We were contacted by phone asking if our daughter would be interested in acting, appearing in commercials or doing background work in movies. Of coure our daughter was VERY interested and we were scheduled to meet with a person to get more info, schedule an audition and to get the lines to practice for the audition!
At our 1st appointment we were given lines for a GAP commercial and the person who gave us the lines made it sound as if The GAP was looking for new faces and would be interested in seeing our daughter possibly for a commercial or for a pictorial advertisement.
We were also told that there would be nothing sold to us... No acting classes, no portfolios... Nothing! We were then scheduled to come back for an audition and asked to have our daughter wear certain clothes for the audition.
For the 2nd meeting, we met with Francois Maalouf who asked us questions about our daughter and how committed she and us would be to this new endevor, because if he got a job for our daughter it would look bad for him and for us if we didn't show up.
After the questions, he then said that he was not going to sell us acting classes or pictures for a portfolio and that we would not be charged ANY money at all. He then went on to explain how he was going to "market" our daughter, for auditions, by setting up a web site/profile for her. The web site / profile would have pictures and video of our daughter, where "industry" people, who could only be verified by him as being in the industry, could get a password to the company web site and browse the people who have a web site / profile with his company to see if they might be interested in calling for an audition, depending on what they are looking for.
This is where the money now comes into play... Money that he initially told us we would not be spending. He went on to tell us that it was going to cost us $590... A set up fee for our daughter's web site/profile and then a $39.99 monthly maintenance fee. He tolds us that the commitment at the signing of the "contract" is a minimun of 6 months, but as I read the contract I saw a 12 month minimun! I did the math and figured out that after 12 months, including the web site set up fee the total expense out of our pocket would be almost $1100!
At this point I think he could see the suspicion in us and told us that we could pay the $590 in 2 payments, making the 1st payment before we left. Again, I think he saw even more suspicion in us and then changed the $590 payment stucture to 3 payments and told us that we did not have to pay until we came back for my daughter's photo and video shoot, for her web site/profile, which was scheduled for the following Satuday.
We were given web address and password for my daughter's web site/profile along with the contract to be filled out and signed when we came back for the photo/video shoot.
Mr. Maalouf makes quite an impression making you feel that he is legitimate, by explaining how you will have to get a work permit from the State of California, how you will have to set up a special account for your child called a "Coogan" account and how every time your child works they will earn credits to become a memeber in the Screen Actors Guild.
So you are sent off feeling pretty good about the presentation and feeling like this is all legit. For me though, I was still feeling very suspicious and decided to check the Better Business Bureau web site. I'm glad I took the time to check. From what I've read at www.bbb.org the business is operating illegally and is mis-representing itself to the consumer and public.
For me... If someone wants to represent my daughter in acting, movies or whatever... Impress me by showing me some current people who are represented and current work they have done or are doing. Show me someone who used to be represented, but has now moved on to bigger and better things and who I might recognize from previous work that they have done! THAT will sell me!
One last thing... My daughter didn't even get to audition the lines that she practiced and dressed for!
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