John Casablancas Modeling

The first thing I noticed while we were in the waiting area was that the people that had been excused from the night before (who didn’t make the cut), was there meeting with representatives. Immediately a red flag went up. Then me and my son was called in a room to talk about his career and what they could do for him. Next thing I know, they are telling us that we have to pay $2,000 for him to attend all these classes and take additional photos (which could be purchased if we wanted).

Although, many thoughts went through my head I remained professional, but I don’t believe in discussing finances in front of children AT ALL. After I told her that I wasn’t going to pay, the lady got up and went to get another employee who told us she would refer us to another agency. They were so unprofessional and showed no compassion at all. This place is a total scam to get people money.

She gave some humorous stories about the industry and her experience places people with Disney and other big name entities after which each hopeful face walked the runway that was in this room. My daughter was chosen by the 25-year-old previously mentioned - a supposed honor because she works both in Dallas bad NY which is where she was leaving for (NY) later that day. Once in her office she blathered on about how beautiful and sweet my kid was and that they could definitely find work for her, however, they would need both parents there to contract her. Red flags were going off everywhere, however I decided to let this be a learning lesson for my daughter who sadly was getting her hopes up.

I did as directed, just to see this to fruition, and went home and got my husband and younger daughter who had just landed a child magazine cover on a fluke - no agent involved. Now back in a different office with another woman who was only on her 2nd week there, I asked the obvious question, how did they find us. Being new to the business she was not properly trained on the con-job, thank God! She told me that we must have registered online for information about the classes. I knew my husband and I had never done that and my daughter swore she hadn’t done it. I knew she was telling the truth because she didn’t know my cell phone number to provide and our last name was significantly misspelled in their database. She definitely knows how to spell our last name. Then the 25-year-old returned to the office we were in.

During our discussion she slipped and said something about her being with JC for 5 years. Hmmmm, the numbers weren’t adding up. She stated earlier that she had been with JC since she was 11, turned agent at 17 and was now 25. Second stumble was when she said something about looking forward to having dinner at a restaurant later that evening. The restaurant is a well-known restaurant that is ONLY in Dallas, however earlier she had told us that she was leaving after our meeting to fly home to NY.

Then came the numbers - $2000 for training which included 3+ years of unlimited refresher training and 3+ years of unlimited photoshoots. If you break the numbers down over three years of services, it’s not so insane, however knowing the stories weren’t adding up, I did not want my daughter getting caught up in this place/franchise. Yes, it IS a franchise - any old individual with some money can buy one and scam all day long. Oh and the 25-year-old knocked another business stating that they were NOT an agency. However, I know for a fact that they are. We were also told that even though if we were to sign with them and go through the training, we would still have the right to look for another agent and they would understand.

There are much better options to get yourself or your kid noticed. Spend 1 hour just to do some solid research and then Google or Bing reviews for a place that you’ve identified that might interest you. If there are a ton of negative reviews, there’s a reason for that. It’s a pain to write these, but even more of a pain to waste time and seeing a disappointed look on your kid’s face. They’d actually would have had a better shot at me had they just been straightforward and stated that this was for training because it appeared that I had shown interest at one point, even though it definitely wasn’t my daughter or me that had registered her.

Then they showed pictures of anorexic teenagers and she focused on the young women and told them, “in order to succeed in this industry, you must work hard to look like these girls.” (I worked in health and had volunteered for law enforcement since I was a teenager. These women in these pictures, if they weren’t photoshopped, were close to clinical starvation). Because I was already an actor looking for an agent and had several who worked in this industry, I knew two things: I should not be expected to pay ANYTHING to sign up with an agency because any legitimate agency prospers by viewing talented individuals' work and skills and talents they had cultivated over the course of their lives. We were never asked to demonstrate or read a monologue or do ANYTHING in the audition except to walk down a runway and then stand.

Here’s the thing... On the phone call, their texts, emails, and pamphlets, they advertise themselves as a modeling and acting agency that can help you find auditions and land auditions in tv and film. They went through several example of actors that became famous - namely Kevin Hart. Well I’ve met Kevin Hart... I’ve met several actors because I travel internationally and perform improv and standup myself and because I’ve done theater. If you look at theater and tv, there are actors of all sizes and shapes, but almost none of them are anorexic anymore because Hollywood has transitioned away from anorexia and because its reputation started to wane and gain heavy criticism after many models and actresses started dying and having serious health problems 20+ years ago.

So the message they were sending to these young women who were 10-17 was disastrous and false information that was damaging to their self esteem. I met one mother whose whole reading or putting her daughter in modeling was because their dad committed suicide and because she wanted to get her daughter out of the house and start doing things she was interested in. The next day we were told to come back. Well as soon as I walked in I was told I could purchase the photoshoots pictures for 10$. That’s a scam and red flag right there because I have text message receipts that the pictures were supposed to be free.

I brought in a resume and had a notebook full of everything from USBs of videos, plays, monologues, songs, and musical performances that I had participated in and a long record of my performance history and experience. They did not want to see any of that and did not believe that whatever I had was good enough without ever having seen them. They told me that I needed to buy their 2,000$ classes for 30 weeks, and IF *IF* I graduate from their program, I could sign up for a non-exclusive contract with them for 3 years. I asked what happens after you sign up? Allegedly I can apply for a short list of auditions (their website has 10 auditions, 9 of which are modeling gigs that were not paid well, like 50$ for each one, and an unpaid advertising gig. It’s important to note that every contract they offered our group of people they (the agent/agency) receives 20% commision).

This “agency” is not established well and lacks connections with people in the actual industry. Here’s the way they operate: they sell you a 2,000$ “VIP” package (or lesser packages for a few hundred dollars less) and they get 20% commission off of anything you get booked for, of which they leave it to you to actually book, audition, and submit the materials. Traditionally, it is an agent's job to do these things FOR you. Your agent is supposed to be the mediate who negotiates on your behalf using materials you and your agent collectively determined were good materials for auditions. An agent/agency is NOT supposed to profit by selling you classes or lessons or 20-30 week programs. In fact, that’s so taboo in the industry that most actors, modeling, musician, and entertainment unions, professionals, and legitimate agencies condemn this extortion practice.

To give a mathematical value for how their business model works... My experience with them lasted for two days - 3 hours the first evening, and 1 hour the next afternoon. In sum, I spent 4 hours with this group and at the end they wanted, without seeing my work or history in the entertainment industry, 2,000$ (or 1200 after I told them I had no money to spare). So let’s break this down... Let’s say we have 20 people show up (I think my group had 15, but 20 is an easier number to do math with) 2,000$ X 20 = 20,000.

Had all of us signed up for their maximum deal, they would have made 20,000$ in a total of 4 hours. A person can get by for at least half a year on 20k, and afford the rent for the building they operate out of based on 4 hours of work! Had they taken the smaller option, the total would have been at least 10k, yet that’s still a ridiculous amount for no legitimate contract - because again, you may not be eligible for the contract after their 30-week mandatory classes!!!

In summary, this “agency” does the following: masquerades as a legitimate talent agency. Primarily profits off of selling classes that you do NOT need (one of the classes was a class that would teach you how to wash your face, hair, and clip your nails). Supports the outdated and condemned practice that women must be anorexic in order to succeed in the entertainment industry (I can think of several millionaire women on tv who started from nothing and have been clinically obese their entire lives/careers. Heck, I’ve met a few!).

Takes advantage of grieving parents and child innocence. I saw one “agent” trying to guilt trip a parent into buying the package deal and assuring her this was the standard for the industry. As a person who has engaged in this industry who has traveled to several countries and has met many actors and whose friends are actually on major tv show productions like Revolution and Gotham, let me just tell you straight up: you are never supposed to pay anything for the contractor to continue with an agent.

They seek talent and find work for talent. An agency is never supposed to create talent or take money upon startup. I’ve also been told that a 20% commission rate is higher than normal - a normal/acceptable commission rate should be somewhere between 10-15% however, because I have not lived (merely visited) expensive places like New York, Las Angeles, Atlanta Georgia, etc, I suspect there is a possibility that the commission rate may differ based on location.

WITH THAT SAID... North Carolina is far cheaper to live than those places, so one would expect the commission rate to be lower than the acceptable range because there is less opportunity for actors, models, etc in NC due to the eradication of all tax incentives, loans, and even financial incentives in general for entertainment to work and produce in NC. (To clarify, you should do research on how the previous NC [republican admin/sorry for politics, but this is historically true and not mean to be a political jab] stripped entertainment industry incentives.) Because of this, most models, actors, musicians, etc fled like scared sheep and flooded into Atlanta Georgia, New York, and to a lesser extent, DC.

My overall warning: this is a scam, not a legitimate agency. Also, I glanced at a computer behind the desk to set the scam photos down... I saw numerous pages for reviews and such. They create fake profiles on various review sites to create fake positive reviews. Even if you don’t believe anything I have to say, but I sincerely hope you do, the 2,000$ fee for the mandatory classes on how to wash your face and hair and clip your nails is literally their business method for income. It was printed on a blue piece of paper, with their backup packages on a white piece of paper. They also included an “unlimited number of professional photoshoots” however, the way auditions work for paying gigs is, you only need a few pictures. You don’t need thousands or even more than 20 (and 20 is pushing it).

My dad was a graphic designer for 20 years in an advertising agency and I work in creating film and theater projects for the community for the past 6-7 years... I have no need of unlimited photoshoots because my family and I can do it ourselves and if I wanted to pay money I could go to my city’s cultural arts center and have it done for 10$ instead of 500$. So I mean... Take that for what you will. There are also numerous videos of people who got scammed by these people. I suggest going to YouTube to take a look. Be careful - they do a good job of faking their business success.

I explained the situation to Tracy and I was told that we needed to give her my son's banking information and she would refund his payment and It would take 3 to 4 business days to show up in his account. Out of $378 dollars the only refund he receive was $100. Since then I have been leaving messages again for Tracy and to date unable to reach her or get a callback. My son attended one meet and greet before I found out what was going and contacted John Casablancas Center in Tampa. What entails a $278 meet-and-greet. John Casablancas Center is well aware of my son's disability and clearly has taken advantage of him.