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Acting Scams
To Avoid (Part 4):
No
Acting
Classes Before Representation
(by Charles Todd, AC Staff)
So, you’ve
finally done it. You’ve now secured yourself an agent! You
are so excited. You’ve been wanting to get into acting for
the longest time. Why, it’s been your lifelong dream and
passion. You can’t wait to get started!
You go in
for a meeting with your new agent. He or she tells you how
excited they are to be representing you. They tell you
about all the other actors they are representing. They
tell you that all the other actors they are representing
are doing exceptionally well. They are working all over
town, doing commercials and movie features. They tell you
that you will probably have similar success.
Next, they
further inflate your head with dollar signs. You’re going
to make $10,000 for doing some commercials. You’re
probably going to make hundreds of thousands for doing
some of the movie roles they are going to help you to get.
And you could make hundreds of dollars per hour on
modeling jobs and stock photo shoots.
But,
wait……there’s a catch! In order to take advantage of the
all the wonderful acting opportunities your new agent has
for you, you’re going to have to take classes. But not
just any acting classes. You’re going to have to take
classes with them. And ONLY with them.
Will they
allow you to improve your acting skills with your own
private acting coach. NO! Will they accept you taking
classes in a reputable acting school in town. NO! Only
their acting classes will do. That is, of course, because
their acting classes are the best in town. And they need
to monitor your acting progress personally. And, they
claim, their classes are cheap, only $1000 or $2000 total.
They include the photos needed for your portfolio and all
your other ‘marketing materials’ into the price.
This,
ladies and gentlemen, is a scam! But, with all the
excitement you’re feeling at the moment, you don’t care.
You’re just ready to begin your career. The few thousand
they’re asking for is only a small cost to your budding
career.
Dead Giveaways:
Wait. Don’t be
confused. Every actor should take acting classes. It is
essential to polish your acting talents. Even if you’ve
taken classes in the past you should continue refining
your skills and improving and expanding your acting
abilities.
However, if you
are asked to take classes as a prerequisite for
representation, run for the border because 99% of the time
this is a scam. This is how you can tell:
-
The agent forces you to take classes with their agency and will not
allow you to take classes anywhere else. No agent should
have a problem with you taking classes with other
schools. That is, of course, unless they are scamming
you!
-
The agent requires that you take classes with their agency as a
prerequisite for representation. The agent has
skillfully placed their acting classes between you and
your possible career. By placing their classes between
you and your possible acting career, they know that most
actors will say ‘yes’ and spend the money in order to
get started acting.
-
Lastly, these types of agencies are scammers because their agency
gets the majority of its money from their classes. That
means they don’t care who they represent. They will
represent anyone! It also means they don’t care if you
work as an actor. They are not going to fight hard to
get you an acting role or audition because they already
got paid. They got paid when you signed on as an actor
in their agency and paid for their required classes.
Sure, they might get you an audition at some point. But,
since they already got paid, they will probably not be
very urgent in finding you auditions and acting
opportunities.
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