Canadian Showcase for Models and Talent
To Whom It May Concern:
"Canadian Showcase for Models and Talent" and "Proscout":
Those seem to be the same type of [...] if not the
same company. Years ago Proscout came to Prince Albert,
SK and advertised on the local radio. A lot of teens
showed up. You did not have to pay for the first audition,
but if you were accepted you did go to Banff at your
own cost, plus another huge amount to the scout prior
to the pseudo-showcase or convention where one was supposed
to receive some training.
They also recommended their own expensive photographer
if you wanted a professional photographer. There was
absolutely no training (as advertized) in Banff, but
their workshops consisted of some talks which had absolutely
no value.
With all that money paid one could not even get anything
else for free. No food or drinks at all. Water was the
only drink given. Some staff at the Banff Centre could
not believe what they saw! The only things kids had to
do was walk in front of a camera as if they were a model,
for one minute or less, and that was the showcase, seing
all the kids and teenagers parade in front of every parent in
their own clothes! (this was the training!)
Parents could not approach agencies—only once
the child was recruited for a possible contract (maybe
to ask for some more money!), so you could not know if
these were real. At the same time as these pseudo-agencies
were there, the real ones were giving interviews for
free in Calgary, I learnt from a model. Some models
who had also been modelling were there and were not even
accepted!
I stayed around to see the ones that were accepted.
All the gorgeous girls I saw were not taken.
Only the tall, extremely skinny with an ugly face
were being interviewed again by the pseudo representative
of the modelling agency. All what they did was put
their photo in a file and they would have to wait for
a phone call if the company was interested.
In any case, even if a few made it, it did not justify
ripping off everyone else.
CSMT just had their audition in Saskatoon. A man who
tried to reach my daughter phoned my home to let us know
they were auditioning there. I asked where he got ahold
of our phone number.
He answered, "It came from either having gone
to an audition before or from having gone online."
I thought this was strange but my daughter did look
for jobs online, so I thought she might have applied.
I asked him if there was any cost but he seemed
surprise and said he did not think so.
We went online and we saw the [...] was Canadian Showcase
for Models and Talent and not "Canadian Showcase" and
I wrongly thought Canadian Showcase phoned us.
In Saskatoon the agency representative told me in front
of us all that there was no cost. However, he gave us,
just before we left, a four-page document we read
later, and it showed you had to give a deposit of $300.00
on your call back, which was 24 hours later and the remaining
of the $695.00 in Edmonton on October 7th and 9th.
So he lied to our face and we decided not to come back
the next day for a second audition.
We talked to another girl who also was called. They
told her they got her number from a previous scout audition.
Unfortunately it seems she wanted to take a chance!
Everyone we know in the entertainment industry told
us that one does not have to pay to get recruited. They
were right. All the scouts are agencies of agencies and
they are there to exploit people. Since when one has
to pay a big amount for a job?
We went to real auditions where they keep the information
in folders and it does not cost a penny. And these were
known companies. At the Canadian Showcase for Models & Talent,
when I told the representative about the complaints on
Internet, I was told: "Oh, these are people who
did not make it who complained!"
He also said that he was doing that part-time because
he liked to meet people, that he was very busy (acting
or modelling, I forgot), that his colleague had
been modelling in Taiwan etc., but we could not help
thinking he was there for the money.
I calculated that in Banff, when we went there over
10 years ago, Proscout had made half a million in one
weekend! When I went to the police about Proscout, years
ago, I was told: "Consumer Beware" and I unfortunately
did not follow up on it.
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