San Fran company trains child actors, then puts them on air In Hollywood, a lot of kids follow a path to stardom that goes something like this: Uncle Joe works in the business and gets niece Bipsy a bit part on a television show. Kid gets a credit and lands an agent. Fame sometimes follows but obscurity is good, too, for cocktail chatter years later.
A two-year-old venture called BE from former casting agent Erik DeSando is giving young performers without Hollywood connections a shot at breaking into the business, whether that's acting, singing, dancing or modeling. Taking a cue from Fox's American Idol, BE auditions kids around the country and hand-picks the most talented. These kids sign up for a membership that runs about $100 a month, which includes discounts on classes and one-on-one meetings with agents. Then the kids get a chance to act on BE TV shows, sing and dance in BE's music group The Buzz, and model for magazines. "We wanted to create this private membership organization and plop [branches] in the middle of every metropolitan area in the country," says DeSando. "We'd put them in this private company where the kids get resources like they would in agencies, and they'd get discounts and referrals."  BE generates revenue through it's membership fees and it's productions, including two TV shows airing on the CW affiliate in San Francisco; sketch comedy Say What? and sitcom Kids Unlimited. BE also generates other content for it's members. The Buzz records original songs and has been performing with singers like Mandy Moore. Additional productions are coming, including a four-part, still-unnamed reality show where BE's kids go through a real audition process. A big-screen movie will tap into BE's singers and dancers. And more TV shows will go into production. BE is in San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego, and by next year will be in Newport Beach, Sacramento, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Ten more markets are expected to open within two years. "We will create new shows for each new market." says Barry Falck, COO of BE. "They are all filmed in HD and professionally directed and produced. We build a studio in each location." BE's productions are non-union but the kids get paid. BE also carts out it's members each month via video conference to Hollywood agents for $25 a kid. "The conventions I used to go to as an agency owner run between $5,000 and $15,000 to meet the same agents," Falck says. The most talented kids are shuttled off to Hollywood through an arrangement with BE's partner agency Urge Entertainment to audition for top-notch gigs. DeSando says it's a win-win situation: "We, as the owners of the company, get to look at the talent and pick out the best of the kids. We can then make them into local-market stars, and eventually take them to Hollywood and manage them." -Kevin Downey Source: http://gonnabe.com/news/broad.pdf
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