The agency posted anotice on craigslist asking for new faces for their agency. I went in to see them for the first time on a weekday afternoon.
I went into their office and met with a young man whose name escapes me. He asked me all the usual questions, looked at my photos, had me walk in their kitchen. This was very strange. I have been to al ot of castings and this really struck me as odd. You want me to walk in your kitchen? He gave me a form with a reference number and told me to call the next day and give my reference number to the person on the phone, who by the way is the receptionist for every officeo n that floor. She would then transfer me to another person and they would tell me whether or not the agency was interested in working with me. I found this strange but thought what the heck, it's LA and there are tons of models out here. Maybe it's easier to track people by number instead of name.
I called the next day, and they said they were very interested in working with me and that I should come in for a second interview.
A few days later I went in again.initially i thought it was starnge that they shared office space with so many other compnaies. It's a huge office in a very expensive building in Century City on Santa Monica Blvd, however, this huge office is shared by SEVERAL businesses. MMI itself has only two LITTLE rooms inside this suite, so they can't be paying very much in rent.
I sat down with a woman who is a former playmante. When she looked at my photos, she said what I knew she'd say, 'The first thing we have to do is get you new pictures'. I understand that this is typically the first thing your new agency will tell you, however I've also been told by friends who are professional models that a legit agency will always either give you a list of photographers they like and trust, or give you the option of having pictures taken with a photographer of your choice.
After she went over all the usual questions, she began to launch into what is essentially a sales pitch for a photography package that new models are REQUIRED TO PURCHASE before joining MMI. The package including 4 looks for the comp card, and 1 YEAR POSTING ON THEIR WEBSITE. I asked him if they do any direct submissions, and he hesitantly added that they do. But other modeling agency do not offer the model being featured on the website as something that is included in a PURCHASE, it is simply a part of being repped by them. The Cost for this package? $ 895 DOLLARS. I was required to give them $300 dollars down. Fortunately I refused to sign anything until after I saw the photos. I mean would you pay $895 dollars for something you have never seen before? They promised me a photographer, wardrobe, make-up and hair.
I showed up for "MY" photo shoot and there were FOUR other girls in a studio apartment who were also MMI victims. We all had to share one photographer one make-up artist and the wardrobe and hair person was the same girl. Who by the way styled each of the models hair exactly the same and the photographer had each of us using the excat same poses as well. There was only one bathroom in the studio and we were sometimes forced to change in the tiny closet since the front door was open the entire time and we had no privacy.
Needless to say, I was very disappointed with the photos. I never saw the finished product but did see the shots the photographer took on his digital camera. THEY WERE HORRIBLE! The lighting, make-up and hair. I refused to pay the balnace and now, are you erady for this, they are sending me to collections!
Later on I spoke with additional photographers and they all said the same thing, that compnay is a scam. How do they get away with this? Its unfortunate and they should be shut down!
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