Carolyn's Model & Talent Agency review: Fraud and lies 63

Registration fees to cover their costs? Really, I am a travel agent and I dont charge clients fees, I make commission of what they buy thats how I survive, thats how they should survive! Then to be told that 800 casting is MANDATORY, that we had to pay extra? What for, thats what I was paying them for in their fees! I dont question the length of time it takes to get paid, I am questionsing the hunderds and hundreds of new clients that they take, the fees they tak and they do very little in return...SCAM!

use casting360.com instead. they are 100% legit

My child finished the year with CarolynsKids.

1) they aren't listed with ACTRA. All the points Actra mention as being scams are what is going on in this agency. They aren't suppose to advertise, they're to give list of photographers not send you to their own for $700.

2) Their commissions are the highest of all the agencies in T.O. 20% to 30%. Read the fine print before signing. ACTRA states 10 50 15 % is the norm.

3) The positive posters on here work for the agency. The photographers daughter is a client and gets a ton of work. The two daughters of Carolyn also work at the agency. The acting studio across the hall is linked. I heard it and Gloria Mann courses are not very good.

Research, visit a few and don't pay as we finished the year in the red. Too many kids on roster which was evident when almost everyone sent to one audition was from Carolyns.

They are not listed as a reputable company with ACTRA

Everything listed on ACTRA for scams is everything this agency does. The charge the most to join, pictures (plan to pay $1000+) . The comp cards are the least professional I have seen while taking my child on auditions.

The commission is 20 to 30%. ACTRA says for children the norm is 10-15%.

I've researched and they charge the most and don't give a list of photographers just their own (daughter runs it), the auditions are rare compared to other agencies. Also a reputable agency does not attend the convention nor advertise (pls read ACTRA's website).

so where else could i look into?

There is a list of reputable companines on the ACTRA website. Also a lot of information to know what is right or wrong when signing with an agency.

Bcast is a scam and many others but not all of them are.
If you're not sure look the company up as I do for everyone of them.
The only beef I have is traveling for over an hour to get to wood-bridge, scam or not.

Actra isn't a scam, they are there to help you.

Carolyn's Kids is a SCAM! Charged me $350.00 fee upfront. I have not got any calls from agencies and I have been waiting for a long time! I noticed that every auditions always the similar names pop up that they got the part. After doing my investigation I noticed these kids are the children of the parent who works for the agency! WINK WINK...I guess everywhere you go everybody has their "favorites/choices".. They make their money by advertising you to have photography done by them every month and a half and their beauty line... dont forget the upfront fee! FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD AND LIES! Shame on you guys!

Also forgot to mention... I asked the agency why my child hasn't got one audition yet they stated because the company didn't choose them! Then I asked if they even sent my child's profile to these company and they looked into it and stated NO because you havent logged into my child's profile for over 22 days! I am like WHAT? I log in almost everyday! SCAM SCAM SCAMMMMMMMMMMM!

I contacted Carolyn's Model and Talent Agency a few days ago and was contacted by a representative within 1 hour of sending my email. I was still in the process of investigating different Agencies for my daughter so I was surprised to hear back so soon. I was given several different dates for an appointment, all within the following week, so it seemed they were quite anxious to meet with her. As I was trying to find a mutually beneficial date for both of us I continued to research different Agencies and was also checking ACTRA's website for additional information regarding child talent. It was only when I asked Carolyn's representative (in an email I sent to her) about their status with ACTRA that the correspondence abruptly stopped. It has been more than 48 hours and I still have not heard anything from them. THAT IS EVIDENCE ENOUGH THAT SOMETHING SHADY IS GOING ON HERE!

For anyone out there who ever wants to put their questions or fears regarding a specific 'Agency' or their legitimacy to rest once an for all, I suggest that you go to the ACTRA website and check their listing of member agencies. You do not have to be an experienced or 'principal' performer to use this service, you don't even have to be a member of ACTRA, all you need is a few minutes and a computer. You can search their member agencies by alphabetical order - it's simple, and, there is a lot of information about the roles an agency plays, what their responsibilities are etc. I am glad I asked that Carolyn's representative that question, it saved me a trip to Mississauga.

And, by the way, YOU DO NOT PAY AN AGENT TO REPRESENT YOU, YOU DO NOT PAY AN AGENT FOR PHOTOS EITHER, a reputable agent will only get paid if they get work for you and will ALWAYS allow you to use a photographer of YOUR choice, not theirs.

I was a model in the late 1980's, I was with Judy Welch Modelling. When I signed up with them, they asked me to start building my portfolio, they gave me the names of several photographers, most of whom were also looking to build their own portfolios, so you know how much my first round of photos and comp cards cost me THE COST OF THE PHOTO PAPER THEY WERE PRINTED ON!, Thank you very much! Swallow that 'KnowWhatYourTalkingAbout', because it doesn't really sound like you do!

I have 3 children signed with Carolyn's and I am not impressed. Driving to Toronto for "auditions" for "background" is a complete waste of time. Getting the call at 9pm the night before to go to an "audition" the next morning. With the price of gas, it's hardly worth going at all. Not Carolyn's problem I know, but still - just a sample of the types of "jobs" we get sent out on.
The cost of photos, done through the agency, is pricey, and I have never needed one on an audition, although I have about a hundred sheets printed off (that I paid for of course).

I brought my middle child to meet the agent before signing on. She asked him to do a sad face, angry face, scared face, etc. My son gave her stone face...every single time. Yet he was signed anyway. He's a cute kid and has been booked on one major job, but still. Clearly not a great impression.

The baby we signed at 3 months and paid the $300 (not sure what for?). He has had 2 "auditions". One he booked for "voice" work and one we were told that they wanted babies with teeth...he had none at the time. He is now 2.5yrs old. Nothing in sooooo long.

Now I get emails asking for the $199 +tax annual "admin" fee for each kid. For what? I have to pay the 1800 casting.

For the few jobs we have booked...it does take FOREVER to get paid. And no, they don't send them out as soon as they get them. I ALWAYS have to email and phone to remind them to pay us.

It truly isn't worth the $11/hr for background work. Maybe for some it is...and I guess those are the people they are hoping keep signing up.

This agency is a scam. Call the police, put them in jail, and or sue them in court, win your money back and teach them a lesson.

Ok, in regards to Carolyn's ?i paid 300 to have pictures taken... And now I have to pay another 150$. To have the pics put on a CD...sounds sketchy...
Agency's need to be UPFRONT with fees and what you get For your money..

I was also taken advantage of by Carolyn's Agency several years ago, with my 2 daughters. Haven't forgotten it. I even wrote to Carolyn personally, telling her how much it meant to lose over $1000, and how unfair it is to make promises to young kids and then shoot down their dreams by not even calling..until the parent calls to find out why they haven't been sent anywhere. Then suddenly you get a call, just to make you think that they're working for you. I would NEVER recommend this agency to ANYONE. I really hope people read these comments before handing them their money. I still remember Maria, telling us how my girls would absolutely be getting calls and opportunities because they were "so beautiful". I still remember how their faces lit up as she spoke, not knowing that it was all a SCAM and they were just taking advantage of us. I blame myself now because I should have known better. I should have done more research on them and read comments like these. Because we lived in Streetsville at the time, and Carolyn's has been there for so long, I assumed they were reputable...WRONG! DO NOT GIVE YOUR MONEY AWAY TO THESE PEOPLE! Carolyn, you should be ashamed!

"KnowWhatYou'reTalkingAbout", take your own ###ing advice. You have the time to write a write along reply telling people that you know more about the industry than everyone else who has posted comments here, yet you say "Why would anyone say their child's name on here so you crazy Bipolar people can stock them..." (in your response to "HATESCAM"). I have studied and have friends with Bipolar disorder and they have never felt the desire to "stock" anyone, because that is not a symptomatic behaviour of ANYONE with Bipolar disorder. That ignorant statement trashes your credibility right there, even if you did know much about the acting/modelling industry. Like you say to "3.[protected]", Wow, I'm surprised YOU even have an education, because you're foolish enough to post a statement where YOU have no idea what you're talking about. Your ignorant and hateful comment about "crazy Bipolar people" speaks louder than anything else you said to anyone in your long rant about the entertainment industry. Having said that, I am somewhat indebted to people like you, who provide successful comedians like my non-stocking Bipolar colleagues and I, with great stand-up material.

I just signed my daughter up with Carolyn's yesterday and am now regretting it. Does anyone know if the 10 day cooling off period applies here and how I would go about getting my money back? Thank you!

Just got back from Carolyn Model Management in Mississauga. Pushed for $800 in classes and photos and $200 registration fee. So $1000 to sign up with an agency. I have experience and beautiful pro photos but they didn't care. They just wanted me to fork over money. I asked how long the classes are. They say one 2 hour class. Really? $800 for photos and $2 hour class. And the agency seem so scammish to me. All she said were nice things, I could tell she was buttering me up to fork over the money. I don't even mind the $200 registration. But forcing wannabe clients to use your photographer and take classes is BS. In my last agency, they love my pics, I didn't need to take photos. They used my pics for their comp card which was not expensive at all. A reputable agency should give you the option of using your photographer and telling you what they require in that photos. An industry headshot requirements is universal. Any professional photographer knows what the standard headshot looks like. So sorry, even if Carolyn is not a scam, they are not doing business the right way - a bit too money greedy, and I will stay clear.

I signed my kid almost ago and have got nothing anytime I have questioned them about what they have sent in for my kid they say yes and send me a report with no dates on it, they tell me I need to go on Mandy.com and casting workbook and apply...what do I pay them for? Pictures were done in house $600 I took better pictures, workshops they push on u $200 each in house... I have been looking for a new agent and lots of them say the same thing that they hear them.

Carolyns Talent and Models scammed me out of $1200.00 for photos and registration fee . I have nothing to show for it except many months of frustration, no return phone calls and some photos my brother could have done for free .They took my hard earned money and total advantage of me and ignorance of the industry.
They are not good people and they steal people dreams . I will never attempt to work in Modelling again .

Thank You Carolyn...NOT Return my money you frauds !
J. P

Carolyn Model and Talent stole my money and my dreams . Please be warned do not give them one penny . They are Liars and Frauds that take advantage of peoples money and time . Very sad that these type of people and their so called Model and Talent Agency can exist and continue to misrepresent people and legally operate and steal money from them .

I decided to put my "two cents" in after reading so many "hate" comments. I do not know Carolyn's but I am meeting with them this week to "assess" them. Yes I am going to assess them to see if they are right for me! I am an actress and lived in New York for many years. I have been scammed before twice before, once in New York. I also was part of an agency in Canada where I had to pay initial enrollment fees and yes this was to help the agency move along and probably pay their rent and wages. But the agent worked really hard to make herself known, respected and sought after. It is not easy. Second, if your child nor you are getting any work, it is indeed the client's ultimate decision, the agent has nothing to do with it. An agent can send your picture out to 100's of clients but if the client does not like the look, they will pass over it. It's like getting 100 emails a day, which ones actually catch your attention? The ones from people you know! The ones that "speak" to you. I also am reading about many people paying a lot for photographers. Well you can look at it two ways. Either you can do the "all in one" with Carolyn's or similar agencies and pay for the photographers and the head shots and the comp cards, or you can choose to do it on your own and believe me good photographers who really know what they are doing do not come cheap! I have paid up to $800.00 for head shots. I have also paid $400.00. I have also had them done Time for Print from new photographers that needed the experience and I needed the photos. You can do TFP Time for print to build your portfolio but if you want pictures, if you want to be in the industry, you have to invest. YOU ARE YOUR OWN BUSINESS SO YOU NEED TO INVEST IN YOU! DOES THAT INVESTMENT PAY OFF? SOMETIMES YES, SOMETIMES NO! It is not the agent who decides. The agent yes can decide to push her/his favourites but you need to understand that casting directors and clients see absolutely hundreds of people, after awhile black and white or colour photos of people smiling gets to be tiresome, sometimes for the mere factor that there are few that have that it factor or wow factor or that catches their attention enough to get called for an audition. Then the audition is filled with other talent and you have to be ready and if you are not, you will not get a call back. If the call back goes well, you may get cast or lose out to a third call back. I am appaulled of the ignorance. If you child wanted to go to University or college, you would research that for them, so why then do you not research really what the industry is like by talking to real professionals. It is not like on E! Tonight! I am startled that so many mothers want their 2 or 3 years old's in this business so quickly. They are babies. However, I have lived abroad and while abroad, I worked for a magazine company, not as a model nor actress. A rather large and famous magazine company which will remain nameless- but those ideas you have of walking into a glamorous building...well let me enlighten you, but you are referring to the Magazine companies because yes they do have wall photos of their models and yes they do have an elaborate reception area and lounge area and coffee area and yes they do shoot right at the magazine and yes it is like walking into "The Bold and the Beautiful!. Also Photographer's studios-really big photographers use big studios but they are not their studios, they just shoot there. Some studios are glamourous and elaborate but really mostly a photographers studio can be a small white room with lights...a sofa, a fridge and backdrops.

As for acting, I once went to a casting directors office in New York and his office was wall to wall with polaroids and post-its and a small desk. There was barely any room for me inside there. On the other hand, I have also been inside Abrams Agency which has an elevator separating the two sides between print/commercial and film/ tv. The offices are spaces that are lined with cubicles- body width spaced apart; nothing fancy, nothing elaborate, nothing "rich." The receptionists desk was on the left of the elevator and she was practically in the hallway. I bet their apartments and homes are beautiful though but their offices absolutely not! Furthermore to all those people who claim Carolyn's is a scam, I am not saying she isn't or is, I don't know yet what my gut is going to tell me, what I am saying to you is you do not get work right away. I was an actress for many years and I had to hustle. I was up every morning at 7 filling envelopes with my head shots when we still used to use paper head shots and filling them out, pounding the pavement, sending out my comp cards, making phone calls because I didn't have an agent but technically I was doing exactly what an agent does. I got calls sure, but not to anything super. I needed to have contacts for that and without an agent, I didn't have the contacts. Trying to get contacts is what an agent does. They give you an entry way into being seen by the right people; the people who may be able to offer you work and it is all based on a photo and your past working experience. They want to know what you did but moreso who you worked with.

Either way if you want your child in the industry you are going to have to invest. Those fees that you claim the agency is taking--do you not think they are shared with the photographer and the make-up artist or do you think that everyone's services are for free. If you want free services there is modelmayhem.com built for people to create their portfolio and you will see a lot of shady people there too. What I am saying is do not expect to submit your daughter or son and for magic to happen, that doesn't happen and not even in Hollywood, not even on Broadway. People on Broadway have been at it for 20 years investing in themselves as dancers, taking voice lessons, photo shoots, learning odd skills to separate them from the rest, constantly making themselves better. Actresses I have met have enrolled in class after class, improv, martial arts, horseback riding, eukelele lessons, anything to divide them from the rest of the group. You are your business and so you must invest in yourself once you decide what kind of actor or model you wish to be. Do not expect to be a pretty face and have it all paid for. That does happen but really rarely and you have to be a genetic gift to the world because models are genetic gifts sometimes and you have to be in the right place at the right time and some of us are just destined better at being in that right place at that right time like the Linda Evangelista or Kate Moss or Giselle. But even they had to invest in themselves. I was told once by Ford agency that photos would cost me $1200.00. That was Ford Agency in New York and that is because they saw potential in me but I wasn't necessarily a Giselle or Adriana Lima or Kate Moss. Doesn't mean I may not have had the same sort of success once I got started, who knows but I didn't have that kind of money so I turned away that offer and closed that door and instead of investing that in myself because maybe that could have given me other opportunities, I simply decided I was not going to spend the money. If I were to count now all the money I have spent in photos, websites, comp cards, casting sites, over the years... it would sicken you but it does not me, because I invested in me and that is what it took.

If you are looking for a start, you should meet with several agencies and feel them out because really in the end it is not them interviewing you, but you should be interviewing them to see what they can do for you! That is what you should ask. What can you do for me? Do not think -Is my child going to be famous or rich or get lots of auditions... The most an agent can do is submit your photos, they are working for you but now with the internet, everything is digital and imagine how many submissions are made daily. Once the agent knows your work and they can try to push for you a little then maybe a lot, once a casting director deems you as reliable and great and fantastic, you have to hustle and wait it out but until then you build your resume or experience.

I once said I was scammed. Well my past scam included paying $700.00 for photos that I would get but never did. When I went back to visit the agency, the office was still there, with a lot of girls, many desperate and wannabe's like me - just wanting to be seen, but the photographer wasn't there, and my prints were still being printed. I never got them. The photographer was great and did take great photos..but I never saw them in hard copy. For all I know he took them back across the world and used them for other purposes... 6 months later I believe the agency was nowhere to be found. BUT...NOT ONLY AGENCIES WILL DO THAT, ALSO INDIVIDUAL PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE KNOWN TO DISAPPEAR AND WITH YOUR PHOTOS...I have had so many pictures taken of me that I have never received..tragedies happen, circumstances happen, and at some point you leave it up to the gods and say well there goes that, what now? I have had to beg for some photographers for photos. I paid $600.00 for a photographer in Miami plus my flight to have him shoot me so what I am saying is where you are not willing to pay, there are people willing and some times those people find themselves further ahead. Now don't get me wrong, use your judgement but don't judge. Use your judgement. Not everything in the world is a scam and they can definitely be smelled.

Regarding payment...modeling jobs will take anywhere up to 3 months to pay you as will acting jobs. It is a chain of events and you should learn how it works if you are going to be in the industry. Some jobs pay nothing but give you exposure but then I worked as a translator for a legal firm and that even took up to 60 days to pay me. It is the nature of some businesses but it is definitely the nature of this business and until you are on a weekly series, I don't forsee you getting a weekly paycheck for a modelling or acting gig. You have to wait and it is okay to hound because people need to be reminded. For people who have no idea about this industry- what you should do is perhaps call a really big agency and have them break down the facts to you so then you know. It is true that if your child is not being selected it could be because their photos don't "speak loudly" to the client nor the casting director. Sometimes all it takes is new photos, different colored clothes, different scenery, who knows but it is a fickle industry. I had one head shot that got me so many auditions in New York and I came to Toronto and one agent told me I looked like a prostitute. I was floored. I thought "well little do you know." Different people, different tastes...it really is different strokes for different folks and those folks happen to be clients and casting directors and DO NOT FORGET THAT SOMETIMES PRODUCERS HAVE ALL THE SAY IN THE WORLD AS TO WHO GETS CAST.

Just to let you know that I have also been on auditions where the casting director without telling me we were starting the audition, was actually filming the small talk between him and I and then he said "thank-you" and when I asked "did you want me to start?" He actually said "I've been filming you all along." That was horrible, that isn't a test of my talent but a test in whether I was clever enough to notice if I was being tricked. I didn't even realize I was auditioning yet. SO everywhere you turn in this industry, you will find "scam" if you look. However if you make yourself aware, learn the "Business" aspect of it all, things can work for you. You have to remember that "people do want to see you" they want to know that you are the next big thing, they sit at auditions all day and see the same thing, they want something refreshing and new but you have to show them that, they aren't going to go digging to find it. They honestly don't have the time, that's where agents come in. Agents do all the leg work that casting directors and clients don't have time for.

So lastly, If you really want to break into the industry, take classes. Hire a real photographer, go to an agency already with your photos if ones like this make you suspicious. Talk to former talent. Don't just carry your baby around waiting for an open call. God I have been to so many cattle calls, I can't imagine how traumatizing that is for a child. But if you did want to take that leap of faith, then try it out. The most you learn is that it wasn't for you, it didn't work out with that agent and it was not nor is it ever a waste of time but it should serve for you to learn more about the business and what or what not to expect!

Our son enrolled as an infant to toddler age of 3. We spent time on his portfolio with updating pictures and any size changes. Our son did not get any job from this agency. Very disappointed and unsatisfied with this agency. I feel they already have their favourites and I'm sure those favourites are getting the jobs. Waste of my time and money.