How to be cast in a MOVIE!

Every day, I am bombarded with parents from around the world asking me how to get their child involved in the entertainment industry.  While I do my best to answer as many questions as possible with the limited amount of time I have to work with non-clients, I simply cannot answer every single question.  But in this blog post, not only am I going to bestow some truly valuable information regarding how to become involved in the entertainment industry, I'm going to offer up participation in one of my upcoming projects to anyone who reads this post all the way through!

One of the most asked questions I get is, "How do I get my child into acting?"  This is the question I am going to focus on for this post, so buckle up, grab your pumpkin latte and read thoroughly.

Movies:  Feature length films (more than 80 minutes) and Short Films (less than 80 minutes) are your basic types of movies and are a fantastic way to get involved in acting.  I could ramble on for days about the film industry and making movies, but the most important thing you need to know when getting started is about MONEY!  Funding is what makes or breaks a movie project!

There are high budget films (think "Transformers" or "Spiderman"), which are financed by powerful studios and big investors with deep pockets. If you land a role in one of these, you have done your homework for casting, invested in acting lessons, headshots and travel and built your talent resume/IMDb profile.  With a part in a high budget film, you have hit the proverbial lottery of acting and you are well on your way to being awesome!

On the flip side, there are low budget independent films (think "Little Miss Sunshine", "Clerks" or "Paranormal Activity") where the writer and/or producer either fund the project themselves by selling their plasma OR they find funding through friends, family and/or crowd sourcing.  To land one of the roles in a low budget independent film, sometimes you just have to submit your headshot, resume and an audition video, OR, sometimes, as an actor, you just have to double as an investor and help fund the project through a crowd sourcing option (www.IndieGoGo.com or www.KickStarter.com).  There are literally thousands of independent projects which use crowd sourcing to fund their project - and one of them is MINE!  Yes, that's right, I have a low budget, independent film entitled,
"Inside Extra", currently available for investment on Indie Gogo (Click Here to be part of my magic).  

So you may be asking yourself right now, "Why in the heck would I invest $300, $500 or more to get my kid in one of these independent films?".  The answer to that is REALLY simple!  BECAUSE YOU GET TO WORK ON A FILM AND GET CREDIT!  Getting credit and building your resume and IMDb profile (Click here to see my profile) is essential to getting cast in bigger, higher budget projects.  PLUS you're helping a filmmaker get their work out into the world - which is a pretty awesome rage-against-the-machine!

Now, if you've read this far, you must know I am going to shamelessly plug my project in this paragraph.  "Inside Extra" the movie is a micro-budget short film that will shoot like an "expose" entertainment television shows (think 20/20 or Entertainment Tonight), trying to get a behind the scenes look into the world of child beauty pageants.  The movie is complete with faux commercials, all of which are "pageant centric" advertisements for products that we use in the pageant industry.  There are a plethora of roles available to investors ages 2-70.  A great number of the roles include children who have pageant experience and their own glitz wardrobe.  Filming will begin in Indianapolis in November, Atlanta in December and Des Moines in January.  Additional locations may be added if needed.  The film will be shown on the film festival circuit during the 2015-2016 season - including, but not limited to, Wild Rose Film Festival, River's Edge Film Festival, Chicago Film Festival, Heartland Film Festival and several more.  This comedy is like nothing that has ever been done and will surely be an instant cult classic.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  This movie films BEFORE I am slated to be a Producer on the feature length film, "Legend: The Bob Marley Story", June 2015 in Jamaica.  NOW is your opportunity to work on my personal pet project, before I become a raving success through my work on three much higher budgeted films with Da Vinci Film Works.    

 

(Inside Extra Sample Preview)

The number of roles in this movie is limited so I cannot more highly recommend getting off your bootie and supporting this Indie GoGo project sooner rather than later!  Consider your investment in this film as an investment in you and/or your child's acting career.  Rather than traveling to yet another pageant, where you MIGHT take home yet another crown that will just sit on the shelf for the next 20 years, invest in Inside Extra, secure a role in the movie, and be an actor with film credit to your name! 

There you go, my hard pitch for the easiest way to break into the movies as an actor.  I've never plugged my projects so hard for funding until this blog post, but that's just how dedicated I am to the cause!  Four years of planning and the time is NOW!  So, get on the stick and join me in my personal project, "Inside Extra" the movie.

Until Next Time,

Heather Ryan
The Ultimate Talent Mentor
Find me here on IMDb

STOP Pissing off Heather Ryan. Seriously!

Have you ever been in the position where everything seems to be going really well in your life?  Where you've just landed a job as the Unit Production Manager AND a Producer on a Major Motion Picture, you're slated to start filming your own movie, Inside Extra,  in December and your Pageant Expos have been a huge success?  While you're grateful and happy for all the fortune that has come from years of hard work, it's a tiny little bit of juicy, yet petty, gossip that just tickles you so much that all the above listed things makes you completely forget the massive amount of work on your plate while you laugh uncontrollably for hours.  It's moments like this that make me realize, no matter how accomplished, FRICK, I just can't escape that I am still a gossipy pageant mom at the core. 

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I have been very fortunate in my professional life in the entertainment industry.  My clients have done well as have all of the songs, books, films and music videos I've produced over the years.  However, if you are indeed privy to my past endeavors, you are surely aware that I had an "unfortunate" experience with a former client who tried to not only take credit for years of my tireless work on her/her child's behalves, but unbelievably, tried to sue and bankrupt my company.  So when a friend of mine forwarded the photo below to my mobile phone, I almost peed on myself laughing so hard at the misfortune of the stage mom pictured.  Indeed, I readily admit that I am a huge fan of Schadenfreude, laughing at other people's misery, but SURELY I am justified in this particular case?  YOU BE THE JUDGE!

Here's the skinny.  A former client of mine was spotted getting on the $1 Mega Bus to Toledo a few days ago.  No big deal, really - UNLESS - this former client is a holier-than-thou turd who is WAY too good to take public transportation and desperately wants you and the rest of the world to think she is a Mega Super Star living the high life in Los Angeles.  Being the petty, gossipy little turkey that I am, I couldn't help but turn around and post said photo on my social media so my friends could join me with a evil "Mwahahaha laugh".

Almost instantly, I started getting messages from people who had NEVER READ MY BOOK and didn't know the back story to the photo.  Fortunately for my friends, they knew enough to ask for a link to buy my book, so they could catch up with everyone else and read the story.  That's when I decided to make this offer ... HALF OFF DIGITAL/KINDLE COPIES OF "UNLEASHING A MOMSTER" FOR THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS!  That's right!  For just $4.95, you can become part of the "In" crowd and learn all the details of one SERIOUSLY TAWDRY TALE.  Just click any of the Hyperlinks in this paragraph to take advantage of this offer.

Don't read your books on Kindle but still want to be one of the cool kids?  No Worries!  My book is available in soft copy as well - and I'm running a special on that too! DONATE AS LITTLE AS $25 TO MY MOVIE, "Inside Extra", right now, and I'll send you an autographed copy of "Unleashing a Momster" for your reading enjoyment.


So you may be asking yourself, "Why on earth is Heather promoting the crap out of her book in this blog post?"  The answer to that question is because I WANT YOU TO JOIN THE SCHADENFREUDE by reading the most scathing tell-all book ever written about the pageant industry.  Also, every book that I sell eats the Momster's lunch just a little bit more ... and that makes me incredibly giddy!  Mwahahaha.

On a relatively related note, be sure to "Like" my page on Facebook and/or Twitter.  I have a bunch of audition information coming up in the very near future!

Until Next Time,

Heather Ryan
The Ultimate Talent Mentor
Find me on IMDb

Serving up the Crow - ala Dani Geddes ...

It's Prince George's First Birthday - and to celebrate with our friends in the United Kingdom, we're having chocolate cake and a sizable helping of Crow!  That's right!  I'm serving it up, well done, and gobbling it down like it's my last meal!

Last year, I wrote a scathing review of a British pageant enthusiast and young entrepreneur, Dani Geddes.  Recently, while working on a music video in the Atlanta area, I had the opportunity to meet and work with Ms. Geddes on a separate project that included my daughter, Piper McNew and pageant superstar, Paisley Dickey.  I was fortunate to have lunch with Dani and her friends from England, at which time we ironed out the massive misunderstanding that took place for all to read about on my blog.  After lunch, we proceeded to Olympic Park in Atlanta, where she took the MOST AMAZING PHOTOS of my five year old that have ever been captured on film.

So, though this blog post surely won't receive as many hits as my insanely entertaining, though feverishly bitter blog post, "Pissing Off Heather Ryan", I do want to make a public statement, loud and clear, that Dani Geddes is a fantastic business woman with a superb eye in photography.  She was an astounding professional throughout our business interaction, even though she had every right to grab me by the hair and shove me face first into my Mellow Mushroom Spinach Pizza during our lunch meeting.

So with this blog I say, "Dani Geddes, I am sorry that I was such a flaming bitch-wad to you on my blog last year."  Now, can you please pass the salt, this crow is incredibly bland!  

Best in all,

Heather Ryan
Producer, Writer, Director - Eater of Crow when I deserve it!   

We're going to the Academy Awards!

I believe strongly that if you want something badly enough, you have to "put it out there" into the world.  Tell your friends, family and complete strangers that you want to achieve a specific goal.  Once you PUT IT OUT THERE, there's no going back - you HAVE to work voraciously toward achieving that goal, because it is out there and everyone knows about (and presumably is rooting for you to achieve) your goal.

A great example that proves my point is when I put out on national television that one of my clients was going to have a doll in her likeness.  As soon as that episode aired, WHAM, I really had to haul ass to figure out how to make that happen.  Similarly, when I decided to help my friend and colleague, Wendy Dickey, edit her book, I put it out there.  I told all of my friend and family that Wendy had a scathing tell-all book coming out and for some reason, she chose me to help her edit the modern masterpiece.
Now, CHECK IT OUT!  Wendy's book, "Living Vicariously Through My Daughter" is now available on Amazon (insert back pat here ...)!  


So with that being said, I hereby announce, "I am going to the Academy Awards!"  Seriously, I want one of those KILLER S.W.A.G. Bags that they give to the nominees.  HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT'S IN THESE THINGS?  When I saw that all the stuff that they cram into these amazing bags of Celebrity-Kiss-Ass, it was enough to light a fire under my procrastinating bootie and decide that it is finally time to create the documentary that has been swimming around in my head for years!  So it's right here, right now, that I am putting it out there that over the next six months, I will be filming, editing and preparing my Documentary (Short Subject), for consideration for the 2015 Academy Awards. 

Now, you may be thinking, "That luna-chick, Heather Ryan, has gone and lost her damn mind", which is most likely what Wendy Dickey and Fransoly Gonzalez thought when I recruited them to be a Producer and Subject, respectively.  But I am here to inform them that I have already purchased the film stock, planned my shoot dates and locations, written my shot schedule and even chosen kindred spirit, Kimberly Jessy, to handle our media relations when we create the most compelling pageant-centric documentary of all time! 

So there it is - WE'RE GOING TO THE OSCARS!  It's out there, it's real.  Now, I just need haul ass and figure out how to make it happen ... Filming starts FRIDAY!

Until next time,

Heather A. Ryan
The Ultimate Talent Mentor
FUTURE Academy Award Nominee 
Check out my awesome iMDB profile!