A.C.T. Academy of Cinema and Television is a Total SCAM! Last Tuesday, one of the Philadelphia news radio stations advertised if you would like your son or daughter to be the next Hannah Montana or to appear on shows like High School Musical you would need to call 1-877-214-1892 and are one of the first 200 people in your area, you have a free audition for your child.
The audition takes place every 2 hours beginning at 10 AM until 6 PM. I had an appointment for my daughter this past Sunday, October 5 at the Sheratan Hotel in Philadelphia at 2 PM. It didn't seem right from the very beginning since they didn't even have a list of all who registered and all they did was hand you papers to fill out and sign. They packed the Sheratan's Ballroom of over 300 in attendance. They had music playing from all of the Disney famous shows like Camp Rock and the Jonas Brothers just to keep you thinking about what your child would be auditioning for. They also had a projection screen to show your son or daughter reading the cold read commercial.
Then it all began. The first person to get the audience pumped was Michael Worth. He introduced himself at the National Direct for ACT for New York, LA, Chicago and Phoenix. The second person was a woman by the name of Lilly who had an accent that you couldn't understand but she had a very long speech and also added some jokes in between. She said she would know if you have "The Look". She said she has been in the business for 12 years now and she showed photos of famous individuals that she had found and made famous even to the point of sending them to Paris, France.
The third person was John Shea who is from Frontier Booking International of New York. He was selecting the children by having them do a "Cold Read" commercial. They began calling 4 rows at a time, 2 from the left and 2 from the right. There were three interviewers, one at each table, Michael Worth, Lilly and another woman who didn't introduce herself.
You needed to have a Disclaimer filled out, Registration, and a form for John Shea for the cold read commercial. The registration also needed two recent photos of your child. On the back of the registration, the child needed to state why they wanted to act in 100 words or less. We were told that the interview will take about 40 seconds. What??? How can anyone interview a child in 40 seconds to see if they are really show biz material along with having "The Look". My daugther said a total of 4 words during the interview, her name, age, yes and Thank you.
Mr. Michael Worth asked me if my daughter is called back would I be able to afford her tuition of $2,000 and up. I told him "Yes" and he placed a check mark on my daughter's application. He then in turn handed me a bright yellow paper stating that only the parent who came to the interview must call on Monday. You needed to call based on the first letter of your last name and the times associated with them.
I called at 9:30 AM. 1-877-214-1886. A woman answered and placed me on hold. She asked me my daughter's name and said that Michael is busy on another call and he'll get back to me sometime in the morning. Michael returned my call 20 minutes later and asked me if my daughter had fun yesterday and that she seemed a little tired but she was Called Back. He said that she had the look that he didn't see in any of the children yesterday. He also said that she looked younger than her age and that is exactly what markets out in the entertainment business. He wanted me to come in with my husband to sign my daughter up. He said that we would go over the level that she will be at and that they don't accept personal checks but to bring a credit card.
Since my husband doesn't have a 9 to 5 job, I told him that I would need to call him back as soon as I knew when my husband would be available from work. He gave me his personal cell phone number 602-315-1751. He wanted us to return that day, Monday, with two more photos of my daughter and our credit card. I had asked Michael, how many children were chosen out of the 800 to 1,000 that were seen on Sunday, October 5. He told me that he was going to call back 95 of them. I never returned his call. Someone did try to call but never left a message. My neighbor had a 4 PM appointment and she has three daughters. She went through the same process as we did but she saw Lilly.
Again, less than 40 seconds, which LIlly did quote that amount of time to everyone in attendance before the interviews began. My neighbor also said yes she was able to afford the tuition and guess what? When she had called them to get the results, all three of her daughters were called back and she was also given an appointment time to come in with her husband and their credit card. She also asked Lilly how many children she was calling back after seeing 800 to 1,000 and Lilly responded with only 25 of them.
They claim that this is a six month training program. It is really six days. It begins on Saturday, December 6 until April and it is on every Saturday for only 4 hours (lowest price of $1,950). Three training days only and three auditions. They also stated that during the auditions, agents from L.A. Are flown in for the auditions. There is no guarantee that your child will be chosen for commercials or T.V. Shows. They have the Marriott in Phliadelphia booked for the classes during the six months beginning in December 6. I don't even know if the Sheratan or Marriott know what is going on at their location.
After taking the first six months, the next six months, you could be charged an even higher price since they would need to move your child up to another level.
This is all a SCAM! I have already contacted the radio station in Philadelphia today, Tuesday, October 7th and they had told me that I was the second person in 30 minutes that had called about this. I have also called ABC news and left two messages for Investigation. I also faxed all papers that I have from ACT to the radio station. Someone needs to stop all of this.
I have gone to ACT's website academyofcinemaandtv.com and saw their office space that they call school on their virtual tour. There you will also find another address. They all look legitimate. You can look up their website and also read the brochure that they hand you wilth all of the stars that give great comments about ACT.
Everyone who registered their child yesterday with their credit card are in for a rude awakening. They claim that the Call Backs are by invitation only to attend ACT and therefore are now able to return on Tuesday, October 14 at the Sheratan to meet with Adrian R'Mante - Esteban from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody. The times are 6 PM to 9 PM. They have also had Madison Pettis from Cory in the House meet students from the Level 4 and Level 5 programs ($4,000 & $5,000 tuition) in Phoenix, Arizona. I'm pretty sure that they pay them big bucks to come in to talk with the children and parents, another way to keep them in the program.
Yes, I believe that the FBI and the local police of the city that they are in, need to be contacted ASAP. It's only going to get worse since they are hitting every city. If it wasn't for my neighbor getting the same response I did, I would have probably been the next victim. My neighbor told me that she shouldn't hang with me when she also signed up her kids but I'm so glad she did. We helped each other and now we want to STOP IT before more families get hurt.
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