Modeling Agency News: American Modeling Industry Headlines

"In response to accusations from Pearlman and others that the group lost its drive, he [one of the band members] said: "We tried to find a balance. We got tired of being taken advantage of. That's the bottom line." So the group took its contracts to outside lawyers, who discovered Pearlman had legally made himself a sixth member of the group, allowing him to keep 17 percent of revenues after taking his 15 percent commission, according to court documents."¹

1. Neil Strauss, "The Lost Boys: How a Pop Sensation Came Undone," New York Times, Aug. 18, 2002.

Model Behavior?

"... we bring you a DATELINE Hidden Camera Investigation. It's a look at a thriving industry that appeals to thousands of young people. Talent scouts offer access and opportunity to those hungry for their first big break, especially in modeling. How much do they really deliver? Tonight, DATELINE goes undercover. Here's Victoria Corderi... Imagine you are strolling down the street or in a mall or, like this woman, on a beach, and someone approaches to tell you something flattering that could change your future. Ms. GILMA MENDOZA: She's like, 'How tall are you?' So then I told her I'm 5'8". And she's like, 'I would love my office director to see you. You have a great look.' CORDERI: Gilma Mendoza said it was a talent scout who spoke those magic works that day on Miami Beach. She had always wanted to be a model but so far had little luck breaking into the business. Ms. MENDOZA: I was happy. I was like, 'Oh, my God,' you know? 'Yeah, you know, I got scouted and I'm going to go and, you know, things are going to happen.'"¹

Model Misbehavior

"Once they fill that out, they’re considered a registered user. That’s how Wilhelmina [Scouting Network] can get away with saying it has 1,000 registered users,” even if the modeling agencies never once flip through WSN’s face book. (Pearlman declined to disclose a single one of the 1,000 agencies he says are registered users.) Elliott didn’t know any of this when she signed on as a scout. She, too, was introduced to the company through a job posting on Monster.com. Each would-be model she brought in who then signed with WSN earned her between $20 and $50 a week. “They claim to offer benefits. There are no benefits,” says Elliott. “There is no base salary.” Carol Coles, who got her scouting gig through Monster.com, says the job ad she responded to promised $17 an hour. Five minutes after her first interview, she says, she was scouring the streets of Oakland, Calif., for pretty faces on commission—”no benefits, no hourly.” She worked full-time for a week and convinced five people to go in and sign up. But then she didn’t get paid. After three weeks went by, she stopped trying to recruit people. Then her immediate supervisor quit, telling Coles “it’s not fair to the scouts.” Coles says she eventually badgered her $250 out of WSN, but was shocked to learn that one of her friends who had signed her 5-year-old on as a model was being asked to pony up $750. “Their concept is good, but that’s when I just lost it,” she says. “For Monster.com to advertise it as a job is wrong.” Monster.com apparently agrees. Just last week, the world’s largest job board yanked all 1,200 of WSN’s talent-scout and modeling-job ads “until this company changes its business practices,” according to spokesman Kevin Mullins. The listings claimed that scouts could earn between $60,000 and $90,000 a year. Earlier this year Trans Continental Talent was similarly pulled off the HotJobs.com Web site. In a business so reliant on Internet recruiting for scouts and even models, being pulled off of major online job boards could deal quite a blow to the agency’s ability to do business."¹

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