Down the rabbit hole

This way down the rabbit hole.
Welcome to the real world.

A few months back I was chatting with our receptionist at work about how to get Kieran in commercials or whatever. Basically I was hoping to put him to work so he can earn some money to put towards his education. I opened up an RESP account for him and bascially any gifts or extra money we had was going in there for him. So the sooner he starts putting money towards it the better for him. So he's already got more money than when I started university.

Anywho, I was talking with Antoinette and she mentioned she had a friend that did this with her son and he's been in commercials and ads. So I thought, "why not?" She got me the agency's contact info and I sent an email request to the agency asking if they would take infants? They replied indicating that there was not much work for children so young, but asked me to send in a photo and they would consider it. I sent them a few photos indicating his name, age and mine and Tresa's ethnic background. I got a quick response from them indicating that they would be happy to represent him. I also got a response saying it would cost 50 bucks. Nothing comes for free you know. But even still just because you have an agent doesn't guarantee anything and that's what they kept telling me - that there isn't a lot of work for babies.

Then, within a few days of the agency indicating they would represent him, I got an email indicating a casting call for Babys-R-Us. So we went. There wasn't a line up when we got there, but that's because I think we were one of the last people trickling in with thier kiddies. It was over quick. One camera flash and that was it. And then it was quiet for at least a month.

We kind of forgot about it, thinking that he wasn't selected. But then a phone call about 2 weeks ago said that Kieran had an appointment with Babys-R-Us photo shoot in Newmarket. I thought. Newmarket? Why so far? So that was on Dec 8th. It was an hour trek up there and about an hour and 45 min trek home. Our appointment was at 2:45pm. So that was right about when he takes a nap. So he'd be nice and fresh for the shoot.

So this is how it typically works with photo shoots with babies or kids. They sign up 2 babies and whoever isn't crying their lungs out or whoever has the better photos, they select to go into the catalog. Kieran was first to go. Our agency had called us the week before indicating that we needed to bring an ivory or red shirt and khaki pants or jeans. No logos or patterns. Great. Everything he has, has logos and patterns. Everything. So off Tresa went to find something. I think it took her 2 days of shopping to find something. They told us not to buy anything, but to bring what we had. But to increase his chances of making it into the catalog we bought it anyways. Then when we got there, they ended up providing us the clothing anyways. WTF! Shoulda left the tags on. But I think Tresa kept them anyways and returned them. She's a pro when it comes to handling returns. 5 years at the Gap and however many years Winners has been in Canada and umpteen+ years of just flat out shopping.

So he got paid for the shoot, I ended up taking a day off to be there. Never been to a photo shoot before. And I didn't want them to get lost. Plus I was the one that had been interacting with the agency. And we both didn't know what to expect. So it was Solidarity time. It wasn't really that much money considering the effort and time. But we did get travel time - 1/2 rate of course. It would just be cool if he got into the catalog as a keep sake.

They took pics of him for over half an hour before Kieran finally had enough. He was pretty happy for most of the shoot, thanks to the Peek-A-Boo lady with the squeaky puppet toy. She was a pro. They had him in a Baby-Bjorn. Which was perfect, because he loves that thing. We always brought him around in it. They took pics of him facing out and then in. When they had him facing in, his face was smushed up against the model's body. So it wasn't so much fun anymore. But they still managed to take quite a few shots.

So we won't know if he made the catalog until mid-march when it comes out.
So that was kind of neat. I'm sure the novelty of it wears off after a while. At least he made the 50 bucks I paid for the registration back.

Then the next day, we got another call. And they had requested Kieran for another photo shoot the following thursday. This time in Toronto. Back where we initially went for the casting call. But it was a morning shoot. Right when he takes a nap. Lately he'd been waking up a few times at night so at 10:45am he's usually asleep. Oh well. What can you do? Gotta go with what they give you.

So off we went again.

So as they took the pics, I got an idea of what they want to get. They wanted a range of facial expressions so laughing, smiling...no crying. And the client is always there to ensure that she gets her clothing in the shot. So this one was a little tougher because Kieran can crawl around, but they took a lot of shots. So we'll see what comes out of this one.

The next day I get to work and see my voicemail indicator light on. Okay great, more work. I listen to it. It's from the agency again! They were calling to indicate that Kieran had an audition for a commercial at 11:55am Friday. So I'm calling home to let Tresa know to get ready. I basically gave her 3 hours of lead time. So she was scrambling.

I don't get it. I thought they said there'd be very little work? But you don't get paid for auditions. But at least this one was a few minutes from the office.

We get there, and there were tons of Latino babies. And Latinas and Latinos. It was called "project JJ". Whatever that meant. We got called in with two other babies, one was another boy about 10-1/2 months old, but I think Kieran was about the same size. Then this latina baby that made Kieran look small. I think she was the same age as Kieran but much bigger - all over. Wished I had my camera for this one. The mother wasn't big, but the kid was certainly "healthy". If you guys think Kieran's legs are nice and thick. You should have seen this one. If Kieran's hamhocks could feed a family, this one could supply food to a cafeteria for a day.

So this is what we had to do. They filmed the kids crawling. I thought Tresa should be here instead of me. Kieran would follow his food dispenser to the four corners of the globe. But I had my keys in my pocket, and anything he should have he'll crawl to anyways. So that was cool. We were second, so I didn't get to see the healthy kid go. Not sure if she had enough strength to go mobile and do the task.

It was over in 30 mins. So we'll see where this one goes.

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