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Rules Around Having Kids in Films
When the jurors were deciding on the winning screenplay among the final three, they weighed the pros and the cons for each script. For Evan Katz and Barron Ebenstein's "Freeing Mr. Jiggs," the single greatest liability was the justification of the male lead's past relationship. For Brendan Murphy's "Speakeasy," its greatest hindrance, in some jurors' opinions, was also its greatest asset, that it was simply too uncommercial. For Pete Jones's "Stolen Summer," one major concern was that the two main characters were eight year-old boys.
The jury deliberated for over ten hours on these points, among many others, and we know what the outcome was. But these were sticking points for the jurors, and ultimately, they needed to decide which hurdle the would-be directors could jump over, and which ones were just too high.
"Stolen Summer's" two leads are young children. This was a great concern for Miramax and LivePlanet executives. There are potential legal, financial, and creative ramifications that accompany casting children, as leads or otherwise, in motion pictures or television.
On Set
According to the Union (SAG, the Screen Actors Guild), a standard workday for adults, defined as 18 years of age or older, is 12 hours. For children, a workday can be anywhere from six to ten hours, depending on the child's age. Mike Weinberg and Adi Stein, who play "Danny and "Pete," were eight and nine years-old respectively when they shot "Stolen Summer." This meant that the two little guys could work eight-hour days, excluding meals, but including school.
After eight hours, Mike and Adi could not, by law, work any overtime. Adults can work overtime, and often do, to accommodate a last shot or scene that is running behind schedule.
Within that eight-hour workday is schooling. Children are required to have at least three hours of school every single day. School must be uninterrupted, and in a quiet place conducive to learning. Children are also entitled to breaks during the shooting day, roughly totaling one hour.
All in, this gave Pete, a first time director, about four hours of shooting time with the two leads of his film. Add to that a rigid 25-day work schedule, which should have been only 20 days, had not Aidan Quinn stepped in and convinced the studio that this movie deserved five more days. Not easy.
There are additional costs as well. The child must have a teacher and a parent or guardian on the set at all times, and the studio must pay for them.
Acting Ability
Some wonderful performances have come out of children throughout the history of film. Shirley Temple was one of the "biggest" little Hollywood Players, having made over 35 films before she turned ten. She was adorable, talented, and audiences loved her.
Macaulay Culkin was, however, the most famous and wealthiest child star. The "Home Alone" movies made Fox billions of dollars, and it is largely due to Culkin. Casting Macaulay Culkin was almost like finding lightning in a bottle. Finding a child who audiences can look at for two hours, who can carry a film, and who can act is a tall order. There are very few professional child actors who can shoulder that kind of responsibility. Culkin had a special quality to which audiences responded.
The studios tend to stay away from casting children in lead roles because finding that "Macaulay" quality is so rare. Jonathan Lipnicki, the kid in "Jerry Maguire," was terrific. We loved him in every scene he was in, and we now know how much the human head weighs. But he was in a supporting role, and his relevance to the film did not go far beyond being an adorable scene-stealer.
Haley Joel Osment is actually considered a "child actor." The little fella was amazing in "The Sixth Sense," and that movie arguably does not work unless we believe that that kid really does see dead people.
Haley Joel, however, is the exception to the rule. Most kids cannot act. It is not their fault. A lot of acting is about drawing on personal experiences in order to properly emote on cue. Children just do not have that many experiences to draw upon, and this makes quality acting a rarity among children.
Kids also have shorter attention spans than adults do, and their concept of "work" can be fuzzy at best. Work and play are really the same thing when you are eight, and getting children to focus on lines, blocking, and cues is an added burden for the director.
Often, you will see casting directors casting older actors to play younger roles. As children get older, they have a greater ability to focus, they are more independent, and their legal workday is longer. It is also not uncommon to cast twins for one role. Cole and Dylan Sprouse shared the role of "Julian" in the film, "Big Daddy." This way, the twins can basically tag team on the same role, alleviating a lot of the shooting schedule headaches that come with kids.
One thing in Pete Jones's favor was that he brought convincing performances out of his actors in the scene he submitted to Project Greenlight. Even more, the child actor in his scene delivered an authentic performance, and this gave the producers confidence that Pete could pull off directing children.
"Stolen Summer" contains at least one eight year-old boy in nearly every scene, and there is no question that Pete, a man who has not shot a frame of film in his life, is in for a surprise or two.
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