April 7, 2024 • 30 mins
In this episode of "Making It Happen: A Career in the Performing Arts," we present an engaging conversation with Teresa Pfefferle, the driving force behind her child's successful performing career. Hosted by Leesa Csolak, this episode unveils the intriguing roller-coaster journey of parenting a child actor, offering practical advice, insights and a peek into the intricate world of child acting.
From the bustling streets of New York to the pressures of casting rooms, Teresa shares her firsthand experiences and valuable insights about the performing arts industry. Our discussion explores various aspects, including casting auditions, managing agents, legalities, and obtaining the required education for child actors.
The episode also highlights the unique challenges faced by parents nurturing their children's talents at an early age. Whether you are a parent of a budding performer or you are intrigued by the performing arts scene, this episode is an essential listen. Dive deep into the world of child acting, learn about behind-the-scenes terms such as "callback" and "being on hold," and unearth practical information about the actual experiences on set.
We also emphasize the crucial role the parents and the entire backing team play in ensuring the child's success in the industry, from staying updated about industry trends to fostering constant training, even outside of auditions. Join us as we unravel the exhilarating yet challenging narrative of Teresa's journey in the child acting industry and learn invaluable tips on nurturing your child's performing arts dreams.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:05):
Welcome to Making It Happen, a career in the performing arts where we discuss
how to break into the performing arts industry for yourself or your child, teen, or young adult.
Guests include professionals who are passionate and share my vision of helping
talented individuals land professional representation and have successful careers in the arts.
My name is Lisa Solek and I I am the CEO and founder of Making It Happen,
(00:27):
a career in the performing arts online courses, having helped hundreds of clients
break into the performing arts business on stage, in films, television,
commercial work, and more.
This podcast is supplemental to my groundbreaking online courses.
For more information, check out all the ways that you can benefit from my courses,
how-to videos, live seminars, my free weekly newsletter, and free guides, go to lbctalent.com.
(00:51):
My guest today is Teresa Pfefferle.
Hi, Teresa. How are you? Hi, how are you? I'm so good. I was in New York today, which was so fun.
Last night I went to a show at 54 Below, which, you know, I'm not in New York,
for a client who was doing a showcase there.
He's a senior, going to graduate from U of Miami at the end of this year,
(01:12):
so end of 2024, so that was fun and exciting.
So I rushed back. I'm very excited to talk to you.
I think that the listeners are going to have a lot to learn from you,
especially moms who have children who are really talented at a very young age.
So if you could introduce yourself and explain a little bit,
a little bit about the background, maybe start at the beginning,
(01:34):
just to give people a general idea where you're coming from would be great.
Hi. Okay. Teresa Triggis Pfefferle. It's a mouthful. My friends call me TTP, call me Teresa.
I, yeah, so start at the beginning. I mean, I had a, my youngest daughter was
a dancer at a young age, you know, in preschool, school, one of the teachers
(01:57):
told me, look, she's got this.
Don't stress out. Let her do something that enables her to explore other things besides education.
Don't worry about it. She's going to be just fine.
And so at the time, I was like, oh, wow, that's great. What is that going to
be? Piano lessons, dance lessons.
And I took dance at a young age. So I thought, oh, okay, let me put her in the
(02:19):
tumble time kind of ballet little classes.
And within two years, the owner of the The studio said, at that young age,
it was like, your kid is a natural dancer and you should increase next year.
Maybe some of her classes don't burn her out. She's a baby.
So fast forward, you know, a couple years later, we moved and took a summer
(02:43):
class just to kind of audit the situation.
And I think it was like by the end of day five, you were like,
listen, your kid has really got this.
Yes and I could make a phone call tomorrow and your
kid could be repped with a manager and maybe let's start
getting her into competitive dance classes
to see how she retains information and get started there and so that was at
(03:06):
five years old yes she was very young she was very young and that's a tricky
it's a tricky age and to be honest most managers and agents will not sign children
who are under the age of eight or nine they'll usually send them out,
you know, they'll send, they'll send them out, but they won't do an exclusive
contract with them at that age, unless they really see potential,
(03:27):
you know, so it's pretty amazing that.
That she got repped at such an early age. Yeah, it was like,
I think it was, so that was August.
And then December, you had hosted an open mic night and we went just to see
the kids, right? Like, oh, let's just go see the kids.
And at the end of the open mic night, she said, I want to do that.
(03:49):
So then I think it was the end of January or February, she had just turned six six years old.
So she was like, four weeks into being six years old, and you hosted another one.
And she, you know, had a couple voice lessons just to get her familiar with
and she got up and sang her Ariel song.
(04:09):
And the rest is history.
Yeah, yeah. What a journey. I know.
Yeah, it was really pretty amazing that she got up and sang at that age.
And I think for parents who have have children who are asking,
you know, that they want to do it.
It's the healthier way to go rather than, you know, pushing them,
obviously, because they have to be the ones to get up and do it.
(04:31):
You know? Yeah. So that was at that point, I think it was that juncture that
we took the, your class, the parent class.
Yeah, the seminar. Yes. And absorbed the information and kind of came home and said,
well, if she likes this and going to do this, I feel like we should make some
(04:52):
choices now that would maybe be helpful for her in the long run.
So like things like we got her passport and got working papers,
just sort of like started having those conversations, you know.
So I think within six months, I think by June, she was repped with Shirley Grant at the time.
(05:15):
Yeah. Yeah. Which Shirley Grant, for those people who don't know,
was and is no longer a thing, but for a very long time was the top children's
management company on the East Coast. Yeah, for sure.
Do you want to talk a little bit? Because you mentioned working papers.
Do you want to talk a little bit about those?
Oh, yeah, sure. You probably said working papers. People are like,
what? I thought you said those when you were 16. I'm sorry.
(05:38):
What are we talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's talk about that a little bit.
So, as they should, the government has checks and balance in place for child performers.
Stop me if you'd like to, but one of those things is you have to have a Coogan account.
Coogan is based after Jackie Coogan, who was the child actor who was...
(05:58):
Little Rascals. Something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's in California.
Yeah, so I guess his parents had taken his money and didn't save him any.
And so late years later, lawsuits.
And as a result, there was laws put in place. So you have to have it sort of
like a child trust account.
That's part of the working paper process. But also every state has individual rules.
(06:23):
And so we're on the East Coast. Working papers would be in New York State because
that's where you will be going into Manhattan for auditions and work most of
the time. Right. So it's based it's wherever.
Yeah. The working papers are forever. The project is based out of.
And so it required us to get medical sign-off.
(06:43):
Like the doctor had to sign off, the school had to sign off,
and we had to sign off and we had to show proof that we had secured a Cougan account.
And it was like very like...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, and usually, yeah, the Cougan accounts are
based in California and you do have to get a locked trust also.
(07:05):
So for most people in Jersey, New York, they have to have a locked trust or
just the Coogan in California works.
And that is because by law, you have to put 15% of all of the gross income that
your child makes doing any of this into this locked account.
So when they turn 18, I believe it's 18, they can have access to their money.
(07:28):
And you know the other 85 is really up to
what you want to do with it some people use it to pay for training some
people use it for the travel back and forth whatever it's going
to cost and other people put that into a separate account for their children
for when they get older depending on their financial situation at the time right
right right right right yeah so it's definitely one of it's like mild like levels
(07:49):
of milestone right like well it's a little overwhelming in In the beginning.
Yes, it is. Because there's a lot of moving pieces, I feel like.
It's simple, but yet it's not.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Now at the time, did you own your,
I know you own your own business and if you could share a little bit about that
(08:10):
and if you owned it at that time when she first started and how you balance
that and the process of, you know, getting the audition and what that was like,
you know, it's changed a little bit to date because of the self tape space that
we're all in now since COVID. COVID.
But once things and things have opened up a lot, a lot of people have to go
in person now, as you know, for callbacks or director sessions and all of that
(08:34):
depends on what coast you're on.
But if you could explain a little bit how you balance that as a parent with
other children in a business, that would be fabulous.
So it was a little challenging. I mean, I am a real estate broker.
And so I have some flexibility of time.
Not always, right? Because generally
what that means is you're at everyone else's time and not your own.
(08:56):
However, I juggled that.
And it was, you know, in the beginning, it was definitely challenging because
it was very much a once she had the manager at noon, sometimes we would get
sometimes it's 11 in the morning or noon,
we would say, Hey, can you be here today at 330?
(09:17):
And that would mean everything would stop. and you would say,
okay, now I have to call the school, tell them I'm coming to get her.
Whatever I planned on doing, I'm no longer doing.
Or my husband was no longer doing.
Or, you know, once we were about a year in, maybe two years in,
(09:38):
we had a babysitter that was 18 that I took with us a little bit to familiarize her.
And there were times where if I couldn't do it, my husband them couldn't do
it we would send her but it was very much that you know if we were lucky we
got noticed the day before well if it was theater we got noticed usually sooner but commercials and.
(10:02):
Television stuff it was yeah could you go into a little bit of detail about
what it was like in the moment you're in the city you're going to the casting
office and what transpires in that in that waiting area and in that room for everyone?
Yeah, there are two different dynamics.
(10:23):
So we'll talk about theater first.
Typically, when you're going for a theater audition, first of all,
getting into the city, if you're not used to navigating the city,
your anxiety already is like here.
Because you're like, Oh, my God, I just last needed I gotta I gotta get in and
I gotta get to this and I gotta have here and then she's six,
seven, eight years old, gotta go to the the bathroom and like,
(10:45):
and I got to have her rehearse a song because she's got to go in and be on pitch
and be herself and her normal personality in a strange environment. Mm-hmm.
So when it came to theater stuff,
you know, someone is probably going to tell me I'm like not parent of the year
for this, but I would take her to Starbucks first and get her like some kind
(11:10):
of frappage, some kind of bubbly, fruity, chocolatey sugar drink.
First of all, you come out of Penn Station, it's like a block away on your right
hand side as you're walking up 8th Avenue.
So yeah, yeah. But wait, hold on. In your defense, you're picking her up after
school at like 2.33 o'clock or 1.30 or whatever, and she's not up for a day.
(11:32):
Yes. Yeah. She would be at school by.
Correct. Yes. And so by the time you pick her up, pull her out early or pick
her up right a little bit for dismissal, because if I waited until the buses
were over, then they wouldn't release her.
So there was all of that navigating with the school because they wouldn't allow
(11:53):
me to come get her in the time that I wanted to come get her,
which meant I had to get her early.
And so I would get her early. we would, to keep her as calm and cozy as possible,
I would drive either into the city, which meant the tunnel and parking,
or it meant, because it was definitely $40 to $60 to park.
(12:17):
If you're paying to park and you're not parking on the street,
the $16, $17, $18, whatever.
I would either drive all the way in to keep her cozy as possible,
let her nap, let her read her lines, let her practice, or we would drive...
For us to Newark was about 45, 50 minutes.
And then we would park in Newark for $20 and take the train in.
(12:41):
And then I didn't have to navigate the car.
It was a closer walk. Like literally we chose Newark because she did not like
the walk from the parking lot in Secaucus.
She did not like to walk from that parking lot into that station,
even though it's a much more beautiful station.
She just didn't like to walk that far. So we would park in Newark because Just
(13:02):
literally right there. You walk like that little two lane road and you're right there.
It was never about me. It was always about how is she going to be more comfortable?
So for theater, walking into the room sometimes meant we would meet someone
to rehearse for an hour before, you know, run to Pearl Studios or some,
you know, Ripley, get a room, meet someone.
(13:23):
Have her run her run her song over and over and over and over again and feel
like she was fully warmed up.
And then we would leave there and go to wherever the audition was.
Sometimes it was in the same place, sometimes it wasn't. And that typically,
for the most part, was quiet and well-ordered when you would walk in.
There would be someone there with a sign-in sheet. You would sign in her name,
(13:48):
her agency, and the time that your audition was.
And you would just sit quietly in the hall. They would call her in.
You wouldn't have any idea what was happening. and you
were in and out in five minutes and once or
twice it was 15 minutes and that was
on a call back one and that
was i could see the name of the studio the casting office in my was it telsey
(14:12):
was it at telsey yes at telsey because she met with the director for frozen
so she was with him for 15 minutes usually that so when you're in telsey it's
usually more people but it's orderly everyone's just quietly sitting there.
You know, sometimes the kids, you get familiar with some of the kids and the
moms because generally they're.
(14:32):
The same age-ish, you're going to be going in for the same things.
So that was very nerve-wracking because you want to hear so badly what she's
doing and saying, and you can't.
And you're trying to, at times, position yourself in the room as close as you
can to being eavesdropping without looking like a crazy person.
(14:57):
Because the last thing you want to do, you always talk fuck me,
you just wear beige. If you're the parent, you're just wearing beige.
You just fade into the background. You don't matter.
And so I was always aware of not wanting to be obtrusive or portrayed as difficult in any way.
The other thing is you don't want to upset the child. You want to keep them
(15:20):
in this positive headspace.
And you do want to make sure that they know what they're doing when they're
going in there and all of that.
But in that moment, and you're having to suppress all of this,
like, oh, just, you know, you want them to do well.
You want them to just do well in the room. Like whether they book it or not
is not really a big deal in those spaces when they're so young.
It's more about let them have a good experience in the room.
(15:43):
We hope that they do their best, whether they're going to do their best try,
no matter what, they really are.
As a parent, you have to play it so that you don't show them that you're anxious.
The worst, the worst.
It's exciting though it's exciting it's exciting but that's probably one of
the more difficult things because you want to hear feedback because you want
(16:06):
to know if I need to do if I need to help.
Do something different. So what is it that I need to do? And they,
they're not going to give it to you. They're going to say, Oh, that was great.
And that's all you're going to get if you're lucky. And that doesn't mean anything
other than they were like a nice, appropriate little kid.
Yeah. Yeah. I think, well, you have to understand, I think parents have to understand in that space,
(16:30):
even if you're at a callback there, they might've had hundreds of kids in for
the initial call and maybe they're bringing in 50 kids, maybe 25 for the callback
or the director producer session, or whatever, they don't have time.
They don't have time to call every single, even if they called every agent,
if an agent or a manager had sent in, they each sent in four to 10 kids for
(16:51):
the open call or for the agent call, let's say the initial call.
They don't have time to even get on the phone with a rep from,
you know, your agency, your management company to say, this is what we saw.
And this is what we liked or didn't like.
It doesn't happen because they just don't have time time in their day.
Neither does your agent or manager have time to like take those calls.
It's more your responsibility as a parent and the people that you have working with your children.
(17:15):
It's their responsibility to stay on top of the industry, which is another really
important thing that I think parents, especially those who now that things have
opened up since, you know, COVID prior to COVID self-tapes were a thing,
but now since everything opened up, it,
that is definitely a thing for the first filter of any project.
And so there's people all over the country that can can send the videos of their
(17:36):
children in for various auditions.
But you really have to make sure that you have your child with someone who knows the industry.
I think if you're just at home practicing with them on your own,
it's just too hard. I mean, I think you were smart. The warming up situation was valuable.
Although I will say this, like they're going to two things about that.
(17:57):
Number one, they're going into adult situations as well.
And although the casting directors are appropriate and kind,
it's a business situation.
So you can no longer be the parent who says, well, that's a child.
You have to talk to my child like a child and you have to treat my child like
(18:19):
a child or that's not fair.
Well, then you should absolutely not put them into this business.
If you can even think to yourself that that's not fair because it's a business. this. So there's that.
And also having the right team in like, even in the prep moments,
there were times where we had a teacher who we loved dearly,
(18:42):
who was fabulous and no one could play the piano like them.
But there were times where he was so invested in my daughter that he would get nervous,
And his nervousness would show up and then my nervousness is showing up.
And then you've got this poor six-year-old, eight-year-old kid who's got these
(19:04):
two adults who want them so badly to do so well.
And the kid is the one who's calm. You're like running around like, oh, my God.
Yeah, but you know what? The kids, I think we know this too in our hearts that
the kids are talented. And we know that they're that talented,
that they can handle themselves in the room.
(19:25):
And we do have to sit back and control.
And it's more excitement, wanting them to do well, excited that they have the
callback, excited they have the opportunity to audition, especially,
you know, you get a call, you have a callback for Frozen, the musical.
You are, wow, this is something big. Like we want to make sure she's prepared,
which you always did because you kept the training going, which is always important too.
(19:48):
I think there's a lot of parents out there who say, well, I'll wait for an audition to come up.
And then I'll give my child some training for that audition,
which I think that's been the MO more recently, like in the last 10 years, it's been tough.
People just want to do the training prior to the audition for the school play
or prior to the audition that they get from a manager.
And really the time to train is, you know, as you know, the time to do the training
(20:11):
is when you don't have an audition when you have that time off,
you know, how was it with.
It's so funny it's so crazy
it's so crazy of a parental journey but like an amazing life experience for
yes there's like so many things that you know we could go in so many directions
(20:32):
about that when you go so to just circle back real quick about what the room
looks looks like when you're going for commercial,
that is an entire crazy,
chaotic,
how do I say appropriately without using foul language, like madhouse.
And you'll be in a room, holding room with sometimes a hundred people and kids,
(20:57):
and there's no rhyme or reason.
And you just got to sit there and wait your turn.
I just, yeah.
Crazy. Based on the order that you sign in, you know, based on the order that
you sign in. And then you're like, why are they not?
And there's no, like they cast the parents sometimes after they bring in kids.
(21:18):
And then they're like, Oh, we have a callback, but Oh, guess what?
No, we decided to cast these parents with blonde hair and your kids got dark curly hair.
And so that's not going to work. And you're like, I don't, I'm speechless.
Yeah. Speechless. It's just a different dynamic scenario and it's run a little
differently. And, and yeah, there is.
(21:40):
Yeah. And I think the kids have to be comfortable in that setting.
Cause a lot of times with commercial work and you probably found this you're,
they're going to bring in five to 10 kids sometimes at the same time,
maybe four or five kids at that age, at the same time, they're going to ask them to slate,
which is say their name and who their agent is and possibly their age.
And they're going to ask them to do that one at a time and step forward from
(22:00):
a line and they're going to be filming them at that time to see how strong they
are with their speech, what they sound like.
And can your child be confident in that moment?
Or are they going to be silly and laughing with the kid next to them?
Those things are really important because it's chaotic outside the door.
Yeah. And when it's their turn to go in, because they're going to take you in
order of how you sign in because people get delayed and you have a time that's given to you.
(22:24):
Yeah. But then people are coming and everybody's rushing from school and all
of that. So everyone, and in New York, they really can't hold auditions until
I believe it's three o'clock.
Yeah, three o'clock. So between three and six, or possibly 637,
depending on if it's callbacks, that's the only timeframe.
Did you ever, let me ask you a question. Did you ever have to go to more than
(22:45):
one audition in the same afternoon?
You want to talk about that? Just touch on it?
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. In different parts of Manhattan.
With a young child. Yes. What did you do?
Did you park the car and just take a cab or did you you didn't move the car, did you?
I totally moved the car because I had no idea how to navigate the subway.
(23:12):
That hasn't been until the last year and a half. I didn't know that.
Yeah, it's a thing when you go to multiple. And sometimes, especially with children,
because Lila was really than that hotspot for children, because the hotspot
for girls is usually like eight or nine to 12 or 13, depending on how quickly they grow and develop.
(23:35):
And for boys, it's usually like nine to maybe 13, 14, again,
depending on how quickly they grow.
And that is just such a sweet spot for commercial work, commercial print,
a voiceover work, the Broadway scene, you know, as long as they're under five
foot, five, two, I think the cutoff's five, two now.
And usually they're not going to hire at five, two. That's the cutoff.
(23:56):
So if your child yeah we used to bend she used to bend her knees like softly.
Because they measure them first you walk in the room and they measure them,
yeah and that makes sense because if you're if you're someone who is on the
production producing side you don't want to hire someone who is then going to
(24:16):
grow and end up being too tall for the role in too short an amount of time they
might go into the role for only a month and then they're out.
So they really want to, because usually it's 10 pounds or two inches.
And you're out of the show, they have to replace you.
And the Frozen tour more recently, was on the podcast, and she talked about
(24:38):
being on the tour and what they did with the Frozen tour.
This is recently, they were replacing the children every three to six months,
they would just replace them with someone else.
And if they stayed smaller, they would give them an extension if they wanted it.
But for the most part, that was a it was a big thing. It was a constant rollover
of kids going in and out of that, you know, it becomes almost like an assembly
(24:59):
line line of talent going into the shows when they run for a long time, which is also crazy.
Can you talk a little bit about what it's like to be on set?
Yeah. So that's definitely fade to beige, right?
Yes, it is. Because they hire your child. They don't hire you.
You're transportation and safety.
That's it. Yeah. So, well, what would happen normally would be you go in for
(25:25):
the audition, they call you back and there's a small group, maybe six, maybe 15, right?
And then they would narrow it down to two or three and they'd put you on hold.
Oh yeah. You want to explain that a little bit?
Yeah. So hold basically means we like you. We may call you, we may not.
So when you get a call that your child's on hold, don't celebrate and tell all your relatives.
(25:48):
Yeah. Because it doesn't mean you have it. Yeah. Because I think there was one
for Colgate that specifically.
And that was a funny one because we were not told that the callback required pajamas.
And we show up and everyone but us is in pajamas.
And I was freaking out and sent an email to the management team at the time
(26:12):
going, everyone is in pajamas.
What is happening? And their response was,
Well, it must have worked because
they want her on hold for tomorrow or something like that, whatever.
They never pulled the trigger on her, which could be parental.
They could have cast a parent or she could have been like their backup and they
were just needed somebody in case the other kid got sick or didn't show up or whatever. Yeah.
(26:35):
And sometimes I think, too, sometimes they're going to pick like a short list of three to five kids.
Is if the child is the hero character, which means in a commercial space,
the lead character in the commercial, if the child's the hero,
they don't know if the client wants a person of color or if they want someone
with dark curly hair, Caucasian, or they want a blonde or a redhead.
(26:56):
Sometimes they're not sure.
And so even if they're the hero character, they're going to present that short
list to the client to decide, client meaning like McDonald's,
if they're creating a McDonald's commercial.
And like you're saying, if the parent turns out to be chosen and it doesn't
match, your child doesn't match, then they're, they're going to let that go.
(27:19):
And usually on holds, they don't even call you to say that you're no longer, you're being released.
I mean, sometimes they do to say, listen, you're released from that hold,
especially, and usually only when there's something else going on.
So if your child has a wardrobe fitting for something else, they have a callback
for something else, then they'll say your child's released, take them to the
the callback. But nothing happening.
You just, the date goes by and you just assume that they didn't get it.
(27:42):
Another reason to not worry about it.
Yes, exactly. Which is very difficult. But so that's, so I just,
I wanted to mention that the whole situation, right?
And so then what would happen is if they actually did book you,
then you would usually go in the day before because wardrobe wants you and you
have to, wherever they're shooting or wherever wardrobe is,
(28:03):
you have to meet them for out one to three hours typically and
then you go back home and then you go back on the shoot days and so while on
set you're basically like you just get them there and you get them checked in
and kind of sit in the background while they do their hair and makeup and costume
them you know wardrobe them and yeah yeah i think they feed you oh yeah yeah.
(28:27):
Yeah, I think it's good to mention here that when you're on set, and you know this,
you don't want to start asking the people around you, like there's the first
AD or the second AD that they're going to give you, that's going to take care
of you, tell you where to go, where the holding tank is, where you're supposed to stay,
where the child's supposed to go first, second, third, they're going to hair
(28:49):
and makeup, and they're going into a dry rehearsal or whatever they're doing.
But you really can't start asking lots of industry questions to all of these people.
So you have to be so careful because they're all doing their job,
right? They're all busy.
And it is. I think one of the things that struck me about being on set is it's very fragmented.
Meaning there's different teams of people for different things that operate in their own cylinder.
(29:15):
And generally speaking, they're not all communicating with one another and doing
things collaboratively, right? It's not like a big team scenario.
Wardrobe is wardrobe. Hair is hair. Sound people are sound people.
Camera people are camera people.
They all stay in their lane. Yeah. They're like people walking around and all.
(29:38):
There's all these things happening and no one's really talking to each other.
Thanks for watching the making it happen a career
in the performing arts podcast tune in next sunday
at 8 p.m eastern for part two of my interview with theresa pfefferly if you'd
like to connect with theresa or lila and continue to follow lila's professional
(29:58):
journey follow her on instagram at lila pfefferly need more information visit
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(30:20):
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Welcome to Making It Happen, a career in the performing arts where we discuss
how to break into the performing arts industry for yourself or your child, teen, or young adult.
Guests include professionals who are passionate and share my vision of helping
talented individuals land professional representation and have successful careers in the arts.
My name is Lisa Solek and I I am the CEO and founder of Making It Happen,
(00:27):
a career in the performing arts online courses, having helped hundreds of clients
break into the performing arts business on stage, in films, television,
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(00:51):
My guest today is Teresa Pfefferle.
Hi, Teresa. How are you? Hi, how are you? I'm so good. I was in New York today, which was so fun.
Last night I went to a show at 54 Below, which, you know, I'm not in New York,
for a client who was doing a showcase there.
He's a senior, going to graduate from U of Miami at the end of this year,
(01:12):
so end of 2024, so that was fun and exciting.
So I rushed back. I'm very excited to talk to you.
I think that the listeners are going to have a lot to learn from you,
especially moms who have children who are really talented at a very young age.
So if you could introduce yourself and explain a little bit,
a little bit about the background, maybe start at the beginning,
(01:34):
just to give people a general idea where you're coming from would be great.
Hi. Okay. Teresa Triggis Pfefferle. It's a mouthful. My friends call me TTP, call me Teresa.
I, yeah, so start at the beginning. I mean, I had a, my youngest daughter was
a dancer at a young age, you know, in preschool, school, one of the teachers
(01:57):
told me, look, she's got this.
Don't stress out. Let her do something that enables her to explore other things besides education.
Don't worry about it. She's going to be just fine.
And so at the time, I was like, oh, wow, that's great. What is that going to
be? Piano lessons, dance lessons.
And I took dance at a young age. So I thought, oh, okay, let me put her in the
(02:19):
tumble time kind of ballet little classes.
And within two years, the owner of the The studio said, at that young age,
it was like, your kid is a natural dancer and you should increase next year.
Maybe some of her classes don't burn her out. She's a baby.
So fast forward, you know, a couple years later, we moved and took a summer
(02:43):
class just to kind of audit the situation.
And I think it was like by the end of day five, you were like,
listen, your kid has really got this.
Yes and I could make a phone call tomorrow and your
kid could be repped with a manager and maybe let's start
getting her into competitive dance classes
to see how she retains information and get started there and so that was at
(03:06):
five years old yes she was very young she was very young and that's a tricky
it's a tricky age and to be honest most managers and agents will not sign children
who are under the age of eight or nine they'll usually send them out,
you know, they'll send, they'll send them out, but they won't do an exclusive
contract with them at that age, unless they really see potential,
(03:27):
you know, so it's pretty amazing that.
That she got repped at such an early age. Yeah, it was like,
I think it was, so that was August.
And then December, you had hosted an open mic night and we went just to see
the kids, right? Like, oh, let's just go see the kids.
And at the end of the open mic night, she said, I want to do that.
(03:49):
So then I think it was the end of January or February, she had just turned six six years old.
So she was like, four weeks into being six years old, and you hosted another one.
And she, you know, had a couple voice lessons just to get her familiar with
and she got up and sang her Ariel song.
(04:09):
And the rest is history.
Yeah, yeah. What a journey. I know.
Yeah, it was really pretty amazing that she got up and sang at that age.
And I think for parents who have have children who are asking,
you know, that they want to do it.
It's the healthier way to go rather than, you know, pushing them,
obviously, because they have to be the ones to get up and do it.
(04:31):
You know? Yeah. So that was at that point, I think it was that juncture that
we took the, your class, the parent class.
Yeah, the seminar. Yes. And absorbed the information and kind of came home and said,
well, if she likes this and going to do this, I feel like we should make some
(04:52):
choices now that would maybe be helpful for her in the long run.
So like things like we got her passport and got working papers,
just sort of like started having those conversations, you know.
So I think within six months, I think by June, she was repped with Shirley Grant at the time.
(05:15):
Yeah. Yeah. Which Shirley Grant, for those people who don't know,
was and is no longer a thing, but for a very long time was the top children's
management company on the East Coast. Yeah, for sure.
Do you want to talk a little bit? Because you mentioned working papers.
Do you want to talk a little bit about those?
Oh, yeah, sure. You probably said working papers. People are like,
what? I thought you said those when you were 16. I'm sorry.
(05:38):
What are we talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's talk about that a little bit.
So, as they should, the government has checks and balance in place for child performers.
Stop me if you'd like to, but one of those things is you have to have a Coogan account.
Coogan is based after Jackie Coogan, who was the child actor who was...
(05:58):
Little Rascals. Something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's in California.
Yeah, so I guess his parents had taken his money and didn't save him any.
And so late years later, lawsuits.
And as a result, there was laws put in place. So you have to have it sort of
like a child trust account.
That's part of the working paper process. But also every state has individual rules.
(06:23):
And so we're on the East Coast. Working papers would be in New York State because
that's where you will be going into Manhattan for auditions and work most of
the time. Right. So it's based it's wherever.
Yeah. The working papers are forever. The project is based out of.
And so it required us to get medical sign-off.
(06:43):
Like the doctor had to sign off, the school had to sign off,
and we had to sign off and we had to show proof that we had secured a Cougan account.
And it was like very like...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, and usually, yeah, the Cougan accounts are
based in California and you do have to get a locked trust also.
(07:05):
So for most people in Jersey, New York, they have to have a locked trust or
just the Coogan in California works.
And that is because by law, you have to put 15% of all of the gross income that
your child makes doing any of this into this locked account.
So when they turn 18, I believe it's 18, they can have access to their money.
(07:28):
And you know the other 85 is really up to
what you want to do with it some people use it to pay for training some
people use it for the travel back and forth whatever it's going
to cost and other people put that into a separate account for their children
for when they get older depending on their financial situation at the time right
right right right right yeah so it's definitely one of it's like mild like levels
(07:49):
of milestone right like well it's a little overwhelming in In the beginning.
Yes, it is. Because there's a lot of moving pieces, I feel like.
It's simple, but yet it's not.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Now at the time, did you own your,
I know you own your own business and if you could share a little bit about that
(08:10):
and if you owned it at that time when she first started and how you balance
that and the process of, you know, getting the audition and what that was like,
you know, it's changed a little bit to date because of the self tape space that
we're all in now since COVID. COVID.
But once things and things have opened up a lot, a lot of people have to go
in person now, as you know, for callbacks or director sessions and all of that
(08:34):
depends on what coast you're on.
But if you could explain a little bit how you balance that as a parent with
other children in a business, that would be fabulous.
So it was a little challenging. I mean, I am a real estate broker.
And so I have some flexibility of time.
Not always, right? Because generally
what that means is you're at everyone else's time and not your own.
(08:56):
However, I juggled that.
And it was, you know, in the beginning, it was definitely challenging because
it was very much a once she had the manager at noon, sometimes we would get
sometimes it's 11 in the morning or noon,
we would say, Hey, can you be here today at 330?
(09:17):
And that would mean everything would stop. and you would say,
okay, now I have to call the school, tell them I'm coming to get her.
Whatever I planned on doing, I'm no longer doing.
Or my husband was no longer doing.
Or, you know, once we were about a year in, maybe two years in,
(09:38):
we had a babysitter that was 18 that I took with us a little bit to familiarize her.
And there were times where if I couldn't do it, my husband them couldn't do
it we would send her but it was very much that you know if we were lucky we
got noticed the day before well if it was theater we got noticed usually sooner but commercials and.
(10:02):
Television stuff it was yeah could you go into a little bit of detail about
what it was like in the moment you're in the city you're going to the casting
office and what transpires in that in that waiting area and in that room for everyone?
Yeah, there are two different dynamics.
(10:23):
So we'll talk about theater first.
Typically, when you're going for a theater audition, first of all,
getting into the city, if you're not used to navigating the city,
your anxiety already is like here.
Because you're like, Oh, my God, I just last needed I gotta I gotta get in and
I gotta get to this and I gotta have here and then she's six,
seven, eight years old, gotta go to the the bathroom and like,
(10:45):
and I got to have her rehearse a song because she's got to go in and be on pitch
and be herself and her normal personality in a strange environment. Mm-hmm.
So when it came to theater stuff,
you know, someone is probably going to tell me I'm like not parent of the year
for this, but I would take her to Starbucks first and get her like some kind
(11:10):
of frappage, some kind of bubbly, fruity, chocolatey sugar drink.
First of all, you come out of Penn Station, it's like a block away on your right
hand side as you're walking up 8th Avenue.
So yeah, yeah. But wait, hold on. In your defense, you're picking her up after
school at like 2.33 o'clock or 1.30 or whatever, and she's not up for a day.
(11:32):
Yes. Yeah. She would be at school by.
Correct. Yes. And so by the time you pick her up, pull her out early or pick
her up right a little bit for dismissal, because if I waited until the buses
were over, then they wouldn't release her.
So there was all of that navigating with the school because they wouldn't allow
(11:53):
me to come get her in the time that I wanted to come get her,
which meant I had to get her early.
And so I would get her early. we would, to keep her as calm and cozy as possible,
I would drive either into the city, which meant the tunnel and parking,
or it meant, because it was definitely $40 to $60 to park.
(12:17):
If you're paying to park and you're not parking on the street,
the $16, $17, $18, whatever.
I would either drive all the way in to keep her cozy as possible,
let her nap, let her read her lines, let her practice, or we would drive...
For us to Newark was about 45, 50 minutes.
And then we would park in Newark for $20 and take the train in.
(12:41):
And then I didn't have to navigate the car.
It was a closer walk. Like literally we chose Newark because she did not like
the walk from the parking lot in Secaucus.
She did not like to walk from that parking lot into that station,
even though it's a much more beautiful station.
She just didn't like to walk that far. So we would park in Newark because Just
(13:02):
literally right there. You walk like that little two lane road and you're right there.
It was never about me. It was always about how is she going to be more comfortable?
So for theater, walking into the room sometimes meant we would meet someone
to rehearse for an hour before, you know, run to Pearl Studios or some,
you know, Ripley, get a room, meet someone.
(13:23):
Have her run her run her song over and over and over and over again and feel
like she was fully warmed up.
And then we would leave there and go to wherever the audition was.
Sometimes it was in the same place, sometimes it wasn't. And that typically,
for the most part, was quiet and well-ordered when you would walk in.
There would be someone there with a sign-in sheet. You would sign in her name,
(13:48):
her agency, and the time that your audition was.
And you would just sit quietly in the hall. They would call her in.
You wouldn't have any idea what was happening. and you
were in and out in five minutes and once or
twice it was 15 minutes and that was
on a call back one and that
was i could see the name of the studio the casting office in my was it telsey
(14:12):
was it at telsey yes at telsey because she met with the director for frozen
so she was with him for 15 minutes usually that so when you're in telsey it's
usually more people but it's orderly everyone's just quietly sitting there.
You know, sometimes the kids, you get familiar with some of the kids and the
moms because generally they're.
(14:32):
The same age-ish, you're going to be going in for the same things.
So that was very nerve-wracking because you want to hear so badly what she's
doing and saying, and you can't.
And you're trying to, at times, position yourself in the room as close as you
can to being eavesdropping without looking like a crazy person.
(14:57):
Because the last thing you want to do, you always talk fuck me,
you just wear beige. If you're the parent, you're just wearing beige.
You just fade into the background. You don't matter.
And so I was always aware of not wanting to be obtrusive or portrayed as difficult in any way.
The other thing is you don't want to upset the child. You want to keep them
(15:20):
in this positive headspace.
And you do want to make sure that they know what they're doing when they're
going in there and all of that.
But in that moment, and you're having to suppress all of this,
like, oh, just, you know, you want them to do well.
You want them to just do well in the room. Like whether they book it or not
is not really a big deal in those spaces when they're so young.
It's more about let them have a good experience in the room.
(15:43):
We hope that they do their best, whether they're going to do their best try,
no matter what, they really are.
As a parent, you have to play it so that you don't show them that you're anxious.
The worst, the worst.
It's exciting though it's exciting it's exciting but that's probably one of
the more difficult things because you want to hear feedback because you want
(16:06):
to know if I need to do if I need to help.
Do something different. So what is it that I need to do? And they,
they're not going to give it to you. They're going to say, Oh, that was great.
And that's all you're going to get if you're lucky. And that doesn't mean anything
other than they were like a nice, appropriate little kid.
Yeah. Yeah. I think, well, you have to understand, I think parents have to understand in that space,
(16:30):
even if you're at a callback there, they might've had hundreds of kids in for
the initial call and maybe they're bringing in 50 kids, maybe 25 for the callback
or the director producer session, or whatever, they don't have time.
They don't have time to call every single, even if they called every agent,
if an agent or a manager had sent in, they each sent in four to 10 kids for
(16:51):
the open call or for the agent call, let's say the initial call.
They don't have time to even get on the phone with a rep from,
you know, your agency, your management company to say, this is what we saw.
And this is what we liked or didn't like.
It doesn't happen because they just don't have time time in their day.
Neither does your agent or manager have time to like take those calls.
It's more your responsibility as a parent and the people that you have working with your children.
(17:15):
It's their responsibility to stay on top of the industry, which is another really
important thing that I think parents, especially those who now that things have
opened up since, you know, COVID prior to COVID self-tapes were a thing,
but now since everything opened up, it,
that is definitely a thing for the first filter of any project.
And so there's people all over the country that can can send the videos of their
(17:36):
children in for various auditions.
But you really have to make sure that you have your child with someone who knows the industry.
I think if you're just at home practicing with them on your own,
it's just too hard. I mean, I think you were smart. The warming up situation was valuable.
Although I will say this, like they're going to two things about that.
(17:57):
Number one, they're going into adult situations as well.
And although the casting directors are appropriate and kind,
it's a business situation.
So you can no longer be the parent who says, well, that's a child.
You have to talk to my child like a child and you have to treat my child like
(18:19):
a child or that's not fair.
Well, then you should absolutely not put them into this business.
If you can even think to yourself that that's not fair because it's a business. this. So there's that.
And also having the right team in like, even in the prep moments,
there were times where we had a teacher who we loved dearly,
(18:42):
who was fabulous and no one could play the piano like them.
But there were times where he was so invested in my daughter that he would get nervous,
And his nervousness would show up and then my nervousness is showing up.
And then you've got this poor six-year-old, eight-year-old kid who's got these
(19:04):
two adults who want them so badly to do so well.
And the kid is the one who's calm. You're like running around like, oh, my God.
Yeah, but you know what? The kids, I think we know this too in our hearts that
the kids are talented. And we know that they're that talented,
that they can handle themselves in the room.
(19:25):
And we do have to sit back and control.
And it's more excitement, wanting them to do well, excited that they have the
callback, excited they have the opportunity to audition, especially,
you know, you get a call, you have a callback for Frozen, the musical.
You are, wow, this is something big. Like we want to make sure she's prepared,
which you always did because you kept the training going, which is always important too.
(19:48):
I think there's a lot of parents out there who say, well, I'll wait for an audition to come up.
And then I'll give my child some training for that audition,
which I think that's been the MO more recently, like in the last 10 years, it's been tough.
People just want to do the training prior to the audition for the school play
or prior to the audition that they get from a manager.
And really the time to train is, you know, as you know, the time to do the training
(20:11):
is when you don't have an audition when you have that time off,
you know, how was it with.
It's so funny it's so crazy
it's so crazy of a parental journey but like an amazing life experience for
yes there's like so many things that you know we could go in so many directions
(20:32):
about that when you go so to just circle back real quick about what the room
looks looks like when you're going for commercial,
that is an entire crazy,
chaotic,
how do I say appropriately without using foul language, like madhouse.
And you'll be in a room, holding room with sometimes a hundred people and kids,
(20:57):
and there's no rhyme or reason.
And you just got to sit there and wait your turn.
I just, yeah.
Crazy. Based on the order that you sign in, you know, based on the order that
you sign in. And then you're like, why are they not?
And there's no, like they cast the parents sometimes after they bring in kids.
(21:18):
And then they're like, Oh, we have a callback, but Oh, guess what?
No, we decided to cast these parents with blonde hair and your kids got dark curly hair.
And so that's not going to work. And you're like, I don't, I'm speechless.
Yeah. Speechless. It's just a different dynamic scenario and it's run a little
differently. And, and yeah, there is.
(21:40):
Yeah. And I think the kids have to be comfortable in that setting.
Cause a lot of times with commercial work and you probably found this you're,
they're going to bring in five to 10 kids sometimes at the same time,
maybe four or five kids at that age, at the same time, they're going to ask them to slate,
which is say their name and who their agent is and possibly their age.
And they're going to ask them to do that one at a time and step forward from
(22:00):
a line and they're going to be filming them at that time to see how strong they
are with their speech, what they sound like.
And can your child be confident in that moment?
Or are they going to be silly and laughing with the kid next to them?
Those things are really important because it's chaotic outside the door.
Yeah. And when it's their turn to go in, because they're going to take you in
order of how you sign in because people get delayed and you have a time that's given to you.
(22:24):
Yeah. But then people are coming and everybody's rushing from school and all
of that. So everyone, and in New York, they really can't hold auditions until
I believe it's three o'clock.
Yeah, three o'clock. So between three and six, or possibly 637,
depending on if it's callbacks, that's the only timeframe.
Did you ever, let me ask you a question. Did you ever have to go to more than
(22:45):
one audition in the same afternoon?
You want to talk about that? Just touch on it?
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. In different parts of Manhattan.
With a young child. Yes. What did you do?
Did you park the car and just take a cab or did you you didn't move the car, did you?
I totally moved the car because I had no idea how to navigate the subway.
(23:12):
That hasn't been until the last year and a half. I didn't know that.
Yeah, it's a thing when you go to multiple. And sometimes, especially with children,
because Lila was really than that hotspot for children, because the hotspot
for girls is usually like eight or nine to 12 or 13, depending on how quickly they grow and develop.
(23:35):
And for boys, it's usually like nine to maybe 13, 14, again,
depending on how quickly they grow.
And that is just such a sweet spot for commercial work, commercial print,
a voiceover work, the Broadway scene, you know, as long as they're under five
foot, five, two, I think the cutoff's five, two now.
And usually they're not going to hire at five, two. That's the cutoff.
(23:56):
So if your child yeah we used to bend she used to bend her knees like softly.
Because they measure them first you walk in the room and they measure them,
yeah and that makes sense because if you're if you're someone who is on the
production producing side you don't want to hire someone who is then going to
(24:16):
grow and end up being too tall for the role in too short an amount of time they
might go into the role for only a month and then they're out.
So they really want to, because usually it's 10 pounds or two inches.
And you're out of the show, they have to replace you.
And the Frozen tour more recently, was on the podcast, and she talked about
(24:38):
being on the tour and what they did with the Frozen tour.
This is recently, they were replacing the children every three to six months,
they would just replace them with someone else.
And if they stayed smaller, they would give them an extension if they wanted it.
But for the most part, that was a it was a big thing. It was a constant rollover
of kids going in and out of that, you know, it becomes almost like an assembly
(24:59):
line line of talent going into the shows when they run for a long time, which is also crazy.
Can you talk a little bit about what it's like to be on set?
Yeah. So that's definitely fade to beige, right?
Yes, it is. Because they hire your child. They don't hire you.
You're transportation and safety.
That's it. Yeah. So, well, what would happen normally would be you go in for
(25:25):
the audition, they call you back and there's a small group, maybe six, maybe 15, right?
And then they would narrow it down to two or three and they'd put you on hold.
Oh yeah. You want to explain that a little bit?
Yeah. So hold basically means we like you. We may call you, we may not.
So when you get a call that your child's on hold, don't celebrate and tell all your relatives.
(25:48):
Yeah. Because it doesn't mean you have it. Yeah. Because I think there was one
for Colgate that specifically.
And that was a funny one because we were not told that the callback required pajamas.
And we show up and everyone but us is in pajamas.
And I was freaking out and sent an email to the management team at the time
(26:12):
going, everyone is in pajamas.
What is happening? And their response was,
Well, it must have worked because
they want her on hold for tomorrow or something like that, whatever.
They never pulled the trigger on her, which could be parental.
They could have cast a parent or she could have been like their backup and they
were just needed somebody in case the other kid got sick or didn't show up or whatever. Yeah.
(26:35):
And sometimes I think, too, sometimes they're going to pick like a short list of three to five kids.
Is if the child is the hero character, which means in a commercial space,
the lead character in the commercial, if the child's the hero,
they don't know if the client wants a person of color or if they want someone
with dark curly hair, Caucasian, or they want a blonde or a redhead.
(26:56):
Sometimes they're not sure.
And so even if they're the hero character, they're going to present that short
list to the client to decide, client meaning like McDonald's,
if they're creating a McDonald's commercial.
And like you're saying, if the parent turns out to be chosen and it doesn't
match, your child doesn't match, then they're, they're going to let that go.
(27:19):
And usually on holds, they don't even call you to say that you're no longer, you're being released.
I mean, sometimes they do to say, listen, you're released from that hold,
especially, and usually only when there's something else going on.
So if your child has a wardrobe fitting for something else, they have a callback
for something else, then they'll say your child's released, take them to the
the callback. But nothing happening.
You just, the date goes by and you just assume that they didn't get it.
(27:42):
Another reason to not worry about it.
Yes, exactly. Which is very difficult. But so that's, so I just,
I wanted to mention that the whole situation, right?
And so then what would happen is if they actually did book you,
then you would usually go in the day before because wardrobe wants you and you
have to, wherever they're shooting or wherever wardrobe is,
(28:03):
you have to meet them for out one to three hours typically and
then you go back home and then you go back on the shoot days and so while on
set you're basically like you just get them there and you get them checked in
and kind of sit in the background while they do their hair and makeup and costume
them you know wardrobe them and yeah yeah i think they feed you oh yeah yeah.
(28:27):
Yeah, I think it's good to mention here that when you're on set, and you know this,
you don't want to start asking the people around you, like there's the first
AD or the second AD that they're going to give you, that's going to take care
of you, tell you where to go, where the holding tank is, where you're supposed to stay,
where the child's supposed to go first, second, third, they're going to hair
(28:49):
and makeup, and they're going into a dry rehearsal or whatever they're doing.
But you really can't start asking lots of industry questions to all of these people.
So you have to be so careful because they're all doing their job,
right? They're all busy.
And it is. I think one of the things that struck me about being on set is it's very fragmented.
Meaning there's different teams of people for different things that operate in their own cylinder.
(29:15):
And generally speaking, they're not all communicating with one another and doing
things collaboratively, right? It's not like a big team scenario.
Wardrobe is wardrobe. Hair is hair. Sound people are sound people.
Camera people are camera people.
They all stay in their lane. Yeah. They're like people walking around and all.
(29:38):
There's all these things happening and no one's really talking to each other.
Thanks for watching the making it happen a career
in the performing arts podcast tune in next sunday
at 8 p.m eastern for part two of my interview with theresa pfefferly if you'd
like to connect with theresa or lila and continue to follow lila's professional
(29:58):
journey follow her on instagram at lila pfefferly need more information visit
lbctalent.com and follow Follow me on socials at lisasolek underscore lbctalent.
By sharing our stories, we can help other talented individuals land the career of their dreams.
If you're enjoying this podcast, please like and subscribe below and hit the
(30:20):
bell for notifications.
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