fake auditions! be careful...be very careful...

re: this topic…much easier to speak out of my own knowledge than to explain what to do and not to do…but let’s give you one main rule for yourself and your child actor…don’t trust ANYONE! don’t let your child go with ANYONE! okay, now that that’s out of the way, as an adult you have to be careful also…

when i was an actress in l.a. during the 1980’s i had a very disturbing experience…i was sent out on an audition, gave the cd my headshot/resume…they asked me for my contact phone number (i’ll never forget this…it was a friday and they were going to do callbacks over the weekend, so if they couldn’t get my agent, they wanted to be able to call me directly)…and she wrote it on my resume…didn’t think much of it except that i noted that she did that…

a few days later, i got a call…the man identified himself as a producer of XYZ film and said that he had gotten my name/headshot/resume from such and such casting and was interested in me for the lead in his upcoming film…

okay…yes…you’re right…i was so flattered that it got the best of me and i answered all of his questions…where i lived…my measurements (which a bit of a red flag went up right there)…then he started asking me very personal questions about my body…I answered some of them, but then stopped and said that i didn’t like where the conversation was going and he assured me that he was who he was…i asked him to give me the name of his studio and phone number…he did and i said i’d call him right back…the number was a phony…wow – no duh…but if i didn’t realize at that point what was up, who knows – i might have met him somewhere or whatever…very scary when i think about it…

so how did that happen? after speaking to people, they figured that somebody probably dumped a load of headshots into a dumpster and this pervert looked through them and took some…my phone number was written on the back…p.s, he called me…and YES, within a month i moved…i was very scared, considering i was physically separated from my husband at the time (he was training in phoenix for 12 weeks for his job) so i was basically living alone with my 3 little babies)…eek – frightening…

20+ years later, these menaces are more savvy…now they will even put out an audition call for a screen test to search for new talent! they will ask kids/adults/whatever to show up at this place and time – i’ve even heard of one instance years ago, when they met this man in a mall…he had a camera and was taking pics of all the kids…he asked the parents if he could bring these couple of kids to the playground next door and he’d be right back…the parents ran away at this point realizing what was happening…he immediately got reported to security at the mall…did he get caught? no! and this happens all the time…maybe a different person…different place…different time…same thing!

always be on guard! if you go to an audition and you don’t like the way the place looks, DON’T GO IN! is it worth getting hurt or whatever for a stinkin’ audition? definitely not! follow your gut…if you don’t like the way an audition feels…or if you don’t have an agent or manager, and you don’t like the way someone sounds on the phone or writes their emails…go with your feelings…most of the time they are correct…

tomorrow i’m going to discuss scams…how people will do or say anything to bilk you out of your money!
for now…have a great day in this awesome business! be well and happy…
hugs and out~