2024 has been an important year when it comes to the conversations about Hollywood experiences that child stars recount. Growing up and watching channels like Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, little did we know what child stars were going through while entertaining us every Friday and Saturday night with new episodes of our favorite shows. Many have watched the documentary “Quiet On Set”, which detailed what allegedly took place on the Nickelodeon sets, which was also heavy so if you have not watched it, watch it with caution. This other documentary that will be mentioned also details the “Hollywood Dream” but with a different approach. This documentary is called “Child Star”.
“Child Star” is a documentary that recently was released on Hulu a week ago and it features Demi Lovato, Raven-Symoné, Alyson Stoner, Kenan Thompson, Drew Berrymore, Christina Ricci, and Jojo Siwa recounting their experiences navigating fame at a very young age. The film marks Lovato’s directorial debut and it debuted to widespread acclaim, including being the #1 watched film on the platform amounting to 47 million minutes viewed in just two days according to Variety. Following the release of this documentary, Lovato released a standalone single titled “You’ll Be Okay, Kid” to support this project.
While the stories each person shared with Lovato were interesting and important to hear (I will not spoil it so you can listen to the conversations for yourself), what made this documentary stand out and remarkable was the radicalization for the protection of the younger generations who are in various forms of entertainment today.
On September 26, 2024, Lovato sat down with California Governor Gavin Newsom as part of the effort to push for protection for minors in social media and other forms of entertainment on a federal level. In a short video, Lovato details the history of child acting by sharing the story of Jackie Coogan, who was a young actor exploited and had all of his earnings taken by his parents. What bills AB 1880 and SB 764 do, as explained by Lovato in the short video, is not only expand the Coogan Law (which requires representatives of minors in entertainment to save a certain portion of their earnings in a trust until they turn eighteen), but it also establishes the legal and financial protection of minors featured in monetized social media content by mandating their parents or guardians to put aside their earnings in a trusts accounts.
This film does a great job of detailing the world of child stardom and talking about the protection of children in entertainment in an informative way. If you’re looking to get a start in the industry or know somebody who is younger and wants to get a start in entertainment, this is an important film to watch. Many actors and actresses this year came forward about their experiences growing up in the spotlight and called for a change in on-set working environments with further protection and regulations set in place for child stars. Lovato along with “Child Star” is without a doubt a further push for that beneficial change to take place for future generations of children in entertainment.
