Modeling Agency News
Avoid Being Victim Of Modeling Agency Scam
"I couldn't believe that I let myself be duped like that," said Joe Ayers, a modeling agency victim. Ayers has a small stack of slides that cost him $1,000. The pictures are all that's left after signing up for a modeling agency that shut down. "I was mad," he said. For Judy Van Der Linden, the dream of fame began with a newspaper ad for hair models. "It was $600 to have the photo shoot," she said. Now she has slides, but not one modeling job."1
"(The No. 1 complaint is that) they didn't get any work, even though they were promised there would be work," said Ron Berry, of the Council of Better Business Bureaus."2
"The Federal Trade Commission's Phyllis Marcus said there are red flags. People should watch out if a talent scout approaches them in a public place like a shopping mall or if a modeling agency steers them to "their" photographer. "It could be in that instance that the agency has a referral relationship with the photographer and is receiving kickbacks from that photographer," Marcus said. Also, no agency should ever guarantee work."3
1. "Avoid Being Victim Of Modeling Agency Scam," NewsChannel5,
Cleveland, Apr. 28, 2003.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/2163787/detail.html
(Modeling scams)
Modeling Scams
"Modeling scams are nearly as numerous as "wannabe" modeling and acting hopefuls who are suckered daily into spending money on classes and photos they don't need to break into the business. But how can one tell the legitimate agents from those who are only interested in exchanging one's bank account for a stack of photos and an education from a local charm school teacher--whose experience is likely slight on the acting and modeling side and much heavier in teaching what they themselves failed to be able to do for a living?"1
"Anyone who claims to be a modeling agency but also sells photos or classes has an ulterior motive to get you to sign with them."2
"Modeling agents said it is preferable for them to train raw talent themselves. Some said no training is generally better than the wrong training, because they don't have to retrain poor habits into desirable ones."
1. RuthAnn Hogue, "Modeling Scams," College Times, Nov.
6, 2002.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
http://www.ecollegetimes.com/2002/11/06/
(Modeling scams)
Models allege price fixing by New York modelling companies
"A lawyer who portrayed aspiring young models as wide eyed farm girls told a jury Wednesday in a civil trial that modeling companies, large and small, conspired for three decades to charge models the same high fees to find them jobs. "They're trusting, naive and vulnerable," attorney Merrill Davidoff said of aspiring models as young as 14 who eagerly sign contracts for a shot at fame and fortune. He said he will ask the jury to award millions of dollars in damages against a single modeling company, Click Model Management Inc. Other modeling companies originally identified as defendants had either settled or been severed from the trial. Aaron Richard Golub, a lawyer for Click, said the plaintiffs "can't get a penny because they can't prove an ounce of conspiracy against Click."1
1. Larry Neumeister, "Models allege price fixing by New York modelling companies," Associated Press, June 2, 2004.
Modeling
"Has anyone ever told you your child could be a model? A Georgia modeling agency told lots of Utah’s just that. But when a Bountiful teen discovered the agency's employee's had less-than-glamorous histories, he decided to “Get Gephardt.” "If you want to become a model then this is the agency for you,” that's just what the radio ad said. The ad also talked about earning big bucks simply for having the "look." "Your face could be what they need." But in the end, what modeling agencies like this want is your money? “Let's see the stomach that apparently got you the deal,” said “Get Gephardt” producer Mike Sanches off camera. Brandon Donovan thought his six-pack abs and his "awesome" smile gave him the "look" so he answered a radio ad for models. “They just told us right from the beginning you either have the look or you don't,” claimed Brandon. “I think he has the look,” said Brandon’s mom. You'd expect a mom to say that but Brandon says it was this man Kerry Killowitz seen last January in Mobile, Alabama working for face models but now working for look models who told Brandon he could make money modeling. Up to $150 an hour for different types of work. At the minimum you'll make $15 an hour and on average you can make anywhere from $25 to $30 an hour. But to get those jobs Killowitz told Brandon he'd need photo comp-cards. The cost, $649 and that’s if look models shot them and there'd be printing charges. Brandon paid look models $475 in deposits but just days before the scheduled photo shoot; he made an alarming discovery on the Internet."1
"The photographer gave me this business card for "Look Models" owner Vincent Dunn and as Brandon told others what he now knew. Guess what? It was Vincent Dunne on the hotel phone for me. “You want to sit for an interview with me? You don't want to sit for an interview,” Bill said has he questioned Vincent Dunn on the phone. “It appears to me that Look and Face are operating pretty much in the same fashion. No?” Dunn admitted he and Killowitz were both former employees of Face but did not tell me how the two companies were different.... But when I asked Dunn what he planned to do for people like Brandon who had thought they were getting more than just pictures for their money? “You are 100% willing to give people their money back if they contact you?” Bill questioned Dunn on the phone. But after that phone call, Look Models told Brandon they'd refund his money only if we didn't run the story you just saw. In the end it took weeks but Brandon finally did get his money back. So the moral here: don't pay modeling agencies."2
1. "Modeling," CBS2 KUTV Salt Lake City, Nov. 13, 2003.
2. Ibid.
http://kutv.com/gephardt/local_story_317125510.html
(Look Models and Marketing, Vincent Dunn, Kerry Killowitz)
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