Commercial Scouts - Beverly Hills
Parent's Review
February 1, 2004
[Last Updated: February 01, 2005 ]
To Whom It May Concern:
Friday night I took my X-year-old daughter to the mall to get her ears pierced for her birthday. My husband and X-year-old son were with us. As we were exiting the mall a "Barbie"-looking woman approached us and asked if she could talk to us.
She said our kids were adorable and that she was scouting for new talent. She gave me her card and said it was this Sunday between 2 and 4.
I asked if it would be available at another time because Sunday is [..............................].
She said no, they had to come this Sunday because they are choosing people for the “pilots” that need to be filmed now.
I thought that was odd, because if they were legitimate there would always be future pilots or what not.
She asked my kids if they could say "Mommy, can we go to McDonald's?" which they of course did and she acted impressed.
I point-blank asked her if this was something where they say, "Yeah, your kids are great, but they need photos/lessons, etc."
(I had been taken by Model Search America in my youth and wasn't interested in anything like that.)
She assured me, "No, it's nothing like that. The companies that are looking for models will be there and your children are chosen directly by them."
I'm not really interested in getting scammed, so I decided to check it out. I found Debonair and Commercial Scouts are the same company and through a link on your website looked up the BBB listing, which - by the way - is F.
Here is the link if you want to add it: http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=13140003&hAKAID=14&hAddrID=11
I also found a Craig's list posting to hire one of these people:
Commercial Scouts Job Ad
losangeles.craigslist.org > tv video radio jobs > PART-TIME COMMERCIAL TALENT SCOUT NEEDED last modified: Thu, 20 Jan 14:16 PST
email this posting to a friend
PART-TIME COMMERCIAL TALENT SCOUT NEEDED
Reply to: commercialscouts\\yahoo.com Date: 2005-01-20, 2:16PM PST Commercial Scouts of Beverly Hills 90210 (a no-fee scouting company since 2000) is looking for a professional WOMAN with experience in the entertainment industry (acting/modeling) to help scout young new faces part-time for different entertainment companies. LEAVE A MESSAGE AT: 310-273-5994. NO E-MAIL, FAX, OR VISITS UNTIL REQUESTED!!! VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT: http://www.commercialscouts.com/ Job location is BEVERLY HILLS 90210 Compensation: ($100-$1500) Paid Weekly! This is a part-time job. Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster. Phone calls about this job are ok. Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests. Reposting this message elsewhere is NOT OK.
56433600
Copyright © 2005 craigslist terms of use privacy policy feedback forum
These scouts are making good money for recruiting people to come to these sales things (which they swear are not sales things). The man who owns this company feels that because it's not his company who's asking these parents to pony up fees that he's exempt from judgment and that in itself is contemptible.
I wonder how much of the fees they're charging he receives. In truth, it seems it's not the companies who are hiring the models that pay him - it's the companies who charge for photos and training who pay him.
I think they scout people Friday and Saturday so that people don't have time to check up on them before going to their "free screening."
Thank God for the internet and people like you. Beverly Hills isn't that far away, but I really didn't want to put my kids through (get their hopes up) something that was just a [...].
Concerned Parent
