Twelve-year-old Kayla Doeren is glad she found out early she wasn't an athlete. She likes her chances at singing, dancing and acting better.

The seventh grader will be starring in a movie to be filmed in St. Louis this summer. The producer of the film is a start-up company called River City Films.

She already is featured in a music video that's being used to interest potential film investors. The video was used last month at a luncheon for 225 at the Cardinals' Stadium Club downtown.

Kayla originally thought she was going to be an athlete.

"I was in soccer from kindergarten until I was in third grade. I never scored a goal in all that time. I can't run; I'm so slow," Kayla said.

But, her soccer coach took the whole team to a play put on by Young People Theater in St. Charles.

She said, "As soon as I saw the play, I knew that was what I wanted to do. My mom and dad were so happy that I found something I liked and was good at."

Her acting career started at 8 when she appeared in a Christmas play at St. Charles Community College. It was titled "If Angels Were Mortals."

She also had the starring role in the Young People Theater's production of the Broadway hit, "Annie." She's been accepted in the Muny Theater's Muny Kids program. Kayla said she's supposed to appear in two shows this summer, "Wizard of Oz" and "A Night with Gershwin."

Kayla takes both dancing and singing lessons. It was her singing coach, Nancy St. James, who suggested her for the movie role. "Nancy knew Cindi Gormley and Tony Coleman who were going to produce the film," Kayla said.

Tony Coleman is a St. Louis County policeman. He and Ms. Gormley formed River City Films two years ago. They want to produce family films and keep their company in St. Louis.

Kayla said she started auditioning for the movie lead about a year ago.

Coleman and Gormley had to move slowly because they're on a shoe-string budget. They also handle the whole film production themselves.

Kayla said, "After a lot of auditions, Cindi and Tony finally took me out to lunch and gave me a check for $100. That was my signing bonus."

She said she knows this first movie isn't a "really big Hollywood deal." But, she added, "It's going to be perfect for me. I'm ready."

Gormley said production for the movie will start this month. They've been holding auditions for other starring roles in the movie and have a script roughed out.

Coleman said River City Films will make movies for the whole family. He said, "I'm a policeman and I see the type of films kids see these days. Parents can hardly find anything they could watch with their kids."

Kayla said it took quite a bit of time to stage the 3-minute video. It will be included as a part of the longer film.

She's the lead singer and dancer in the video, which is entitled, "My First Kiss." It was filmed locally in two schools, in a home and a west St. Louis County residential street.

Kayla said the singing was done in a music studio. Then, the dancing and acting were done on two different weekends. The studio singing was dubbed into the video. "We lip synched the singing so I didn't have to worry how I sounded while we were dancing and acting," she said.

Kayla said she hopes to go to college at New York University and go into show business. "I'd like to skip high school and go directly to college. But, that isn't going to happen," she said.

But, if her dream of getting on Broadway doesn't work out, she's got another career picked out. "If it doesn't come through, I want to be a doctor," she said.

Kayla is the daughter of Robert and Carolyn Doeren. She has a younger brother, Austin, who is 7.

If you want to know more about River City Films, you can log on their website at: www.rivercityfilms.com.