Stage Mom
Stage Mom Society is for working parents of child actors. The ones with a full-time job, a self-tape due at 10am, and a permit that expired last week.
A parent who has actually done it
I'm not a coach or an agent. I learned this industry by living it: I'm the mom with a 9-to-5 job, sitting in the audition hallway with everybody else. My son booked his first professional gig at age 5 and hasn't stopped since. Broadway national tours, network television, film.
I've done the 6am call times. The permits in thirty different states. The trust account. The redeye flight from one booking straight into another. Seven self-tapes in one week, on top of a job and a kid who still has homework. And if you've booked that vacation, you're definitely doing one from a hotel room. (iykyk)
When my son was 7, he booked his first tour. I left a corporate job I'd held for twelve years to go with him. Six months turned into thirteen. Then another tour came, and I had a choice: keep handing over my career, or ask my son to hand over his dream.
I spent those years playing Tetris by juggling guardians, callbacks, school, a second kid at home, and a job of my own, wishing something like this already existed. It didn't. So now I am trying to build it.
I learned the ropes from the moms who'd done it before me, the ones I met on tour, the ones sitting next to me at Broadway callbacks, the ones who just got it, ups and downs included, and made sure I never felt like I was doing this by myself.
And from the industry professionals in our life, especially my son's manager. She taught me the importance of negotiating a contract, how to level up his scene work, prepped him for callback after callback, and answered my annoying "did he book it?" texts without ever making me feel like I was asking too much. I couldn't have done any of this without her.
Somewhere along the way, I became a person that people were asking these questions, and I found that I was actually able to answer. Talking someone through a self-tape. A wardrobe choice. A contract clause. A guardian scramble. Prepping a kid for a tour callback just because I was happy to do it, and watching her book it. That feeling never got old. So I figured, let's just do this thing.
I can't ever pay any of them back for what they taught me. But I can pay it forward.
Stage Mom Society is the room I wish I'd had. A place where the questions that keep you up at night finally get answered, by someone who's actually lived through them.
Help that fits around a day job
Self-tape sessions
You get the request at 4pm. We're on Zoom that night. I read with your kid, help you pick the wardrobe, direct the take, and edit and deliver the file. Starts at $50/session.
Callback prep
For an in-person callback on Broadway, off-Broadway, or a tour. A Zoom session, just us, where I walk you through how to make sure your child is ready for that room. $30/session.
Audition and callback company
For the in-person call that lands at two on a Thursday and runs four hours. Someone goes in your place, door to door, so you don't spend a PTO day sitting in a hallway. $35/hour.
Set guardians
Working actors I know personally, on a day off or between shows, who take your kid to set and stay the day. They know the business from the inside, and they know the laws that protect a working minor. Starts at $290/day.
Social media help
An account your child's representation would be proud of. Two ways to work, from a content plan to full posting.
The Holding Room
Our members-only community. Ask the questions you can't ask in a hallway. Parents only. No scouts, no pitches.
The 4pm emergency
This is the thing that breaks working parents. The request comes in during a meeting, it's due before the office opens, and you are not a reader, a director, or an editor.
Book a slot and I'll be all three. We do it over Zoom, so it doesn't matter where you live. Your kid stays in their own room, in their own clothes, and goes to bed on time.
You get the finished file in your inbox.
Inquire about a session- Booking
- Same day, evenings included
- Where
- Zoom, anywhere
- Reader
- Included
- Wardrobe
- We pick it together
- Direction
- Included
- Editing
- Included
- Slate and labeling
- To spec
- Delivery
- Same night
- Rate
- Starts at $50/session
The 2pm Thursday
In-person auditions and callbacks do not happen at convenient hours. They land at two in the afternoon on a Thursday, in a building in midtown, and they can run four hours. Nobody warns you.
So you burn a PTO day. Or you explain to your manager, again, why you're leaving early. Or you slip out without telling anyone and spend the whole ride there with your stomach in a knot.
You should not have to choose between your career and your child's shot at something.
Send someone in your place who knows the building and the wait. They get there early, run a proper vocal warm up, work the sides one more time, and make sure your child has eaten something before the door opens. Your child walks in ready and walks out with someone who was rooting for them. You keep your afternoon. Nobody gives anything up.
Inquire about an audition- Typical length
- Two to five hours
- Where
- Any New York audition studio
- Pickup
- School, home, or wherever they are
- Before they go in
- Vocal warm up, sides, a snack
- Wardrobe
- Change and touch up on site
- Your phone
- Updates as the day moves
- After
- Home, or back to school
- Add on
- Callback prep beforehand
- Rate
- $35/hour
Someone I'd send my own kid with
Every guardian starts as a personal reference. People I know, who I've trusted with my own child on set and on tour. Then it goes further: a background check, and training on the regulations that govern working minors, before they're ever booked.
They're in this industry themselves, so they know how a set works before they walk on. They're New Yorkers, so they know how to get anywhere. And they're trained on the rules for employing a minor: the hours, the breaks, the schooling. Within sight and sound of your child at all times, period. There's always someone in the room whose only job is your child.
Door to door. They pick your child up at home and bring them back.
Every booking starts with a 15-minute call. I want to hear about your kid and the day before I match anyone. That's the whole point.
Inquire about a guardian- Vetting
- Personal reference, plus background check
- Background
- Working industry professionals
- Training
- Child performer regulations
- Supervision
- Sight and sound at all times
- Transport
- Home to set and back
- Getting around
- Subway, or Uber for early or late calls (billed to you for safety)
- In the trailer
- Games, snacks, company
- Hours
- Watched and flagged
- Advocacy
- Knows the rules for working minors
- Before booking
- 15-minute call
- Rate
- Starts at $290/day, up to 8 hours — set on our call based on call time, hours, and location
Where the grown-ups sit
Every set has one. It's the room off to the side where the parents and guardians wait out a twelve-hour day while their kid works. It is, reliably, where you learn everything.
So that's what we're calling the members' side of Stage Mom Society. Same room, no set required.
Every request to join is read and approved by me. Parents and guardians of working kids, that's it. If I can't tell who you are and why you're here, you don't get in.
- "How many auditions before they book anything?"
- "Do we have to move to LA?"
- "Do we need a manager, or just an agent?"
- "An agency emailed us out of nowhere. Is it a scam?"
These get asked constantly and answered badly, or not at all, because you don't want to look green in front of the other parents. Here you can just ask, and someone who's been through it will tell you straight.
Come stand on the mark
Leave your email and I'll tell you the day the doors open, plus what's ready first. No spam, no pitches, no scouts. This list is parents only.
An account your representation would be proud of
Your child's team looks at these accounts, whether anyone says so out loud or not. A polished, well-run presence says something. So does one that hasn't been touched in a while.
I build and run accounts that look like a professional put them together, because one did. Real captions, not hashtag soup. A grid that reads like a reel of credits, not a scrapbook. Posted on a schedule that doesn't fall apart the week you're slammed at work.
Two ways to work together, depending on how hands-on you want to be.
No two kids need the same account. What gets posted, how often, and how it's voiced depends on where your child is in their career, what their team wants to see, and what you're comfortable sharing. Every account starts with a call so we can build a plan around your kid specifically, not a template.
Inquire about social media help