I came accross this Impact 210 situation last night while investigating another matter. We used to read these reports at work. I spoke to a former co worker and we are absolutly apalled that this crook is still in business. It's so sad it is almost funny.
How many stupid people are out there? Enough to make Fomkin money so that he can keep going I guess.
We checked out the Impact 210 site. First of all, the "testimonials" are ridiculous. And the variety of talent that they are showcasing is pathetic.
Only two of the people on the site could actually be successful as models, and these poor people could have done it on their own, w/o the help of omkin's "services."
The quality of talent that he has displayed is very poor.
And, alot of the pictures look like crap. They did not capture the wanna be talent's best assets. Yet people were highly over charged for these useless pictures.
The site claims that it affords the opportunity of talent outside of the major markets to be discovered on this site.
Well guess what? You will not make it as a successful model unless you do live in one of the major markets.
A client isn't going to find someone on a site, give them a direct booking, then fly them to NY from Idaho for a modeling assignment. Why would they do that?
First of all, why would they spend the extra money to fly some "no body" from a tacky website to NY, LA, Miami or Chicago to work a job when they are in a city w / thousands of potential hopefuls? It's a waste of money.
Also, a model is only as good as his or her last tear sheet. If you do not have any tearsheets, you will not receive any direct bookings. If you are new you have to start off like all the other new models. You have to hit the pavement and go door to door on "go sees" until someone hopefully decides to book you. A company will not pay to fly you out to go on go sees. These markets are where the most amount of modeling in the USA takes place.
Major brands shoot their commercials and advertisments in these markets. They use models that are already in these markets b/c it is more cost effective.
The only way you can live outside of one of these markets and work as a successful model is if you are already an established model. Which means you used to live in one of these markets, you were successful, and clients want to continue to work w / you. You are not going to get anywhere posting a cheesy head shot on a low-end low-class website. This is not the way to "get discovered" outside of one of these markets. The only way for that to happen is for you to go to one of these major markets yourself.
Also, the site claims that all the model has to do is pay for their "booking requests. "Does anyone realize how ridiculous that is? That actually isn't a new idea. Transcontinental Talent / Wilhelmina scouting network tried that for a second. (of course Fomkin was involved, it was probably his initial idea back then.)
Well, I didn't like that idea. The idea was a flat out scam and I thought it was too stupid for anyone to actually fall for it anyhow. I guess I was wrong.
Think about it people. Why would they charge you a few dollars for your "booking requests"? Wouldn't they make more money from each booking if they charged the general 10-20% commission (USA) and 30-35% over seas?
Well it's bc they are not actually sending you bookings or requests for you to be booked. They are sending you "opportunities." And 95% of these opportunities that they send you are not exclusively theirs. They have employees who have to find these opportunities as part of their jobs. They look on the talent section of Craig's List. They look through Newspapers and search the web for other casting calls. The opportunities they are charging you for are mainly promotional work, or reality show auditions. These are opportunities you could get on your own if you were to read the paper and look on line. Do you really want to pay a few dollars to learn that there is a reality show casting comming to a town near you? There are tons of these opportunities everywhere.
If you pay for this service, the few dollars they deduct from your credit card / bank account each time they send you one will add up, and most likely, you won't make the money back that you have spent. You probably aren't even interested in half of the crappy opportunities they send you, even though you are charged for them. And as far as I'm concerned, there is a huge difference between "bookings" and "opportunities." A "booking" means that you are booked for the job and will get paid. An opportunity is just notification of a casting call.
The fact that they are claiming to be selling or providing bookings for a fee is very misleading.
It's a lie. If they had a client to book you, they would book you and take their commission. They would make more money that way. But they don't have the client base to do that. So instead they sell you pictures, and charge you for opportunities. Do you people really need to pay a fee for someone to read the paper or search on line for you? If that's the case, by all means, continue to do business w / these crooks if that is how stupid you are.
It angers me that this bull s*t is still going on.
The state of New Jersey needs to crack down and put some new laws in place to better protect the consumers in their state like CA is currently doing. Really the whole country needs to change its laws as far as these "talent scam companies" go.
Myself and my former co worker feel that we are morally obligated to post this, in hopes that Fomkin is unable to scam more people. (even if it's only 2 people)
We have no reason to lie. We are not working for a compettitor model scam company (or any modeling company for that matter.) We are not bad mouthing Fomkin's deceptive and crooked ways as a way to make our business look better. (b/c we know there are some people that like to do that.) The only motives we have is to cut down on the scamming of poor unsuspecting people who give their money to a crook, and who have their heads messed w / by being given false hope. This is a real post and we speak the truth when we tell you that this man is a crook and you would be wise not to invest any of your hard earned money w / Imact 210.
PS I miss you "good scout"! Why aren't you on top of this?
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