Taylor Brandon Burns is the world’s most famous child television actor. Thanks to his work on the popular sitcom, Family Differences, Taylor has what most people can only dream of: fame, fans, a growing fortune and that cherubic face that wraps up every episode of the TV show.
Life is a perfect sitcom world, one where family disputes are solved in slightly less than twenty-two minutes. But in the real world, Taylor’s mom is broke and his parents are in the midst of a bitter divorce. Worse, puberty looms on the horizon – Taylor’s 13th birthday is fast approaching bringing with it the breaking of his voice, the pimpling of his face and perhaps the end of his career.
Childstar begins with Taylor’s landing the lead role of the president’s son in what is being hyped as the action-comedy blockbuster of the year, The First Son. One caveat – it’s being […]
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Taylor Brandon Burns is the world’s most famous child television actor. Thanks to his work on the popular sitcom, Family Differences, Taylor has what most people can only dream of: fame, fans, a growing fortune and that cherubic face that wraps up every episode of the TV show.
Life is a perfect sitcom world, one where family disputes are solved in slightly less than twenty-two minutes. But in the real world, Taylor’s mom is broke and his parents are in the midst of a bitter divorce. Worse, puberty looms on the horizon – Taylor’s 13th birthday is fast approaching bringing with it the breaking of his voice, the pimpling of his face and perhaps the end of his career.
Childstar begins with Taylor’s landing the lead role of the president’s son in what is being hyped as the action-comedy blockbuster of the year, The First Son. One caveat – it’s being filmed in Toronto, Canada. With the stroke of the agent’s pen, Taylor, along with his mom, Suzanne, are outsourced to the Great White North.
Enter Rick Schiller (38): limo driver, aspiring experimental filmmaker, slacker extraordinaire. Rick could care less about Taylor’s celebrity – he’s more interested in sleeping with the child star’s mom. This nonchalance in the face of fame impresses Taylor. It’s not long before Rick signs on to become Taylor’s official handler.
On set, Taylor meets a battle-worn producer, Philip Templeman, a hot, young, obnoxious director, Sydney Mehta and Chip Metzger (27), a former child star in his own right, who, after prolonged stints in rehab, is attempting to revive his stalled career.
The world knows Taylor as a cherub; everyone on set knows better. He’s a pre-pubescent Jack Nicholson teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Playing big brother, Chip takes Taylor on a wild night on the town from which Taylor doesn’t return. The world’s biggest child star goes AWOL in Canada.
Rick attempts to track Taylor down in order to save the production, as well as himself, from complete ruin. Added pressure comes from two seemingly psychotic Hollywood bigwigs who make and destroy careers with every move. Meanwhile Taylor is experiencing his own rite of passage that includes prostitutes, rabid fans, the girl of his dreams, and a strange touching attempt to reconstruct some semblance of family.
It is Suzanne who coaxes Taylor back into showbiz, leaving Rick with the insidious notion that this entire runaway was a ploy to renegotiate Taylor’s contract. Taylor returns to finish the film, wealthier, more famous and more in control of his career than ever before. He now understands that survival demands an awareness of how to navigate and manipulate the world of popular culture.
It is Rick, the idealist, who needs to get his life together.
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