Off The Leash

I liked this Fox show from the beginning. When it originally debuted it followed 'American Idol.' During the second season casting, Sierra McCormick was called in to give it a try. I wasn't surprised at all that she made the callback. In fact I had coached Sierra and her mother, giving them my strategy when going in on the first call. ‘5th Grader’ then offered a general call at Universal Studios, calling in hundreds of new kids for the opportunity to be one of the cast mates. Sierra was asked to attend. One of the show’s producers believed in her, but the entire team wasn’t convinced. Therefore Sierra was asked to come back without the knowledge of the team. She blew them out of the water, and they asked why they not seen this girl before. You have the producer replied. That’s the little girl from yesterday, Sierra McCormick. I knew better than to get cocky, however this move made me even more interested in the Mark Burnett productions tactics. We prepared again, I would coach Sierra on what to say, using her own personality style. I wanted to give the producers what I thought might be 'the' direction they were taking. Sierra made it to a fourth and final callback. I had trained Sierra personally since she was eight years old and if there was one thing I thought she could do well, it was 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?' In fact, her attitude, advanced vocabulary, and personality were her greatest strengths.

When Sierra was offered a position on '5th Grader,' her agent, Thomas Richards and I would do the negotiation. Thomas wanted a lot more money than a reality show of this kind was willing to offer. And while there were around 30 episodes to be shot over the course of a month, the production company wasn't going to budge on money. This incensed Sierra's agent, and in turn made her mother, Jo McCormick very nervous. Jo would constantly obsess over Thomas loosing the job for Sierra because he wanted too much money. He also didn’t believe the show would do much at all for Sierra’s career. I was confident that I would get this job for Sierra McCormick. It was an opportunity to put her front and center on a primetime family show, and display what I believed to be one of Sierra's best abilities. She is a voracious reader, and has a snappy repartee. And besides that I had taught her how to use her personality for TV. This was our show.

During the negotiations, it became extremely intense. Thomas and I went back and forth defending our positions. Thomas said, 'give me one year and I will have a series for Sierra.' I snapped back, 'she has been at it for one year, and this is a series.' While Thomas' negotiation tactics can be overly aggressive, I don't back down when I am convicted about my personal belief. I was insistent that Sierra McCormick would accept this job, and I wanted Thomas Richards to get the best deal possible. We wound up taking a three-way phone conversation with one of the show's producers who flat out said, ‘there are a lot of kids out there that could do this job. If you don't want to play, we will pass.’ It was his bluff, and I knew it. However I also knew I had him in my corner. We accepted the job, and it was the turning point I wanted. I could then use this opportunity to launch Sierra McCormick's career.  During the taping of the show when Regis Philbin was a guest, I sat down with that ally producer and talked about that previous time. He told me that he was in Sierra’s corner the entire time. ‘She’s a villain, I knew she would be perfect for the show.’ And she was.

When Sierra McCormick was pulled in to co-star on the show, taking that credit was actually a step backwards for her, as far as moving up the latter goes. However who could argue with the name Hanna Montana on your resume, even if she only played a winning audience member at a talk show who was confused by the mixed signals sent by her music Idol, Hanna Montana.

For years I had worked with actors teaching them everything my own personal technique, scene study, and improv. We spent a lot of time on improv and continuity. In fact it was Sierra McCormick's favorite aspect of acting. Week after week, racing to the stage to show her stuff. She was one of the bravest little girls you'd meet, particularly at that time. Thomas Richards', Sierra's agent sent the notice to me in February and I knew that Sierra was practically a shoe in. She had been a big fan of the show Seinfeld, and therefore understood all the notes I gave her about Larry David and his current show.

Sierra's mother was again worried that somehow Sierra would go to the audition and casting would find something wrong with her, or worse, just not like her. While I had told her many times that casting isn't judging in those terms I had become accustomed to her way of thinking. I later learned that the show had been very secretive about this episode because they were reuniting the entire cast of Seinfeld, a historic moment that would live in the annals of television. I was absolutely elated that Sierra McCormick would have that opportunity, and in my opinion, well deserved.

At the time of the first audition for this project my office was still in Beverly Hills, and I don't believe I yet represented actress Nikki SooHoo. I had another actress named Tiffany Epps, and she had been called in for this new untitled TV pilot. I coached Tiffany, who was then represented by agent, Kim Gola at ABA Talent Agency. Tiffany got the callback. Unfortunately the pilot went away without explanation. Fast-forward to nearly two years later, Nikki SooHoo had been training for one year in my studio. I represented her and it was in December of 2004 when the call came in for East of Normal; West of Weird, a new pilot featuring a Chinese girl adopted by a Jewish father and Protestant mother. I thought the idea was workable, however a lot of people on the Internet hated it. I remember when Nikki and I worked on the project I had coached her in much the same way I coached Tiffany Epps. And since Nikki had been in my studio I could see a few addisonisms that she had brought to the table.

It was up in the air whether the Disney Channel would take a chance. We were told that the pilot only tested well with a younger demographic than the network wanted.  I don't really know why the pilot didn't make it. That's an age-old question in our business. I liked it, but more importantly it gave Nikki SooHoo a needed boost, putting her on the Disney radar, and giving me the leverage to push even more.

The greatest reward came for me when Sierra McCormick was voted by joost.com as one of the greatest TV villains of 2008, even beating out Vanessa Williams from Ugly Betty.