Congratulations… you must all be thrilled!
Congratulations!! Talent and hard work/perseverance win the day 
Awesome!! Congrats to your S!!
Delete. Congrats Man Van!
Mazel tov!
@NightOwl2 - Everything carries weight. Directors and the casting directors they employ are influenced by every piece of information they have about a potential cast member. CCM training, CCM’s reputation and the CCM showcase were quite clearly important factors in this pathway to employment (Union Employment! That means health insurance and starting to build a pension.) It just seems silly to argue otherwise. For all the nauseating talk about branding these days, a school’s brand can be of critical importance early in a young actor’s career. Who gets seen and how they are seen are both heavily impacted by school brand. Soon, the young man’s agency brand will add to that initial picture.
Just as having a few knocked-it-out-of-the-ballpark auditionees over the course of a few seasons can build the “brand” of a “that-which-is-not-a-top-named” program.
Just curious - how many of @ManVan’s S’s peers were just as “lucky” in the outcome of their showcase? And are there seniors from other programs who were just as “lucky”?
Obviously, ManVan’s S has the “goods”. May his theater career live long and prosper!
Just a thought…I wouldn’t quite be concerned with how many kids landed an agent right out of showcase or moreover, who were cast right out of showcase (and it is only April after all and most kids haven’t even graduated yet). I think while that is GREAT, if it happens, the real measure is how they are doing within a couple of years of graduating. Keep in mind that it may not happen right after graduation but can take a bit of time. So, who got what right after showcase is not the full picture or even the real measure, in my view.
My own kid got an agent through showcase and she actually booked her very first audition and learned of being cast the day of graduation (and this also earned her Equity card). BUT…she would say (and I tend to agree), it has taken a few years to really be “making it” and working consistently in the field. She has no survival jobs any longer, though all her original survival jobs were working in theater and music and may not be viewed so much as “survival” to some people. She feels it takes time to begin to build the career and it didn’t all happen within the first year of graduation. So, to all those who are at this step now, don’t worry too much as to who books what in the early days following showcase. There is a bigger picture and it can take time to work up to making a full career of it.
Needless to say (and I already posted on this thread), it is super fantastic about ManVan’s son!!!
This forum is what it is…
And (in my son’e case) the facts are the facts.
I’m so happy for you and your S!!! It gives the rest of us parents with kids just starting out on this journey hope that it can happen!! Can’t wait to hear what tour he is in!!!
ManVan, that is great news! What an auspicious start for your son’s career!
As I read the facts, the above is the clear and indisputable takeaway.
As for whatever else the facts are, I’m just plain confused. The thread began with that curious statement – sometimes the facts are the facts – as if in response to some discussion or argument I was not a part of (what gives?) and offered up as self-evident proof of something. And then the phrase appears again – along with a statement about the forum being what it is. Clearly I’m extremely late to the party, and I don’t know if I can catch up without some help.
So the facts. Or rather what they mean. For my part, after the slightly disconcerting (see above) facts sometimes being the facts opening, I read the sequence of events leading up to ManVan’s son acquiring representation and a great gig even before he’s graduated. Love to hear that stuff.
But what else is self-evident about these facts? Should we read them as proof that attending a “top” school is always the best option for all kids in all situations, as one poster contends? Should we infer that school choice played a larger role than training and talent? Or a smaller but still important role? Or perhaps no role? Or is one person’s experience simply anecdotal and it’s not worth trying to argue it into anything emblematic of some thing larger? I honestly have no idea. I’m not even sure what people really mean when they say “top” school in any substantive boots-on-the-ground sense beyond the nebulous notion of prestige and conventional wisdom. I know some people believe such things are do or die – I just don’t know. I don’t even know what ManVan was hinting at (again, a party i wasn’t attending). For my part, I choose to read the facts as a stroke of well-deserved good fortune and an auspicious start to a hopefully great career. That’s it. Maybe that’s what ManVan was getting at. Maybe not. But that’s how I’m reading the facts.
So – CONGRATULATIONS!
LOL @StringPop - the party has moved to ‘What’s in a name? Should you always choose the best known program?’ .
Ah, yes. I see now. Story of my life.
Not too late to join
Still @StringPop, that was a lucid, intelligent, well thought-out clarification!
This is a discussion site. It is for people to discuss and share opinions and thoughts. If I just wanted kudos, I’d only post in fb, but this site is for posting opinions. So post away. We have benefited from the discussions. In 2010 I didn’t know what a bfa was. We’re thankful for all the insight.
Great. I was definitely congratulating you on your son’s good fortune, but I was also asking – in a friendly, curious way – about the “sometimes the facts are the facts” statements, which I found problematic, vague, and provocative, and because they did indeed seem to indicate more than a desire for kudos. You seemed to be offering facts that were facts as proof of something or a response to something, but what, exactly? That was my question, and since this is a discussion site, and it’s for posting opinions, I was actually asking about yours – hopefully in a friendly way. (I also suggested that that one anecdote doesn’t prove anything – but honestly, that was my own vague response to the person who cringes every time someone turns down a “top” school for personal fit.) What were you getting at, exactly? (And what did you mean about the forum being what it is…I’m sure it is…but what is it?) Or were you offering these facts up like that Mike Myers SNL skit “Coffee Talk with Linda Richman” as something to discuss amongst ourselves?
By nature, facts are only facts. The “meaning” or “value” any one of us finds in those facts is inside each of our heads. And no matter what someone thinks they are communicating when they write, I may interpret it as something else. What is “reality”, anyway? This one will call for more wine. Or donuts.
My only point is that this is actually the way things happened for my son. I am not making any statement for or against anyone or anything.
Sometimes on this site we comment based on hearsay, rumor, 3rd-4th-5th-person accounts, other-other-other people’s opinions and experiences, myths & legends, etc. Our family has sporadically chronicled our experience here from start to finish, and frankly, I was going to be done with CC with the “End of the Journey” thread…then my son had a favorable outcome from his showcase. People on this site are informed and vested in the BFA process, I knew they would “get” what happened and may appreciate the info. I mostly wanted people to come away hopeful. I wanted people to think, “It can work! I sort-of know this cyber-guy…and the whole college BFA thing worked! (at least on the short term)”
You can always dis-count any one person’s story as an anomaly. Which happens all the time. There are plenty of folk from “Prestigious” programs who don’t work and get out of the business. There of plenty of people who went to “Unknown” programs (on no programs) that have Broadway careers. I get it. It’s just that when it happened in our family, it was real. It was not an anomaly. It was our experience. It was our fact.
I am always very encouraged when our veteran posters’ kids are successful. I know it’s no guarantee, but it’s reassuring to know that it does happen. It seems to happen a fair amount, but maybe our sample is skewed. Anyway, nothing but good thoughts for you and your son and here’s hoping this is the first of many opportunities for him.
I think we all like your facts @ManVan. And we are so impressed with your son’s journey. This thread took a bit of a turn when there was an appeal to readers not to turn down “prestigious” programs because they are the ones that get kids jobs. As you said, reality is … some kids make it and some kids don’t, no matter where they got their training. So imploring people not to turn down top name colleges because that’s how you get jobs just raised a few eyebrows and was a good jumping off point for a different discussion (which continues on the “What’s In A Name?” thread…) But the fact your son survived the college audition process, the BFA experience and is now getting ready to live out his dreams as a professional actor is inspiring. It does give us all hope. I for one would love to hear more of these end of journey stories so hopefully others will chime in! Thanks for sharing your journey with all of us on CC and best wishes to you and your son as he enters the world theatre professionals.