iPOP! Las Vegas :: Los Angeles :: Singing, Dancing, Acting, Modeling Convention

Dear Joseph:
Just a note to again say thank you for a wonderful experience at the Hyatt in LA. Seems everyone loved us and I received 8 call-backs from agents and Ted received 7. We are in contact with 2 right now and hope it will get us into the business. I would love nothing better. Several agents asked if we could re-locate to LA for 3 months but right now we have to complete our commitment here in Newport i.e. My Fair Lady, which opens March 7 for 3 weekends each Fri, Sat. at 7 PM and Sunday at 2PM. It will be one great production, we have a huge stage and, of course are frantically worikng on completing all the sets. We both have several roles and are looking forward to opening night. If you, or any of your staff are in the area, come visit, you will see some very talented people perform. It's at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Newport Oregon.
Again , thank you for believing in us.
Ted (69 yrs old) and Susanna Rich (81 yrs old) (and Snoopy)

Mr. Beauchamp,
I just wanted to thank you for such an awesome experience at iPOP! It truly opened my eyes to an entirely different world and allowed me to live out my dreams, even if it was just for a week! I learned so many new things and met some awesome people! I had a great time at iPOP! and am planning to go again! :) I competed in iACT and brought home an honorable mention award which was a definite confidence booster! I loved it so much that I immediately came home, downloaded my pictures and made my YouTube video. Liz Garret was so hopeful to me and the rest of the Dallas crew. Since arriving back she has not given up on us and continues to give us advice and information on anything and everything! Thank you again for giving me such a great opportunity and an experience of a lifetime!

Here are links to two more Make-A-Wish letters that were too long to post in this space.

Letter From Brook Dafesh at Make-A-Wish

Letter From Tammy Moyle at Make-A-Wish

It's great to hear from you. Thanks for the congrats. Ya' know it's been very exciting and hard at the same time. What's worthwhile doesn't come easy. We have learned a lot in the past year. We're still in the 'paying our dues' phase but great things have happened. One of the constant reminders is that without an edge or without proper guidance it's almost impossible to get an open door in the entertainment world. We talk to people every week that are surprised, sometimes amazed at how much the girls have done in such a short time. MANY we talk to haven't been able to even get an agent. We are so blessed! I hope you don't get tired of me saying that you and iPOP have made this happen. You were our 'edge' and the springboard (more like the launch pad) that we needed. I truly believe that whatever success the girls have achieved and will achieve is directly due to you. I know I've already talked too long, but I've got to tell you a quick story. Ya' know, Coast To Coast just recently signed Abigail, our ten yr old, in August. Her and I were coming home from one of her first auditions one evening that had been in Santa Monica. It was around 7pm by the time we were nearing home and Abigail was hungry and said that chicken sounded good. Now I hadn't been to a KFC in years so we stopped at one. Now this particular week we were a bit tight on money and I only had a couple of dollars on me so as we gandered at the menu, it became apparent that KFC wasn't in our budget that night (they don't have a dollar menu-haha). We ended up settling for Del Taco and went home. Not too long after, Abigail booked her first commercial, a national Walmart. Now we have told all of the girls that upon getting paid for their first job that they can have anything they want (within reason, of course, new outfit, new shoes, etc.) So when we asked Abigail what she was going to get when her first check comes she said "I wanna go to KFC and buy us a bucket of chicken". Kids are just amazing! I'm so proud of my girls. Thank you for helping them bring out their glitter. By the way, we will be in town this Christmas holiday and would love to work the January event. The girls would also be very excited to be involved in any way. Well, sorry for the lengthy letter. If you're traveling, hopefully it helped get ya' across a few state lines. Unless you're in the state of Texas. Heck, I'd have to write you a whole book to get you across the great Lone Star state! lol, bff, 4WD, WD40! I really have no idea what all of those acronyms mean but back home I did use WD40 on my 4WD! See ya'

I want to take the time to express to you personally my heartfelt thanks for providing Emily an adventure of a lifetime! The Las Vegas IPOP! was an amazing learning experience for her. The opportunities to perform, compete and work with people in the industry was undoubtedly life defining for her. She competed in acting and dancing, and came away with Honorable Mentions in her monlogue and tv commercial. Being able to dance in the Showcase with Jerry Slaughter and company has given her many bragging rights down here in Texas! You giving her the opportunity to dance on the montage video, and to top it all off, her winning the guitar from the Christian Rock Band "Fall Into Faith" all made for one of the most joyful happenings in her short 15 year life!

Of course not all was rosey and good. Unfortunately she did not receive any agent call backs (which was a MAJOR blow). She took it like a trooper. She picked herself up, dusted herself off and moved onto to rehearsing for the Showcase. Dancing in the Showcase and winning the guitar allowed her to end the evening and week on a high note. She is so positive about her IPOP! experience that she is working on her You Tube entry to win a free trip so she can attend again!

I also want to thank you for providing the informative parent seminars on Monday. I attended all the ones that pertained to my family situation, and I found them to be very enlightening. I'm assuming most parents are as unknowledgeable as I was about the whole entertainment industry, so being able to learn some of the nuts and bolts was very helpful.

From the moment Emily auditioned for you here in Dallas, to my grilling you with all my questions, to arriving in and leaving Las Vegas, we have found the whole IPOP! experience very worthwhile and meaningful for Emily. She is more determined than ever to pursue a career in the entertainment field, and I'll do my best to "tag along"!

If you ever need anyone to help you promote IPOP! when you're back in Dallas let us know - I'm sure Emily would jump at the chance!

Just wanted to shoot you an email about the exciting news about Sean Cunningham. As you know he booked the Feature Film "Jonah Hex" a couple of months ago with about 12 scenes and a few speaking roles. That film was with Megan Fox, John Malcavich and Josh Brolin. We were so excited about that. However he just landed something bigger. He was just cast in the new Disney Production "Secretariet". This is a co-starring role. He plays one of the sons of Diane Lane. He is in Kentucky filming right now and is scheduled to film from Sept 28-Nov 24th. This is so big for him. Its a true story about a horse named "Secretariet" that won the triple crown. Also in this film is John Malcovich-(i know ironic) Dylan Walsh, Aj from Disney's "AJ AND ALY" plays his older sister, Kevin Connelly from Entourage, Dylan Baker and more.
He has been having a blast on set and is loving it working with all the huge celebs.

Just wanted to let you know how amazing he is doing.
He tells everyone that he wouldnt be where he is today if it was because of IPOP. He wouldnt have continued acting if we wouldnt have took him to IPOP. ( before ipop he has stopped taking classes to focus on sports. for about a year.)
He went to IPOP LA 2008. Won actor of the year.

Talk to u later,
Ashley
Academy Director, JRP New Orleans

They say that in life, there is always that one moment that can change everything. For me, the one moment that changed my life was IPOP. Every time I walked down the hallways of fabulous Venetian Hotel I given a friendly smile by either a performer or an agent. When I found out that I got one of the lead roles in the showcase, everyone from my school came and personally congratulated me along with many unfamiliar but certainly friendly faces. IPOP was challenging as I had to work long hours, but it is a challenge that I will gladly face again any day. IPOP's challenge was more of a friendly challenge as you working with people who from the beginning called you their friends. IPOP was certainly organized and although the president an vice president could not give everyone their personal attention, you can certainly tell that they wante everyone who attended IPOP to succeed.

If someone, anyone, any random person came up to me and asked me if they should attend IPOP, I would look them straight in the eye and say "absolutely." IPOP has truly changed me as a person. For the first time in my life, I have hope and faith. And as my director once said, "In order to succeed, we must act and dream." I can proudly say that for once, I not only dream but IPOP has helped me act. I successfully received many callbacks and for the first time, my mother actually cried because she was so happy for me! Out of all the moments that I enjoyed at IPOP I think seeing my mother being happy for me was definitely the most remarkable.

IPOP does more than open doors to a new future for an individual...it rebuilds the person. It rebuilds the person into someone who is strong and believes in him or herself. IPOP teaches all of it's performers that life can bring you so much joy, happiness and success. It teaches each and every performer that no dream is too big. There is no better place to learn this unteachable lesson than at IPOP.

I am only fifteen years old, but because of IPOP I have faith in what I do. I believe in myself and if I ever have any success in this industry, i know exactly who and what to thank....IPOP! So thank you to everyone who helped make IPOP Las Vegas 2009 possible, you truly changed my life.

Dear Tricia,

We would like to thank you and Jennifer, Ramini and Sharif, Brian Vogel and all who made the iPOP! experience possible for Cameron! It was such an exciting and memorable adventure! We appreciate all of you and the hard work that went into this enormous week-long event! You all did an AWESOME job and we really enjoyed the iPOP! experience and the new friends we made there. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Ramini and Sharif who were instrumental in training Cameron. Your inspiration, love of acting, and passion for teaching have helped him learn and grow.
Now that iPOP! is over and newly-made friends are back home, we still have new adventures to look forward to! Appointments have been made with agents and hope is in the air! Cameron is so excited to have the opportunity to meet, audition, and interview with them. Where this leads, we have yet to see, but the road has been an exciting one for sure! Our son has grown, learned, and experienced more in the last ten months than I ever would have dreamed. Thanks to all who were instrumental in the lives of all the children and teens who participated in iPOP! You are helping make their hopes and dreams a reality! Thank you for inspiring and believing in our kids! There was great joy as we watched their wings unfold and talents shine this past week at iPOP!

Sincerely,
Terry, Diane, and Cameron Woodcock

It is so hard for me to write this letter, because I have so much to say and be thankful for, that I'm lost for words.

The first thing I would like to say is thank you. Thank you, for the incredible experience you gave me, as well as everybody else. IPOP truly impacted my life in such positive way. When you got up on stage and started to speak of your early life experiences, and showed everyone that clip of " giving your absolute best," it touched my heart in a way I cannot explain. When I got home it was one of the first things I shared with my family. You are an inspiration and a great motivator to all.

One of last week’s most memorable moments was when Johnny (the owner of JRP Long Island), called to let me know that you had selected me to be highlighted on the runway. I felt so special to be part of such a beautiful group of girls and guys.

You taught me that I should never give up and of course "DO WHAT YOU LOVE, AND THE MONEY WILL FOLLOW." I can tell you right now that I will never ever forget those words. It seemed impossible to be able to reach my dreams, but through IPOP, and all the contacts I made, my dreams now seem obtainable.

One of my biggest goals, is to be able to stand on stage next to you as well as Tiffany and Joseph, and tell everyone about my success story. It will b e an honor to be able to share how I once was sitting out in the audience just like they are with a dream. I want to show them how dreams could really come true!

It is so hard for me to write this letter, because I have so much to say and be thankful for, that I'm lost for words.

The first thing I would like to say is thank you. Thank you, for the incredible experience you gave me, as well as everybody else. IPOP truly impacted my life in such positive way. When you got up on stage and started to speak of your early life experiences, and showed everyone that clip of " giving your absolute best," it touched my heart in a way I can not explain. When I got home it was one of the first things I shared with my family. You are an inspiration and a great motivator to all.

One of last weeks most memorable moments was when Johnny (the owner of JRP Long Island), called to let me know that you had selected me to be highlighted on the runway. I felt so special to be part of such a beautiful group of girls and guys.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for having invited Tanner to attend iPOP Los Angeles 2009. I cannot put into adequate words just how thrilled he was to attend the event. He clearly enjoyed an experience of a lifetime and he told me that he has never had more fun in his entire life... this from a young man who has had so many meaningful experiences in his life thus far. Simply incredible!
Towards the conclusion of the event, Tanner wanted and tried to thank you in person, however at that time, you were understandably quite busy with the event. So, I am writing this message myself to make sure you know just how much the iPOP event meant to this young man and his aspirations to be an actor and model.
iPOP opened the door for Tanner (and many other talented people) to meet and associate with their peers, as well as many industry professionals, and he received numerous business callbacks as a result of his participation in the event, with genuine offers to represent him professionally in the industry. iPOP is most definitely an event that all aspiring actors, singers, dancers and models should attend and experience.
Please feel free to use this letter as a testimonial, as we are so genuinely sincere about our thanks to you and the entire iPOP staff. iPOP is literally a wonderful life-changing experience that deserves high praise.

Hi!
Just an update for you regarding Sam's career-

She is having a blast working as an actress and a model.

As you know - since April, she has filmed a pilot for ABC and shot a national commercial for Clorox Greenworks. Now she has booked a recurring role in Showtime's The United States Of Tara. She had a great time filming her second episode today.

She is also featured in the L.L. Bean Back-to-school catalog, and Walmart.com just direct-booked her for her second shoot. She is having the time of her life and still has an occasional lemonade-stand to pay for the gas and hotels (lucky for me!!)

Thanks again for everything!
Julie Schuder

Hello Joseph.

I want to take a moment to thank you for all that iPOP has done for my family. We are so excited to have been a part of iPOP in Vegas '08 that we can hardly contain ourselves. You and your company have more than fulfilled your obligation to us and have treated us like part of your family. I also want to update you on our Los Angeles trip. As you know, we recently drove to LA to meet with agents that we had made appointments with. We met with nine agents and one manager. All went fantastic and as a matter of fact, all of them offered the girls a contract! It was very, very exciting!! Our experience was very positive and everyone was very professional and courteous. We had our favorites, but all received great consideration. As a family we discussed all of our options. We chose to sign with Coast To Coast for 'theatrical' and 'commercial print' for all three girls and Jordan signed with Elite for 'high fashion' modeling. I want to thank your staff for helping in our decisions, especially Nita, Brian, and DJ. Most of all, you for bringing iPOP to Dallas and with you the opportunity for my girls to follow their dreams. Prior to iPOP, our girls had little experience-only huge dreams and determination. You believed in our children and saw in them something that could be nurtured into something great. iPOP boosted the girls' confidence and connected us with people that normally would have taken us years to meet. Some of them we could only have met by being involved with iPOP and we are grateful beyond words. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to us. The girls know they have a lot of work ahead, and we know that there are no guarantees, but we feel more confident because of our relationship with iPOP. We will never forget that it was you that gave the girls their start. Please tell Mr. Patterson that his speeches are inspiring and that values and self respect should never go out of style. And thank you to Crystal for always being so sweet whenever we call. iPOP is GREAT!!!

Sincerely,
Gary

My name is Suzanne Franks and you interviewed and selected my daughter Michaela Norton from Dallas for iPOP LA this January. Based on the number of children you see every year I am sure you don't remember her, but she remembers you.
You, and subsequently her whole iPOP experience to date, have made quite an impact on her. She is currently finishing a school assignment based on The 5 People you meet in Heaven. The children have to write testimonials about the 5 people who have made the biggest impact on them whom they would like to meet in heaven. I guess by now you have guessed that she has selected you.
Your organization is doing a fabulous job and while Michaela comes to the event with very little experience, her confidence and poise is growing. She is so looking forward to LA and if by chance she should get an agent it will be icing on the cake of a life changing experience for her.
Well done, Joseph and keep up the good work.

Thanks to you and all of the iPOP! team for a wonderful experience. Katie and I both loved iPOP!, and she learned an awful lot in just a few short days. She also made some great contacts. She signed with a San Francisco agency this week, and we're coming down to LA in February at the request of an agency there. Things are happening, and iPOP! certainly opened the door for Katie!
Rita
California

Dear Tiffany and DJ,

We want to let you know how much we truly appreciate all your hard work to make this event, iPOP 2007 LA, such an awesome experience for LeeAnne and I, especially LeeAnne. We had a fantastic time! I did get to meet DJ personally at the iPOP Shop and thank him. I would have loved to personally meet you, Tiffany, to thank you personally. You did a super-super job at organizing this event. It was such an awesome experience. While having fun, LeeAnne learned alot more about competing, working hard and cheering on friends we came with and new ones she met. She enjoyed participating in the workshops and seminars. She loved being with all the kids. This was an incredible experience for her. She will grow from this and will continue to work towards her dream and succeed. She loves to perform! LeeAnne competed in the A5 division-monologue,commercial and scene and S5 division-singing. She received "1st Runner-Up" in her S5 division. She also received 6 call backs. We want to express our gratitude and appreciation to the Memphis Directors-Glenda and David Marion, for all their help and support they gave us. They were wonderful to work with. We truly had a great time. Kimo and the coaches also did a great job. This event was totally awesome!
Debbe, Charlie, and especially LeeAnne
Kansas City

To Those Who make it possible.
I, as a parent and supporter of a talented actor from Tucson,AZ, want to congratulate and thank you for your very hard, and diligent work. Too many times those who are in the background, (the grunts) are unmentioned. I noticed, and I thank you. My son has worked very hard and you have provided him the opportunity to display his abilities,talents and enthusiasm to the very people who can advance his chosen career. It is rare indeed in todays world for someone else to care enough to work hard for the advancement of others, You are to be commended, and should be rewarded. I cannot reward any of you, however I do commend you. Please accept my sincerest gratitude and thanks for a job well done.
A grateful Dad
Tucson AZ

New York 2006

"The event exceeded our expectations in virtually every regard. We appreciate that it was held in a manner that made it fun in the midst of a great deal of pressure to perform."
Mr. Palatas, parent

"Andrea enjoyed iPOP! and I think she learned alot about competing, working hard, having fun and rooting for friends."
Mr. Guite, Parent

"The whole things was an adventure. Nadia cried when we left and said she wished she could do it all over again. I'm not sure which she enjoyed more, the auditioning or the bonding with other kids. It was really an experience for her."
Cindy, Parent

"It was one incredible week...It was as you promised, better than LA, although I though LA was great!"
Nita Brochu, Parent

"What can I say about iPOP! 2006 LA except that it was great! As a parent of a child who loves to perform, this experience was more than we could even hoped for. Our son Doug was sure that he wanted to be an actor before we went, but after experiencing it all firsthand, he could not be more convinced, nor could I.We are still not sure what was the best part of iPOP! 2006, LA, as it was all very exciting from the moment we arrived until we sadly left Los Angeles. It could have been meeting the agents first hand, they were great! And we’re looking forward to hearing back from the ones that we made contact with. It could have been the competition; delivering the commercials, monologues and scenes that he had worked on and perfected, or even the awards that he won. I think that Doug loved it all, but I think being in the Showcase was his favorite. Showcase, actually happens on the last night where they Showcase new talent; actors, models and singers. It was a great experience that he will always remember, and working with a great team of directors/choreographers excited and encouraged him even more. Another great thing was the seminars that they had for the parents and for the kids. I received a lot of valuable information from the parent seminars on how to help our children be successful. Doug said that he liked his seminars too, and he even took notes. So was it worth the long hours that Doug spent practicing his material, as well as the headshots, resume preparation, and the finances needed to go? Absolutely! The experience was invaluable! And we will go again? Well, iPOP 2007 LA will be here before you know it, maybe we'll see you there! iPOP! 2006 LA From A Mom’s View: Nita Brochu