Even if your parents aren't well known to the average person or didn't work in Hollywood for very long, the fact that they have knowledge of how the industry works is already a huge advantage because they can help you avoid certain pitfalls and point you in the right direction, which are two things that non-industry parents don't have a clue about.
It's similar to how parents who went to college can tell you about the application process, help you choose classes in high school, tell you to schedule campus visits, explain about FAFSA/student loans/scholarships, etc. as opposed to someone who is the first person in their family to apply to college and has to seek out this information on their own. Does it guarantee that the former will get into their first choice school? No, but it still gives them an advantage over the latter.
At the bare minimum, having one parent who has worked in Hollywood already gives you a very valuable resource of information. And that's even if they have zero friends, coworkers, and other connections who can do things like get you an agent or into auditions.
And I know being a nepo baby doesn't guarantee success - I know of a few people who tried to nepobaby themselves into stardom and landed somewhere around the D list, but they're still working in some fashion to keep that SAG insurance active - but it gets you in the door. IDK why people who followed their parents into the industry don't admit that. Dr. Billy over here who grew up with his father Dr. Billy Sr. probably got a leg up by his father letting him shadow him at work, put in a good word for him with the alumni office, paid a hefty donation to the medical school and his undergrad, and gave him a job at the practice when he graduated. It's not just in Hollywood, it's a leg up in any industry. My brother is an EMT because he grew up with my grandfather being a volunteer EMT. I didn't follow anyone in my family's footsteps LMAO I paved my own path (my family are either starving artists or engineers).
A friend who's an academic offered to write me a letter of recommendation for grad school. When I gave him my list of schools, he informed me that his mother taught for many years at one of them and his father taught AND founded a department at another.
Meanwhile, mom worked in a factory and my father was a petty drug dealer.
can confirm, my parents own a company and i work there but don't really know why and totally don't deserve the job (but if someone wants it oh god come have it)
Exactly, my husband and I came from families where we were the first to go to university. My parents hadn't a clue about the process. Luckily both our schools helped us - the Internet was pretty young then so most research was done through books, some of which were out of date.
But I got a leg up in other ways. A lot of my student jobs were with people my parents knew. When I moved back to where I grew up, my dad's friend let him know there was a test for a job I wanted. It wasn't common knowledge and I wouldn't have found out otherwise.
Plus a thousand other ways that my schooling, lack of poverty, whiteness etc gave me a leg up. Didn't mean I didn't work hard when I got a foot in the door, just that I got help getting there.
It's similar to how parents who went to college can tell you about the application process, help you choose classes in high school, tell you to schedule campus visits, explain about FAFSA/student loans/scholarships, etc. as opposed to someone who is the first person in their family to apply to college and has to seek out this information on their own. Does it guarantee that the former will get into their first choice school? No, but it still gives them an advantage over the latter.
At the bare minimum, having one parent who has worked in Hollywood already gives you a very valuable resource of information. And that's even if they have zero friends, coworkers, and other connections who can do things like get you an agent or into auditions.
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And I know being a nepo baby doesn't guarantee success - I know of a few people who tried to nepobaby themselves into stardom and landed somewhere around the D list, but they're still working in some fashion to keep that SAG insurance active - but it gets you in the door. IDK why people who followed their parents into the industry don't admit that. Dr. Billy over here who grew up with his father Dr. Billy Sr. probably got a leg up by his father letting him shadow him at work, put in a good word for him with the alumni office, paid a hefty donation to the medical school and his undergrad, and gave him a job at the practice when he graduated. It's not just in Hollywood, it's a leg up in any industry. My brother is an EMT because he grew up with my grandfather being a volunteer EMT. I didn't follow anyone in my family's footsteps LMAO I paved my own path (my family are either starving artists or engineers).
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Meanwhile, mom worked in a factory and my father was a petty drug dealer.
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But I got a leg up in other ways. A lot of my student jobs were with people my parents knew. When I moved back to where I grew up, my dad's friend let him know there was a test for a job I wanted. It wasn't common knowledge and I wouldn't have found out otherwise.
Plus a thousand other ways that my schooling, lack of poverty, whiteness etc gave me a leg up. Didn't mean I didn't work hard when I got a foot in the door, just that I got help getting there.
Reply
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