2 Actresses Needed

Are our kids in danger?

TROY DODDS reports and gives an opinion on a tragedy that could be waiting to happen....

Whether it be reading the newspaper, listening to talkback radio or watching news bulletins from across the world, we hear way too often about children being abused, assaulted or killed. Many highly publicised cases over the last decade have made parents aware of the modern times we live in, and the fact that you have to keep an eye on your children at every possible moment.

The advent of the Internet has created a whole new world for everybody. It's created new businesses, allowed us to do our shopping at the click of a button and perhaps more importantly, opened up a window for us to look at the rest of the world. But with all of the good things have come the bad. Parents remain concerned about child pornography, chat rooms and cyber predators that may be lurking online.

On October 1 2004, Melbourne's The Age newspaper reported the following: "The owner of three child-care centres in Melbourne's eastern suburbs is among hundreds of people across Australia facing charges for possession of child pornography and other crimes involving young children following a nationwide police operation. Others implicated in the unprecedented swoop on child sex crime include teachers, police officers, doctors, an assistant to a state MP, child welfare officers and defence personnel."

The story went on to say: "The investigation uncovered child pornography prepared in Australia and an undisclosed number of children have been taken into care by welfare authorities. In one of the worst cases, police in Brisbane said the operation had 'rescued' seven abused children from one paedophile. Images of the children, aged from five to 13, had been found on a seized computer."

This story, one of many on the subject, highlights the dangers many children face today. Whether they faced them 30 years ago or not isn't really the issue here, the issue is that a minority of people are not using the Internet for its intended purpose.

Onto the point. Auditions are posted across a variety of websites in Australia, many of them for professional musicals and plays but the majority of them for amateur or independent theatre and film companies. Some are individuals shooting a school film - the list is endless. There's certainly no suggestion at this point that any of these notices have led to the types of acts and crimes mentioned in the newspaper story above, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it.

Audition notices can be posted by anyone - there's no regulations and on many websites, you don't even have to register. So, yes, in theory a paedophile could post an audition notice to lure people to a "fake" audition - and who knows what the results could be.

Adult and professional actors have agents, not only because they don't want to handle the technicalities of the industry themselves, but because it provides a third party to negotiate all deals and arrangements. While there are child representation agencies, many youngsters find themselves hitting the web searching for auditions. In reality, they have no idea whether these auditions are real or not. They presume they are, but how many people out there have been abused by people they presumed were safe and responsible?

Should we wait around for a fake audition notice to be posted, have a 13-year-old girl answer it and then agree to go to a private audition, before being raped or killed - or should we do something about it now?

Perhaps regulation of the industry is impossible or not practical, but awareness is, and that's where we need to turn our attention.

Late last year, BroadwayAustralia.com posted an audition notice under a false name in the interest of helping this industry became aware of a potential problem. Yes, a potential problem. Instead of fixing things, maybe we should try to avoid them, was the theory we had when launching this special investigation.

We posted the audition notice, stating we needed two young actresses for a film and that private auditions would be held in the near future. Many who responded agreed to come to a residential property for a private audition. Of course, the "audition" was canceled and nobody was asked to go anywhere, but the very fact that young people - some aged as young as 12 - agreed to come to the audition was scary enough. Were they planning to bring, or even ask, their parents? Who knows, but the bottom line is that people responded to that notice believing it was true, and real. Unfair of us to do such a thing? Perhaps. But it proved that children have no problem giving out often private details and pictures online. Now, thankfully this "fake" audition was posted by a harmless body - we had never planned to actually hold auditions, or even take our investigation further with those who responded. But what if a child sex predator had posted that message? What if those young girls who responded agreed to come to a private audition, only there was no actual audition? Would all of them have come with a responsible adult? We're not providing answers here - we're just posing the question. There is absolutely no way to tell the difference between an audition posted by an amateur or independent company, or person, who very few people have heard of, and one posted by somebody who isn't telling the whole truth. That was the point of our exercise, and while it's created a little bit of controversy out there, it's done one great thing, and that's raise the awareness of this potentially dangerous issue. However, there's still people out there posting their personal details, sending emails to people they don't know, and agreeing to come to auditions they know very little about. It's a quest for stardom, and unfortunately there's possibly people out there looking to take advantage of it.

Do we keep our head in the sand here, or do we start to make a change? At the severe end of the scale, do we need to ensure anyone who posts audition notices is registered with a Government or independent body, and ensure they post some sort of licence number with any audition? Or do we just need to ensure websites and newspapers post major warnings about the potential of fake audition notices. Do we need education for youngsters browsing the web, to ensure they be careful when posting auditions?

If 60 people respond to a fake audition notice, and 59 bring an adult with them to the audition, that perhaps means that one has not. And it will only take one person to be raped or killed before this is a national issue. My bet is that many parents are not aware of their young children posting such messages, and if that is the case, then there's a major possibility that the kids are planning to go an audition themselves. Do we wait to find out, or do we make sure it's avoided?

So, what's the answer here? In reality, it's a long and complicated process. But parents and children need to be aware that unsavoury people are lurking out there in the world, and the Internet gives them somewhere to hide before they pounce. Young girls out there continue to make posts on message boards, often giving their hair colour, weight, height, personal email addresses and even in some cases, phone numbers. These boards are accessible by anybody - and with such information being given out on a regular basis, a potential for danger exists.

So, who is the onus on? The websites? The parents? The browser? Of course, none of these people would be responsible if something happened - after all, it's the paedofile or predator who commits the crime. But if we can at least try to avoid it through awareness, isn't that something we should be doing sooner rather than later?

Here's part of a message recently posted by a 12-year-old on a theatre message board. Read it, and then you be the judge - do we have a potential problem here, or not?

"I am 12, 163cm tall, I have long wavy brown hair and eyes and I am interested in an acting career. I have been interested in acting since I was really young. I have not had any acting experience except for many school musicals and events. I am interested in TV, theatre any type of acting because I love acting so much. If anyone has any upcoming auditions in Melbourne please e-mail me the details."

The edited message above is one of hundreds of similar ones per year that appear on various theatre websites, message boards and in emails to agents, producers, publicists and journalists.

Certainly something to ponder, you would think.

COMING SOON: PART TWO OF THIS SPECIAL REPORT. WE TALK TO INDUSTRY EXPERTS. IS IT REALLY AN ISSUE? IF NOT, WHY NOT? IF SO, WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

ALSO COMING SOON: TROY DODDS GIVES A FINAL VERDICT AND OPINION ON THE POTENTIAL PROBLEM, AND OUTLINES WAYS TO FIX IT.

Your feedback: editor@broadwayaustralia.com