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Raising A Superstar Brandy Arjay Raeven - managing child celebrities

Black Enterprise, Dec, 1999 by Shawn E. Rhea

YOUR CHILD MAY HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A STAR, BUT ARE YOU PREPARED TO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS FOR HIS FUTURE?

SONJA NORWOOD REMEMBERS THE EXACT MOMENT WHEN she realized that her daughter Brandy's career was about to take off. Brandy had just wrapped taping for the first and only season of the sitcom Thea when an offer came for the then 14-year-old to sign a production deal with a well-known music executive. Norwood, a district manager with H&R Block at the time, waded through the contract and was struck by one immediate thought: she needed advice from someone who understood the terms of the deal before she signed anything.

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"I called my boss and asked him to look at it because he had some knowledge of contracts," says Norwood. Although he admittedly knew little about the entertainment business, he knew enough to raise an eyebrow at the offer. "The production company was asking for 70% of Brandy's earnings, and it would have been a hard deal to get out of," explains Norwood. "That's when I knew I needed an entertainment lawyer."

Norwood and her husband, Willie, saw a substantial opportunity for Brandy, but they were also determined to protect her interests. With the help of an entertainment lawyer, the Norwoods carved out a more equitable contract for their daughter. A little over a year later, Brandy had a recording deal with Atlantic Records and a debut album that sold over 4 million copies. At the same time, her younger brother, Ray J, was co-starring in the sitcom Sinbad and launching his own music career. The Norwoods, both of whom had full-time jobs, had to decide who they were going to trust with making decisions about their children's careers.

Norwood decided to quit her job and take on the challenge herself. "I already had management skills, but I knew I needed help in other areas," Norwood says. Five short years later, with the help of a good lawyer, an agent and a business manager, she has mapped out a multimedia career for her daughter that includes music, television, film and modeling. "When Brandy was little, she came to me and said, `Mom, I want to be as big as Whitney Houston.' That's a tall order. It was my job to figure out how to get her there." Norwood has since taken her success in guiding her children's pursuits and launched her own management company, which handles the careers of her son, Ray J, and R&B singing groups 702 and Silk.

Like Norwood, many parents have young children who dream of being superstars. You may even believe that like Brandy, your child has what it takes to move beyond school plays and local talent shows. But there's a lot to consider if you want to help her get to the big time.

You certainly want your child to succeed. But perhaps you don't have the desire to shoulder management responsibilities. In that case, you'll want to choose the best manager or agent for your child (for more insight into the roles of managers and agents and their responsibilities, see "The Power Behind the Stars," December 1998). But even if you aren't willing--or able--to usher your child into the professional arena, there will be contractual and financial issues that will require your full attention, since your child cannot enter into employment contracts without your approval.

If you do want to manage your child's career, however, you should consider very carefully how that professional arrangement may affect your relationship with him. The business is full of well-publicized stories of stars--Gary Coleman, Brooke Shields and Macaulay Culkin, just to name a few--whose relationships with their manager-parents were soured or severed after their parents allegedly mismanaged their careers.

Learning the business as you go is practically a rite of passage for new stage parents. But some mistakes are too costly to make. Here's how to get prepared to make sound decisions regarding your future child star's career and finances.

A STAR IS BORN?

So what exactly do you need to know to grow your child's career and protect his interests? To start, realize that while you may find your little angel entertaining, it doesn't mean they have what it takes to be a professional.

"Parents really have to see something in their child. A lot of [kids] go through dance classes and school plays, but what a parent really needs to see in a child is an ability to take their imaginary friends and make them into characters," says Kelvin Reece, a California-based acting coach' who has worked with child actors Megan Good (Eve's Bayou), Gary Gray (The Tiger Woods Story and star of the International House of Pancakes' current TV advertising campaign), Arjay Smith (Nickelodeon's The Journey of Allen Strange) and Jake Lloyd (Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace).

"You're looking for a child to [make a character] jump off the page," adds casting director Kimberly Hardin, whose credits include UPN's series Moesha and the films Higher Learning and Deep Cover.

Similarly, because your child is truly talented doesn't mean that he'll want to work professionally. "If he'd rather go to the movies or the mall than rehearsal and auditions, then it's not for him," says Floria Smith, mother and manager of 16-year-old Arjay. Also, parents need to be clear that they're working to fulfill their child's dream, not their own.

Raising A Superstar Brandy Arjay Raeven - managing child celebrities

Black Enterprise, Dec, 1999 by Shawn E. Rhea

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