In June Ariza decided to post and ad on the local newspaper which offered representation for aspiring talent. I called to set up an appointment and met with Jeff Callander. He was very promissing, he even helped himself to show me a few of his "clients" paystubs.
Jeff charged me large amounts of money for my two girls, apparently for the photo shoot... One of the girls already had professional pictures yet Jeff did not approve of them. The photo shoot was a total mess.
You would think that you would be exclusive being that you paid such a large amount of money... There were atleast 5 other people waiting with you, taking turns!!! The shoots didn't last more than 10 minutes per person, how professional!
And it all took place right in the neighborhood, everyone with the same backgrounds. The best part was the hair and make up which was done in the back of an SUV. It took nearly 2 and a half months and numerous phone calls before I was actually able to visit Ariza to view the photos.
Apparently, everytime I called Jeff gave me the excuse that the photographer was out on vacation. Who wouldn't be on vacation? With all the money they stole from us. After selecting from the miniature photos which had to be viewed with a magnifying glass, and by the way they were of very poor quality, we waited some more...
Again after numerous phone calls and ofcourse, the photographer being on vacation once more, I visited Ariza Talent to pick up the comp cards and the CD. The comp cards were of very poor quality and when I finally viewed the photo shoot CD at home, surprise, surprise! There were no pictures in it!
I called Ariza Talent, ofcourse very upset, and the girl who picked up the phone apologized and asked me to come in the next week to pick up a new one. It is now February and the truth is that my girls never were contacted for any auditions, I called literally every week and Jeff claims there is no work at this time... One of my girls is very experienced and has done numerous jobs while she was represented by another agency, and she is extremely talented.
I am surprised that his agency is still open but then again with all the money they steal from talent offering false promises I am assuming they survive... To anyone who is thinking about joining this agency, DON'T. I can assure you that if you do your research you will find that there are real talent agencies out there that will be more than happy to represent your talent...
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