Modeling Agency News
Modeling: You've Got Just The Look
"For legitimate modeling agencies, people with a certain body type, who are of a particular height and weight with facial features to match, are good candidates for a career in the modeling industry. For other less-than-reputable modeling firms, a candidate with a pulse and a credit card will do. If you are like thousands of Washington residents you may have been approached by one of two local modeling outfits over the past few years. Chances are you got the same canned pitch about your looks and the potential you had for being a model."1
"... the candidate is told that the modeling firm is highly selective in scouting, screening and reviewing candidates for marketability as a model or actor. With this, the modeling firm represents to candidates that only 10% of applicants are accepted and candidate information must be approved by a special committee. Now comes the catch: They require that the would-be model put down a couple hundred dollars as a deposit."2
"The firm also fails to mention to candidates that no more than 10% of local acting union members earn more than $7,500 annually from acting jobs. In addition, what most model candidates do not realize is that legitimate modeling firms do not charge for training, photo shoots, make-up, etc. Rather, legitimate modeling firms cover such costs themselves. They make their money back when the model lands a job."3
"The business practices of Model 1 and Creative Talent Management have single handedly propelled the modeling industry into the Bureau’s top 10 most-inquired-about industries over the past few years. In fact, the BBB has received over 6,000 calls on Model 1 alone since it opened in June of 1998."4
1. Edward Johnson, "Modeling: You've Got Just The Look," BBB
Washington, DC, June 1, 1999.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
http://www.dc.bbb.org/newsrelease.html?id=29
(Creative Talent Management, Model 1)
The Improbable Dream
"With about 140 complaints lodged against it in the last year and a half with the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. and the Fairfax County Department of Consumer Affairs, the McLean company has emerged as one of the most controversial in the local modeling industry. Creative Talent advertises extensively for both potential models and model scouts. Customers have complained of misleading advertising, high-pressure..."1
"If [a girl] comes off the street into Elite and we think she has potential, she doesn't need to pay for classes. Somewhere down the line, she may take runway classes, which she doesn't pay for. We absolutely bear the burden. If a girl has talent and potential to become a model, of course, we help. It's a scam of [the model] paying $1,000 or $2,000. That's [expletive]!"2
1. Robin Givhan, "The Improbable Dream," Washington
Post, Dec. 2, 1996, p. C1.
2. Ibid.
(Creative Talent Management Inc., The Erickson Agency)
Modeling School Owner Agrees to $50,000 in Fines
"The owner of a Beverly Hills modeling and acting school agreed Wednesday to pay $50,000 in fines for allegedly using misleading advertising to promote his business. In settling a lawsuit brought by the Los Angeles city attorney's office, James K. Lord also agreed to operate his Beverly Hills Studios according to terms laid out in a court order, a spokesman for the office said. The city said Lord did advertising that "could mislead the public into believing that his model and talent searches were cost-free casting calls," when he intended to charge fees for the service. Deputy City Atty. P. Greg Parham said the defendant also misrepresented to potential clients the employment and salary opportunities that would be made available to them."1
"A complaint from one of Lord's competitors prompted the investigation of Beverly Hills Studios, formerly known as Powers Development Center and John Robert Powers of Beverly Hills, according to the city attorney's office. As part of the inquiry, undercover investigators from the Consumer Protection Unit posed as participants in Lord's talent searches. Under the settlement signed Wednesday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Horowitz, Lord must pay $38,000 in civil fines plus $12,000 in other damages."2
1. "Modeling School Owner Agrees to $50,000 in Fines," Los
Angeles Times, Feb. 2, 1995.
2. Ibid.
(Beverly Hills Studios, Powers Development Center, John Robert Powers of Beverly Hills)
Breaking Into Showbiz: Dott Burns Dos and Donts
"If you want to be a fashion model, know that this field requires a photogenic, beautiful, thin, leggy girl who is at least 5’9” with great hair and teeth with the ability to move well. I’d say only one in 1,000 females have all of these qualities. Of course, there is still lifestyle and commercial (non-fashion) modeling."1
1. Dott Burns, "Breaking Into Showbiz: Dott Burns Dos and Donts," Pageantry, Winter 1998.
http://www.pageantrymagazine.com/Showbiz/dottburnsd98biz.html
(Modeling scams)
Working as a Film Extra
"According to data from SAG, 56.6% of its 76,000 members earn less than $10,000 per year and in a Los Angeles Times article on June 16, 2001, 71% of SAG members earned under $7,500 a year and only 5% earned more than $70,000."1
1. Susan W. Miller, "Working as a Film Extra," Los Angeles Times, Sept. 30, 2001.
http://www.latimes.com/classified/jobs/counselor/2001/la-093001counselor-extras,0,4171584.story?coll=la-jobs-counselor-2001
(Acting)
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