Demi Lovato to make directional debut with 'Child Star' - will she draft in her fellow Disney alumni?

It’s going to be a topic that former Disney actress and singer Demi Lovato has a lot of knowledge about already; being a child actor and the fame, fortune and pitfalls that come along with being so young in the spotlight. That’s the story currently doing the rounds in Tinseltown, with Lovato making her directorial debut in a Hulu Original documentary, tentatively titled Child Star.

An early tradeline for the documentary by OBB Pictures, the production company behind the forthcoming work, states that Child Star will “deconstruct the highs and lows of growing up in the spotlight through the lens of some of the world’s most famous former child stars, including Lovato [and how] their rise to fame, fortune and power affects their futures.”

Lovato will not be helming her debut alone, however; she will be assisted by Nicola Marsh, who sat in the director’s chair for Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story in 2022 and the Showtime Original series The 12th Victim, surrounding the 1958 Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate murder case, in which the teenage couple was charged and convicted of brutally killing 11 victims at random.

“With this film, we’re setting out to tell a story that is as timely as ever given our evermore connected world and lack of privacy. This story has a deeply rooted shared nostalgia, and is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining,” said Michael D. Ratner, OBB Media founder, president and CEO. “Demi and the talented individuals taking part in this documentary have decided to share their stories authentically, and I’m thrilled to work alongside Demi, Nicola, and the teams at SB Projects and Hulu, in bringing their stories to screen.”

OBB Pictures, a division of OBB Media, has a multi-year non-exclusive development deal with Walt Disney Television Alternative. The deal focuses on creating documentaries, docu-series, original specials and unscripted formats that cater to Gen Z and Millennial audiences across Disney platforms. Which therefore begs the question…

Who could feature in Demi Lovato’s directorial debut?

With the production company already having links to the House of Mouse, Scooter Braun’s SB Films Projects and Lovato’s own production company DLG signed on for the documentary, it opens up many candidates that Lovato could include in her debut.

Lovato herself was one of several high-profile “Disney Kids” during a golden age for the network in the mid-to-late ‘00s, meaning she perhaps has a few of these numbers on her mobile phone (cell phone to our US audiences) still that she could contact.

The Jonas Brothers

The Jonas Brothers we think would be one of the strongest possibilities to be included in the documentary. The four child stars worked together on the Disney Channel Original Movie, Camp Rock, in 2008 in one of Lovato’s first lead roles.

Nick, Joe and Kevin had their own Disney Channel series, simply called Jonas, around the same time that Lovato was appearing in her vehicle, Sonny With A Chance. Many of a certain age will also remember the media scrutiny around the brothers and their “purity rings” after an interview with Kevin Jonas in 2008 - such was the public intrigue that even South Park felt it was a topical issue for one of their episodes (and one of the first instances of their Mickey Mouse parody.)

Selena Gomez

Wizards of Waverly Place ran alongside a programming block on the Disney Channel that included Hannah Montanna, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (featuring Dylan and Cole Sprouse) and Lovato’s own Sonny With A Chance. The show became a starring vehicle for another young Disney actress, Selena Gomez, who was already a familiar face to Disney viewers after several appearances on Miley Cyrus’ Hannah Montana.

Gomez spoke of her depression and anxiety previously and admitted that she began pursuing therapy in her early twenties and also spent time in treatment facilities. When she reached 100 million Instagram followers, Gomez said she "sort of freaked out" and has since taken several extended breaks from social media, due in part to negative comments. Which escalated threefold after her on-again/off-again relationship with another child sensation at the time - Justin Bieber.

Soleil Moon Frye

One of the original child stars, and perhaps a candidate for the documentary given their years of experience growing up in the public eye, only to eschew it for a few years after the goodwill died off. Soleil Moon Frye became a household name in the United States as she played the lovable orphan Punky Brewster in the NBC sitcom of the same name.

Frye’s experiences as an adolescent growing up in the public eye were presented to audiences in 2021 with the film Kid 90, a documentary film using an archive of footage she shot in the 1990s, for which Leonardo DiCaprio was executive producer. One of the major narratives of the documentary was her many friends who died at a young age from suicide or drug overdose, including Jonathan Brandis, Shannon Wilsey, Rodney Harvey, Harold Hunter, and Justin Pierce.

Melissa Joan Hart

Some people were Disney kids, others were fans of Nickelodeon - and Melissa Joan Hart for some time was the Queen of Nick. Though perhaps more well known now for her role as Sabrina: The Teenage Witch (which her younger sister Emily took the mantle over for the animated series), the actress made her name with the Nickelodeon series Clarissa Explains It All, which became a huge success for the network.

She darted around with small cameo roles in television series and the teenage romcom Can’t Hardly Wait after the conclusion of Sabrina: The Teenage Witch but returned to the television screen alongside another former child star, Joey Lawrence (Blossom, Brotherly Love) for the ABC Family sitcom Melissa & Joey.

Wil Wheaton

There may be no finer example of a child actor enduring the abuse of a fandom made of grown adults than Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Many considered the character a Mary Sue; a character archetype in fiction, usually a young woman, who is often portrayed as inexplicably competent across all domains, gifted with unique talents or powers, liked or respected by most other characters, unrealistically free of weaknesses, extremely attractive, innately virtuous, and/or generally lacking meaningful character flaws.

That led to his role after his first season on TNG to be toned down in subsequent seasons, which Wheaton reflected on his website in 2013. “When I was younger, people gave me such a hard time about Wesley Crusher, there was a time in my late teens and early twenties when I resented Star Trek.”

“It felt so unfair that people who had never met me were so cruel and hateful toward me as a person because they didn’t like a character I played on a TV show. I wanted to put Star Trek behind me and forget that it was ever part of my life.”