Keeping Up With The Burnetts: A Star is Born

I was somewhat hesitant to get the kids involved in commercials, but I ended up taking Sienna to an "audition" a couple weeks ago (which involved her standing on an x and holding a bouquet of flowers) - and she got the part!

So off we went early yesterday morning to a secret undisclosed location - which was blistering cold! (And I was sure they would want her to wear a little sundress or something...) and once we got there, were told to wait in the van until they finished setting up. The director didn't like the first location, so they moved the set, and a little while later Sienna was put to work!

They wanted her to walk down a little path in a flower bed and pick flowers along the way to make into a bouquet. I thought they were absolutely insane when they explained this concept to me - do you realize she just turned 2?!?!?!

Lo and beyond, my brilliant little girl understood the concept and performed beautifully.... again and again and again and again.... while they tweaked the lighting and asked me to modify her performance (Can you ask her to pick 5 flowers? Can you ask her to smile more and look at the camera? Uhh........ )

After about 4 times, she came through the little path, handed me the flowers, stretched out her arms and declared triumphantly: ALL DONE!!!!!

Poor girl - they probably pushed for atleast another 3 takes after that. Luckily she was persuaded by the promise of a small piece of chocolate in reward for her efforts. But every subsequent time of being asked if she would play the flower game again, her no's started to get more adamant and upset - thankfully, because she had performed so well and they had plenty of good footage, I didn't have to push her super hard. They did ask for a final still shot photo at the end of shooting and thankfully even this, she was willing to oblige (although no smiles!) - and then she was thrilled when I told her she could go back to the van and relax for a couple hours!

We left our place at 7am, arriving just after 8. She probably started shooting a bit after 9 and was done within an hour.

Then she rested in the car for a long while and went she wanted to go out, we went exploring. There were some farm animals and a small playground, and if it hadn't been so cold, we could have spent hours wandering around.

Once the other little girl finished her shot, we drove about 30 minutes to a second location where she was going to get to shoot with a dog - she was so excited! It was the promise of the dog that kept her going the first part of the day. But shortly after meeting the dog and when I thought we were about to begin, they announced a lunch break. So it was another hour before we got to the second part of the shoot. Probably around 1:30 they started and by 3pm we were done.

She performed brilliantly with the dog and was all smiles! She took direction incredibly well and because she was having fun, was eager to do the shoot again and again. They did more takes this time around - as there were more variables (Sienna, dog, and little boy), so it was harder to get all the pieces into place. She would do the shot with the dog and then turn around and run back to the starting point to do it again.

After a while, though, it finally started to get tiring and she was keen to stop. Once again, the promise of a little chocolate got another 4 takes out of her, plus a round of still shots. At that point, though, she had had enough! She came to me and said, "No more, Mommy - all done." Poor little sweetie. Luckily they were satisfied and we were able to go play on the playground for a while and head home.

We got a ride with the other boy from her shoot and so we didn't have to wait the extra time for the rest of the shoot to finish and the van to head back.

We were both exhausted by the activities of the day and she fell sleep as soon as we headed off. But overall, we had a lot of fun and it was a wonderful experience. The new agent was very attentive to her and Sienna felt like she had a new best friend. She carried her all around the park, back and forth from the van to the shooting location (which was a few minutes walk - and Mommy was in no condition to carry Sienna around so much!) and they ran around and played together. It was really wonderful to see my girl happy. The client was very reasonable and prepared warm clothes for Sienna - plus the agent was waiting in the wings with a blankie and hand warmer packs to combat the chill during breaks between shots.

I said I would give it one chance and see - and after this experience, I'm definitely open to do it again. I can't wait to see the final result!