Industry Notes
How My Mom Got Me Into Acting
Mom started with classes, not photos
Hey - Lincoln here. Before I had a single credit, before there was a headshot on any casting site, my mom Candice signed me up for a scene study workshop with Adrian R'Mante. That was step one. Not a photoshoot. Not a big agency query. A class, in a room, with a working actor giving notes.
Candice's rule: don't spend a dollar on marketing a kid who can't yet hold a scene. She kept me in weekly workshops - Daniel Curtis Lee for improv, Geno Segers for cold reads, Casian Kolodjski for on-camera, Hutch Dano for monologues, Tanya Chisholm for audition technique and commercial work. Every coach on my training list is somebody she vetted first.
Then the headshots - and only then
Once I could actually work a scene, Mom booked shots with a photographer who only shoots child actors. Full breakdown in our headshot guide, but the short version: solid colors, three looks, no logos, no cutesy poses.
She uploaded them to Actors Access and Casting Networks the same week and started self-submitting me for anything within driving distance of Atlanta.
Self-submit before chasing an agent
This is the step most families skip and it's the one that made everything else easier. For months, Mom submitted me to student films, indie shorts, and small non-union projects herself. No agent. Just her, a spreadsheet, and late-night submission runs.
The point wasn't a paycheck - it was reps. On-set experience, self-tape practice, and real credits to put on a résumé. By the time she queried agents, my page didn't look empty.
How Mom picked an agent
Candice wouldn't send my materials to anyone who charged upfront fees. Ever. Legitimate agents make their money on booked work - 10 to 15% commission - and that's it. She stuck to franchised agents she could verify, sent short intro emails with headshot, résumé, and one clip, and waited.
The agents who wanted a class fee, a photo package, or a training "onboarding" got deleted. That filter alone saved us thousands of dollars and probably a year of chasing the wrong doors.
The self-tape habit
Once I was submitting for real, we built a home self-tape setup and kept it up permanently. It lives in our house - not a project we drag out per audition. When sides come in, we can be rolling in twenty minutes. Details in the self-tape post.
Mom reads with me on most tapes. She's not trying to act - she's giving me real energy to bounce off. And if a scene is bigger than she can support, we bring in a coach that same day.
The real timeline
From my first class to my first bigger booking was around two years of consistent work. Between there, dozens and dozens of self-tapes that went nowhere. Mom says the families whose kids book are the families who don't quit at month six.
One yes at a time - Angel Studios in 2022, BET's Average Joe, Apple TV's Big Door Prize in 2023, Netflix's Back in Action in 2024, Diarra from Detroit in 2025, and the Netflix series Talbot Pine coming in 2026. Every credit on that list traces back to that first workshop she signed me up for.