Modeling Agency News
Models Beware
"Promises to make your child a model could end up empty, along with your savings account, according to a group of Bakersfield parents. Stephanie Brown knew her daughter, Brittany Cremeans, had dreams of being a model. "I was thinking of making the money for college and helping out my parents," Creameans said. Mother and daughter told KERO 23 News that they were taken in by Face National Models and Talent, of North Carolina. The company says parents are not required to buy the $600 photo shoot the company sells. But most of the "new" models do, KERO reported."1
1. "Models Beware," KERO-23 Bakersfield, July 18, 2002.
http://www.thebakersfieldchannel.com/call23/1566752/detail.html
(Face National Models and Talent)
Misleading Model
"What could be more glamorous than having your face splashed across every magazine in the world? Next week a North Carolina based modeling agency called Face National Models and Talent is coming to Binghamton to audition aspiring models and according to the State Consumer Protection Agency, they get you to spend hundreds of dollars of pictures they don't need. Face asks that young people bring 72 different pictures of themselves or buy a 500 dollar photography package and sign a contract. Over the past three years 59 people filed complaints against Face with the Better Business Bureau who gives the company an unsatisfacory rating."1
1. "Misleading Model," FOX 40-WICZ, n.d.
http://www.wicz.com/news/news.asp?m=v&a=2861
(Face National Models and Talent)
Investigation Reveals Some Modeling Agencies More Up Front Than Others
"Another Charlotte-based modeling agency, Face National Models and Talent, has gotten about 30 complaints this year.Bartholomy said they’ve made some strides, but they have a ways to go. With that in mind 6NEWS sent Photojournalist Ken Shermer undercover into the company's Morehead Street office. Ken, who admits he's no model, soon found out how easily he could have handed over his cash. "I could've signed a contract today," said Ken. "I didn't feel like I was misled or anything like that." He was told most of the bookings are promotional work. First he would need pictures. "We would have to do a photo shoot and all together it is broken down into three different payments is $596," said a representative for Face National Models and Talent. The company owner Jennifer Gill refused an interview on camera but says good looks are not crucial in promotional modeling. She says her business is licensed with the Department of Labor saying "we can work these people in trade shows. It’s a placement service. It's a temp agency." Meanwhile, the BBB says Face National is trying to resolve its complaints. The same day another agency held an open model call in a local hotel. Again with the undercover camera, International Talent Management gave Ken, and the others who showed up, much the same pitch."1
1. Bobby Sisk, "Investigation Reveals Some Modeling Agencies More Up Front Than Others," NBC-6, Apr. 30, 2001.
http://www.nbc6.com/news/local/nbc6-0430-models.40b218cd.html
(Model Select International, Face National Models and Talent, International Talent Management)
BBB Warning about Modeling Agencies
"In these star-crazed days of high profile talent searches, more folks have stars in their eyes and more schemers are seeing dollar signs in theirs. All too often they leave broken promises behind. Joe Ayers had high hopes of a modeling career. Now he has a small stack of slides that cost him a thousand dollars. It's all that's left after signing up for a modeling agency that took his money and shut down. Ayers is one of the many victims that are filling up files at Better Business Bureau's around the nation. In fact, the BBB has issued an alert to people to ask for references. "Ask them for the names and numbers of clients of theirs. I'm talking about advertisers who use their models," said Ron Berry, of the Council Of Better Business Bureaus. A couple of calls can save you money before signing on with a modeling agency. The first should be to the Better Business Bureau. Also check with your attorney general's office."1
1. "BBB Warning about Modeling Agencies," KOLR10 News, Mar. 22, 2003.
http://www.kolr10.com/Global/story.asp?S=1185840&nav=0RXJEemX
The Ugly Business of Pretty Clothes
"Young men and women who have an interest in walking a designer's runway or in winning a lucrative advertising contract are left to sort through a host of exaggerated promises, pointless instruction and elaborate pipe dreams. The road leading toward a viable modelling career is so winding and so baffling, even that which is legitimate can often appear to be suspect."1
"To be sure, some major modelling agencies do employ scouts who receive a fee when they discover new talent. And those rare moments do occur on city streets, in parks and in restaurants. On the surface, it can be virtually impossible to distinguish a legitimate talent scout from an unscrupulous one. They all must approach complete strangers and play upon their vanity and their fantasies."2
"Whether it is a high-profile New York corporation or a small Midwestern shop, a reputable agency, if it is interested, will ask a hot prospect to do a photo test. "If they're very, very interested, they will pay," Hudson says. "But you never get a free ride. You may not have to pay out of pocket, but when you have your first job, you may have the experience I did of opening up your pay check and it says 'Void.' "3
"Contrary to the popular mythology, star models are not created overnight. Often, they have to wait for the fashion pendulum to swing back in their direction. It can take several years of plodding work before their "look" is in demand."4
"Transforming oneself into model material is not so much an arduous process that one undertakes, but rather a case of luck spurred on by hard work. Success as a model ultimately is determined not by the individual, but by the industry."5
1. Robin Givhan, "The Ugly Business of Pretty Clothes," Washington
Post, April 11, 1999, p. H1.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
(http://www.ifmo.com.au/gossip.php)
(Modeling scams)
Man Behind Success of Boy Groups Is Also Center of Lawsuits
"In the seven years since Lou Pearlman launched the Backstreet Boys on the road to pop music stardom, his recording studio here has become ground zero for the country's preteen music scene. It also has been beset by a string of lawsuits involving many of the singers whose careers he launched. In separate lawsuits, the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC have accused Pearlman of deception and cheating them out of money. Both groups have since left Pearlman and settled their lawsuits for undisclosed amounts of money."1
"*NSYNC's JC Chasez said in court papers last year that Pearlman was "an unscrupulous, greedy and sophisticated businessman." "It is the story of a man--Lou Pearlman--who, while hugging us and calling us 'family,' was picking our pockets, robbing us of our future and even endangering our health," Chasez wrote. A spokeswoman for *NSYNC said group members wouldn't comment on their relationship with Pearlman. Neither would the Backstreet Boys. Four of the five members of the Backstreet Boys--Brian Littrell, Howard Dorough, A.J. McLean and Kevin Richardson--sued Pearlman and his management team in 1997, claiming they had earned more than $10 million but had received less than $300,000. When Pearlman launched the group in 1993, he set up a shareholders agreement that made him the "sixth" band member, deserving of one-sixth of the band's revenue from merchandising and concerts. He encouraged the band to sign management and recording agreements with Trans Continental, giving his company 43 percent of the group's revenue for consulting services. The band also gave power of attorney to Pearlman and Trans Continental. Pearlman booked the band's flights on the airline owned by his company and encouraged them to invest their savings in his company's employee investment savings account, according to court documents."2
1. "Man Behind Success of Boy Groups Is Also Center of Lawsuits," Associated
Press, Mar. 9, 2000.
2. Ibid.
(Lou Pearlman)
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