Harold, Kumar, Three Babies and a Wrangler
"A Children In Film Christmas Story"
Imagine this: your two-year-old has just been cast in a major motion picture. With the excitement of the recent booking still buzzing in your head, you arrive on set, and, assuming the production staff is well equipped to handle the needs of your young child, you hand your baby over to the Studio Teacher, and of course, the Director.
The issue, unfortunately, is that many well-meaning production crews are not always prepared for the unpredictability of small children. In fact, many producers, directors and film crews don't always know what every mother does know: when it comes to young children there is no such thing as being too prepared.
The production staff of the new film, "A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas," thought they had done everything in their power to prepare for Ashley, Chloe and Hannah Coss. The identical triplet toddlers were cast to share the role of Ava in the film. Everything was going according to plan until, during one scene, one of the girls became inadvertently frightened by the loud performance of her on-screen father. Her two sisters stood by watching, and after the incident, none of the three wanted to go back on set.
That's when production manager, Jonathan McCoy reached out to CIF's Toni Casala for help. In less than 48 hours Baby Wrangler, Dawn Jeffory-Nelson, was on a plane headed to the production location.
For some productions, Baby Wranglers are brought in from the get-go. With strong backgrounds in casting and coaching, they assist directors throughout the casting process, and later work on set with the children in order to get the reactions and performances necessary. However, in many cases, Baby Wranglers are an afterthought, brought in to save the day after a mishap occurs.
"I call this 9-1-1 Baby Wrangling," Dawn Jeffory-Nelson explained. "Initially, production is often skeptical. They're not always convinced they need a Wrangler, or budget constraints make hiring one hard to rationalize. But as in the case with Harold and Kumar, if something goes wrong, a Baby Wrangler is frequently called in to make the set fun again for the children, so that, ultimately, they can get their performance as well. Luckily the wrangler is often me, as it was in this case."
Dawn sprang in to action quickly, requesting to have time on the set, alone, with the children - a request that can be excruciatingly stressful for a crew on a tight schedule.
"They found themselves in a situation and they were respectful enough to trust the Baby Wrangler," Dawn said, commending the production staff. "They gave me time, trust and control, and I gave them back their girls."
After turning the set into a game, Dawn was able to take the script requirements and director's requests and turn the experience back in to a fun one for the triplets.
"We were able to maximize the girls time and performances, and even were able to go back and reshoot some of the scenes where they had been using a doll instead of a real child," Dawn explained. "The girls tested so high amongst test-audiences that they even went back and wrote more scenes!"
The set can be an unpredictable and scary place for a child, but a good Baby Wrangler is equipped with the ability to create a safe, non-abusive environment for the child, keep the parents happy and get the required shot.
"I think that a good Baby Wrangler has to be willing to get fired every day," Dawn explained. "By protecting the child physically and psychologically (as does the studio teacher as well), and helping them with their performance, everyone stays happy - including the director because he will ultimately get the shot he needs."
Are you a parent of a young child performer? Stay tuned for future articles on Baby Wrangling including an article on Dawn's work with many, many babies on the star-studded feature film, "What to Expect When You're Expecting."
To contact Dawn with comments or questions or to find a Baby Wrangler for your upcoming production
