Casting a Wider Net for Kids

When executives at Nickelodeon put out a casting call in the mid-1990s for a kids’ mystery show, “The Mystery Files of Shelby Wink,” one young actress impressed them more than any other tryout--Irene Ng. But there was a hitch--Ng is Asian American and the show was written for an Anglo girl and her family.

What might have seemed a problem for some companies Nickelodeon approached from the opposite direction--they saw Ng’s ethnicity as a bonus. Because she was the best actress executives auditioned, they changed the role around her--the character became Shelby Woo. They rewrote the script and cast veteran actor Pat Morita (“The Karate Kid”) as her grandfather.

“When we found Irene, we said we have to change this and how could we do this?’” said Paula Kaplan, senior vice president of talent for Nickelodeon. “What we do differently here is that we are open-minded and try to be flexible as to who is right for the part.... It’s more work, but people get excited about seeing great acting,” she said. “And we want to make sure we are reflecting what is in a kid’s life. The world is a big melting pot now, and what we do is try to reflect their lives.”

The way things are usually done--at least with big studio movies--is the reverse. For example, the main character in John Ridley’s original story for “Three Kings” was written for a black lead. The studio recast it and made George Clooney the lead, with Ice Cube as one of the co-stars. But in the world of kids and young adults in 2002, diversity is not a strange concept, at least in the major cities. Companies that cater to this market are creating shows and casting talent that mirrors an increasingly multiethnic America.

“It’s not like a very clear-cut decision was made,” said Nina Jacobson, president of Buena Vista Motion Picture Group, which comprises the Walt Disney, Touchstone and Hollywood film labels. But she said the company recognized “our movies should reflect the reality of our cultural world.” Buena Vista’s just-released “The Rookie” bears out that reality, with young actors Jay Hernandez, Rick Gonzalez and Angelo Spizzirri co-starring with Dennis Quaid, a West Texas high school teacher who tries out for a major league baseball team.

MTV and Nickelodeon have forged a path with movies such as “Clockstoppers” (which opened Friday), last year’s comedy concert film “The Original Kings of Comedy” and “Save the Last Dance,” which included an interracial love story and made more than $100 million in its U.S. theatrical release. Even Miramax’s specialty division, Dimension Films, found itself in diverse territory with last year’s hit family film, “Spy Kids.” Directed by Robert Rodri guez and starring Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara, “Spy Kids” made more than $150 million worldwide. It was a no-brainer to produce a sequel, and “Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams” comes out Aug. 7. All of the original stars have returned for the sequel.

“Kids don’t see diversity,” said Bob Weinstein, head of Dimension. “They just see Carmen and Juni”--the title characters.

Weinstein was always confident Rodriguez would deliver a solid action-adventure movie. The Austin-based director wanted to make the cast Latino; at another company, that detail could have easily been “homogenized to be white, like in the days of ‘Home Alone,’” Weinstein said, referring to the 1990 Macaulay Culkin blockbuster.

One of the reasons some major movies have lacked diversity is the studios’ dependence on the international market for a big chunk of their profits. On the most expensive movies, risk-averse studios try to hedge their bets with stars who are reliable export commodities.

Kids’ movies are produced in the low- to mid-budget range ($20 million to $40 million, or less), and with those budgets, it’s not difficult to make money in the domestic market. Most studios do not expect to rake in a lot of money overseas with these films.

“The movies we are making are modestly budgeted,” said Weinstein. “Spy Kids” made the bulk of its money “in the American marketplace, but we are building the international marketplace for the second one.”

Hollywood is a trendsetter in fashion, style and many other areas, Jacobson says, and it is the studios’ role to embrace diversity.

“These things become self-fulfilling,” she continued. “If you make a great pop movie, then people around the world will want to see it. I don’t think you will get punished for making the right creative choices.”

It’s not as though the kids’ movies are not moneymakers. It’s a bottom-line business, and the smarter companies know their audience.

According to a Nickelodeon December 2000 study and the National Council of La Raza, children are more ethnically diverse than the rest of the population. By 2020, nearly half of all American kids will be nonwhite. Currently, nonwhite kids watch more television per week than white children. African American children average 26.7 hours a week, Latinos 21.4 hours and white children 19.3. No statistics were available for Asian children.

At Nickelodeon, the Latino-themed series “Taina” and “The Brothers Garcia” have seen dramatic ratings gains. “Taina,” which premiered in 2001, saw its ratings more than double in its second year. Ratings for “The Brothers Garcia,” the top-rated live-action show on Nickelodeon, grew even more sharply in its second season.

“Good business has always flowed with what is good for kids,” said Albie Hecht, president of film and television for Nickelodeon. “We want to reflect what is in a kid’s world. And what is in their world is an enormous amount of diversity that they accept.”Nickelodeon is diverse not only in terms of casting, but also in terms of nurturing talent behind the camera. The company has an internship program for minority writers that pays them a salary they can live on. They also have an executive mentoring program. Even their animated shows--such as the “Rugrats” series and, more recently, “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius”--include diversity. Jimmy Neutron’s best friend, Sheen, was voiced by the stand-up comedian Jeff Garcia. In the “Rugrats” series, one of the central families is of mixed ethnicity. “Rugrats--the Movie” grossed more than $150 million worldwide in 1998, and the follow-up “Rugrats in Paris” in 2000 grossed $100 million.

But the key to diversity, these executives and others stress, is not allowing it to become tokenism. Casting calls are open to anyone, they say, and roles are given to the best actors, regardless of race. The characters’ race and ethnicity are woven into the story.

“It’s an added bonus,” said Christina Vidal, star of “Taina,” a modern-day “Fame” for “tweens” (a relatively new demographic category, targeting kids between the ages of 9 and 14).

Ethnicity “is not thrown in everyone’s face--it’s not like there are subtitles and rice and beans on every show,” said Vidal, who is Puerto Rican. “It gives everyone a chance to see Latin people in a different light--like ‘they are just like everybody else.’ Once in a while we add some flavor and culture so people can see that, but it is not so far left field that they can’t relate to it.”

To find such talent, Nickelodeon and MTV cast wide nets. They go to high school drama departments, art schools with diverse populations and so-called boutique casting shops that focus on minority talent. Hiring new talent often involves risk, but Hecht says that so far, the gambles have paid off.

One such gamble was 28-year-old Paula Garces, the co-star of Nickelodeon’s “Clockstoppers,” an action-fantasy film released by Paramount. Garces, who was born in New York’s Spanish Harlem, was raised in Colombia, her mother’s native land.

Her role in the film was not originally written for a Latina, but her audition, in an open call, caught casting executives’ eye.

“There is nothing stereotypical about me at all,” said Garces, whose character, Francesca de la Cruz, is Venezuelan. “For the first time I didn’t have to play a character with the stupid accent or anything [negative] against Latinos. It was just wonderful.”