Star Power - Cancelled

I've been keeping out of this mainly because I don't audition and I'm not in WA... but sometimes the risk of taking a chance on something has to do with the fact that you have to weigh it with the more realistic side of making money. Not that that should really affect the outcome of the number of applications for Star Power. ... I'm just adding that some people might feel reluctant to take a punt because they're unsure of their abilities to commit later on and because of their worries about earning a living... (Or maybe I'm really just going off-topic here. Ignore me :P) Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.thepromptcopy.com/pip

>I bet that's exactly what actors thought of "Play School" >when they signed up for that. Bet they never thought that >they would have any career after that. What arrogance! Who >are these people? This is a argument I regularly have with myself, and myresolution is this: Personally, I don't want a career in presenting. So I don't audition for presenting jobs. Sure being an actor, with good presentation and well-spokenness, I could excel in a job as a presenter, news-reader, TV journalist. But I don't want to. I have done countless hours of training, practice and study (okay not countless, I know the figure is over 2500 hours) but my chosen medium is film. I differentiate this from TV, commercials, and stage. Stage itself I differentiated in so many ways: my chosen stage medium is realism. I care little for performing in pantomimes, greek tragedy or shakespeare. This is due to 'good business practice' I have employed that means I focus on what I really want and try not to stray and waste time in tangent projects: I want a specific result. This doesn't mean that another actor can't have what I don't want. Similarly, I would not see my entry into such a competition as beneficial. It would, in fact, slow down my career progress as an actor.

I have found that career paths don't follow where you want them to go; and in trying to 'force' it down one avenue, I have ended up doing more of the things I didn't want to do... I guess it's 'each to his/her own'. Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.thepromptcopy.com/pip

I've read all of this and I am going to point out one thing Why do people audition for Big Brother and Australian Idol in such huge numbers in WA, yet a large majority of hopefuls in this state couldnt get their shit together to put in an entry form for a golden opportunity that was going to give the potential of getting professional coaching tuition and auditions at a bargain basement price, that they otherwise would have received at a very high cost to themselves? Big Brother promises brief celebrity at the cost of ones self respect, Austalian Idol winners are of questionable talent,I just don't get it at all! Rupert Alba

Big Brother and Australian Idol do have the benefit of massive exposure through television advertising; something as grassroots as this didn't.

Posted some comments about this that did not publish to the thread, but damned if I'm going to write it all up again. Central point: did Star Power do any strategic planning eg that took account of the timing [ie people in the age group studying for exams, etc]? You can't generalise about the age group and individual's perspective/ambition. This game is characterised by serendipity. Perhaps it's just a case of the organisers and the number of individuals who might have failed to connect..... Jim

Hello Everyone Thank you for your comments of support and for your comments in general about the challenge and the reasons for its cancellation. Yes , to those of you who wondered did we advertise, well, we were in the West Australian, the Sunday Times, every community newspaper, three commercial radio stations, two alternative stations, the Dept of Education sent a letter and poster on our behalf to every school in the state. We were in Express Magazine, we were in the student newspapers of every university in the state, we contacted all of the community theatres, we had a myspace and we had our own website which in six weeks had nearly 4000 hits. I think we did enough personally. Yes there will always be questions about the timing, but I don't think there would ever be a time in the year when people wouldn't question our "timing". For those of you who are saying that the "Home and Away" audition was the ultimate prize, I think you have missed the point. There was an audition for "Home and Away"and "All Saints"and "Packed to the Rafters" ( new show about to start filming next year). There was an audition for Kookaburra, Australia's National Musical Theatre Company. There were along the way, workshops and training and amazing opportunities. The grand final judges consisted of casting agents, script writers, television and theatre and musical theatre people, so I think we had it pretty much covered. Yes I am disappointed. Yes we did a lot of work. I think I am even more sad now that WA is left with only Storm the Stage. A talent quest , judged by Rotarians. These people with no theatre background will decide whether you go on to the final. Once you are at the finals, you will be judged by someone, but we don't know who yet. At least we were up front about our judges and the criteria etc. If you win, you can do whatever you like with the money and there are no career opportunities or further development. Anyway, it is done and over with now. We tried and it didn't work. I am sorry for the people who did enter . Enough said I think. Kerri

I think that many people on this site would agree with me when I say: This was a very difficult event to put together. Anyone who has ever worked on a show knows the difficulties facing you; budgetary, marketing, logistics, and of course, getting a whole bunch of people together to do one thing. This event would have required a considerably larger amount of effort, time and twisting people's arms to get involved. It's extremely sad that such an effort should go to waste, and I sincerely hope that the organisers decide to try again - with success. Sticky Apple Legs www.freewebs.com/stickyapplelegs Puppets in Melbourne www.thepromptcopy.com/pip

yes ditto. And thankyou for posting details about the advertising details relating to that form of putting on the event. It's now good to have the facts for that area of this discussion. All the best for next year (hopefully) ____________________________________________________________ Currently working on: "Boy Banned" a fusion of live acting, video footage, corny songs, syncronised dancing boys and egos! JULY 2007, ticket information coming soon!!!

Re-posting this as I can't see that it has been addressed yet... Hi Kerri, Is there any opportunity for those who have already entered to pay a higher fee for the opportunity to participate in the workshopsi etc. The format would naturally have to change, but is this an option?

Hi all, I rarely post on this site, but someone up there called for reasons why people didn't enter this competition, and I thought I'd oblige. The main reason I didn't enter, is because I'm currently overseas. But in truth, I probably wouldn't have entered even if I was back home. I think Star Power was a fantastic competition, and a wonderful opportunity for those youth trying to break into the industry. However, I resent people saying that youth are lazy, unmotivated etc. The reason I wouldn't have entered is not because I am lazy or indifferent to opportunity or by any means lacking in passion. I have been doing shows back to back for the past few years. Many on this site can attest to my committment and passion when I'm in a show, and Taurean himself can attest to my amazing ability to gravitate towards a spotlight. The reason I wouldn't have entered, is because acting is my hobby, and I don't see anything wrong with that. In fact, I'm sure many other 20somethings are in the same boat. I look at my participation in community theatre as something I can be passionate about, that is rewarding and puts me in contact with some really fantastic people. Like any other hobby, I want to improve my skills and hey, maybe I'll do a commercial or TV someday, but does the fact that I don't want to do it professionally cast me in with all the ungrateful youth? For me to have entered this competition (despite how fun it would be) would have been untrue to the spirit of it. Why enter a competition if the prize is of no interest? So for all those scientists, managers, doctors, lawyers, average joes, and even those studying towards other careers (like me) who are part of this community for fun, please don't tar us all with the same brush. It is a real shame that the competition didn't go ahead for all those who were genuinely interested in the amazing opportunity. Hopefully we will see Star Power, or a similar competition again in the future, despite the fact that I probably won't enter :)

i dont know how... but i found out about the comp through a poster at school. there was a poster in our drama department, but being yr 12 i felt the comp. was cutting it a bit tight to the TEE and mocks etc. i would have been overly happy to enter if it wasn't this small fact, and i hope Star Power try again next year as it is a fantastic oppertunity for youth. as an improvement, and i understand there maybe regulations to auditions and screen test in the eastern states, but organising the workshops etc. away from later in the year would help greatly. thx xoxoxox

How about we give an opportunity to a younger age range of people. 10-16 yr olds. There is never enough opportunity for them to be on the stage or film. These kids have just as much desire and drive to act as older students and yet they dont have the homework and life commitments to hold them back. How about we empower our young people by allowing them to have the opportunity to go to workshops and soapie auditions, this will help them to be better actors and to get to know the industry so that we can have some awesome actors out there in ten years from WA. I am very disappointed that star power has been cancelled but how about we let the next generation of actors have a go. My son is 12 and would have loved the opportunity to learn from mentors. There is a bible verse "Train a child the way he should go and he will not depart from it" Lets invest time and money into our kids so they in turn can be great teenagers, adults and in turn mentors themselves.

>There is never enough opportunity for them to be on the stage or film. The above comment (and post in general) is absolutely ludicrous. There are more opportunities for talented younger people (<18) than any other age range. NB: I said -talented-

I have never posted a comment on this site (expect to help someone out with questions on auditions for Uni) but I would just like to say that Star Power was a worthwhile concept. I do not consider it fair to place all people who didn't enter under the same umbrella - not all those who didn't enter are lazy. If people did not enter it does not mean they are uninterested. It is a free country and people have the right to pick and choose what they do - please don;t hold that against them. Let's hope Star Power happens next year!

Dear Kerri I am so sad at the cancellation of Star Power. I run Joodalup Entertainers Theatre School -JETS and the age level were interested but with exams it was just a matter of timing. I have worked extensively with students who have entered Storm the Stage and this was an opportunity wanting to be accessed by my students but as menntioned it was the timing. I was a judge at one of the heats in northern suburbs. Star Power is an awesome concept. I appreciate what you tried to do and I hope you give it another go next year. I have so many students of all age ranges that I try and get opportunities for and they are all so eager to participate. We do have a wealth of talent here in WA who are willing to work hard I have seen it with my own students over the last 3 years with much success. Keep up the good work and if there is anything I can do in the future let me know. Ros Boyer JETS

It's sad that star power was cancelled this year, and I'll be too old next year to enter :( Maybe next year there could be two entry age groups 16-25, 26-30?? :) Just a thought... :p

COME ON PEOPLE!!!! when are u all going to get over this?? Yes it's very sad that the starpower could not go ahead but why are you all sitting around complaing about it and choosing to place bitch and blame on those who "CHOSE", yes thats right "CHOSE" not to be enter!! PU-lease, I just think it's absolutly ridiculous how some people on this site, you know who you are, have chosen to blame the down fall for this competition on those who didnt enter. Calling them lazy, ungrateful etc. it's just obsurd! degraiding and down right rude for a start, oh and then it's also a sure fire way to get em back next year! I didn't realise just because you live in WA and that you want to be an actor that you had to enter starpower or you'd were branded as "wanting freebees". WHATEVA!! you enter a raffle because you want the prize right? you enter it because you want to right? It's called freedom of choice! and ventures fail all the time, I think Starpower was a great idea but unfortunately this time it didn't work out this time, so lets not place blame on others, lets take it as a lesson for next time. =) PEACE!!

The issue is this- someone had to put star power together. I imagine that it was a lot of work. that person is quite likely to not bother again. Hopefully they will, but frankly, life is too short to push the same barrel of s''t up a hill twice. I am certainly making those sorts of choices in my life now. In this industry as with others you must take opportunities if and when they arise, and I guess some of us (who were unable to) were disappointed to see an entire generation of actors miss this one. that said, it is a choice. I am again reminded of the truth in this industry, as with any really, that I have seen ongoingly- both as a pro and as a teacher. talent, skill and ability have zero to do with success. it comes down to those willing to work hardest, and take the opportunities when they arise and willing to take a risk- they ALWAYS succeed at a greater level than the rest... so there! :-) Nev It's the simple things stupid...