Modeling Agency News: American Modeling Industry Headlines

"Eyewitness News has learned that there are companies that will charge you just to be considered for a role as an extra. "He said, have your credit card ready. I said OK. I can't give you my credit card. In today's environment, you don't give out your credit card. And before I could get the credit card out good, he hung up on me," Umazar said. Eyewitness News called Star Search Casting to hear the sales pitch first-hand. A representative said Star Search would need to charge $99 to a credit card before considering anyone to qualify for roles. Eyewitness News looked at the Better Business Bureau's records on Star Search Casting, which is based in Oceanside, Ca. The investigation found numerous complaints, including 89 in the past 18 months and 72 in the last year. The BBB gave Star Search Casting an unsatisfactory rating. "If you complain, this company has been responsive in refunding people's money. So that's the good news. The bad news is they're still not getting people any casting calls or any acting work," said BBB president Tom Bartholomy."¹

1. "Whistleblower 9: Casting Call," Eyewitness News, WSOCTV 9 Charlotte, Oct. 31, 2003.

Teen modeling: Shopping around for opportunities

"You don't need to learn it all in school. You learn on the job." Sharma said young modeling hopefuls are being told they have to go to school, usually by people who will profit the most--the schools. But the professionals who hire models say schooling doesn't provide an advantage. Wehmann, who has been in the modeling business for 23 years, said that starting out doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. If she were advising the parents of a teenager interested in modeling, Wehmann would have them call every agency in town (listed in the Yellow Pages under "Modeling Agencies") to ask for advice. The agencies, which hire models for local clients such as Marshall Field's, Target, Best Buy, Regis, 3M and General Mills, are in a good position to advise a parent or teenager about what gets a model hired. Too often, Sharma said, the schools are selling a dream and students are led to believe they can't have that dream without proper schooling."¹

1. John Ewoldt, "Teen modeling: Shopping around for opportunities," Star Tribune, July 10, 2003.

U students strut, design for modeling show

"Two years ago, University sophomore Amber Rowe spent $600 on modeling classes that promised to provide her with auditions for fashion industry work, she said. But the only audition Rowe received was casting for children ages four and under, she said. “I was disappointed,” Rowe said. “I had lost $600 and wasted a weekend of my time. I decided to get out of the industry after that.”¹

"The fashion show educates models and actors for free on how to get into the industry and avoid scams, said its creator, Shaan Sharma. Sharma is all too familiar with modeling scams, he said. He spent thousands of dollars on modeling schools when he started out in the modeling business five years ago, he said. “But modeling schools can’t get you work,” he said. “They have almost no role to play in the industry. The programs they sell are overpriced and they give you useless information.”²

1. Mehgan Lee, "U students strut, design for modeling show," Minnesota Daily, June 23, 2004.
2. Ibid.

NYS Slaps Model 'Scam'

"The New York State Consumer Protection Board (CPB) is hounding Louis J. Pearlman--the Florida-based music promoter responsible for teen bands the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC--for alleged model-scouting scams in Manhattan and Buffalo through the Wilhelmina Scouting Network, now called the Web Style Network. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, the Screen Actors Guild's (SAG) legal department appears set to investigate Pearlman's and other managers' activities with actors. Pearlman's model-scouting efforts--which include franchise offices nationwide as well as a website--also brought a lawsuit from the established Wilhelmina Models agency to make Pearlman's firm stop touting the Wilhelmina designation."¹

"Actor Paul Petersen is a child-performer advocate and a member of the Screen Actors Guild's national board of directors. He told Back Stage on Monday that--at SAG's plenary council meeting last weekend--he had brought up the New York CPB's actions involving Pearlman's firm to SAG's legal department and to Hollis Batchelor, SAG's deputy national executive director for organizing, education, and branch management. "We're on the warpath about this," Petersen said. "SAG's staff was very positive in responding. This is a person well known to us, especially at AFTRA [the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists], because of recording contracts. We want this to stop." Petersen said he has also been in touch with the Los Angeles city attorney's office, which was instrumental in passage of a California state law creating both civil and criminal penalties for management scams. Petersen has worked with SAG, city, state, and federal government officials in efforts to create child-performer protection laws. His and SAG's, along with AFTRA's and Actors' Equity Association's efforts, recently paid off in New York state with a new law securing child-performers' income and education."²

1. Roger Armbrust, "NYS Slaps Model 'Scam'," Back Stage, Oct. 23, 2003.
2. Ibid.

(Trans Continental Entertainment Group, Inc., Web Style Network, Wilhelmina Scouting Network)

Aspiring models told to monitor credit cards

"The Florida Attorney General's Office is cautioning customers of Lou Pearlman's controversial model-scouting company to watch for unauthorized charges on their credit and bank cards. Investigators are not accusing Pearlman or his company of wrongdoing. But questions have arisen regarding the security of the Wilhelmina Scouting Network credit-card database following a shakeup last month within the firm. The Attorney General's Office says it fears that the company's credit-card records may have been seen or used by someone not authorized to do so. "Their records may have been compromised," said attorney general spokeswoman JoAnn Carrin, citing investigators' findings. It is the latest development in a yearlong investigation of the Internet-based model-scouting company. Investigators already are looking into complaints that customers were misled with promises they would easily find work as models."¹

"Pearlman, while acknowledging the two cases of unauthorized charges, offered assurances that the company's financial databases are safe. He said anyone who has signed up within the past year--since he has been running the company--has nothing to fear. All account numbers collected during his tenure as chairman of the company are in a secure database, he said. "We ran a check on that and found nothing to date to be suspicious about," Pearlman said. However, both of the men who complained to the company about unauthorized charges said they joined within the past year. And what about the financial information belonging to the thousands of would-be models who signed up before Pearlman took over the company? "I can't speak for any of those customers," said Pearlman, noting that he had no control over the handling of sensitive information before he joined Wilhelmina."²

"According to Wilhelmina's most recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the company's relationship with several credit-card companies already is strained. Those companies have complained about Wilhelmina's high rate of charge-backs--where a customer asks for a charge to be removed from his bill, according to the filing. Wilhelmina makes its living putting aspiring models on its Internet site--generally for $1,000 each, plus a $20 monthly fee--where they can be seen by more than 1,000 registered users, including casting agents, talent scouts and modeling agencies. The company has been under investigation since August 2002, shortly before Pearlman bought his stake in the company. More than 1,300 customers have filed complaints with the attorney general, alleging misrepresentation by the company. Authorities in several other states, including New York, also are looking into the firm's practices."³

"With Wilhelmina claiming a stable of 100,000 customers, the value of those accounts could be enormous. "You're basically looking at the dollar value of each of those individual accounts. That could tally up to quite a sum," said Jordana Beebe, with the Privacy Rights Clearing House. And while credit-card users are protected from fraudulent charges--generally consumers are only liable up to $50--it makes little sense to wait for something bad to happen, said Chris Hoofnagle, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "They can very easily protect themselves by calling their credit-card companies and asking for new credit cards," Hoofnagle said."⁴

1. Tim Barker, "Aspiring models told to monitor credit cards," Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 10, 2003.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.

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