$400 daily?! It would be hard to look away, huh? That’s what they want.

$200/day or maybe $250 is normal. Good job on the research!!!

Also, when do they ever say “your services” in a professional shoot? NEVER!

It doesn’t sound right to me.

A professional agency is using CL? Unusual.

They are promising the world…

Remember, you never pay for representation. Check this out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YPaDFd3TYo

The woman on the phone was telling me how using the internet to find acting jobs isn’t going to get me much paid work and how the industry is so word of mouth.

She said that they wanted me to register with their site so they could send my pictures in for the Kohls print ad and that the fee was $24.00 a month.

She emailed me a link to the website and said to contact her when I had completed the registration so they could go over what kind of pictures I should have in my portfolio.

In the email they said they are proud of their BBB rating (better business bureau. they search out scam businesses) I checked the BBB site and it said that while they were not accredited, they did have an A+ rating. I don’t know what to do with this information.

I looked more at the BBB page and it says they’ve been a company since 2010, that no reports have ever been filed against them, no complaints either, and all the stuff on there about payment and canceling payment is what they told me themselves.

That doesn’t mean much.

If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

So what do they want from you?

It might just be me, but they sound a little off. In terms of the modeling, most agents who are interested in you will not have you pay up front because they think you have the right look to make THEM money.

They shouldn’t need you to pay them because they make money off the work you do.

Maybe contact those models who are on their site and what kind of work they are getting.

There is no reason for a real agency to talk about how proud they are of their BBB rating.

You are right. Good thing I thought to ask first. I wasn’t sure how the whole “representation by agents” thing worked so when they asked for a monthly fee up front I thought it better to ask, just in case. Thanks Janet and Isabel!

Very smart of you! Can you post the website to that agency here? I’d like to see what looks legit to you.

Leaf B. yes this is a scam! I’ve been a model in and out of the business since I was 10 years old. Craigslist is used mainly for ultra low budget stuff or scams.

They want you to join their website and pay a monthly fee to put your “pic up for agents to see” it’s BS.

And mostly for any model work, an agent will want to meet with you to take pics and do measurements and discuss either signing exclusive or non-exclusive. They never discuss too much over the phone it’s more like “great headshot I’d like to schedule a meeting for this and this” they’ll never try to sell themselves to you.

Please take precautions on anything on CL.

Agreed! I have an agent and they never once asked for money. What they should ask you for is you work. A real agent will want to see you act and see your headshots. You are there to make them money so they will thoroughly check out their investment.

I have heard of, and had experience with, legitimate agents referring actors to photographers to get new headshots because the ones they have are out of date. In which case, you have to pay the photographer. That’s the only situation I can think of that you would have to spend money before representation.

As soon as I saw the testimonial page and saw how scripted they all sounded that I was certain this was fake. Seriously, if they are going to do video testimonials, get some bettor actors!

Casting247.net

A name like casting247? Where are their offices? Can you go in for a meeting?

It’s a conglomerate site, that sells monthly subscriptions to people nationwide, hoping they forget about the monthly charge.

Hey, it’s big business, as they have people scanning CL and also calling people personally! They have all the logos, they are trying to sell you big time.

Here’s your assignment Leaf, if you are up to learning big time, and contributing to all of us. ;-)))

Go to your magic list and find a real agency. Look at their site, go through every section of their site and see the wording, see the lack of logos, etc. Give us the url of the real agency.

And then go through the casting247 site and see the difference.

Can you write down the big differences you see?

That will be very helpful for others to see a list.

The logos, the scripted testimonials, the monthly fee, the wording like “You have taken your first step towards an exciting and rewarding new career….” There may be 50 differences.

And it will be awesome to see a website of a real agency too, what that looks like.

Call your film commission and ask them what is the biggest agency for background work… and then ask them what is the biggest agency for principal casting. See if they give you names.

I went to empirecasting.com to compare it to casting247.net

The first thing I noticed on the REAL site, empirecasting.com was the lack of pictures of models or adverts with “you could be making this kind of money!” numbers on them. They weren’t trying to sell me a dream.

I looked at some of their credits. They did casting for Point Break.

When I went to their “About” page to compare the two I noticed that while Casting247 boasted “one of the largest, most diverse casting databases available” they did not say what it was.

They had several paragraphs of how they were all about using technology to make getting jobs easy and then one paragraph about how users could make a portfolio and have exclusive this and exclusive that.

Empire Casting had three concise sentences about what they were and how their talent was verified, then three bullet point lists of amenities like “audition studio in house” and “complete knowledge of SAG/AFTRA contracts” and “exclusive to EMS Payroll for all projects.”

Casting247 had no “contact us” page.

Empire Casting had the phone numbers on their CA, GA, and NY offices and though the physical addresses weren’t listed on their website, the GA one was listed on the film commission webpage

The last big thing I want to mention was the Casting247 testimonial page. Not only did they feel they needed one, but it was all videos of people clearly reciting from a script. I mean, if you are going to have live videos, hire some decent actors if you want to be believable.

So helpful having the comparison of the two sites! Thanks for this Leaf!

That really really rocks. Really proud of you. What a service you’ve done for us, and now you can also let others know what to look for.

“Get it factor” all the way!

1. Why would anyone say,

“I’m sure you’ll understand I tend to have a very busy schedule at this point.”

What that is supposed to do it INTIMIDATE you into not asking questions. They are priming you to “do whatever they without questioning”.

2. Also, producers don’t look for PAs.

A real producer would have their production manager talk to you. The producer is too busy with the creative of the shoot.

A production manager would want to have a good member on their team so good communication would be important. They would be friendly and give you their phone number and email. Make sense?

3. They explain the position is not location based. WHY?

They hope you’ll think, “OK, it makes sense that I’m here in Seattle and they are shooting in Los Angles. What do I know, maybe that’s the way film works! OK!”

4. Chores? I have never heard that term used in production. hahahahaha!

5. Look at the run on sentences. Doesn’t sound like a professional or intelligent person… or even someone from this country!

They say,

“I’m confident you can take up the challenge and on the long run we should have a relatively sound working relationship between us. I am glad you are willing to work with me and i promise to be a good boss.”

Really? They are not from the US, c’mon!!! :-)

6. They say,

“I have been checking my files and what i would want you to do for me next week is to do shopping for production equipment/printing materials that will be used at the location of the production”

They have been checking their FILES???

Of course, they are getting you ready to shop, ahhh, we are talking MONEY now… ah, They are getting you used to spending some money.

And for PRINTING MATERIALS used on set? Every Production manager already has a $300 printer, so they need PRINTERS? Ridiculous.

Bottom line, you would NEVER pull out your own money for a shoot. They would give you petty cash, IN PERSON. You never, ever use your own money on a shoot. OK?

7. They say,

“The Check will be mail to you from my Client next week—who is the executive producer–,although the money is needed to get some tools needed for the production. “

AHHH, the CHECK again! Now we are talking! The scam comes into full view!

And of course they are sending it to you, but soon you’ll be sending the money to them in a cashiers check… and their cashiers check will not clear.

8. Have you ever heard of production working this way? Where they send you a check and you deduct part of it for your pay? You NEED to be around production more to understand how ridiculous this is.

OHHH, this makes MY BLOOD BOIL!!!

9. They say,

“I await your mail”

They always speak in the most ridiculous way… but soon they will get smart and you won’t be able to tell as easily.

Anyway there you go. Thank you for the excellent example of a scam.

Oh interesting. So, how did they get you to send money to them via money gram?!

They made it as a secret shopper. You take the money they send you, cash it but through your bank. You then pay in cash to two separate addresses minus the 200 for your feedback. Then you are to send a report.

Thank you for explaining this. You didn’t know the check bounced until a few days later and by that time you had already taken the money out in cash to send via money gram?

Is that accurate? And they had some reasoning for the urgency to do the moneygram quickly (before the check bounced?) What did they say?

They offered a bonus for a “timely” report on the customer service.

I see. They make it all make sense. Thanks for sharing that.

There is no doubt about it, it is a scam!

Don’t respond. It won’t stop them, and it does nothing does it? The best thing you could do, is show this to all of us! I’m putting this in the training!

I also thought it was strange that he’s a photographer but doesn’t use social media to promote? Neither does the designer he named. I couldn’t find them in Google or in any search engine I used… they didn’t exist!

The biggest clue is they are concocting a way for you to send them money. Ridiculous.

I think it could be a scam. I’d ask Janet Urban but law firms? You issuing reimbursement payments seems as though that’d be a Finance/Payroll Responsibility. Also, that’s quite a bit of money for such a short shoot.

Anytime I’ve been contacted it’s NOT a lengthy an email.

A real job asks, “Are you available for all dates?”, followed by a 10-15 minute phone call for the rest of the details. My opinion is that it’s a scam…

Yes, first of all, you are in Florida. Why are they putting out on the internet they need someone when they are in Vegas? There are plenty of professionals in Vegas, and if you are a professional, you’d know them, not need to make all this work to list all this stuff INCLUDING THE SCHEDULE (LOL!) and try to entice someone to fly over.

Also, law firms? What? It’s all ridiculous. Just ridiculous.

They may use someone’s name who is a real person. They may have a real address. The scams are supposed to look real. But only to people who don’t know any better.

I do. We do. We actually already talked about this scam in an earlier post.

Why do you think it’s not a scam?

Good point Melissa. She’s right on, on all her points. Where is the phone number? Call them up and discuss the shoot! Ask them why they are advertising nationwide and reaching out to people when there is a ton of people in Vegas?

I went over this already. What is this?

9am Julien Dossena arrive for Paco Rabanne
9.45am Lydia Maurer arrive for Paco Rabanne

It’s ridiculous!

And 15 minutes for lunch! Ridiculous.

And still life? Whaat?

That’s a painting term.

it’s “product shots” if it’s a commercial.

If not, why would an AGENCY be there? It’s all just wrong.

It looks nothing like the emails I’ve ever seen for any production shoot that I’ve been on whether is was an indie film, a big budget feature, a photo shoot, a corporate video, documentary, …etc.

There are too many flags in this posting to even consider it to be real. Janet and Melissa covered many of them.

And it is a good point that someone made about them using the names of real people or production companies. They’re fishing for the few people who may do a quick internet search but not followup with the actual company or notice the other errors in the posting. Scammers will use pieces that are real to make their requests seem real.

Its in the backend where they start giving you cashier checks that you don’t find out are fake until you’ve spent money from your account the checks were supposed to have covered.

Hmmm, it sounds fishy, like the same email I got, and I’m positive it’s a scam. Did it look like this?…

I’m not saying that the offer you got wasn’t legit, but just be careful. “Handling financiers, running errands prior to our arrival.” Just make sure they don’t ask you to buy anything with your own money. If they do, DON’T do it. Production companies will NEVER ask to you to buy anything before you meet them on set. And they will give you petty cash or credit card to do it.

Thanks! Wow yes FIF MENTOR Patrick , it looks exactly like that. I did google the company and they do have films / music videos. A sparse website, Wikipedia, IMDb credits, etc.

They asked for my address to know where to send over payment for the first week, which is a bit strange? The email was very long and extensive – as you can see by the photos.

Also he says he’s an affiliate, but online it says it’s HIS production company. It does seem strange that it is so close to the email you got?? And the prod companies don’t offer benefits? Red flags for a scam 😕

I’m not sure if it’s the same people. I would just be weary about anyone contacting you through StaffMeUp out of the blue, when you haven’t applied to any job. That’s not how StaffMeUp works. Typically, they post for a job and you have to submit for the position.

Also, there is no reason for them to ask you for a resume. All your credits are posted on your profile page. Normally they contact you after they have decided to hire you. A production coordinator will call you up and talk to you about the show, and the days you’ll work. Simple as that.

This email sounds like a bunch of BS…. “you’ll have a trial period,”… “then we’ll decide if you’re right for the job,” blah, blah, blah.

Yep, $1200 for 20 hours of work? Ridiculous.

Look, they are looking for someone to bite. Most people have 20 hours free. Most people would find it hard to turn down $1200. And heck, it’s film.

Trial period? Well, that sets you up to do anything they ask, because you want that money working only 20 hours/week!

SCAM all the way!

And like Patrick says, they don’t reach out to you, and the real productions don’t have a trial. YOU WORK IN THE OFFICE on real productions. NEVER REMOTELY!!!!