SILER CITY, N.C. — Dreams of Tinsel Town, modeling, being on the Disney or Nickelodeon Channel or even Broadway are common for many adults and children. These days people can get to stardom as a YouTuber, a gamer or Instagram Influencer. These are all just some of many ways to get to one's dream of getting on the big screen and becoming a celebrity.
One Triad mother has a warning for parents, especially when 'scouts' are looking for children. Keri Brooks says she found out, you need to be careful and cautious about who you trust otherwise you could end up out of cash.
Brooks said when she met with some talent scouts at a hotel in Greensboro this past weekend, they told her they would take her twins to Hollywood, and represent them, after a brief audition.
"I saw it on Facebook last Thursday, it popped through the news feed and it said Disney auditions, Disney was looking for actors and talent and I said hey why not I'll fill out the applications and see what it says. Immediately I filled it out I got emails," Brooks said.
She took her sons to the audition and they were excited about the experience and the prospect of going to Hollywood.
"They were going to take us to Hollywood, let us walk on the Red carpets, they were going to let us eat with movie stars, meet movie stars, they were going to let us do really anything, let us ride in a limo, get free service at the Hyatt. But I didn't know how they were going to do that," said 11-year-old Logan.
Logan said he was suspicious at first, but his hopes were raised when the so-called talent scouts picked him and his brother.
"I really didn't think it would happen that quick because it happened pretty fast in about two or one day," added Logan.
But how quickly a talent scout discovered the Brooks boys weren't the only thing that had the family concerned. As conversations continued with the scouts, the person made more offers that seemed too good to be true and came with a price tag.
"One of them would get a full scholarship - $10,000 worth - and then we will need to pay to get a discount on one of them of $3,000 and we'd have to come up with $6,995," said Brooks. The scouts were persistent and persuasive and the request for money upfront didn't end there, according to Brooks.
"They wanted us to give them at least $1,000 that night to hold a spot. They said if we didn't do that then the spot would not be held and they would have to give the opportunity to someone else," added Brooks.
Brooks said her mother wrote a check for $1,000 because of how excited and happy the twin boys were about their prospects of becoming actors. But the mom said after doing some more research online, she got a bad feeling and had the check canceled the next day.
She said she also reached out to an agency which one of the scouts claimed to work with and one of the managing agents told her they did not have any affiliation with any scouts in North Carolina currently, nor did they have any staff recruiting in the area either.
"And he said you do not pay anything for stuff like that. We pay you and we work off commissions when we find you jobs," added Brooks.
The agents who met with the Brooks family said they worked for AMTA which is a legitimate scouting company. But it has a Better Business Bureau score of D+ for unresolved claims. We checked one of the agent's Facebook pages and found other parents asking for refunds.
The agents or scouts are indirectly selling services like photography, acting classes and concierge services that come with terms and conditions and while they are exorbitantly priced, it's not illegal.
The BBB says as a general rule of thumb, parents should do their research and go with their gut feelings before paying anyone anything and also verify the value of what you are being offered.
What A Casting Call Scam Looks Like -
"This is not as widespread as some other scams, but it seems to have really been on the increase in recent years, thanks to the popularity of television talent shows like "American Idol" and "Project Runway." Scammers pose as agents or talent scouts looking for actors, singers, models, reality show contestants, etc., and use phony audition notices to fool aspiring performers into paying to try out for parts that don't exist. There are several ways this plays out. It can simply be an unscrupulous way to sell acting lessons, photography services, etc., or it can be an outright scam for things like fees for online "applications" or upcoming "casting calls." Even worse, the information provided on an online application could be everything a scammer needs for identity theft. " - Better Business Bureau
The Federal Trade Commission has warned of similar style modeling/casting calls which they called scams.