One Source Talent Agency Scam. Unfriendly. Unprofessional. Lies. Atlanta Georgia

I submitted my headshot to One Source Talent agency while attempting to get an Agent in the Altanta area. I was called the very next day and told they "really like (my) your look". I thought "ok they say that to everyone but not an automatic red flag".  I didn't have much reason to doubt them at this point and no mention of money was ever made. I was asked to come in the following Saturday for an interview. When I arrived early, as instructed, I found several people waiting outside which was my first real red flag.

At the scheduled interview time they opened the doors to the small office area that had thier companies names taped to the door and all you could hear was the blairing music that was coming from inside the office area. At this point the second red flag flies up as this all was very unprofessional to me. This music was turned down for brief intructions from the receptionist as he told us that we would be given a form to fill out and what to do with that form after we filled it out. We were then let in to start the process and the music was turned back up as we all filtered in slowly. We all (about 50 people?) filled out our forms then took a seat in a bigger room with chairs that faced a TV screen and told the presentation would start soon.

After everyone had a chance to fill out their forms and take a seat people were reseated based on gender: females first. Anyone that then didn't have a seat stood at the back of the room.The presentation was given by an attractive young woman and it took a really long time.

The presenter told us she was the office manager and told us how she got people into the business and name dropped a few people that I never heard of. She also insulted a couple of actors which I felt was bad form and not necessary but this also led me away from thinking they were a legitimate business even more. She told us that we would take pictures and measurements and some of us did while others were left sitting there. Those of us who were called up were asked by others if we were models or special. I did notice we were also the first people to arrive so I thought it might have been the reason why.

The presenter/office manager called our group boring about half a minute into the presentation which had people calling out during her presentation to show they had energy and were not, in fact, boring. I felt this was also unprofessional but thought she might have been trying to motivate us and get us talking.

After the presentation they began calling us back, for what was supposed to be 3-5 minute one-on-one interviews, where it would be decided if we would come back on Monday for a final interview. At my one-on-one interview, that actually only took 1-2 minutes, I was asked basic questions about what I wanted to do as an actress and if my husband supported me but not much else. I was asked to come back Monday for my final interview which had me wondering if my answers where just that good.  Still no mention of money was made to me so I kept telling myself that maybe this was just a big talent agency and this is how they weed out people who may not be a fit or willing to take extra steps that seemed unecessary. 

On Monday, I arrived and started to feel better because I was the only person there and the music wasn't on at all. Soon though, my concerns were raised again when 3 other people came in with the same appointment time as me and the recptionist had to locate the forms we filled out on Saturday while filing through a thick stack of other forms letting me know they didn't pick out an exclusive group of us from the large group that was there on Saturday and they weren't prepared for me to be there even though I was set to be there at that time. I was pretty convinced, at this point, that everyone was told to come back.

A couple of minutes later I was called back into an office where I was given a monologue to study and then told to take 5 minutes to memorize it as best as I could. I did as instructed and 5 minutes later the woman who brought me to the office came in and I read my monlogue. She was very nice to me and told me she was going to go discuss my monologue with her office manager and she left the room. 

Before she left the room she handed me a service agreement that went over their services. I read the statment which included being placed on their casting website, and that for thier services I would pay $39.99 a month and although I was a little weary of this but it wasn't out of my budget so I was set to ask some questions about what this fee would really do for me before I would agree to pay it.

When she came back she asked me how I felt I did on my monolouge and I said I felt it was pretty rough because  I was rusty at reading monologues and I knew I stumbled a couple of times and forgot a couple of words.  She agreed and said I would need some retraining to get used to reading monologues again and so I would need to get into some of their acting classes which had me wondering how much that was going to cost because I kept waiting for them to spring a big number on me. I don't think I am at my best currently and I believe that everyone benefits from training and retraining to keep them effective but everything about this place screamed illegitimate.

This is when I told her I had some questions about the $39.99 fee that was listed in the service statement and she said they weren't worried about that yet because first I had to pay the introductory fee of 495. I hoped she meant $4.95 so I asked, " do you mean $4.95?" "no," she said "$495.00". I didn't get up and walk out because of my manners but I did tell her that I would not be able to pay this amount to which she replied "do you have anyone who can help you pay this amount?" my reply? " No, I sure don't."

I was shocked and appalled that anyone I didn't even know would ever suggest I ask friends or family to help me pay for something I didn't need. She didn't  offer a payment plan or anything of the sort. She just stood and I stood with her and she then told me that they would hold my file for 13 months. She then walked me to the receptionist area.

As I walked out to the parking lot the "office manager" was walking through the parking lot talking on her cellphone about how she "just off the plane from Dallas" and she was wearing sweat pants and carriing her purse which let me know she was just geting there and couldnt have possible been in another room within the building as suggested to me by the person who was interviewing me as she went to go "speak with her office manager". I know that she could have called her on the phone but that would seem very unlikely.

This seemed very much like a shady little business that may or may not get people acting or modeling but if they do I think the people the office manager named named during her presntation might just be the few that did anything with them as their agent. I am so glad I didn't have an extra $495 available for these scam artists to take from me if in case everything that happened or was said would have convinced me they were an actual legitimate agency.