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Posted by: Roger (66.108.246.108) on May 28, 2003 at 08:18:11

Location: NYC

In Reply to: Is this agency legit? posted by Lauren on May 28, 2003 at 00:45:52:

Lauren, you asked this question on another forum also and I answered it there, but since the answer applies to more than just your situation I thought I would post it here as well.

I haven't heard of that agency. That doesn't mean they are not legitimate (there are so many casting companies in New York that it's entirely possible for there to be a good one that I don't know).

So here are some ways you can check them out:

1. Do they have an office? A real one, in an office building, with phones and people working with clients?

2. Are they listed in any of the standard industry reference sources that list casting agencies, like The Ross Reports?

3. Do they have a list of clients that they have worked with recently?

4. Call around to some of the bigger talent agencies and see if they know of this group. You can find talent agencies in The Ross Reports also, or listings of them on the aftra website at http://www.aftra.com. Please note these agencies deal with "talent" rather than models, so they might not be familiar with a casting company that casts for print work.

5. Ask yourself about this project. Is it for a known, name client? A company with a reputation to maintain and resources to sue if the job goes bad?

6. How did they find you? Casting companies that don't use agencies are not all that common (although that would explain why I don't know about them . . .). I assume you didn't get this job through an agency, because the job of the agent would be to answer the questions you have. Why didn't they use one?

7. Ask them for a list of model agencies they customarily work with. Then call the agencies on the list to verify it. Any "casting company" that can't give you that list isn't likely to be working jobs you want to do.

None of that will get you to an absolutely clear answer, but it will certainly set some indicators that you can use to judge the answer.

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Comments:
: Lauren, you asked this question on another forum also and I answered it there, but since the answer applies to more than just your situation I thought I would post it here as well.

: I haven't heard of that agency.  That doesn't mean they are not legitimate (there are so many casting companies in New York that it's entirely possible for there to be a good one that I don't know).

: So here are some ways you can check them out:

: 1. Do they have an office? A real one, in an office building, with phones and people working with clients?

: 2. Are they listed in any of the standard industry reference sources that list casting agencies, like The Ross Reports?

: 3. Do they have a list of clients that they have worked with recently?

: 4. Call around to some of the bigger talent agencies and see if they know of this group. You can find talent agencies in The Ross Reports also, or listings of them on the aftra website at http://www.aftra.com. Please note these agencies deal with "talent" rather than models, so they might not be familiar with a casting company that casts for print work.

: 5. Ask yourself about this project. Is it for a known, name client? A company with a reputation to maintain and resources to sue if the job goes bad?

: 6. How did they find you? Casting companies that don't use agencies are not all that common (although that would explain why I don't know about them . . .). I assume you didn't get this job through an agency, because the job of the agent would be to answer the questions you have. Why didn't they use one?

: 7. Ask them for a list of model agencies they customarily work with. Then call the agencies on the list to verify it. Any "casting company" that can't give you that list isn't likely to be working jobs you want to do. 

: None of that will get you to an absolutely clear answer, but it will certainly set some indicators that you can use to judge the answer. 


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