My 15 year old daughter and her friend were approached at a mall by a so-called "talent scout" for Artist Entertainment Group who invited them to an open call audition for new talent. My daughter gave the "scout" her phone number, and this individual telephoned for an appointment. We were told there were no fees but that the company would receive 15% if they decided to represent her.
I took her to the audition. There were tons of parents and kids waiting for their audtions. My daughter did an on-camera audition which consisted of simply telling about herself.
We were told that if the company was interested, we would hear back in two weeks to one month. We were telephoned on the following day by someone from AEG who wanted a second tier audition. Again I took my daughter to AEG. She did an on-camera audtion with a different person; she had to read one line for a MacDonalds commercial.
We were them told that if she were accepted by the director of the company, she would have representation. To make a long story short, AEG said we had ato buy photos from a particular photography studio (that did not do photos for the public). It would cost us $1750. We I said I would not pay that, the price was reduced to $1350. This was the lowest amount we were told. We would have to pay up front.in fact, he then said my daughter was accepted (curiously without the director's approval) and that we could sign the paperwork and pay the money that night.
I figured this was a scam; Come on, all that money for five 9 x 12 prints and 200 pictures for agents? I told him my husband would have to read any contract anyway and that he was a lawyer. The AEG man gave me a copy of a contract to take with me and set up an appointment for us to return on the following evening. I read the half page poorly written contract at home which stated that AEG will only give advice and will not get the client work.
Has anyone else heard of this company? Has anyone else had a similar experience with them?
Charlotte
Los Angeles, California
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