Exploiting Child Actors

Growing up children should have been given enough time to rest and play.  To indulge them in a strenuous activity as work like acting is like depriving their rights as a child.  Only when the child sees acting as a form of play does acting work be allowed to the child with proper supervision from a parent.  The moment the child’s work as an actor interferes largely with his otherwise normal activities, then, it could fall under the category of exploitation.

Especially when money becomes an issue, sometimes parents overlook the fact that it is not a child’s obligation nor a responsibility to work for a living considering his or her young age regardless of how tempting might be the offer in terms of remuneration as in the case of the work as an actor. The child’s well being should be the priority of a responsible parent.

In many of the instances, we see children acting in front of us in the same length of appearances as the adult actors are in movies and in television today.  And when interviewed, they seem to be normally happy with what they are doing.  Indeed, we could only ponder if what they claim on camera is true. Because if adult actors themselves claim that acting job is one hell of a hard work, then, more so to a child. 

Sleep deprivation is one aspect that actors are obviously had to constantly deal with.  And indeed it is something so hard to overcome to anyone considering that it has to do with an important system or hormone in our body that we are depriving with.  What could have make a child performer to stick to it without an amount of complain?  Is acting activity with all its nuisances has such a strong appeal to a child that he /she could almost exchange it for a normal life at home?  Or, could it be that pushy parents hide ugly facts behind the cameras.

In Hollywood as in the Philippines, every era produces a stream of child performers who wind up either drug addicted, psychologically depressed, financially distressed or worst dead.  Early deaths of child actors especially in unlikely circumstances are extreme examples of the adverse effect or early stardom on young people. The arena of actors or stardom per se is so taxing a job that more often than not pattern of severe coping difficulties is evident. Especially so if these child performers involved are not counseled adequately nor protected by laws and industry policies.

On the other hand, coping issues on the transition to life as an adult is also one adjustment a child actor seems having difficulty adjusting with.  When their careers end at some point when they are no longer the cute child performers that they used to be, the pampering, the attention, being constantly catered to are gone, suddenly, that world ends and most often than not, they are forced to make adjustment to the real world .  Sadly though, most of them can’t.

And there are more issues, one as greater as the other.  Take for instance the child’s pursuit of fame and success once he or she is already in the business of stardom made more difficult by the obsessive drive of a “stage-parent”.

Yet, if at all, a child manages to survive all what has been mentioned above in his childhood that transcends towards his adulthood, it’s a feat in itself.  However, a different battle is waiting as he fights to regain the fruits of his own labor.  Parental squandering of a child actor’s earnings abound.  Most notable of which is that of famed child actor in the “Home Alone” high grossing films, Macaulay Culkin.  Legal battle about his earnings might just end up with this millionaire and his family being evicted and left without a home.  These cases of financial exploitation of child performers by their own parents cry out for intervention from our legislature.  The current law is woeful and not enough to prevent unscrupulous and negligent parent from squandering the earnings of their child.

 There has to be a meaningful law to protect the child actor from all forms of exploitation. As such children are so much more vulnerable to exploitation than they could handle. There has to be a law to protect them from being exploited.  As it is, the call is very urgent.