At Carbon Copies, the Clients Come in Two by Two

It was 3 1/2 years ago that Michlene Ragsdale decided that Hollywood’s demand for twin infants had created a niche in the business just waiting to be filled.

So the Mission Viejo woman started a personal management business, Carbon Copies MAR Management, that specializes in young twins. Starting with just three pairs of twins, the business has grown to represent more than 200 children. Ragsdale believes she has not only the biggest personal management firm specializing in twins, but the only one.

Hollywood’s demands for twin infants is a matter of efficiency. Because of the tight legal restrictions on filming time for young actors, twins can increase the amount of time filmmakers can shoot. That philosophy has reached its apotheosis on the soap “The Young and the Restless,” which currently is alternating two sets of triplets (all of them Ragsdale’s clients) on a single role.

Infants 15 days to 6 months old can only be on the set for two hours, and under the lights for only 20 minutes, according to state law. From 6 months to 2 years, that jumps to four hours on the set and two hours of filming. The amount of time young actors can work continues to increase as they get older.

If the industry’s demand for twins was not bizarre enough, consider that premature twins are in the biggest demand of all: They can play newborns longer. Most popular with casting directors are twins 15 days to 3 months old; after that the demand jumps again for twins 6 months to 2 years. If the role calls for infants between 3 and 6 months, directors just go for older twins who can be filmed longer.

Ragsdale estimated that 85% of her newborn twins get some kind of work. The percentage drops as the children get older, and after 2 years, twins increasingly are competing with non-twin actors.

Twins are not in as much demand for commercials, because there are no big demands for character continuity. Directors of commercials with children often film the spot with five or six actors and pick the one who works best. All get the day rate for working ($414.25), but only the child who ends up in the commercial gets residuals, which depend on the number of times the spot runs. Total residuals for a national commercial can run from $1,000 to $25,000 over its lifetime.

The minimum day rate for any actor who has fewer than five lines on a soap opera is $234; the day rate on most prime-time series is $448. Bigger roles, or regular roles, can draw bigger pay. Movies, meanwhile, are the most lucrative of all, with rates that vary widely.

Child actors should have a Screen Actors Guild-franchised agent. Ragsdale said her personal management service is an optional “extra,” but that having a personal manager can help streamline the process for parents who are unfamiliar with the business.

“It can be a lucrative business,” said Denise Mead, the Newport Beach mother of twin girls and a budding single actor, Courtland Mead.

It can quickly become expensive, however, if the parents are consistently bringing their children to auditions without getting work. The Meads get more work than most children.

Of the children’s income, 10% goes to the agent and 15% to the personal manager (if there is one), while the parents are legally entitled to another 25%. Mead said she doesn’t use all of that, occasionally using some of the children’s income for van repairs or other expenses related to ferrying them to auditions.

Taxes take another sizable chunk. The children’s share of the income goes into a trust fund.

Emotional problems can attend the high-pressure world of auditions and call-backs, Ragsdale admitted. The most important issue to deal with is rejection; making sure that children don’t take it personally when they don’t get the job after an audition.

Mead and Ragsdale both say the process can have beneficial side effects, including increased self-confidence. Ragsdale’s own twin boys, both actors, are 13. When they get to the age when they need to interview for a non-acting job, “It’ll be a piece of cake,” she said.