Under Investigation: The inside story of the Florida Attorney General’s investigation of Wilhelmina Scouting Network, the largest model and talent scam in America.

ISBN-0968713335 Paperback 512 pages $29.95

Modeling Agency News

The price of a dream

"Since signing up and paying for an additional $600 photo package, Testman said she has found two local jobs by applying to open calls--they included wearing an inflatable goldfish on her head to sell Peppridge Farm goods and handing out Charmin toilet paper samples."¹

1. Kevin Purdy, "The price of a dream," Buffalo News, Nov. 1, 2003.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20031101/1050647.asp

(Wilhelmina Scouting Network, WSN, Web Style Network, Webstyle Network)

Fearless Consumer: Model seduction II: the model's revenge

"In February 1997, when she was 60 years old and size 16, Stone paid Pro Images Studios $300 for their guarantee of three paid modeling assignments within the next year. She had heard the company's spiel at the Boar's Head, filled out an application, and posed for a picture. After that, even though Pro Images' handout had stated that she would receive a confirmation letter and fact sheet, nothing happened. Three months later, she wrote the company at their international headquarters in Riverdale, Georgia (not to be confused with their national headquarters in Charleston, Illinois), to say she'd never received either document and that she'd paid her $300 "in good faith, based on your... [representative's] statement... that senior citizens had a 98% chance of being selected for modeling assignments."¹

"The documents arrived the next month, in June 1997, but no modeling assignments followed. In October, Stone let me know that Pro Images was again coming to Charlottesville, and I attended a session at the Days Inn. By then I had heard Stone's story and was curious to see how the company operated. The presentation was slick, but when I confronted the salesman with Stone's experience, the cracks started to show--and no one hung around to give him any money. By then, Stone had written the company again, and this time Model Director Kimberly Grooms sent her a brand-new contract, dated October 31, 1997, that guaranteed three modeling assignments. Yet again, nothing happened."²

1. Barbara Nordin, "Fearless Consumer: Model seduction II: the model's revenge," The Hook, Feb. 14, 2002.
2. Ibid.

http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2002/02/14/fearlessConsumerModelSeduc.html

(Pro Images Studios, Pro Images International)

Dozens Chase Model Dream

"What we need is more people who are serious about becoming models," said Ollie Olson, a photographer and talent scout for Pro Images Studios, the modeling agency holding auditions. More than 100 men, women and children answered the agency's open call for would-be models of all ages and body types. "They are evaluated in about 40 categories, all visual," said Olson, as he smoked a cigarette outside the hotel. Applicants took turns walking in front of the agency's representatives, with each demonstrating his or her posture, smile and ability to pose for the cameras. Those who scored well were encouraged to sign contracts with the agency that would guarantee at least four modeling jobs over the course of the year. However, models must also spend up to about $450 for classes and pictures."¹

1. Amber Bollman, "Dozens Chase Model Dream," Northwest Florida Daily News, Nov. 29, 2001.

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/archive/news/01/011129news4.html

(Pro Images Studios, Pro Images International)

Behind the Catwalk, Suspicion and Suits

"At a crucial moment some years back when New York's top modeling agencies were considering whether to raise the prices they charged clients, Monique Pillard, an executive at Elite Model Management, dashed off a memo to colleagues. The agencies, she wrote, would be "committing suicide if we don't stick together." Noting that one rival at the Wilhelmina agency had warned her that such talk could give the impression of a price-fixing conspiracy, Pillard wrote, "Ha! Ha! Ha!" and dismissed the idea with an expletive. The document is typical of the kind of evidence jurors in US District Court in Manhattan will be shown beginning June 1, when a complex class-action suit brought by a group of models against their former modeling agencies goes to trial. Though jurors may show up expecting sexy stuff, they will soon learn that the case has little to do with catwalks, lingerie or lithe beauties and everything to do with the interpretation of documents like the one lawyers now refer to as the "Ha-ha-ha" memo. Is it evidence that Pillard knew she was involved in a price-fixing scheme? Or proof that she thought suspicions about such a scheme were way off the mark? The fate of some of the best-known New York modeling agencies--Elite, Next, Wilhelmina and Ford Models among them--may hang on just such questions."

Warren St. John, "Behind the Catwalk, Suspicion and Suits," New York Times, Apr. 18, 2004, p. 11.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/fashion/18MODE.html

(Elite, Next, Wilhelmina and Ford Models)