As a producer for a nationaly-syndicated television show, I went on assignment to the headquater's of One Source Talent in Troy, MI located in one of the wealthiest areas of Michigan. It came to my attention that the former con-artist's behind the "Wilhelmina Scouting Network" scam, (not to be confused with Wilhelmina Models in NYC) were conning people again with a new twist, modeling consultation under the guise of modeling promotion. The crafty sceam developed with the pseudo-open call.
The office manager, Christina, played "the devil wear's prada" on a flat screen TV, while aggressively pursued applicants wait to hear a better-than attitude to ploy people into the con. She even invited people to leave if they were not up for the demands of the industry. She mentioned names of people One Source allegedly elevated to levels of working models and superstars like, Diamond White on Broadway.
Everyone should know that nobody needs to be consulted in the industry of modeling unless it is a legitimate agency, and even then, there is no model's union with codes and standards for this business. I was asked to sign with the company to be promoted to authentic modeling and talent agencies. One Source Claims to cast reality shows and local events. The truth is the information on castings is available to anyone who knows where to look.
My company and an undercover asscociate disguised as my gay-lover, went in to the second interview only to be told what celebrities we looked like by a naive teenaged employee.
As I dug deeper, I was asked to get photographs taken by the in-house photographer to the tune of $900.00 plus the intial fee of $395 and the $30 monthly fee for the "My-space for Models" website that is inaccessible to the public. I followed their orders, and confirmed the con while gathering more evidence for the TV show. The catalyst was the overwieght, long black hair and overly-injected lips of the VP, Katie Ludwig.
She described when she first met me, I was too gay to make it in this industry, too gay to be sent out
on jobs and I need to butch it up for fashion cause the gay designers only want what they cannot have. I personaly am not gay, however I have many gay friends who who work in all parts of the entertainment field, this is where I drew the line. One Source is still unaware that we are working on a nationaly syndicated TV show about modeling scams, however, we hope to shed light on this covert exploitation of innocent people who have dreams of making it big.
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