John Casablancas Modeling

I attended an audition in April and was accepted into the Women's Professional Modeling Program for Summer 2022. Joining this class was one of THE BEST decisions I have ever made! Over the course of the thirteen-week program, I transformed from an aspiring model to a professional. We had a hands-on makeup course from a nationally recognized performing artist. We had a course in nutrition, taught by a registered dietician. I also got to spend multiple weeks perfecting my runway walk; a walk which came in handy when JC hosted an open call in August. I got to walk for multiple major modeling agencies and received my first call back from an agency in NYC!

My agent Tina, and the team at JC, are the absolute best! They take the time to work with me one-on-one and answer my questions whenever I have them. Since completing the course, JC has helped me land roles in motion pictures, television shows, and live events. Every week they are providing me with opportunities to audition for modeling and acting roles with local and national consumer brands.

What's more, JC continues to provide incredible opportunities for free continuing education! I have attended small-group sessions with top industry professionals including internationally successful fashion models, a professional acting coach from LA, an award-winning casting director, and even an American film producer. The groups are intimate, so I get to ask questions and even perform and receive feedback. How cool is that?!

Of all of this, my most favorite thing about JC Modeling and Acting Agency of CT is the community I'm building. I have created new and lasting friendships with other actors and models from the area; an opportunity that I would not have if I were doing this alone. I get to network other like-minded people on social media and watch their careers flourish! I even joined the JC "Mod Squad" and get to work alongside the JC team at local events. I am having so much fun doing what I love. I wouldn't trade this for the world!

However John Casablancas actually helps us gain work after the classes if you follow the directions they give you to help set up your agency profile. If you want to be taken seriously you have to be willing to invest in yourself before anyone else will. You can't get by with looks alone! You have to have substance. I've booked jobs since finishing classes and it has prepared me to compete against the veterans who have been doing this for a lot longer than I have! It's given me the confidence I need to succeed along with taught a lot of life lessons. I'd recommend this company to anyone who wants a clear and direct path to getting in to the industry.

Requested feedback from agent (by monthly) supposedly that’s what they do, let me tell you - they don’t even respond when you try to get the by monthly appointment. All this time I had only one meeting with agent, which was pointless and full of lies as feedback from clients. Caught the agent lying, pointed it out, agent had nothing to say. Canceled membership! Shame on these people, hard working $ and time spent on ** the agent make up, if they spend that time doing actual work to find jobs for their members it would be better for everyone and the world!

Well having no funds and this company draining your bank account is also an emergency and why I couldn't continue. Who has the money for this? They say investing in your future, no, you're investing in the company's future. They're going to try to make as much money as possible before they get shut down. What a shame, the fashion industry is already so cutthroat, why add to the issues? Shame on you John Casablancas Modeling for overlooking morals and ethics for a quick check. Wish you well!

To start off, JC sells this program by telling you they will give you the tools of the trade to get work in the Acting/Modeling industry. That is a false statement, they do not. They don’t teach you any acting techniques, you don’t learn anything about stage or film/television acting. You don’t even learn about how to actually become a model and enter the profession. Because the course is taught online there is no way to train on stage or on set during the class and that is something that any real performing arts conservatory would focus on. 30 zoom classes is simply not enough time to learn the tools of any trade, let alone this trade. What they give you is a brief overview of the acting/modeling profession, they teach you some modeling poses and you do some acting activities (such as an improv activity) during some of the classes.

They make the program seem very attractive to prospective students by introducing all of these highly successful people who are involved with JC and it gives you a sense of false hope. Those people did not become very successful in this industry just by taking a 60 hour powerpoint online acting course via zoom. No…they most likely have a BFA/MFA in acting from a performing arts conservatory like Julliard, Tisch, CalArts, Emerson, SUNY Purchase, Pace, UCLA, UC Texas-Austin etc. or maybe they graduated from LaGuardia High School or some other high school with an excellent theater program. Or they are professional NFL football player looking to get into acting.

The point is that this industry is saturated with Broadway actors or Film/Television actors who have been studying this art form for maybe a whole lifetime and have tens of thousands of hours of practice under their belt. Just read the bios of the actors in any Broadway show or Hollywood movie. These people are graduates of prestigious performing arts conservatories and have decades of acting experience both on stage and on set. If you ask yourself how are they able to do it? It’s because it’s second nature to them, because they have been learning this trade for so long. So if all you have is this certificate of completing 60 hours with JC (of which many of the instructors have no business teaching in this field) there is no way you are going to find work in this industry. The competition (Julliard, Purchase, Tisch, Emerson UCLA…graduates) is simply lightyears ahead of you and me for that matter.

It takes years and years to learn the tools of any trade including this one. And so by JC telling you that they can give you the tools of the trade to enter the industry in just 60 hours with instructors who generally speaking (not all, I did have a few good/knowledgeable ones) are elementary at best is just not true. You can’t even learn the tools of the acting trade in just 60 hours at Julliard with the greatest acting instructors in the world. It takes years/1000s of hours to learn them. The course is 30 classes, each 2 hours, you meet once a week on Zoom. Most of the classes are PowerPoint, many of which all the coach did the entire class was just read off the slides without giving the class a chance to participate, there was rarely any real discussion of the material.

Many of the JC Coaches were just inept, they had no business coaching whatsoever, it seemed as if this was the first class they had ever taught. They were unprepared, didn’t have a real understanding of the material they were teaching us, didn’t know how to use basic computer technology like opening up a youtube video to show the class and simply wasted our time doing nothing. The last four or five classes were essentially the same class. The instructor had everyone copy and paste their monologue/commercial/runway self tapes (about 3 minutes total) into the chat and would show the class and give feedback. This is what JC calls “master sessions.” Like literally almost half of the master sessions are the same exact class, you just have a different instructor. It’s a waste of time.

Nonetheless, I did work hard and I thought I was a top student in the class. The last instructor I had (Dwayne) told me my monologue, commercial and runway self tapes were of professional industry quality and invited me to do a virtual interview. And yet I haven’t found any work since graduation. Maybe it’s my look, maybe I’m just not a good enough actor, I don’t know. But I’m guessing it is mostly because I don’t have any professional training in this field necessary to enter the profession. I mean you wouldn’t be able to find work as a lawyer, doctor or dentist with simply a 60 hr. online training certificate. No, you need to get professional training in the field that takes years and get your JD, MD and DDS. Same with acting, it is a profession that takes years and countless hours to learn.

If you are a talented actor and just simply don’t have the time or money to study acting in a conservatory then get some headshots, sign up with Central Casting in LA or NYC and then you can just audition for commercials that way and build up your acting resume via commercials.

Lastly, one thing that really annoyed me with JC was how customer service kept messaging/calling me when I was already halfway through the program asking me if I wanted to apply for the program. Like what? How do you not know that I am already a student? That I’m already enrolled? That already gave you guys over $2000 dollars. I literally got a phone call or message once a week for months after I had already enrolled in the program. It’s terrible. And at the very end what really bothered me was the director didn’t even bother to sign the certificate of completion I received upon graduation. It took me 3 weeks to get JC to contact the director to have them sign it. I was really upset.