Bizparentz Foundation, the nonprofit organization that’d been advocating for child actors and their parents since 2004, has relaunched its website, featuring more than 100 articles – and over 1,000 links to support them – on a variety of issues affecting child performers, including taxes, tips on avoiding talent scams, navigating union contracts and money held in trust for child actors in Coogan accounts.
Other new features on the site include Covid-19 resources for kids, details about the new sexual harassment training required for child actors in California and the Foundation’s latest inductees to its “A+ List” – 237 former child actors “who grew up to impact society in a positive way.”
Bizparentz, which is also one of the leading sources of information about child predators in the film and TV industry, played a key role in the making of An Open Secret – Amy Berg’s 2015 documentary about pedophiles in the entertainment industry. Co-founders Anne Henry and Paula Dorn were also instrumental in the passage three bills to protect child actors from sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed them into law last October.
You can see the newly designed website here.
“We are most excited about the accessibility of this new site,” said Henry. “Everything is free to industry professionals and parents and the search function is just fantastic. The site is a bit of an encyclopedia – there is just so much there it is tough to know where to begin. The search organization of the site allows newbies to look at whole sections like ‘New to the Biz,’ while more experienced parents and industry professionals can just type in a word like ‘residuals’ or ‘safety’ and quickly find what they need.”
“I am very proud of, and excited about our new website design and content,” said Dorn. “I hope it allows many families easy access to important information that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
Asked what she’s hearing about child actors during the pandemic, Dorn said: “As is often the case, professional child performers are a subset of most of the experiences in labor settings. Covid has effected them in their schooling, their ability to travel, and of course, the employment opportunities which have been sparse. Now there are regulations in place for the industry that don’t quite work for minors, but it feels like everyone is trying to do their best. Some parents found the distance learning very familiar, as they routinely handle their educational needs that way already.”