharing. Most importantly, it makes the child more confident and optimistic. 
• However, a child might lose interest in his studies and other important things in the long run, and so the parents need to encourage their kids in such a way that they do not lose out on any of the fronts. 
• Nevertheless, though making a child act can be a little difficult, it is definitely not impossible, because we have seen a host of child actors who have entertained us for a long time. So parents, here are some tips that would help you guide your little ones in their acting career:

1. Observe and Learn 

Make your child see various popular movies and dramas. Make them observe and understand for themselves how a renowned actor portrays a particular character, how he displays a particular emotion, and what response he gets for the same from his audience. The quality and quantity of knowledge that a child would grasp just by observing others will be of a much greater degree than whatever he will learn from plain literature. Every minute observation helps to a large extent in the long run.

2. Learn Acting Craft, Professionally

This is a must. Either by a good kid's acting school or in my opinion, through a professional acting coach who would train your kid by knowing a child’s psychology and design a syllabus accordingly. Children joining  such  schools or a coach become familiar with the basics of acting, and this actually gives them a cutting-edge over the others, who are untrained.

3. Rehearse

Rehearsal is a very important aspect of acting. There is no actor in the world who has achieved name and fame without doing rehearsals repeatedly and religiously. Make the kids learn their dialogs properly, and make them understand the demand of the character they are playing. If they succeed in understanding the character, only then would they be able to do justice to the role they are playing. For instance, if your child's role is that of a shy and withdrawn kid in a script, render help and ask him/her to create a story from his/her imagination and then play  that shy boy/girl with his/her lines from the script.
Practicing in this way will help your kid understand the way he has to act for his role. Rehearsal, both individually and along with the rest of the cast, plays an important role. Individually, a child can be asked to rehearse before a mirror so that he himself can critically examine his work and make the necessary improvements. He can then rehearse with the rest of the cast so that the play becomes a well-coordinated whole.

4. Developing Voice 

It is important that he learns to speak clearly so that the lapel mike or boom can hear him clearly. Apart from various voice exercises, which a child can learn in a good school or with an acting coach, you can make him practice at home with the help of some exercises. One such exercise is where you have to keep some kind of object near your kid and ask him to say the dialogs to that object, as if it is a person listening to him.

5. Learn Acting for Camera

In-depth understanding of how to play for camera constitutes a major part in the success. Stages are of different kinds, and each demands different types of entry and exit structures, empty spaces, lighting effects, and so on. These things can be imbibed in a child through specialized kid’s acting and experience.
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