Rip Off Agency joining fees? Lets Out them!

There are several so called 'agencies' that either require a 'Joining fee' or cloak it when saying they dont charge joining fees with 'portfolio pictures' and it's obvious that it's the only way they make their money. A lot of them advertise in the newspapers trying to acquire talent and on websites saying things like 'easy money in films an tv- earn up to $5000 a day!'. Basically they are just rip off merchants that take advantage of new actors as well as experienced ones.(Most experienced actors probably are aware but some fall prey to it from desperation). There is one in Sydney, (several actually) but one in Bondi to be precise that offers 'casting opportunities' for major 'Hollywood projects' as well as "promotional opportunities for Red carpet events" (i.e. serving drinks at night clubs)...get my drift- They then rope people in on the premise that they are casting for major productions and then try and sell people 'packages'..a 'portfolio, a 'web page', visa help and offers of meeting LA talent scouts for about $4000!..yeah like the hideous wannabe Glamour model on their website got to....you know what I mean. Anyway we all probably know who they are and without slandering anyone I suggest we all work together to combat them. I have purposely not mentioned their names as to avoid getting my post deleted as I think that everyone needs to stand up and avoid these Ars*holes as well as spread the word to save actors from being ripped off. And lets also look at the children's agencies as that is a whole other scam...for the most part- there are some legitimate kids agencies that dont charge a penny to join but how many kids do you actually see in serious TV roles? Is it worth the thousands of $$ these scum charge to 'join'? Lets take a stand and out all of them and stop them. Thank you.

You're assuming that the entertainment industry is one homogenous group with one lot of goals. I suspect it's too disparate to get anything done outside of a really big court case/lobbying with lots of time, effort and marketing. Change requires money. I think like with animal rights groups, and other advocacy groups there should be more involvement in legit companies in denouncing the practices of the scam artists. But none of them will have the guts. Plenty will just be accused of trying to drive a wedge between them and their competitors. Labrug is right: education is probably the best defence. Especially if more time is spent getting the word out to young people and their parents. Information sessions at workshop centres, youth groups, and amateur groups would be a good and relatively cheap start. Of course, another way to educate people is to use the internet. There are a lot of people out there who are sick of the misinformation provided to people on the net.

Plighter

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