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scam?

Question:

clean up: Yes I do. Just simply because I have always wanted to be an entertainer. Its not for the money, mostly for fun. This agency I went to see supposedly helps you get jobs to build your resume. From what I read though, it appears this isn’t the standard practice. Did you have any advice about getting an agent?

Naturally, I do. Kelly gave you great advice here, Lisa, and I want to emphasize it: work. You need to work, and keep inviting agents to your work. But also, you need to develop a network. Agents (and casting directors) tend to operate on a word-of-mouth basis. The more people you get to see you, the more likely it is that someone will mention your name to someone who you need to hear it. And don’t be shy: ask people to talk you up. So get work. And keep at it. Tao te Carl

Response:

Legitimate talent agents do not charge up-front fees, Lisa.  The problem you have is that there isn’t much work in White Plains, and so the agency you are talking to has a different business model.  Instead of making money from commissions on acting work, they are making their money by selling stuff to hopefuls like you.  Pass. Ed Hooks Author "The Audition Book (Winning Strategies for Breaking into Theater Film and TV)" – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am interested in getting into acting and I recently visited a company located in White Plains NY called Maximum Exposure. There are an agency and they seem to place work. However, they charge a $700 fee covering 3 years for work they do on your file – i.e. send out pictures, etc. They also take 20%. I was wondering if anyone heard of them and if they have any advice. Please post your responses on the response board. Also, I need to get headshots done. Does anyone know how much they should cost (in NY), whether I should go digital and any personal recommendations of photographers. Thanks!

Response:

Welcome, back, Ed. — KellyL, AFTRA/Actor/Director "I think if there is a God it’s very important that he has a sense of humour – otherwise you are in for a very miserable afterlife." Rory Bremner

Response:

Legitimate talent agents do not charge up-front fees, Lisa.  The problem you have is that there isn’t much work in White Plains, and so the agency you are talking to has a different business model.  Instead of making money from commissions on acting work, they are making their money by selling stuff to hopefuls like you.  Pass.

Hey, Ed! Long time… Tao te Carl

Response:

do not forget http://www.digitalheadshotsnyc.com

Response:

: The Way to clean up: : : Thanks for your replies everyone. You’re awesome. How would I get : an agent in NY? Is it just a matter of getting photos and sending : them out? Also, I don’t have any experience. Thx. :) : : : Lisa, I have to ask you first: why do you want to do this? : : You stand a better chance today, Thursday, of winning last night’s : $12 million dollar Lotto drawing! : : Seriously, this business is one that eats people alive. We could : write a book about how to get an agent, probably sell a million : copies, and it wouldn’t change a thing about the fact that no one, : and I mean, *no* one, has a sure-fire way to get an agent. Your : mileage will definitely vary. And even getting an agent is no : guarantee of success because *all* an agent can do is open a few : more doors for you than you can for yourself. And should it turn out : that you can’t deliver the goods for a director, that agent will : drop you like a stone off the Tappan Zee. : : Go take some classes. Look into programs around your area that have : decent drama departments. SUNY Purchase, I’m told, has a pretty fair : faculty and it’s reasonably cheap to study there for a short while. : Learn the skills and techniques that will help you keep the job : while you build up a tool kit to help you get the job. : : Do the work in the classroom, and simultaneously, start getting out : to auditions for everything, from your local community theatre to : the ads in Backstage and ShowBusiness Weekly. It’s not important : whether you actually land any of these auditions, but you want to : start having people see you as an actress, and you can learn a lot : more about auditioning by auditioning than by reading about it here. : : Yes, you’ll need headshots and resumes. Until you’ve built up a body : of work, you can list roles that would be "representative roles" for : you. I highlight that, because you want to make sure you make it : clear on your resume you haven’t actually performed those roles. You : don’t want to be caught out in a lie, and auditors can usually smell : a phony credit a mile away. We all have horror stories about friends : who tried to phony up a show, only to find out the auditor was the : director for that show, and "Sorry. Next?" was the nicest way I’ve : heard it was handled. : : Lisa, I can’t stress this enough: you don’t want to do this. It : *will* take years until you are noticed in anything, and that’s if : you’re lucky. A typical actor will make less than $5,000 in a year : acting. If I remember my SAG statistics correctly, that $5,000 : threshold is only reached by about five percent of actors, including : those actors who sign those multi-million dollar deals. That means, : of *union* actors, 95% were either living on welfare or had to hold : down at least one other job. And union actors only make up about : thirty [ercent of the universe of actors. For non-union actors, you : can expect that perhaps less than 1/2 of a percent will make over : $5,000. : : Notice what this means: if you think acting is a rich and glamorous : profession, fuggedaboudit! You’ll starve from time to time, you’ll : wear the same outfit for five or six years until it wears out, and : you’ll constantly find yourself doubting your own worth, because : this business is about rejection. : : I do it, because I have to (and because I can afford to), because : creating a role and communicating ideas is in my blood, and I suck : as a painter <g : : If this last is the reason you want to act, if you find you can’t go : thru a day without noticing how someone is behaving and struggle to : create a story around them, if you put your makeup on in front of a : mirror and as you do, rehearse your audition monologue, then you’re : in the business for the right reasons, because ultimately, the only : way to survive here is to do it for yourself. : : Now, did you still want to know how to go about getting an agent? : : : Tao te Carl : :Yes I do. Just simply because I have always wanted to be an :entertainer. Its not for the money, mostly for fun. This agency I went :to see supposedly helps you get jobs to build your resume. From what I :read though, it appears this isn’t the standard practice. Did you have :any advice about getting an agent? I’m not Carl, but don’t worry, he will answer. In the meantime, to get an agent, the easiest way is to get into a show and then do your mailing. It’s a matte rof being in something so they can see your work. You can also do a "scattershot": postcard mailings, or if you send an 8×10, make sure there is a return address on the envelope. Pick up a copy of the Ross Reports which lists the agencies and casting people in the area, preprint the labels on avery address labels (or you can buy them from sue henderson (she usually has an ad in both Backstage and Ross reports or if you can get to Manhattan, Drama Books has them in stock, or from her website: http://www.hendersonenterprises.com/). Sue Henderson is a working actress, so out of necessity, her stuff is constantly being updated. — KellyL, AFTRA/Actor/Director "I think if there is a God it’s very important that he has a sense of humour – otherwise you are in for a very miserable afterlife." Rory Bremner

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – clean up: Thanks for your replies everyone. You’re awesome. How would I get an agent in NY? Is it just a matter of getting photos and sending them out? Also, I don’t have any experience. Thx. :) Lisa, I have to ask you first: why do you want to do this? You stand a better chance today, Thursday, of winning last night’s $12 million dollar Lotto drawing! Seriously, this business is one that eats people alive. We could write a book about how to get an agent, probably sell a million copies, and it wouldn’t change a thing about the fact that no one, and I mean, *no* one, has a sure-fire way to get an agent. Your mileage will definitely vary. And even getting an agent is no guarantee of success because *all* an agent can do is open a few more doors for you than you can for yourself. And should it turn out that you can’t deliver the goods for a director, that agent will drop you like a stone off the Tappan Zee. Go take some classes. Look into programs around your area that have decent drama departments. SUNY Purchase, I’m told, has a pretty fair faculty and it’s reasonably cheap to study there for a short while. Learn the skills and techniques that will help you keep the job while you build up a tool kit to help you get the job. Do the work in the classroom, and simultaneously, start getting out to auditions for everything, from your local community theatre to the ads in Backstage and ShowBusiness Weekly. It’s not important whether you actually land any of these auditions, but you want to start having people see you as an actress, and you can learn a lot more about auditioning by auditioning than by reading about it here. Yes, you’ll need headshots and resumes. Until you’ve built up a body of work, you can list roles that would be "representative roles" for you. I highlight that, because you want to make sure you make it clear on your resume you haven’t actually performed those roles. You don’t want to be caught out in a lie, and auditors can usually smell a phony credit a mile away. We all have horror stories about friends who tried to phony up a show, only to find out the auditor was the director for that show, and "Sorry. Next?" was the nicest way I’ve heard it was handled. Lisa, I can’t stress this enough: you don’t want to do this. It *will* take years until you are noticed in anything, and that’s if you’re lucky. A typical actor will make less than $5,000 in a year acting. If I remember my SAG statistics correctly, that $5,000 threshold is only reached by about five percent of actors, including those actors who sign those multi-million dollar deals. That means, of *union* actors, 95% were either living on welfare or had to hold down at least one other job. And union actors only make up about thirty [ercent of the universe of actors. For non-union actors, you can expect that perhaps less than 1/2 of a percent will make over $5,000. Notice what this means: if you think acting is a rich and glamorous profession, fuggedaboudit! You’ll starve from time to time, you’ll wear the same outfit for five or six years until it wears out, and you’ll constantly find yourself doubting your own worth, because this business is about rejection. I do it, because I have to (and because I can afford to), because creating a role and communicating ideas is in my blood, and I suck as a painter <g If this last is the reason you want to act, if you find you can’t go thru a day without noticing how someone is behaving and struggle to create a story around them, if you put your makeup on in front of a mirror and as you do, rehearse your audition monologue, then you’re in the business for the right reasons, because ultimately, the only way to survive here is to do it for yourself. Now, did you still want to know how to go about getting an agent? Tao te Carl

Yes I do. Just simply because I have always wanted to be an entertainer. Its not for the money, mostly for fun. This agency I went to see supposedly helps you get jobs to build your resume. From what I read though, it appears this isn’t the standard practice. Did you have any advice about getting an agent?

Response:

clean up: Thanks for your replies everyone. You’re awesome. How would I get an agent in NY? Is it just a matter of getting photos and sending them out? Also, I don’t have any experience. Thx. :)

Lisa, I have to ask you first: why do you want to do this? You stand a better chance today, Thursday, of winning last night’s $12 million dollar Lotto drawing! Seriously, this business is one that eats people alive. We could write a book about how to get an agent, probably sell a million copies, and it wouldn’t change a thing about the fact that no one, and I mean, *no* one, has a sure-fire way to get an agent. Your mileage will definitely vary. And even getting an agent is no guarantee of success because *all* an agent can do is open a few more doors for you than you can for yourself. And should it turn out that you can’t deliver the goods for a director, that agent will drop you like a stone off the Tappan Zee. Go take some classes. Look into programs around your area that have decent drama departments. SUNY Purchase, I’m told, has a pretty fair faculty and it’s reasonably cheap to study there for a short while. Learn the skills and techniques that will help you keep the job while you build up a tool kit to help you get the job. Do the work in the classroom, and simultaneously, start getting out to auditions for everything, from your local community theatre to the ads in Backstage and ShowBusiness Weekly. It’s not important whether you actually land any of these auditions, but you want to start having people see you as an actress, and you can learn a lot more about auditioning by auditioning than by reading about it here. Yes, you’ll need headshots and resumes. Until you’ve built up a body of work, you can list roles that would be "representative roles" for you. I highlight that, because you want to make sure you make it clear on your resume you haven’t actually performed those roles. You don’t want to be caught out in a lie, and auditors can usually smell a phony credit a mile away. We all have horror stories about friends who tried to phony up a show, only to find out the auditor was the director for that show, and "Sorry. Next?" was the nicest way I’ve heard it was handled. Lisa, I can’t stress this enough: you don’t want to do this. It *will* take years until you are noticed in anything, and that’s if you’re lucky. A typical actor will make less than $5,000 in a year acting. If I remember my SAG statistics correctly, that $5,000 threshold is only reached by about five percent of actors, including those actors who sign those multi-million dollar deals. That means, of *union* actors, 95% were either living on welfare or had to hold down at least one other job. And union actors only make up about thirty [ercent of the universe of actors. For non-union actors, you can expect that perhaps less than 1/2 of a percent will make over $5,000. Notice what this means: if you think acting is a rich and glamorous profession, fuggedaboudit! You’ll starve from time to time, you’ll wear the same outfit for five or six years until it wears out, and you’ll constantly find yourself doubting your own worth, because this business is about rejection. I do it, because I have to (and because I can afford to), because creating a role and communicating ideas is in my blood, and I suck as a painter <g If this last is the reason you want to act, if you find you can’t go thru a day without noticing how someone is behaving and struggle to create a story around them, if you put your makeup on in front of a mirror and as you do, rehearse your audition monologue, then you’re in the business for the right reasons, because ultimately, the only way to survive here is to do it for yourself. Now, did you still want to know how to go about getting an agent? Tao te Carl

Response:

http://www.tvistudios.com/gallery/ – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Also, I need to get headshots done. Does anyone know how much they should cost (in NY), whether I should go digital and any personal recommendations of photographers. Thanks! Tao te Carl

Response:

http://www.tvistudios.com/gallery/

I hate to admit that anything about TVI is useful, but this link certainly is. Tao te Carl

Response:

Thanks for your replies everyone. You’re awesome. How would I get an agent in NY? Is it just a matter of getting photos and sending them out? Also, I don’t have any experience. Thx. :) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am interested in getting into acting and I recently visited a company located in White Plains NY called Maximum Exposure. There are an agency and they seem to place work. However, they charge a $700 fee covering 3 years for work they do on your file &#8211; i.e. send out pictures, etc. They also take 20%. I was wondering if anyone heard of them and if they have any advice. Please post your responses on the response board. Also, I need to get headshots done. Does anyone know how much they should cost (in NY), whether I should go digital and any personal recommendations of photographers. Thanks!

Response:

Lisa: Read this carefully and remember it:  Honest agents and representatives of actors DO NOT charge you any fees up front.  They only charge when you are booked (hired to do an acting job). To answer your question directly:  YES, this is a scam. +Christoph Eune – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am interested in getting into acting and I recently visited a company located in White Plains NY called Maximum Exposure. There are an agency and they seem to place work. However, they charge a $700 fee covering 3 years for work they do on your file &#8211; i.e. send out pictures, etc. They also take 20%. I was wondering if anyone heard of them and if they have any advice. Please post your responses on the response board. Also, I need to get headshots done. Does anyone know how much they should cost (in NY), whether I should go digital and any personal recommendations of photographers. Thanks!

Response:

:I am interested in getting into acting and I recently visited a :company located in White Plains NY called Maximum Exposure. There are :an agency and they seem to place work. However, they charge a $700 fee :covering 3 years for work they do on your file &#8211; i.e. send out :pictures, etc. They also take 20%. I was wondering if anyone heard of :them and if they have any advice. Please post your responses on the :response board. : :Also, I need to get headshots done. Does anyone know how much they :should cost (in NY), whether I should go digital and any personal :recommendations of photographers. Thanks! — KellyL, AFTRA/Actor/Director "I think if there is a God it’s very important that he has a sense of humour – otherwise you are in for a very miserable afterlife." Rory Bremner

Response:

Lisa, it would be very easy for you to fall prey to their scam (which, indeed, it is). Put it this way: that $700 could go a lonnnnnnnng way towards Metro-North fare to see reputable agents in the city (and many up your way, as well). Now, to the photographer question. That’s a highly personal choice, to be sure. What you want to do is to view "books" of photographers and see how they handle people of your type. Also, you’ll want to understand their style: do they do outdoors, indoors? Are they "posers" that specialize in three-quarter shots and try to position your body to reflect more personality? Do they do strictly headshots only? That sort of thing. A good place to go, frankly, is to a commercial reproduction house, many of which here in the city have portfolio books on-site with representative samples of various photographers’ work. I can’t think of any names off-hand, but I’ll do a little research and get back to you. *If* you’re desperate for bad advice that probably won’t apply to you, I can recommend the following, high quality photographers, some of whom may even have on-line portfolios. Keep in mind that this is a highly subjective call on my part, based on observation and chatting up friends and seeing their headshots: Dave Cross (it may be davecrossphotography.com) Mark Rubin James J. Kriegsman Expect to pay anywhere between $200 and $500 (makeup extra), the fees will vary based on the number of rolls shot, the number of costume changes, and so on. You want a price list before committing to anything and get a firm estimate before signing on. The question of digital v. litho v. photo comes up all the time, and the jury is still out. Given that the jury is still deliberating the merits, it probably still pays to go photo, since we *know* that works, since it has for over a century now. Not knocking digital imaging or lithograph prints, but until there’s a distinct trend choosing those over photo-quality reproductions, why give someone a reason to toss your headshot? clean up: I am interested in getting into acting and I recently visited a company located in White Plains NY called Maximum Exposure. There are an agency and they seem to place work. However, they charge a $700 fee covering 3 years for work they do on your file &#8211; i.e. send out pictures, etc. They also take 20%. I was wondering if anyone heard of them and if they have any advice. Please post your responses on the response board. Also, I need to get headshots done. Does anyone know how much they should cost (in NY), whether I should go digital and any personal recommendations of photographers. Thanks!

Tao te Carl

Response:

I am interested in getting into acting and I recently visited a company located in White Plains NY called Maximum Exposure. There are an agency and they seem to place work. However, they charge a $700 fee covering 3 years for work they do on your file &#8211; i.e. send out pictures, etc. They also take 20%. I was wondering if anyone heard of them and if they have any advice. Please post your responses on the response board. Also, I need to get headshots done. Does anyone know how much they should cost (in NY), whether I should go digital and any personal recommendations of photographers. Thanks!

Response:

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