This is very long, but I think it is worth the read because it might just save you thousands of dollars… Lately I have been hearing a lot of ads on the radio for talent agency’s that will “make your child a star!” The ads say that there is a major Hollywood casting director that is coming to Raleigh on such and such a weekend and is looking for new faces for Disney, Nickelodeon, etc. Be advised, these are nothing but scams! I’m not rubbing anything in anyone’s face, but I know this business very well because my child is an actress with a legitimate agent. She has done very well for herself, so I have a very keen insight into how the acting biz really works. Now, these ads come on and tell you that a “major Hollywood casting director” is going to be at whatever hotel on some weekend and that you can take your child there for an audition. What really happens is that you get there, they take a picture of your kid, talk to them for a minute, and then send you off into the lobby while this supposed casting director “evaluates them”. Now keep in mind that there are literally hundreds of kids there that think they’re going to be “the next big star” (quote from the radio ad). After you’ve waited for an hour or so, they come out and divide people into different conference rooms. Once everyone is seated in your room, someone comes in and tells you that this is the room for those that past the initial audition (they say that in every room) and asks the parents to come back the next day to discuss their child’s “exciting future in acting!” They also tell you not to talk to the people in other rooms because their kids didn’t make it and they don’t want to make them feel bad. Oh yeah…then they ask you if you’re ready to make an investment in your child’s future stardom and if so, bring your checkbook back tomorrow. You go back the next day and what you get is a big sales presentation and told that you’re here because this casting director saw your child and thinks they have a great shot at making it in Hollywood. For one hour they fill your head with how great it is being a child actor and how much money your child can make. They tell you stories about people like Melissa Joan Hart, Shia LaBeouf, and Hillary Duff and how all got discovered this way. Now at the end of this huge presentation (I’ll tell a funny story about the one I attended later), they drop the bomb on you. For the low, low, price of $2,000 your child will be entered in a national talent search contest that will be attended by (insert whatever bogus agents/directors/producers they are using this week). Of course there is the collective audience gasp at the amount of money, so they come at you with this type of line: “Making your child’s dreams come true takes a true commitment on the parent’s part. Wouldn’t you do anything to make your child’s dreams come true?” and other crap like that. Now you might be thinking that no one would fall for that, but you wouldn’t believe how many parents line up to plunk down their money. NOW, here’s what really is happening! There are literally thousands of casting directors in L.A. Just about every Disney show has two or three alone, and each show usually has a different CD. So the “major Hollywood cast director” is either some assistant CD on a Nick or Disney show or a has-been CD that used to cast for Disney and now casts for local commercials. They are there, but you never get to see them because they’re usually in the back somewhere drinking coffee or sleeping off a hangover. Also understand that EVERY kid gets told they “made the cut” and EVERY parent gets invited back (different times, different locations so they don’t see each other). The sales presentation you go to the next day is nothing more than an attempt to prey on your emotions and to fill your head with BS about your kid making it in Hollywood. Usually towards the end of the presentation that CD will come in and tell you how special your child is and how he/she was hand picked by them to continue on into the national talent search. These people tell you that the talent search is world-famous and that power players in Hollywood attend these things twice a year, blah, blah, blah. Now in fairness, there really is a talent search contest. It’s held in places like Pittsburgh and your child will be showcased. That is, they will if you plunk down the two grand…and oh yeah…you have to pay to all travel costs. And no, true “power players” do not attend. Now you’d think that rational human beings would see through this, but I personally know a woman with a Masters Degree that fell for it hook, line, and sinker. I also know a bank VP who got roped in. Needless to say, after they returned from Pittsburgh they were told that their child wasn’t what the “power-players” were looking for at this time. Now let’s talk about the reality of being a child actor and the business of acting…first and foremost, if an agent tells you that you have to pay them money up front before they sign your kid (ala John Robert Powers), run for the hills! A legit talent agent only gets paid if you get paid. You will have to pay for your child’s headshots, but that shouldn’t run any more than $300.00. If your child wants to try acting, here’s a free way to see if they have what it takes: Call a local talent agent (not John Robert Powers) and ask them when they are having their next open audition. Most agencies have them once every two months or so. What happens at an open audition is that the agent talks to you and your child for a little bit, gives them a short script (called a side) and then has the two of you come into another room where there is filming equipment. They then get the camera going and have the kid say the lines. If they like what they see they might offer your child a contract to represent them (no guarantee of work, of course). Sounds easy, right? WRONG! The harsh reality is that very few kids do well in the open audition. They fidget in front of the camera, look at Mom while saying the lines, look directly into the camera, get nervous, etc. My kid’s agent told me that one kid seemed okay and then when the camera was turned on the poor little guy started crying. Many people look at movies and TV shows and think “My kid can do that”. What you don’t see is everything it takes behind the scenes to make a movie or a TV show. Feature presentation movies usually take a year to film, and depending on the TV show it can take a month or so. Let me relate a couple of personal experiences that we had. My daughter’s first commercial was filmed at some plantation down by the S.C. border. It took 2 or 3 hours to film her part of the commercial…and she maybe got 5 seconds of face time on TV. She recently filmed a pilot for HBO, which granted is a huge deal for her, but she was on the set for SIX HOURS to film a scene that will probably be 3-5 minutes of actual “show time”. Oh, and did I mention that a parent MUST be on the set for the entire time for any actor under the age of 17? Yep, a parent has to take time off of work and travel to wherever the thing is filming and sit there and read a book or just do nothing. For the HBO thing, it went like this: Kids and parents get on the set, wait for an hour while the crew sets the scene. Kids get placed and rehearse their scene for 30 minutes then get taken off. Star of the show comes on, rehearses his part of the scene. Kids come back in scene with the star and they rehearse for 30 minutes together. Actually, it’s rehearse for 2 minutes, director wants the phone in the scene moved 6 inches to the left. Rehearse again, change this or that, etc. Finally after 3 ½ hours on the set, they film their part of the show. Sit for an hour while director, producer, and star look at the scene on film. Then 30 minutes for lunch. Come back from lunch and find out that the director wants the phone moved back to it’s original position and the scene has to be filmed over again. Film scene over again. Finally get to leave. Now you may be wondering why we go through all of that. It’s not for the money or the fame, because after five years my child has been in quite a few things but has not made a lot of money and has no fame. We do it because she loves it. I’ve told her many times that if she ever wants to quit she can. In fact, she told me about a year ago she wanted to stop for a while. We told her agent, who was fine with it. Then one day she said “Okay Dad, I’m ready to do acting again.” The moral of the story is this…first, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. Nobody becomes a star overnight and there are a lot of con artists out there willing to prey on over-anxious parents. The second thing to remember is that it’s not anywhere nearly as easy as it looks! JUST PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THESE SCAMS! P.S. If anyone wants any advice on legit acting, just let me know…
the ones i've heard advertised lately were by john robert powers. don't they have some level of legitimacy? edit: nope, guess not ripoffreport.com
Nope, absolutely none. At one time (back in the fifties and sixties) JRP was the big power player of agents in Hollywood. Basically, the original JRP died and his son took over the business. He ran it into the ground and then sold out. The people who bought it decided to play off the JRP reputation and start scamming people. I checked them out and they basically do the same thing as the others: Invite you to an audition (which everyone passes) and then give you a sales presentation on all the things JRP will do for your kid (modeling school, auditioning classes, headshots, etc). Basically it's a charm school. They tell you if you're interested in this, fill out a card and they'll get back to you. The next day they call you and tell you what a wonderful actor your child is going to be and that they see a very bright future for them. Once they get you excited, the tell you all of this will only cost you $3,000. Of course I said "No way", at which time the woman became furious with me and started telling me the same old story: "Nobody gets to Hollywood for free" "You're not supporting your child's dreams" etc, etc. Really, she got mad and started yelling at me. So I went home later that day and checked them out on the web. I found hundreds of testimonials of stories just like mine. In fact, almost the exact same words used on the phone and the anger when you don't agree to pay. Like I said, ANY agent who tells you you have to pay up front for their services is NOT legit, and any of them that tell you your kid has a bright future are not being honest. When my daughter signed with her agent, I asked "So what do you think her chances are?" The agent replied "She's got talent, but the industry is so fickle that you never can tell. We never make any gaurantees".
my daughter was approached the same way only by "publishing" houses that wanted put her art work in their books. My dughter is a legitimate artist and I don't know how they got her name and she got on the sucker list but her work was exhibited at school and in some regionals and state exhibits. When a child gets all excited about something like that it's kind of heartbreaking to have to explain the truth of it to them and watch that tiny bit of excitement and joy leave their eyes and be replaced by a tiny bit of world wise cynicism, a necessary but sad element of lost childhood and impending adulthood.
The BBB report on John Robert Powers. What gets me is that I hear the advert on the radio. It would seem that, since this is a known and documented scam, the radio station(s) would decline their advertising.
riiiiight... media outlets will pass up advertising revenue, big corporations will pass up revenue generated by arming and rebuilding counties at war, and the lamb will lie down with the lion. We should all get together and talk about this. I live right next to the roaring rainbow river in Rock Candy Mountain land. Come on by and we can watch my unicorns graze on the cotton candy grass....Ann Coulter and Elizabeth Edwards will be serving tea....
All sarcasm (hopefully) aside, the media have a duty to present what they believe to be accuracy. If it is found out that they knowingly presented a scam, their ratings will drop as listeners (and viewers) can no longer trust them. If their goal is to acquire money in the form of advertising, then it behooves them to present ads for viable and accurate products and services.
I was just offered a career in the lucrative Male Strippers Over 50 With Hairy Backs industry and all I need to do is send 1000.00 to these agents for my portfolio and promo material.... man I'm going to be in the money soon....
I hear the ad on 850 AM (The Buzz) all the time. I called once and they pretty much said what Steve said: If the people pay they get to play. I asked if them if the KKK paid them would they run one of their ads? The girl hung up on me.
Reading the Ripoff Report about these guys really made me feel bad for the kids. I remember how heart-broken my daughter was when she auditioned for a national commercial out in L.A. and actually got three call-backs. It came down to her and another girl and the other girl got it. She was upset and was trying to figure out how she could have done better. A year later she worked with a big name actor ("A" lister in the 80's, probably "B" lister now) and he gave her a very valuable piece of advice. He told her that you go into an audition, give it everything you've got, and then when you walk out that door you completely forget about it. You've done the best you can and once you leave the audition nothing can be done about it. She hasn't worried about an audition since. I just feel bad for these kids who get their heads filled with dreams of stardom and then, when the parents can't pony up the money, they're heartbroken. And who do they blame for missing out on "that big Disney show"? Why Mom & Dad of course! My advice is to just not even bother with these scam artists. If your child is truly talented, a legit agent will see it and sign them...
My child and I almost fell for the JRP scam. It was supposedly a part in the Hannah Montana show. We went to the "audition" and got the "call back". My child was so excited. At this point, because of the call back details, I did some research. Well, we never went back and my child was crushed. I would love some details/advice on some good talent agencies we might try. As well, I have another child interested in modeling. Anyone have any advice on proceeding with that? I appreciate any advice or direction you can provide. Thanks!
Ann Coulter would whip Elizabeth Edwards (the man of the family)butt and use you to mop up the mess. :mrgreen:
