If I Were In Your Shoes...

Have you ever wanted something so bad that you wanted to believe what someone was telling you? Have you always wanted to be a “star” and would go to any lengths to do it?
Well, Have you seen the ads in the malls searching for the next “new face” or “new talent”? Have you been tempted to try it out just to see if you could make it? Well I know someone who has tried out for Model Productions “The American Mall Model Search“. That person is….my dad.

My dad is photogenic and in good shape. He looks young for his age. He always poses for pics. He is funny and definitely a good actor, which goes well when he does professional clowning for kids parties. (I’m his helper sometimes so I should know, ok?)

I knew he could do it without a problem. Last weekend, he did the catwalk thing at the mall and said a few lines. He got through to the next round. Then came the news that the contestants had to have a photoshoot the next day at the tune of 1 look for $150, 2 looks for $210 and 3 looks for $270.

Imagine how convenient; payments could be divided into 3 “easy” payments with the first one being due that day to book the appointment for the photoshoot. So that means that people had to shell out between $50 -$90 that same day, depending on what package they chose, or better yet, pay in full that day and” receive a free portfolio book for your photos”. Oh I forgot to mention that when they pay they get a free fashion show t-shirt so that they can decorate any way they want to “create your own catwalk theme”.

What I noticed were that out of about 20 people who registered that day, 16 were chosen. The age range was from babies to over 30. I didn’t see what the judge saw. People passed to the next level whether they were short, fat, plain looking, whatever…but who cares? They all would have the great opportunity to pay a small fee for a photoshoot compared to what other photographers would charge, right? I don’t think so. The modeling and acting arena seems to be very competitive. I don’t want to put down the contestants but not everyone is cut out for this stuff. Many people have told my dad that he should be in movies or modeling or whatever. Maybe that’s why it got into his head and he wanted to try. He said he was doing it to show us that we can try different things. Yes, we should believe we can do anything and follow our dreams but is that really what is happening here?

Anyway, my dad decided to walk away because he didn’t want to pay that money. As he put it, if someone thought he was all that good, then they should sponsor him. My mom began looking up about modeling scams and state laws and found out that legitimate companies should not charge upfront fees for anything until the person works and then they take out the fees from that first paycheck. So in a way my dad was right.

You see, when I was about 10 months old, my mom thought I was the cutest thing in the world and wanted to put me in modeling. The only problem was that since I was her first son and only child at that time, she took so many pics of me that I hated the flash. I became afraid of it and would close my eyes or go away from every camera. My parents tried anyway. It was in NY and they ended up shelling out $ for my photoshoot and comp pics in black and white. I still have them, a bunch of them in fact, because nothing happened with them. The photoshoot was horrible. I squinted through almost all. It was a miracle they got 3 that could be used. I was part of A+ Modeling in NY. My mom never heard from them again. But hey, I was a baby model for a day or two.

So because of that experience they are more wary of scams. My mom tried many work at home job offers which never panned out after she paid for them. She tried the real estate ones, the liquidation buyer one, the assembling at home, etc. with not anything to boast about. Now she looks into something only after finding out all the pros and cons.

My dad is not going to continue with the mall thing, even though a lady called him again to schedule for that photoshoot. I figure I’ll just pick up our camera and take him some good pics and send it to local REAL talent agencies. It probably will be better than what their photographer can do. If they like him, they’ll call him. If not, at least he still has his $ to buy me more stuff (just kidding). I just think that these companies should be real with people and let them know if they have what their clients are looking for or not. Meaning don’t let the people spend all this money for something that will never be. It is very disappointing to be scammed.

I know everyone has a story of either being scammed or knowing someone who was. It is always good to be wise and shop around or find for information concerning whatever is being offered. Here comes that famous saying, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” So teens let’s be all the wiser and not let ourselves be caught in scams just because we want something so bad. Let’s not hit up our parents for their hard earned money just to be in the next big thing. Let’s learn from other people’s mistakes. Don’t let anyone have to tell you ,”I told You So!” Because That can make you feel worse!

You can check out other sites which are centered on this issue:

http://www.modelingscams.org/upfrontfees.html

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/the-american-mall-model-search-c285152.html