In the year of 2002 I was going through the yellow pages to look up "agents". What I came up with was John Robert Powers.
I attended a screening with them.
Once I was at the screening, there were many people in the waiting room. Once a woman came in, she explained to everyone that John Robert Powers as a matter of fact was an agency. She also explained that by paying the amount of money they would assign you onto, they would represent you.
The amount depended onto which level of training they said you needed. During my first screening, I know for a fact that I did terrible. I tried doing what I had just seen a girl doing before me.
I had a men's commercial to read. They told me to call back, I called back. When I spoke with Taya, she told me that I had done "great" at the screening.
Taya then asked me to go in with my mom to a second screening. We attended a second screening. Once I had read all of the lines, I knew that I had done terrible again.
I was expecting for them to say something like, "You're not doing very well, but the training can definetly help you out".
Instead, Taya told me that I was great.
She even told me that Telemundo was in great need of bilanguals like myself and that Telemundo very often went in to do castings. We paid up a total amount of $2000.00. The training was the most unprofessional experience that I had ever gone through!
My first coach was, Patrick Baca, he teached sitcom class. All he really did was toss in the movie "Back To The Future" and had us watch it. He then later on just talked about how movie producers and editors most likely got fired for not editing the movie correctly.
I honestly do not understand how tossing in "Back To The Future", and talking about how producers and editors most likely got fired, really meant training in the subject "sitcom". Very soon after that, the coach quit and they got someone new. I was asked to pick another class.
My next class was Improv/Dialect with Donna Vessey. Although Donna was the sweetest woman I had ever met she really didn't do much training in the subject "Improv/Dialect". All she had us do was go around in a circle and tell a story. She really believed that that was going to train us.
She actually did not even tell us something like, "well, you should work more on your facial expressions", as a way to help us improve. That was it. Then she found another job and they had to hire a different coach.
The next coach was, Dan Colasanti, he was a coach in Monologue/Camera. Once again, not much help with the training. All he had us do was, stand up infront of everyone, and say a monologue. He never told us if we needed to work on something in order to improve ourselves as actors.
It's kind of funny, even though the subjects were, "Monologue/Camera", there was never a camera involved. I remember auditioning the first time ever for an agent. The agent was Sterling Terrant.
This agent was not necessarily looking for good actors, but good voices. I was put on the callback list. I was never called back.
I auditioned for about three more years in John Robert Powers and discovered something startling. One day I happened to audition for an incredibly awesome woman by the name of Melanie. She saw how I did my monologue and said that she would like to sign me after a second audition with her.
Se did very clearly say that I was not doing anything right. She said that I was too "Broadway" and that I needed to do my monologue in a very natural way. I was all out of class time and couldn't afford any more to get it right!
I met her once again, and didn't pull it off. She asked me, "did your coaches not tell you what to do in an audition?" I said, "No! They didn't. They did not train me like they were supposed to." She then said, "you might wanna speak with the Educational Director and let her know that you need to be given some free time class because of the fact that they didn't teach you anything that they were supposed to."
I didn't do so because I knew that they wouldn't have done so. I also recall auditioning for The JRP exclusive representation. That meant auditioning for the agents of the agency itself and if you were selected they would help you get jobs. I got on the callback list, wast told they would call me back so I could sign a contract with them, and was never called back. I was around John Robert Powers for over five years and got nothing off of it.
I understand that getting in the business takes years, but really, what they did was against the law! They charged my poor hard working mother $2000.00, not to mention the $500.00 for the photoshoot, promised me that Telemundo was in often, and that they would train me the right way in order to get to where I wanted to be.
Also because of the fact that, none of the times that I was in a callback list, was I called back! I actually moved to Reno, began attending the John Robert Powers down here, hoping that I'll do it right one day. Yet, there is a bigger deal with the John Robert Powers down here. I actually became an employee and discovered so many fraudilant situations going on down here. About this you will read at a later time. For now, I am collecting everything that The BBB (Better Business Bureau) needs to know. Get this, me and the former Promotional Director are going to do the reports together, because only we have had the guts to do somehting about the situation in Reno.
John Robert Powers only has greedy people that try their hardest to take your money!
Salvador
Reno, Nevada
U.S.A.
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