What Is A Studio Teacher?
A studio teacher (also known as a set teacher) provides on-set education for children under 18 years of age working in the entertainment industry. Studio teachers must teach a wide range of subjects as well as look after the health, safety and well-being of child actors.
Many states have child labor laws that require production companies to hire studio teachers for minors working in the entertainment industry. This includes not just film projects, but also television, commercial, and print productions.
A studio teacher must have proper licensing and credentials in order to teach multiple subjects for elementary-age children and single subjects for high school-age minors. Individual states have laws regarding how much time children in various age groups can spend on set, and set time does include school time.
For infants and younger children, their time on set is very limited (in California, for example, babies can only “work” for 20 minutes), so many productions choose to hire twins or triplets so that they can film more in a day. Other productions choose to use plastic dolls or robotic baby dolls.
Watch this animatronic baby created by special effects designer Chris Clarke for a British television show:
“Animatronic Baby” by Chris Clarke
While studio teachers do not teach acting, they are responsible for ensuring that the child actor has a legal and current work permit. They are not responsible for obtaining one for the child, but they must check with the legal guardian of the child to make sure that they do indeed have it.
Studio teachers must assist in keeping track of the child’s schedule to make certain that they are receiving the mandated meal and rest breaks in addition to the designated school time as the studio teacher is responsible for monitoring the child’s welfare on set and protecting them from being overworked, mistreated, and exploited.
Working with children and being a child actor’s on-set advocate is an extremely important responsibility. While child labor laws vary from state to state and may differ from federal child labor laws, the more protective law is the one that is upheld whether it is the federal law or the state law.
Legal advice should be obtained from an attorney since the Nevada Film Office is not a regulatory agency. For specific guidelines about employing minors in Nevada, contact:
Office of the Nevada Labor Commissioner Department of Business and Industry
555 E. Washington Avenue Suite 4100
Las Vegas, NV 89101-1050
Phone: 702-486-2650
Fax: 702-486-2660
Website: http://www.labor.nv.gov
In Nevada, we have experienced studio teachers who have worked with children of all ages. If you are looking for professional set teachers for your next project, check out our online Nevada Production Directory for a list of studio teachers in Nevada or drop by our office and pick up a free printed directory!
If you are a professional studio teacher in Nevada and are not yet listed in our Nevada Production Directory, you can learn more about how to sign up for the NPD here.