Typical Model Agency Scams

Please note that these guidelines have been put together after real cases have come to light. The guidelines can be applied to both the Modelling & Entertainment's Industry. Should you need further advice please do either call the helpline or e-mail us with your enquiry. Check out our Top 10 Tips page for a summary of our recommendations from these cases. If you have a case that is not highlighted below and you feel would be of help to others then please do let us know by e-mail.

Avoid Newspaper Adverts & By Post Applications and Acceptance

Numerous calls have been received by us from parents of children, teenagers and even adults who have answered newspaper or free magazine advertisements or even yellow pages adverts by Agencies asking for models, actors and film extra's of all ages and all sizes to apply by post.

More often than not the agency is located a long way away from the local press area they are advertising in.

Genuine child model or casting agencies would never dream of accepting children into the agency without meeting the child and parent. Many children are adorable to look at, however, not all of those have the right nature to become a child model. In no way do agencies take on a child if it is over shy, nervous of strangers or badly behaved.

In the case of by post scams people wanting to apply answer the advert then they have then been asked to pay money up front in order to join that agency. Cases have varied from £25 to £250 stated as being an administration fee, a contract fee or a casting directory fee. Take careful note that genuine model and casting agencies only gain money from their workers by taking a percentage in commission and any administration or marketing fees once the worker is found paid assignments.

If a genuine agency has to pay out costs for the model then these things are only deducted from the models fee's once he or she starts earning money. In other words no money should be paid up front by the worker to the agency in order to join, register or to be placed within a casting directory or upon the agency Internet Web site or for photographs.

Just imagine how much money is made by charging a fee up front, 200 applicants x £25 , £99 or even £250 per person per week gives an annual income from fee's of over £450,000 upwards to some £ 2.5 million .... so what incentive is there for the agency to get their workers any work if they can make loads of money by charging a fee up front to join ? top

Portfolio Packages

Once you are accepted by an agency, they will need some pictures of the worker to start, so that clients can see how the novice looks, however, do not get conned into a "Portfolio Package " by photographers before seeing a genuine agency.

Genuine agents will recommend professional test photographers once they decide to put you on the books.

We have seen many so called "portfolios" which have cost anything between £350 to £1,000 for photographs of babies or a child that will be out of date by the end of the month!

In one case a young lady went to her local high street photographer and paid over £1,700. All the photographs were shot by the same photographer and on the same day at the same location. The pictures were not even enlarged to the correct size and not up to the very high standard expected of a model and were completely useless and a waste of money to the novice.

The whole idea of a model portfolio is to show the model a different style or look and to build up the portfolio in time with working shots and tear sheets. The real professional portfolio will consist of a series of test shot photographs taken by various photographers on different days in different locations and in different styles, along with working shots collected once assignments have been undertaken. Not 15 or 30 pictures all taken by the same person from one roll of film which will all look very boring and will all look the same to the professional eye.

Yes, genuine agencies do suggest test shot photographs to get the portfolio started, but these are not expensive (usually around £100-£150) and are only needed until the model starts to get assignments and then their own working shots or tear sheets from magazines, which are also put into the portfolio to build up a good book. You should also have a hair & make up artist at the shoot to ensure top quality photos and this will usually add £25-£40 to the cost.

Models usually go for a test shoot and the photographer will shoot around 100-150 shots digitally. The novice should pay the photographer directly. If a top agency has great confidence in a model’s potential that agency can agree to pay for the initial photographs for the novice to get started and the cost of that is then repaid to the agency by the model when he or she gets paid for assignments. However, you should ensure that you find out what they will charge later for the photographs as this can sometimes be excessive and it might be cheaper to get them done yourself in the first place.

So be warned and be wary. Never part with large sums of money up front for a portfolio package.

BEWARE of Unfair Contracts

Most people are so keen to get onto the books of an agency, that in their excitement they sign contracts without reading them carefully.

Never sign ANYTHING in this business without reading it first!

You should NEVER sign a contract without first taking it home and reading every bit of it very carefully, and make sure that you do fully understand the terms of the contract before you even consider signing it. By that I mean read it and make sure that you fully understand what each clause (paragraph) means and how it will affect you. Carefully consider how the contract will tie you if you decide that you want to leave the agency or how it will affect you if you end up in a dispute with the agency.

We have seen a number of contracts which are very unreasonable and that are biased against the novice and totally in favour of the agency with trumped up and inflated costs should the model even sneeze in the wrong direction!

If you sign a contract the Law states that it is legally binding, even if you signed it without reading it first. So do not be the victim be the victor and make sure that you take the contact away, read the contract, understand them and how that contract will affect YOU.

Misleading Model Release Forms

NEVER sign a MODEL RELEASE FORM without reading it first and knowing how it affects you or your model child. In most cases if you have been for an assignment your agent deals with this matter. However, recent cases have shown that some unscrupulous agents have actually taken pictures of models of all ages, themselves, then got the model to sign a very alarmingly worded model release form and for no payment those pictures can be used by the agent in whatever publication they choose.

One agent was then using pictures in another country in rather unsavoury publications. So be very careful make sure that you read and understand the implications before you sign anything!  top

Bogus Model & Casting Agents / Companies

This has to be one of the biggest and most successful cons throughout the UK in this industry. Alba has in the past received hundreds of calls from people of all ages who have been conned out of varying sums between £50 to £200 per person by bogus casting and model agencies which set up in different hotel conference rooms throughout the UK over a weekend period and then held so called casting seminars. These agencies perform their casting seminars in different towns in various areas throughout the whole of the UK. More often than not they have very catchy names and do appear to be totally genuine when they are not.

The public are convinced into parting with money up front to be represented by that particular casting agency. The promise is usually that the casting agency will take some pictures find the hopeful at least one top agency which will offer the hopeful a contract. The promise is that if the applicant does not receive the offer of a contract from an agency within a set period of time the money paid by the applicant will be refunded. Sounds too good to be true and frankly it is too good to be true!

The double sting comes when the applicant, having already paid a large sum of money up front to the first casting company /agency, is then offered contracts by other agencies, however, those agencies are either owned by the same persons running the seminar or they also want a fee up front.

Genuine Agencies will only take on persons that they believe they can find work, and do not ask for any joining fee's up front whatsoever. However, the DTI does permit agents to charge a modest fee for listing on their website or the supply of model cards. As I have said earlier, if any agency receives a large income by charging fee's up front to join, then why should they bother to find any work with a large income for the agency coming in for doing virtually nothing at all?

Copycat (Mimic) Roadshows

Alba has in the recent past advertised the very genuine Sugar Magazine Roadshow, which was in conjunction with Maybelline Cosmetics and Storm Model Agency (similar to the BBC Clothes Show Roadshow). Sadly other unknown entities have decided to attempt to copy these events, promising much but in reality offering little except to take your money.

Note the poor locations and venues of these copycats, the real roadshows are in huge locations like the NEC Birmingham, or in the case of Sugar their roadshow was held throughout the UK in large easy to get to venues such as a major city indoor shopping centres within Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester, London, Poole, Belfast and finally Birmingham..

The aim of the copycat roadshow is to appeal to all ages interested in the world of modelling and entertainment. Do not let yourself be conned into believing these roadshows are genuine. If you do decide to go along when you get there be aware that simple snapshot pictures taken by friend or family are all that is needed to send to agencies for them to see if you are suitable and do not pay any fee's for photographs, do not pay for picture slots (places) in any magazine publications and especially do not pay to be put onto a web site !! You can approach genuine agencies yourself.

The web site con

All very similar to the hotel audition con and this is also sold at the copycat roadshows and at inflated prices by rogue agencies. It preys upon the many people who do not really know much about the Internet or web sites, which frankly, is a huge number of people.

Anyone can purchase an Internet web site of their own they are not expensive, (starting around £40 or so ) some are even offered for free by various businesses. So when someone offers a site or place upon their web page, for a fee to be paid by you, ask yourself why they do this ?? Yes you've got it.... to bring in an income !! Now there is nothing wrong with that normally. The DTI does permit genuine A-list agents to charge a modest fee for entry onto a website.

However, a large number of people have gone along to hotel seminars/auditions and paid £450 and upwards for a place upon an agency site. Never to see the person selling the site again, never to see any such web site and never to see their money again!!

Model Training with Agencies which insist that you are trained in one day upon their own run modelling course

I have seen a number of males and females who have paid at least £195 for a one day catwalk and photographic modelling course run by that agency. All of theses people were told that without doing the course they would not be accepted. Sadly they are not fully trained after that one expensive day. Often this is the only income that some agencies have and they do little else for the model once they have attended a course and paid.

Model Competitions WHICH ASK FOR A FEE TO ENTER

We have had instances where an agency has insisted that the entrants must pay to have photographs taken in order to join the competition. This is not how genuine model agencies or magazines run their model competitions.

We have also heard of an agency which will only enter the models if they sign up and pay a fee to be represented for 3 years costing the model £30 more. If they only sign for one year, the fee being a lot less, then they will not be entered into the competition. Genuine agencies should not insist that unless a model pays extra they will not be entered into a competition.

Now BEAUTY PAGEANTS are a different thing all together, entrants require a sponsor who pays a fee because of the cost of holding such a large event and the prizes involved.

Alba recommended Pageants are:-

• Glamour Girl of the Year - www.glamourgirloftheyear.org
• Miss British Isles - www.missbritishisles.com
• Miss England - www.missengland.info
• UK Photographic Model of the year – www.modeloftheyear.co.uk
• Miss World - www.missworld.tv

See our Latest news section to read all about beauty pageants, which are entitled to charge a sponsor fee.  top
 

Free Photographic Shots

It is a sad but true fact that nowadays you do not get something for nothing. It can be very flattering when someone asks to take your picture or offers to do a photographic shoot for you for nothing. But remember that there are very few things in life which cost nothing.

First, you should never put yourself in a vulnerable position. So tell your relatives or person you live with where you are going and give the exact location address. You must always take someone sensible of adult age with you. A genuine person (photographer) will not mind you doing this, if you do not then you are being foolish as you are already vulnerable even if you do know the person, take another adult with you, a large number of sexual assaults and rapes are statistically proven that the victim knew and trusted it's attacker. So don't be stupid be safe!

Never sign anything or any forms given to you either before, at, or after the shoot. These may be what is known in the business as "Model Release Forms" and if you are silly enough to sign them, then you may be signing away your right to say where they are published and most certainly any payment for them to be published.

This does happen frequently, to those male and females who want to go into fashion modelling and especially to young eager to achieve women who are also foolish enough to be persuaded into taking their tops off or to pose nude. Never ever do this if you want to go into fashion modelling; glamour and fashion modelling do not mix. top
 

GLAMOUR TEST SHOTS MODELLING

Even if you are considering going into the very hard and competitive world of Glamour modelling you should Keep Your Kit On for test shots, before you join an agency (Bikinis at the least but no more).

Do not sign a thing! I have seen some very upsetting and sad cases of girls and chaps who have rushed in and bitterly regretted this later. Worse still, some of them had signed forms and can see themselves in publications that they have never given permission for and not received any form of payment for those pictures. So don't be the victim... Be the victor!! top
 

Hotel Room Castings and Auditions

Alba has received calls from young adult females who have answered adverts to audition to pose for Glamour Photographic Calendars or Publications or to test for a film with a love scene in it. Be wary of these sort of adverts, you should wonder why this person or persons have not gone to a proper Agency. If you do ever attend an audition you must take and adult witness with you and into the actual interview itself with you.

The trial of Mabrouk Melliti the fake producer who raped and assaulted a number of women by way of the promise of a screen test for his latest film, which purportedly had a love scene within it, has to be a warning for every person asked to " Test" in a rented hotel or studio bedroom situation!

There have been incidents where young females have gone into actual interviews for a "test" alone and then been either asked to perform sexual favours, sexually assaulted or worse still have been raped. Without a witness you will find anything hard to prove, on the other hand with a witness present the person is unlikely to try this sort of thing. Often labelled as "The Casting Couch", you should never submit yourself to this or put yourself into any vulnerable situation.

DO NOT BE THE VICTIM... Be the victor so DO take care of yourself!  top