[inline:amtc logo.gif]Artemis students, staff and director Niki returned to AMTC in August to take part in the Actors, Model and Talent Convention in Florida once again.

Niki has been working with UK AMTC director Lynne Millar for two years now, helping scout and train the best talent the UK has. This time, Artemis saw even more students and staff triumph against their American and Canadian counterparts to win the attention of internationally renowned judges including MGM’s Paul Weber, Ted Brunson of Weissman-Brunson Management, Sharon Lieblein of Nickelodeon and many more.

Josie Stanton (12, L.A. Ready, Dance Company and Dance Majors) returned to AMTC in the summer after competing in January. Josie did a good job in the winter convention but it was felt she could do better, so UK director Lynne recommended Josie for a scholarship, which she was given. After a long period of very hard work Josie was rewarded with 14 call backs from agents and managers who are interested in working with her!

There were so many success stories from this convention for our own group, including Lydia Allen (14, L.A. Ready, Junior Choir and Ballet) who went out to America to try to gain modelling work. Lydia made the finals for Overall Petite Fashion (girls under 5’7”) and was pursued by four top model agents, as well as being offered immediate work in Tokyo!

Jamie Dickinson (16) had numerous call backs, including a meeting with MGM's Paul Weber. Jamie won his stand-up comedy category with original material he had written. On returning to the UK Jamie has been asked to screen test for a film, and has both agents and managment seeking him for contract.

Artemis staffer Ian Tutin (L.A. Ready) narrowly missed out on winning Overall Male Actor but did fly straight from convention to New York where he auditioned for the role of Scotty in the new Star Trek movie! Sadly he was pipped to the post in that role but all is not lost–we’ll keep you posted.

Another well loved staff member, Diane Allen, returned to Florida this time as staff. Diane used the chance to network with agents she had met in January and re-confirmed her plans for a big move to Canada followed by study in New York in 2008. Di was advised to shed a few pounds for the L.A market (which is quite harsh!) and since returning Diane has lost over 20lbs!!

Other contestants in our party from London, Manchester and Glasgow did just as well, with agents signing them up, and record companies pursuing their talent.

Throughout the convention, our group were filmed for a fly-on-the-wall documentary to be show on the Discovery Channel. They will be doing follow-up filming with some of the contestants before the show airs next year. They focused on all members of the competing party, but paid extra attention to Josie
Stanton from the Artemis group (as well as others from Manchester), as she had worked so hard to gain the credit she deserved having returned on scholarship.

In an exciting development, it was confirmed that there will be a UK/Euro version of AMTC next summer, which is a real boon for our students who don’t wish to move to the USA but do want the chance to audition for some of the biggest names in the industry from Europe and the US.
Scouting will begin across the south of England from next month – if you are interested in being among the first AMTC UK contestants next year, register your interest now with Niki.