One must understand enough of the experience of the families who are tricked by this company to really get a clear picture about what is going on here. So I will attempt to first describe my families experience. This company hires 'scouts' who approach families (usually minorities) in shopping malls who they (the scouts) tell mothers that they believe their son or daughter have great potential to be featured in popular television shows, commmercials, films, and fashion. They are given an invitation to a nice hotel where a video screen test is to be taken. (When my family went to the hotel, we joined a long line for over one hour for our child's test. After our child did a short two-line presentation, which he was able to choose from a list of commerical-oriented phrases, we had to then wait in a second line for our interview with one of several talent directors.) An interview with a friendly talent director takes place where we learn about the great possibilities, of all the big names that Be. Studio/Entertainment is affiliated with, the celebrities, etc. Parents are also asked what they do for a living. After our profile is turned in (which also asks for family gross-income), we are told that after the screening is reviewed and the interviews looked over, a select few will be called back for a second interview.
While my wife and I were suspicious about this, the presentation at the hotel gave a strong impression of credibility. There were over four hundred children with their parents, and approximately twenty staff working for Be. (other consumer complaintss claim that many staff are hired off craig's list, and some of those staff have even filed their own reports). We were called back. During this phone conversation I said that my wife and I can not help but feel the need to know more about the company and if this will be a healthy thing for our child. The agent said that very few make the call back, and that this was our biggest opportunity for our daughter in terms of the entertainment industry. He mentioned how the owner, Erik DeSanto had recently owned and sold an entertainment agency that merged with George Clooney's company. The agent said that our child made the call back because she seemed to be an exceptional candidate and that they were Very Interested in our child. I proceeded by checking out the company's website: www.gonnabe.com It also added to the credibility, in that there were numbers of children in the organanization with files, shows that were being produced by this corporation, and even an ABC7 clip from television about a now successful teen-age band that was 'found' by the executives at Be. So I decided it would be o.K. To drive to Santa Ana for the second interview.
On arrival to Suite 150,3501 Harbor Dr., Santa Ana, there is a sign outside the facility that reads "Hollywood is Here". Once inside the facility we found several other families waiting with us in a smaller waiting area/lobby. There were nicely framed posters of Hannah Montana, The Cheetah Girls, and some other Disney Productions. Surely, everyone must have felt that Be. Was well connected to Hollywood/Disney. When the ten or so families were called one by one into a room for the "presentation" we entered a room with a large flat screen t.V. Above showing many clips from famous children's movies, mostly seen on the Disney Chanel. On all the walls in the room were more posters of famous t.V. Shows like "Suite Life" and other movies. After many short talks by Be. Agents (?) who popped in and out, one by one. They would always leave the room while a video presentation was on.
The agents and the videos emphasized what a great opportunity this is for the kids, about many success stories, about how the industry works, etc. They told us how our children were the 6% chosen out of all those who came to the hotel the week before. (Some inconsistency here - A different agent would say 10%) There was for the first time the mention of a price — $25 per lesson for the six week "boot camp" (on weekends) to make sure each child is ready for auditions. After that continued training (of course all with famous instructors in the entertainment business) would cost $30 per lesson. But as the speaker said, compared to other prices in Hollywood, that is super cheap. She also mentioned that professional photographers will fly in for a photo shoot, which will be completely free. But there is more about the price (coming up below).
The owner, Erik DeSanto also entered the room briefly and knew almost each child's name who was in the room. His reason for getting out of being an agent in Hollywood was because the people become famous and 'fly away'. His pitch was that he was doing all of this to help all those children who he felt were 'being left out' as he felt so much great potential was being missed, etc. DeSanto also mentioned that all of the children were carefully selected candidates - that the second interview was more or less to weed out 'monster parents'. He had to leave early because he had to attend the "Miss Teen U.S.A. Pagent".
A young man who just 'happened to drop by', a graduate of the program, and who 'made it' on to a feature film that is being produced 'down the street' was brought in, and he explained what a wonderful program it is, how he built up self-confidence, etc. And how he 'recommended' the training. With an hour and a half now gone by, the speaker briefly mentioned one more thing about a membership, and like costco, there is a membership that is necessary to support all the running-costs to do this business. My wife and I looked at each other. At this point, after the one and a half hour of constant and well organized marketing on the parents' and children's brains, each family was called away to a different room for the face-to-face second interview. We had a young man in his twenties, who claimed to have been in numerous productions, with an 8x10 studio picture of himself and a long resume on the back of the picture. He was heavy set and had a gangster look about him. He asked, "so what did you think?" and even looked at my child asking, "what do you think about being a star on t.V.?" We thought that was not very appropriate to ask a young child and I mentioned that. The first thing we said was we did not understand the quick reference made to 'membership', what was that about. He said that like costco, we need to have enough money to take care of costs for 'doing all of this' and that there were different plans, two-years, seven-years, all combined lessons, or a specialized lesson (like only singing as opposed to singing, dancing, acting). So we asked what the membership cost was. But he first said, I'm not sure yet if I can show you because I really need to know that your child is a good candidate for us, I need to know if she really would like to be in commercials or on television, wants to learn these skills, and so on. We told him that our daughter loves those and that the price for lessons sounded reasonable. So he showed the chart with the membership costs. The minimum price for membership would cover two years for only one skill (e.G. Only acting). The two year price covering all skills was around $4995 or so. My wife asked if we could think it over but he said in an aggressive way that you have to decide now, because we have only a "few slots left". We also asked, what happens if our child does not enjoy it after we sign up, do we get our money back. He said, "No." He then said to think of it like a costco membership, you buy the membership but are not obligated to purchase anything in the store. This was a stunning moment. We said but a costco membership is only $50 and we know what we are getting. We left.
Conclusion: My wife and I were upset, at this company but also at ourselves for going that far and spending that much time caught by a scam. Yet, in many respects that company presents a strong image of credibility and asserts connections with legitimate production companies, and famous/popular television productions, commercials, professional instructors, and a credible-looking resume. ABC news is featured on it, DeSanto is listed in magazines as dynamic entrepreuner (DeSanto even showed the families in that room an article with his photo on it in one publication). Yet, we are certain that this is a SCAM, at least on some important levels: Families are made to feel assured that the company is very credible and that this is a huge opportunity for their child, families are told that there child is one of the very few called back, families are made to believe that famous actors are involved with Be. Entertainment (the bellhop in Suite Life holds a Be. Microphone at a large event with children, children who are part of Be. Get to directly meet Hannah Montana, High School Music celebrities at events, plus much more.) Costco is up front about membership costs - you can not shop at costco without first going to the membership desk. Be. Entertainment (Studio?) does not do this. They get children and their parents excited about being selected at large, then being even more specially selected because of their screen test. This targeted excitement is deceptive, because they keep the membership cost concealed until the end of the process that is described above. This means, that parents and children are left in anticipation getting their hopes up before the second interview and using that second meeting for two hours more of raising hopes and dreams. (My wife and I now a certain that it is not 6% that are called back as the company claims, but at least 25% if not many more. Also many of the parents must have called friends and family to tell them the great news. (We didn't as we remained cautious - just not sharp enough to spot this quickly.) It puts parents in an especially bad position when the membership costs are revealed. The child may be very excited about all of this, only to watch as his parents refuse to pay — creating emotional pain/distress. (I am not sure what happens to those who do pay, although I did see one negative report on the internet.) This entire scheme is extremely disingenuous and harmful to our society. Credible media that offers positive support for De Santo, Be. & Company only provides nourishment for this cancer to our community. Therefore, I wish to do my part by filing this claim, and hope that an investigation will take place. I also hope that shopping malls, as well as entertainment companies, news productions (ABC7) will also explore this unethical company that they have helped lend credibility to by willful association. Hopefully those who find that their experience is consistent with ours will file a report too and make efforts to speak out.
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