I would like to comment on working with Transcontinental Talent in the Ferndale office in 2003. I would like to say that all the negative press surrounding this organization is completely justified.
I worked as a talent scout for approximately 2 weeks, pretty much fooled like everyone else into believing that it would be a huge jump into the entertainment business. Needless to say, the pay sounded good, and everything was presented in a "mtv" generation way.
Now comes the work part, we were scheduled to be in the office from 8:30 until 9 at night, with no pay, just based on commission from the talent that signed up for the service. You wouldn't get paid unless someone actually signed, not just showed to the open calls. This was strongly stressed during the "training" phase, which consisted of sending a group of new scouts to malls and grocery stores, and other places where people congregate.
We'd be in malls all day approaching people and handing out bogus cards in an effort to get them back, talking about how it was their only shot. I felt horrible going up to families and those who looked like they had money. Which was hard in the suburbs of detroit, especially around this area.
Needless to say that the straw that broke my back was when i found out that if you are not up to the required open call attendances (meaning, if you don't have X number of appearances at the open calls) that your base salary would not be kicked in after 30 days like promised and you would remain on "probationary status" until it got up there.in fact, you never knew if you made a sale because no one would tell you if your client signed with the company.
Also, i found out in that time, that oen of our "bosses" was dropped to probationary status because she couldn't fill her quota either. How can a boss work on a commission, doing the same thign you are doing? It was ridiculous and i'm so glad taht everyone is catching on.
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