<p>Does anyone know what an industrial is and has anyone ever gone?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>An industrial is sort of like a live commercial – it is a stage show (or sometimes video) sponsored by a corporation, like Coca-Cola or General Foods. Industrials often have huge budgets and are very lavishly produced. They are a great source of employment for singer/dancers – although the job itself is brief, the pay is usually excellent.</p>
<p>When you asked “has anyone ever gone”, I assumed you meant to an audition?</p>
<p>In our video business, an industrial is a video program created for a corporation or business. Usually it’s shown to sell a product, train staff or for public relations. The work is usually not glamourous, but these jobs can be great bread-and butter for a working actor who wants to fill in some extra hours. The budgets vary. They can be fun!
My daughter had a couple of these on her resume when she applied to college for theatre. It shows a different kind of professional experience.</p>
<p>My child was picked to go to an industrial and perform in Miami in April. I have know idea what it is, but it is all expenses paid with meals in a 5 star hotel. I don’t think he is getting paid. He is going with a handful of students who were hand pick by the director of MT from his college and they are doing a elaborate tap number chorographed by the director. My child is very excited and I would be too if I knew what it was…LOL</p>
<p>mizlyn is correct – I neglected to say that although some industrials are musicals, many are not; they can range from a very simple voice-over script to a full-blown Broadway musical type of production. It sounds like that’s what your son is going to be doing, IBNU! It will look good on his resume even if he isn’t getting paid.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info I am starting to get excited now. You know kids he just said yes at the offer but he didn’t know what he was saying yes to. This is the kid who had to ask where the stamp goes on an envelope. He was mailing his college apps…oh god …lol</p>
<p>IBEElieveINU - I don’t know if this will make you feel any better, but last year after my daughter auditioned for a sumerstock job in FL, she mailed them a thank you postcard and later told me she put a 1 cent stamp on it, thinking “penny postcards”! She also asked me where to write the address and where to write the note on the card! So don’t feel too badly. Somehow I suppose I screwed up on teaching these “life skills”!!!</p>
<p>My D did some video industrials and like others have said they can range. They are sort of weird. SHe did one for selling girls scout cookies - something my D has no real knowledge of, and another for a children’s hospital where she was the narrator for for a DVD given to families with children coming in for surgey, and the oddest was a liturigical dances. For us one of the really odd things is we neevr got to see the end product. So after a full day of work and a paycheck we have no idea what ever happened to it.</p>
<p>LOL - it’s the postal mail they need our help with.</p>
<p>When it comes to electronic mail (email, IM, myspace, facebook, blogs, etc) it is them that I go to for help.</p>
<p>keepingcalm – You can usually get a copy of the video if you ask the production office. It’s a good thing to have, because you then have a sample of the work you’ve done, and can show it to an agent or director.</p>
<p>Onstage thanks. At the time we did ask and were told they would come through her agent. At this point it would really be more for nostalgia since she was 12 or 13 when she did the last one. At the time she was a petite, highly articulate, AA child - which I am sure was part of the attraction and why she got a flurry of them. Now she is a tall, very lovely AA late teen and although still highly articulate, not in high demand. Plus we quit the agent.
It was fun while it lasted and the “production” industrials sound really fun.</p>
<p>Thank-you KeepingCalm! Glad to know my child isn’t the only one lacking in the “lifeskills” dept. Too late now! Now they just call if they don’t know how to do something…like how to make a Dr’s appt at the school clinic…lol. Um you call then go? …lol!</p>
<p>IBEElieveINU - my D was chosen for the same Miami show, but she never told me it was referred to as an “industrial”. She is very excited about it. I was interested in going, thinking it was in fact a musical performance type of thing, but was told by her, having been told this by Clay James, that the entrance fee was $1,200.! I will have to ask her more based on your post. Thanks!</p>
<p>My son said he is going to ask if I can sit in on one of the rehearsel’s. He said he loves the number and is really keeping up. He is only a freshmen and never had any formal dance training so he was worried being with all off the dance majors and all. I am really proud of him. I heard that it cost alot of money to get into also, like it is a funraiser of some sort. Keep me posted! My s never tells me anything…lol!</p>
<p>dancermom – if they are charging the performers a fee, it shouldn’t be called an industrial. That’s a very specific term for a paying job.</p>
<p>onstage - No, I meant that the tickets for their performance in Miami are $1,200. because it is a fundraiser of some sort. My D still is not entirely clear about this, and she has never been told by her MT director that this IS an industrial. I told her to ask though - she forgot at rehearsal today! I am just curious at this point!</p>
<p>onstage: The kids are NOT getting charged a fee. It will cost us parents 1200 dollars to get in if we are even aloud to go. It’s an all expenses paid trip to the Four Seasons in Miami for the students selected to go. We are not sure if they are getting paid for it or not, I don’t think so. The head on MT at his school used to be head at UNIV of MIAMI so maybe he had an in there. I am just speculating.</p>
<p>Oh, I see. Yes, I know Clay, and he probably still has some good contacts down there that allow him to give performance opportunities to his students. Sounds exciting!</p>