Explore Talent Exploretalent.com ripoff, scam, lies, needed payment to tell me information about audition that casting director sent to me, used ordinary casting calls, used locations I hadn't listed Los Angeles California

Heather,

You are not stupid and many young actors and models have used Explore Talent and found success by submitting for auditions.

We apologize for your dissatisfaction with the Explore Talent service. At Explore Talent our goal is to provide you with unmatched service at an affordable price, and quality customer service. After reviewing your complaint, it is clear that you are a model looking for paying jobs. Explore Talent is proud of its ability to provide talented models like yourself with the critical information you need to get quality work. In reading your complaint, it looked as though you got a job right away that covered the cost of your membership.

At Explore Talent we make every effort to assist actors, models and musicians in getting work and improving their skill. We offer several packages designed to meet most budgets.

Explore Talent offers a free package, which includes:

· Free web hosting of your profile page – Yes
· Unlimited photo uploads to your gallery –Yes
· Unlimited video and music uploads to your gallery – Yes

Note: Most other sites charge a fee for extra photos and increased storage, Explore Talent offers these features at absolutely no cost. The only limit with our free membership is that free members cannot access contact information for the auditions and cannot submit for auditions. This is standard in the industry.

Explore Talent also offers a subscription package which includes:

· Seven day free trial of premium membership - Yes
· Free web hosting of your profile page - Yes
· Unlimited photo uploads to your gallery -Yes
· Unlimited video and music uploads to your gallery - Yes

· Unlimited access to auditions with complete information – Yes
· Unlimited submissions – Yes
· Professional color, personal business cards with color photo – Yes
· SMS messaging of matched auditions - Yes
· Explore Talent Resource Forum – Yes

Explore Talent offers four different subscription options for premium membership:

Option One:
Monthly premium membership subscription for $29.95/month billed monthly

Option Two:
3 month premium membership subscription for $69.90/quarterly billed once every three months (equal to $23.30/month or a savings of $79.80 per year off the monthly subscription)

Option Three:
6 month premium membership subscription for $119.94/semi-annually billed once every six months (equal to $19.98/month or a savings of $119.64 per year off the monthly subscription)

Option Four:
12 month premium membership subscription – $199.50/annually billed once per year (equal to $16.63/month or a savings of 159.84 per year off the monthly subscription)

Explore Talent encourages all members to take advantage of our free 7 day trial of our premium subscription service. All subscription options are recurring and require cancellation to discontinue the premium service.

Explore Talent spends hundreds of thousands of dollars building and maintaining a system designed to save members time and money. Explore Talent employs over 60 professionals with the purpose of providing members with the valuable resources needed to meet the challenging demands of the entertainment industry. Explore Talent also maintains relationships with casting directors, and provides in-house customer support to our members.

Although Explore Talent cannot create the jobs listed in our database, we do our best to provide more auditions and jobs than any other online resource. All of the auditions listed in our database are highly filtered and can be sorted based on member specifications.

Our goal at Explore Talent is to be the number one provider of auditions and industry information and resources in the United States. Explore Talent provides no other paid services, nor do we engage in selling any hard goods or photography services.

We hope we have answered your questions thoroughly. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 1-800-934-0000. We sincerely hope that you will consider our service in the future.

Sincerely,

D. George
Director of Consumer Affairs
Explore Talent

My friend and I both signed up for Explore Talent. I payed attention and read the deal they offered and actually got work. Actually a lot of work. My friend who's kind of the stary eyed not so disciplined type even got a job even though he's the doesn't listen and doesn't follow up type as well. I read someone else's report and have to say that I have to give the company credit and have to say to Heather in Wisconsin - the business model and system they offer makes total sense and is was definitely not a ripoff. Her naiveness is typical of talent that gets into the business without paying attention as to what they are doing and then gets the way the business works wrong. I knew that after the tiny little 7 day period I would then have to pay to get my info to the casting people. I also put a lot of effort into the webpage and noticed others just sat back and then wondered why they weren't getting work. Also unlike Heather, I understood the submission process so that I didn't go out on anything that wasn't something i would go out on. I have also worked as a software designer and found their search engine process very easy and selective to use where as my friend cast himself in absolutely everything and didn't pay any real attention to what he was doing and how to use the site. Anyway I just had to add that since I actually like what these folks are doing and find that most people who are complaining are lazy and not paying attention to what they are getting into - which is why many actors and especially models can barely manage their own careers. So I say get it right and stop complaining about your own inability to read owners manuals or actually set that blinking 12:00 on your vcr.

 I didn't buy anything from them mostly because I could tell that the "casting director" and the "senior casting director" were just a couple of guys of Asian decent sitting in a call center reading a script.  They didn't keep track of what little information I gave them and they had fake names.  What are the odds that two Asian guys with accents so thick you can barely understand them are going to have names like "Sean" and "Eric"? Give me a break.
  I played along until they started asking me for money just because I wanted to see where it went.  I work in this business and I know how casting works and it isn't in this fashion.  They are just preying on people.  For everyone person that works I'm sure there are several who don't.
  This is probably one of the most insincere offers I've ever received aside from the lies that used car salesmen are known for.

I live exploretalent.com. You have to understand the industry and how things work. The guy wasn't "preying" on her trying to push a year membership. He was being honest in saying that it takes some time to get your name out there and work up a network with people in the industry to get your career going and that takes time. You aren't going to become a well known actor in 3 months!

I have been working with them for almost a year now and I have gotten quite a bit of work and interest and been able to network with a lot of industry professionals! Something I wouldn't have been able to do being from the Midwest without them.

Thank you exploretalent!

I am with the first person.

Explore Talent is a proven SCAM! They STEAL castings from FREE sites like Mandy and Craigslist and charges money. They also steal from LEGIT sites like ActorsAccess.com (This is the best for markets outside of L.A., NOT Explore Talent!). Or for FREE find the SAME castings that Explore Talent has on Craigslist and Mandy. 

Respected Casting Director, Industry Expert, and Author, Bonnie Gillespie (http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/) has said how her castings have mysteriously ended up on Explore Talent with the dates and some info changed around. GO AND EMAIL HER IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME! 

Explore Talent has been around for 5 years. In EVERY Acting Reference/Business Book written no earlier than 5 years and even in the books written or edited in 2008/2009, there is NO mention of Explore Talent! 

Let's reference some of the Top Acting Business Books out there: 

In Acting is Everything: Gold Edition by Judy Kerr, she mentions LA Casting, Actors Access, and NowCasting. 

In How to Be a Working Actor:5th Edition by Mari Lyn Henry, Lynne Rogers, and Joe Mantegna, LA Casting, Actors Access, and NowCasting. 

In Making it in Hollywood by Scott Sedita, LA Casting, Actors Access, and NowCasting. 

WHERE ARE YOU EXPLORE TALENT? 

You can do something new laws have been established that will put this scam out of business. Everyone needs to do their part and report them to the BBB and to the California attorney general.

With amount of people that have been scammed I would be surprised if the City Attorney is not already investigating exploretalent.com.

They will be shut down really soon because they are scamming the most vulnerable folks that have a dream that is being falsely created and then squashed once they find out exploretalent is a scam.

You can contact the city attorney office at 213-978-8100 213-978-8100 and ask for Mark Lambert, if he is not in make sure to leave him a message describing how exploretalent has or has attempted to scam you.

Every report makes a difference, please do your part to stop this scam!

 

Explore Talent is a proven SCAM! Go look them up on Better Business Bureau!

They STEAL castings from FREE sites like Mandy and Craigslist and charges money. They also steal from LEGIT sites like ActorsAccess.com Respected Casting Director, Industry Expert, and Author, Bonnie Gillespie ( http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/ ) has said how her castings which she ONLY posted on ACTORSACCESS.COM have mysteriously ended up on Explore Talent with the dates and some info changed around. GO AND EMAIL HER IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME!

Explore Talent also MISLEADS! They entice people with bogus links such as:

http://disney-channel-auditions.com

Some kid thinking he or she will get Disney Channel Auditions will end up at Explore Talent and not see any Disney Channel Auditions. I have one question for the ower and staff of exploretalent.com, how do you sleep at night?

Explore Talent has been around for 5 years. In EVERY Acting Reference/Business Book written no earlier than 5 years and even in the books written or edited in 2008/2009, there is NO mention of Explore Talent! Let's reference some of the Top Acting Business Books out there: In Acting is Everything: Gold Edition by Judy Kerr, she mentions LA Casting, Actors Access, and NowCasting. In Self Management for Actors by Bonnie Gillespie, LA Casting, Actors Access, and Nowcasting. In How to Be a Working Actor:5th Edition by Mari Lyn Henry, Lynne Rogers, and Joe Mantegna, LA Casting, Actors Access, and NowCasting. In Making it in Hollywood by Scott Sedita, LA Casting, Actors Access, and NowCasting. WHERE ARE YOU EXPLORE TALENT?  SCAM SCAM SCAM.

After reading all the complaints online I am astonished that exploretalent.com is still business.  I should have read all those complaints before because I to have fallen for this scam.  I canceled three months ago and am still being charged with out my permission, so I called my bank and filed a complaint against these scammers.  I went online and sarted doing google searchs and found a bunch of stuff about them like that they own hundreds of websites to try to confuse people into thinking it's another company so they can scam the same person multiple times.

I even found out that thecutekid.com is also owned by the same scammers.  I found one of the owners his name is Ami Shafrir and he has quite a reputation if you just search for Ami Shafrir scam.  What really bothers me is that there are complaints dating back years and no one has done anything to stop this guy!   Isn't this America where the rule of law is observed!  I feel like I am n the twilight zone, you have a proven scam, tens of thousands of victims, going on for years, no law enforcement or media effort to stop it!   

I am getting my money back because this clearly a scam and I called my bank about and if you have been scammed you should to!  I am so angry at myself for falling for such bs, I should of known!  Well next time I will know better.  Hopefully my story is helps others avoid my fate.  God Bless

Why are you all even bothering with this company if you know it is a scam?

 

Why don't you take your dear time and do some research before even getting associated with companies that you have doubt about?

 

Do your own homework and remember - YOU DO NOT PAY ANYONE upfront to get you booked, meaning any agent - after THEY BOOK YOU A JOB they will get their % which is usually 10-15% per job that they book you! Simple, right?

 

http://www.actorschecklist.com/resources/model.html

i too had signed up for a free membership with exploretalent.com and had a e mail come to me as well.  the e mails that i had received never once said that a casting directer was interested in me directly.  they would actually describe a paticular casting call that i was matched too based on the information that i put on the website about myself.  i too was directed to call explore talent for more info and did so.  i was not charged for the information about anyting. but when it came down o wether or not i could get submitted to the casting call was another story.   i couldnt understand how they could charge for casting calls.  but they actually dont.  they charge you to have the ability to create a profile on their website and submit that profile to the casting calls.  i dont know if anyone has ever been too an open casting call but that sucks.  with this website you submit from the comfort of your home.  your are supposed to find the auditions on the site yourself and submit yourself to them. not have someone else do it. and yeah. 3 months for $70 is a deal compared to paying $30 a month. du.  i will admit the buisness cards i got were kinda cheesy and cheap looking. i never used them.  but i didnt sign up for cards.  i found auditions that i submitted myself too all the time. and i have been on auditions that have turned into awsome jobs and great expierences.   i later had an agent try to sign me to a talent agency and thats when i found out how much of a better deal explore talent really is.   i tried this agency because i thought it was the big time.  and after i had paid an 1500 dollar contract fee and  got 3 jobs over the course of one year.  the jobs paid a couple hundred a piece and i still had to pay a commision off of that to the agency.  for a 1 membership i paid 200 bucks at explore talent and have been steadidly working.  the auditions are definantly real. this young lady failed because she did not utilize the service correctly.  there is a certain method you have to take. just like with anything there are steps that need to be done. she says someone submitted her. thats not what they do. they can. and have just to show me how. but there job is to sell you the membership. not be a talent agent. thats why there called talent advisers.  if your serious about getting into the industry and you understand that some hard work might be needed, it can be done. and explore talent helped me by providing casting calls that gave me the chance to be where i am now.

If you noticed above, the lady lives in the mid-west.  The castings listed on Explore Talent are on the coasts.  I did the free trial and then they called me to ask my opinion of the site etc.  I basically said it's not for me.  I was constantly matched to auditions that were not for me, some of these auditions were for men, I am a woman!  The age range or union status was NEVER taken into consideration on my matches either. 

I talked with some of the people on the site and was told they got work but it was all non-union work.  I'm in the unions and also listed I was interested in work in NYC for all 3 of my states.  None of the auditions that listed NY were really in NY, they were Jersey, PA or way out in Long Island or way upstate.  Long Island and Upstate technically are in NY but I said NYC which are not those places.  Never was I matched with a union job.  I told them that I was sticking with Actor's Access because it will actually match me correctly and I only pay when I submit myself, I've actually paid the $65 for a year of unlimited submissions and that also includes Showfax so I can get my sides for free or look at scripts and sides for free.  I submit myself a lot there and it would cost me more than that for every $2 submission I submit in a year.  So to pay for the year works for me.  I suggest trying out the site and keep track of how much you spend before you pay the yearly fee.

From what I could tell Explore Talent is more of a social site with their weird contests and most of the people on there are really very young.  Anyone older will see the red flags flying as far as paying for that site.  Those of you saying you got work, well you are in LA, not the mid-west, of course there are more opportunities for you and if you're pretty, that's all that counts most of the time in LA LA Land, talent is just an option.  Please note I'm not saying you don't have talent but I know for a fact in LA looks come first and the rest doesn't matter.  When it does they go to 'stars' or people with 'names'.

Heather is correct in her comments.  They should have never gotten her to sign up when they know they have nothing in her area to offer her.  They barely have anything for NYC... well, that's union.  Castings I can get for free from the Actor's Equity Website or the trade papers.  For those of you saying you know the biz and have worked the biz, well then you should know you're better off taking workshops with CD's so they get a chance to know you and will call you in for auditions when you're right for them.  They'll also suggest agents for you as well.  You should know that the info on Explore Talent can be found elsewhere for free.  So it brings doubt in my mind that you really know the biz; and that you probably only know the biz from the fact you got work from Explore Talent.  Of course you're loyal to a site that got you work and you think it is getting your career off the ground.

I've been in the biz since I was a kid and no, I cannot condone what Explore Talent is doing nor say that they are legit.  I found them through a company I'm partnered with and checked them out with the free membership.  It didn't take long for me to see that the site is a ripoff.  I will also be reporting Explore Talent to my company to make sure they drop them.  Once they are aware of what this site is, they will not want to be associated with them and will drop them.

I have been a professional actor, singer, dancer for more years than I will mention here so I know what I'm talking about and believe me there are plenty of people out there taking advantage of actors, models etc because they can and because people want it so bad.  Unfortunately most actors/performers don't always think before they act, we are passionate about what we do and we are used to jumping off cliffs to take that chance. 

BUT you have to think first, if they say they need an answer now, hang up, leave/run out of there.  Always do your homework, look up names on IMDB or just Google them.  If they do what they say they do, you'll read about it.  Otherwise run run run away and don't part with that hard earned money doing a job you hate, just so you can get further with your real passion. 

Hello, I signed up as a member a while ago and only as a free member. I had forgotten about it until I recently got a call for an audition coming up in my area.

People have been saying that this is a scam and this is a fraud, and to look them up on the Better Business Bureau. I looked them up on the Better Business Bureau before I found this report on ripoffreport.com.

According to the BBB, exploretalent.com is an accredited website of them and it has an A+ rating. Any complaints that have been filed with the Better Business Bureau have been resolved.

I feel like people need to do research and look for themselves before telling other people to do research or before saying things like it's a scam. If you haven't been treated fairly by the company, contact the company first and try to resolve your issues before filing a claim on one of these websites giving the company a bad reputation.

http://www.bbb.org/southern-nevada/business-reviews/talent-listing-service/explore-talent-in-las-vegas-nv-75944

There is the website from the Better Business Bureau saying it's accredited with a good reviews.

It looks like they created a new Better Business profile. Before 2010, they were based in LA and had a big fat F Rating. 

Just because they're accredited does NOT mean they're legit. You pay for that title.

Explore Talent is NOT necessary in an acting career! They entice you saying they have auditions for major projects when the reality is, Major Casting Directors who cast such projects DON'T post on Explore Talent. The breakdowns they put out are ONLY available to agents. Explore Talent STEALS castings.

I live in long island and get plenty of opportunities from casting calls all over the coast.  Yes a lot of the casting calls you could find for free if you want to spend hours searching all the free sights.  You pay so they can do all the searching for you and present you with the casting calls that you have the best chance of winning.  So instead of looking through 100 auditions that are just for women between 18-22 they'll show you the 10 that are looking for someone who matches you exact sex, build, age etc.

Because I live in New Your I get a lot of calls from casting directors and even went to a screening for a movie with Seth Rogen.  The site is real.  They never said they present you opportunities you can't get anywhere else, they just slim it down to the best ones and save you the trouble.  For all we know the other people complaining live 1000's of miles from the coast where very little opportunities exist and furthermore might have a look that isn't the most desirable for most situations.  Also who knows what pics and info they put up on their exploretalent page.  I've gotten several calls from casting directors who found me from this site because I pay for pro.

If your so driven to make it in the industry then don't join a website if you live who gives a crap, idaho.  Go move to NYC or LA and go on some open casting calls or get yourself an agent.  Most of these people are just disgruntle because they ATTEMPTED to try and didn't succeed right away.

Anyone who pays for the monthly subscription is a bonafide idiot who has NOT done their research.

Here are the ONLY LEGIT sites:

In LA: 
-Actorsaccess.com 
-LACasting.com 
-NowCasting.com 
-Backstage.com (they have a weekly newspaper that you can get at stores that lists castings) 

In NY: 
-Actorsaccess.com 
-NYCASTING.COM 
-NYCASTINGS.COM 
-Backstage.com (they have a weekly newspaper that you can get at stores that lists castings) 

Other markets: 
-ActorsAccess.com 
-Backstage 

Free but proceed with Caution: 
-ModelMayhem.com
-Craigslist 
-Mandy.com
-Castingcallsearch.com

As you can see, Explore Talent is NOT LEGIT in any of the markets. They STEAL from the free sites and even the legit sites and make you pay a lot of money for it.