Potentially working with the littlest auteur...?

February 12, 2016 5:12 PM

I'm working on a bedroom recording project with a friend of mine, and we have a small budget for a video. We've found a director who could potentially make a fun video that fits the mood of the project. Here's the catch: he's 13.

I learned about the kid indirectly through a post on the Blue. Whenever he's been interviewed about his short films or his interest in cinema, his mother has been interviewed with him. His mother is apparently active in the comedy scene in their hometown, and I've thought about finding a way to contact her...but I don't know if this would be a good idea or if it would be creepy.

Though he follows me on social media, I haven't wanted to get in touch with him directly because it looks bad, even though my intentions are pure. I've worked with kids on other film projects I've done, but have always made a point of involving the parents (in fact, the mother of one of my leading actresses was a PA on a film I shot a few years ago). I can give them letters of recommendation from the families of other kids with whom I've worked.

Because of the obvious potential problems with reaching out to a kid I don't know (even a kid with a Tavi Gevinson-esque social media presence), I've thought about abandoning this idea. Before I move on to something that has fewer potential hazards, is there a way I could potentially talk to his parents about getting him to work on this?

posted by pxe2000 to Human Relations (7 answers total)

Why can't you just contact him and ask his parents to contact you. Explain that you like his work, but you don't feel comfortable trying to make contact unless it is with the explicit involvement of his parents and you'd need to speak with them first.

I don't think it's as weird you are making out as long as your only contact with the 13 year old is to say 'please have your parents contact me to discuss a work possibility'.
posted by Brockles at 5:23 PM on February 12, 2016 [8 favorites]

I contact young filmmakers frequently because of curatorial work that I do. If they have a significant online presence, I just go through whatever contact they seem to prefer. That said, I don't usually interact with them in person, so your situation is different. What I would do is contact him, describe your project, and say that if he's interested, you would need to get in contact with his parent/guardian, get their permission as well, and would also want them to accompany him on the set when he is working. I don't think that's weird at all.
posted by thetortoise at 5:26 PM on February 12, 2016 [9 favorites]

I would contact the parent and run your project by them, and ask for their go-ahead to contact the kid.
posted by tapir-whorf at 5:26 PM on February 12, 2016

Saying, 'hey I like your work! here's what I'm planning, would you like to be part of my project' is never creepy.

Reaching out to people isn't creepy, generally. Sure, contact the parent first - your instinct is good there.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:52 PM on February 12, 2016

Some friends of mine were public-access filmmakers from the time they were 14 and 15, and by the time they were high school upperclassmen they were working with local adult hobbyists on projects, because the hobbyists had the gear and the money and they had the expertise. It worked out pretty well for them; I think the advice about getting a parent involved directly is a good idea.
posted by Polycarp at 6:53 PM on February 12, 2016

So Kid BlahLaLa is 12.5 and he is very good at the Thing That He Does. He's got a smallish but active social media presence and a lot of connections to mostly older people who also do the Thing. It is not at all out of the ordinary for people to contact me (just tracking me down via their own social media detective work) or contact him, which he then passes along to me. We've done two projects in the past two years that came about this way. I was there 100% of the time, but it was basically kid doing the Thing and interacting with the grown-ups. I mean, everybody knew that if anything went wrong or abusive or whatever I would have just taken kid and walked out, but nothing like that happened. In both instances, kid was paid.
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:34 PM on February 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

Send his a message asking him to have his mother contact you for him. Nothing wrong with that.
posted by nickggully at 7:43 PM on February 12, 2016