I replied to an add on Craig's list for a modeling gig and scheduled an interview with David St. John (the owner). Because I have a lot of modeling experience, he didn't try to sell me modeling classes. He did sell me on the photo shoot because in order for me to get the modeling gig I needed to provide him with professional photos that I owned the copyright to. Seemed fare enough at the time.
I paid David $98.00 or $100.00 or whatever for the "$600.00 photo shoot" I was going to receive. All I had to do was show up at the address he provided and bring $35.00 for a "studio" fee and $20.00 if I wanted hair, $20.00 if I wanted make up and so forth. He stressed the importance of spending the extra $ for hair and make up. I figured if I was investing in photos I may as well spend the little extra $ for hair and make up, so I did. I have done many many photo shoots, I am a nationally published model and I have had many modeling jobs. That photo shoot was the worst modeling experience I have ever had and the photos certainly reflected that fact. I showed up 15 mins early like David asked, to find no one was there yet. The make up artist was so terrible my photos turned out just awful!!! They were so BAD that I burned the disk after my family and I laughed and joked about them. David offered to pay half if I wanted to re-do the shoot. I'm a busy woman with a full time career. I really don't have the time or $ to be re doing photos that should have turned out good in the first place.
OH AND IT GETS BETTER! I ended up working the gig that I had originally applied for on Craig's list, modeling a brand of clothing. Turns out the gig was nothing like I had thought. It was a promotional modeling gig which I was not looking for. If David was doing his job as an agent he would have outlined all the details of the gig but he didn't instead he handed me a crooked photo copy of a business card and told me to show up! I worked one day and quit. I did quit at the last minute, yes, but I did contact everyone I was supposed to and apologized for the short notice. When I inquired about getting paid for the gig I worked David told me that he hadn't been paid yet and that when he got paid, I would get paid. Fare enough! I patiently waited and let quite some time go by and I inquired again only this time the response was "the way you handled quiting the job, actually cost me more than your pay, what do you think is fair?" LOL REALLY??? Hmmm well I think when someone works a shift you PAY THEM!!! That's what's fair!
I don't even care about the $ at this point. I just want to make sure no one else makes the same mistake I did. I'm out the $100and some dollars for the photo shoot and the $40.00 I'm not going to get paid for working a few hours. My goal is just to inform everyone else so no one else loses their hard earned money like I did! There are plenty of fabulous agencies in this area and you will notice that none of them have to advertise on Craig's list to get models to sign with them!
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