ITV calling part 1

Zaynah has been with Bizzy Kidz Agency since she was 3 and we have been for multiply castings in London but unfortunately she hadn't secured any work and as you come imagine it was getting a bit expensive travelling from Birmingham for a 10 min casting.  

During the pandemic we saw a shift to self tapes, where casting agent's would request to see Zaynah's audition by tape. Maybe this was a thing for adult performers but not for children so it was a welcome change. I had been approached by another agency about a year ago but decided against moving at that time. When they contacted me again via Mandy.com in August 2021 asking about Zaynah's representation, I decided to checked them out and thought why not sign Zaynah up to an alternative agency. 

After being with Empire Kids for only 1 month they sent a self tape request for a role in an ITV crime drama. The funny thing was Zaynah had to say her lines in a Brummie Accent which, thanks to Miss Sue and LAMDA's, is the one accent's she can't do 😂 We actually had to do it twice because the first time, not sure why but I filmed it in portrait so we had redo it at grandads. There me and Zaynah were trying to quickly film this audition upstairs, while grandad had the T.V. on full blast in the front room and the others (Chris and Ty) were making some ungodly noise in the kitchen. 

We got it done and sent it in that evening, about a week later Zaynah was confirmed for the part. We were all so excited and proud.

I had to fill out license forms and get the schools permission for Zaynah to be absent o filming days.

Then I didn't hear anything until about mid October, and I don't mind telling you I was getting worried.

A million things ran through my mind like maybe they changed minds, maybe there was a problem with the licenses, maybe Zaynah's headmaster changed his mind and on and on. 

Then, I was having brunch with my besties, Kam and Jen, and it all kicked off. I got an email from hair and make-up checking Zaynah's allergies, wardrobe taking her clothes/shoe size and I got a call from the COVID department booking me and Zaynah in for testing. Followed by various emails from the production department of HTM (Token) LTD over the next few day's.  It was all coming together and was really exciting especially after I received the call sheet. 

Our first COVID test was done at Birmingham Airport. We went after school which was easy enough to get the train there in good time. We had done some testing before and I think its fair to say we hated it, this was no exception. The swab to our throats were surprisingly pain free but when she swabbed our noses it went so far up I think she swabbed our brain. All we had to do was wait for them to email the results which was on a two hour turnaround. Luckily we were both negative.