Talent Show Judge

Today I answered a big question: am I a Simon, Randy or Paula? Answer: Paula. I was hoping my usual consistent use of the word "dude" would place me as a Randy but my constant grin gave me away as I joined the judging panel for Break-Through Talent's 2011 Industry Showcase.

By my side were Barry Shapiro (casting director for Hermon and Lipson) and Heather Finn (agent at Frontier Booking International.) We watched as performers of all ages and styles showed their best skills and after casting our votes we called back several and gave notes before having them give an encore performance. The goal was to model this experience after a true NYC audition.

After locking in our scores we went onstage for a talk-back session where the participants and their parents could ask us questions about the professional industry and our experiences within it.

Break-Through Talent is an agency and training center in Poughkeepsie, NY. The founder, Pat Gallio, helped guide her own daughters through the world of competitive dance and saw a need for quality training that helps connect young talent into the professional world while helping prepare them for the big move to New York or Los Angelos. Pat and I shared horror stories of scam agencies and the many dangers of being a young artist breaking into the big leagues. Growing up in Rochester, I had very few connections to the mainstream performance industry of New York or Los Angelos. A resource like this is going to be such a dream for young performers in this area who want to start working towards the next level.

More importantly, I love that Pat allowed us to give each performer our feedback. Having been through hundreds of auditions I know how much it stinks to never know what the panel was left thinking after seeing you. Any chance to get feedback is going to give the artist a huge push to improve, as knowing what you can fix means knowing what went right. We all know how easy it is to rip oneself apart after not getting the job. I'm glad we were able to leave each artist with something to love about what they did, and ideas about how to move forward.

Thanks to Pat, my fellow judges, and all the incredible young artists for sharing their talent with us today!!! Hope to see many of these stellar young ladies in the Miss New York system someday.