Modeling Agency News: American Modeling Industry Headlines

"A local model contacted Eyewitness News Troubleshooter Jennifer Julian to get the word out about a new company in the area that claims to be scouting models. Susan Harris' face has been seen around the world. "Milan, Italy, New York, Atlanta and North Carolina." Susan was tired of the camera's glare, so she wanted to make a career move. "I was looking for a job online." There it was-- a job for a modeling scout. "That's cool, it's still in my industry still in my field." The company, Options Talent, says it's recognized as the world's largest and best model scouting company. Susan filled out the online application. She received a letter in the mail saying she had potential as a model scout. She then went to an open call meeting at a Durham hotel. Susan says Options Talent wanted her to hand out cards to potential models everywhere she went."¹

1. Jennifer Julian, "Is Something Wrong With This Picture?," EyeWitness News 11-Durham, Feb. 26, 2002.

Former model marketing manager says she 'just couldn't do it anymore'

"For months 6NEWS has been looking into Model Select International. The Charlotte company shut down and left hundreds of angry clients behind. A former marketing manager contacted nbc6.com and wanted to tell her story. Shannon McKnight said she was working with a mortgage company as a broker before taking a job with Model Select. "As marketing manager, my job was to take a few comp cards and put them in a FedEx envelope and mail them out to other talent agencies," said McKnight. McKnight said she got addresses for from phone books and open model calls held across the country. She claims her track record wasn't very good. She said she worked there about six months and probably put seven people to work. That's why McKnight said she resigned in June 2000. "People were spending upwards of $700 and $800 dollars to get these comp cards made - to not get any work," said McKnight. "I just couldn't do it anymore." When Model Select shut its doors in Charlotte earlier this year, McKnight wasn't surprised. The local Better Business Bureau office has gotten nearly a 100 complaints in 12 months on the company. They say the former manager, Rhea Lawson, is nowhere to be found. 6NEWS located the company's one time owner, Richard Hronik, through the BBB in Iowa. His file there is also under the name Model Select International, with Midwest Models, listed also. When 6NEWS called the number on the online report, there was another name, Labelle-Reve Hronik was in the office. But a secretary said he was unable to take the call. Model Select International and Midwest Models both have unsatisfactory records with the Iowa Better Business Bureau."¹

1. Bobby Sisk, "Former model marketing manager says she 'just couldn't do it anymore'," NBC-6, May 1, 2001.

State sues agency for model behavior

"Here’s how North Carolina’s attorney general says Model Select International Inc.’s pitch worked: The Charlotte-based agency would advertise that it was searching for models. Typically, 500 or so people, mostly 18- to 25-year-old women, would show up at its recruiting meetings. Only the most promising, they were told, would be called back for interviews. In reality, four out of five were asked back. The wannabes were told that they needed photographs to show potential clients and steered to photographers chosen by Model Select. And they were shown how to fill out time cards for assignments that paid $150 an hour. They got jobs that paid $15 an hour to hand out headache powders at racetracks or coupons at malls."¹

"They were also stuck with $600 bills for photo shoots, though they often didn’t get any prints. Those could cost an additional $450. In late May, the attorney general’s office filed a complaint in Wake County Superior Court against Model Select and its co-owners, Rhea Lawson and Richard Hronik. The complaint says the company, which has gone out of business, misled applicants and made most of its money from selling photos. Neither Lawson nor Hronik could be reached for comment. Charlotte, it turns out, is the Paris of the Piedmont when it comes to promotional modeling. It’s home to four agencies. And Tom Bartholomy, president of the Charlotte Better Business Bureau, says his office gets more complaints about model agencies than any BBB in the country. Of this year’s 152 complaints through mid-June, more than two-thirds were against Model Select."²

"R.D. Ecksmith, president of On Track Modeling, the first of the Charlotte agencies when it opened in 1995, says he understands why complaints get filed. “The problem with the industry is they hide what they’re doing. A lot of the companies, us included, sell photography, but we booked more than 5,000 jobs last year."³

1. Arthur O. Murray, "State sues agency for model behavior," Tar Heel Tatler, Business North Carolina, Aug. 2002.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.

Modelus operandi: Unhappy models can create ugly complaints

"It International Talent agency plans to open a U.S. headquarters in Fort Lauderdale this summer and the mayor already has given the company's British owners a key to the city. But some models in the United Kingdom want to slam the door on the agency's parent company even though others say it helped open doors for them. Critics complain they paid upfront fees to the agency's parent company, Models Direct, but did not get any work in return. It's a complaint heard about modeling agencies in general, both in Europe and the United States. British law permits upfront fees, but Florida law does not."¹

1. Becky Toosya, "Modelus operandi: Unhappy models can create ugly complaints," South Florida Business Journal, Apr. 12, 2002.

Agencies Build Up, Dash Modeling Dreams

"At 79, Lois Krebs is not the typical runway fashion model. But she thought she might find a place in ads that appeal to senior citizens. "I had a notion I could do what I saw other people my age doing on television," said Krebs, a great-grandmother. The first agent she met at Models 2000 Inc. told Krebs she had a distinctive look that companies want to sell their products. When Krebs got no work there, she tried another agent at Boom Talent & Modeling Agency, who also fed her hopes for a successful modeling career. Krebs says that between the two agencies, she paid about $1,200 for photographs they said she needed to launch her career. But they quit calling after she bought the photographs. And a year later, Krebs still has no work as a model. Her story is common in Tampa Bay's talent and modeling community. A handful of agencies here have gained a reputation for making money off expensive photographs after promising to find modeling work for people who have little chance of being models. Now Krebs and about 40 others who bought photographs at Models 2000 have written affidavits supporting a Hillsborough County civil lawsuit against its owner, Nancy Sniffen. And Tampa police say they are conducting a criminal investigation of the agency at 4844 W Gandy Blvd. "I want her shut down and I want restitution paid to the other victims," said Rick West, a retired Detroit firefighter, who is suing Sniffen on behalf of his 17-year-old daughter Christy, who paid $855 and got only photos, not jobs."¹

1. Tim Grant, "Agencies Build Up, Dash Modeling Dreams," St. Petersburg Times, Mar. 26, 2002, p. 1.B.

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