I was defrauded by Shelene Bryan in the same manner as the postings above approximately 12 years ago, when I was a young college student looking for a way to pay my bills. I take the time to write this post now to demonstrate that Shelene is a professional scam artist who has been engaged in scamming the public not only recently, but for many years.
I responded to an ad in the Daily Bruin (UCLA's college newspaper) and was told to appear for an interview. This was when Shelene's office was located near the Red Robin off the 101 freeway in Thousand Oaks. I met Shelene, who went on and on about how she worked with Candace and Kirk Cameron and their mother Barbara, and how she could get me lots of acting work. She had pictures of the Camerons all over the office too. Then she had me do a commercial "audition". Although my "audition" was poor by anyone's standards, she immediately said that she would like to sign me.
She advised that I would have to get headshots with her colleague, which I would have to pay for, and that she would then represent me by sending me for auditions. Looking back, I should have known it was a scam right away based on her intense sales pitch, the immediate signing of me even after my subpar audition, and the requirement to get headshots with her photographer. That and the credit card terminal machine right on the receptionist's desk. But I was a naive, inexperienced college student who believed Shelene's very convicing lies. Who doesn't want to be told that they are pretty and talented and will easily find work? She preyed on the vulnerability of young college girls — this woman knew exactly what she was doing.
Needless to say, I used my student loans to pay for her fees and for the photographer. I never got the headshots by the way — just a contact sheet and negatives. Soon thereafter, I received a letter from Shelene, which I remember almost verbatim. It stated that as many of us clients knew, she was pregnant, and due to complications in her pregnancy, the agency would now be closed. (By the way, I had never heard from her or her receptionist that she was pregnant.) There was no referral to another agency who would be handling her clients, or any further instructions. That was it, goodbye. Amazingly, even though Shelene apparently went on to re-establish this "business, " I never heard from her again.
Www.shelenebryan.com
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