One Source Talent (www.onesourcetalent.com)
To Whom It May Concern:
While bored one day, I stumbled across the OneSourceTalent.com
website. I filled something out and included a picture
to be reviewed, and totally forgot about it as I continued
surfing the net.
A few weeks later, I was called by a representative
and asked to go to the New York office for further evaluation.
I went, brought some photos, waited a long, long time
(there were other suckers there, too, like me).
I finally met with a "talent consultant" who
liked my look and asked me to come back for a second
interview.
A week later, I went to the second interview with my
parents, and the talent consultant said how if they signed
me, I would be getting lots of great modeling jobs, that
she'd look into jobs for me and call me frequently, that
I'd get marketing supplies, such as a digital comp card,
my own E-mail address at the website, and so on. She
even said something about signing me up for an Ashlee
Simpson promo!
I was so excited—and my parents were, too. We
agreed to pay nearly $400 upfront for me to be signed,
plus an additional $30 a month to "maintain" my
comp card. I was bummed out about the money, because
they never told me that I had to pay a monthly fee ON
TOP OF the upfront fee. But, my consultant had raved
on and on about how awesome my look is and how I should
have no trouble finding jobs, so I thought I'd make the
money back very soon.
She also said I didn't need professional photos, but
that I might be interested in having them done anyway.
So the next week she introduced me to the company photographer,
who was receiving a neck massage as we walked in. He
seemed very irritated and like he did not want to be
bothered with me.
It didn't help when I received the photo shoot pricing
guide. I was under the impression that the professional
photos were considered a "marketing supply" and
were therefore included in the upfront $400. However,
I was wrong. The price for photos was between $395 -
$1,295!
Since professional photos were not really a necessity,
I decided to wait. I read a lot of Success Stories at
their website, and the Comp Cards of many people with
success stories just had snap shots, nothing professional—so
I knew I didn't need them.
I would log onto the site every day and apply to castings.
No word from anyone.
My consultant left the company just a week after signing
me, and OneSource Talent never even assigned me a new
one. If I hadn't called them to complain, they would
have left me on my own (while still paying them!).
I called and asked for another consultant. The receptionist
left me on hold so long that I eventually hung up and
called back. He then connected me to another consultant,
who seemed utterly bitchy and informed me that the consultant
can't really do anything, that us talent have to look
for jobs all on our own.
I was so angry that I went on the website, and in the
Success Stories section, I wrote about how upset I was
with OneSource and why. Someone from the head Detroit
office read it, and contacted me. She went on and on
about how great their company is and how the only problem
is that I do not have professional photos.
Whatever.
My mother called the head of the New York office a few
days later, and told him how upset we were about the
inconveniences going on. He said he would take care of
me from now on, help me find jobs, and said that I DO
NOT need professional photos. He was supposed to call
me later on, but never did.
My father finally called him and discussed further how
upset we were, how he never followed up, and so on. He
apologized and told my father that a consultant would
be in touch.
She, the new consultant, called me soon after, and said
that I need professional photos.
I told her that the head of the New York department,
her boss, said that I do not need them at all.
She said something like, "Honey, I don't know what
he was thinking, but ya DO need professional photos,
otherwise you won't get any jobs?"
I GIVE UP.
In a nutshell. To be signed with One Source Talent means:
-Paying $400 upfront.
-Paying $30 a month.
-Paying $395 - $1,295 for professional photos.
-Logging onto the website and finding jobs ALL ON YOUR
OWN (which you can do for free at sites like Jurgita.com
or elsewhere).
What.A.SC*M!
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