BlackStripe has interacted with many people and organizations
within
the entertainment industry. This page is dedicated to the no
shows, scams, and for profit organizations to be weary of. Now
It's hard for an actor to find a good production company , Manager, or
agent. At the same time it's difficult for an Indie production company
to find talent and crew that will help get a production
shot. After years of auditions / No shows / and horror stories..
I believe a resource of this nature will save time and money for both
the talent and the production companies themselves. It is important to
know who is reliable and who in not. So with that in mind. . Feel
free to send your own stories about people or companies to beware of.
Herein lies
the
BLACK LIST
ONE SOURCE TALENT ( UPDATE
) - We were approached by the OWNER. Anthony Toma of ONE SOURCE TALENT.
He was terribly concerned about this posting. So in good faith we came
to an agreement.
He would let one of my actors try out the site
for four months to see if things worked out differently. ( Let's see if
she gets some paying gigs. ) He also said he would be more than
happy to send us talent that are part of the OST family.
As agreed. I am letting you all know that he
seemed genuine and is willing to prove the merit of his company.
However. I'm not an easy sell. So we will keep you all informed. I
promise a " Play by Play " account of how things go from here.
UPDATE! My apologies for
those who actually keep track of this site. ( It always surprises
me. ) We recieved a bill from them in June. Since the trial had started
we had recieved only one other phone call from them. I was pretty
annoyed. I wrote back an angry letter about it.
Stated to be a technical error by Mr. Toma. He stated to throw it
away and that he would take care of it. Since then we were not billed
again. So he was decent enough on that aspect. In regards to the
earlier questions.
Will they put the effort in and refer our person to some paying jobs?
It was the same NYC list and there was only one phone call and two
e-mails about getting work. All deep in the city. Both the R.I. and CT
locations have been disbanded. So it might be helpful if
you live in the big apple, but it was useless to anyone in the tristate
area unable to commute the six hours. Few Boston listings. Still
the answer to the question is NO effort was put in. It's a glorified
website in my opinion.
Will we see the clients they have built a relationship with?
At no point was a client ever presented to us that had a direct OST
connection.
Will we see talent sent to us on our next casting call? No talent was
refered to us. So I'm thinking the same stuff as before.
It's a website. The people update it and that's all I have seen. The
owner seems genuine, but the corperate structure does nothing save
present another group of listings that you could get elsewhere. Save
your cash and spend it on some good photo's from a photographer you
trust. I think it's a scam and I'm sticking to
-
This looks like an agency on the surface.
They state that they have many entertainment jobs posted on a web site
that you can only get through them. The people working there will
tell you that they have personal contacts to set you up with.
They simply want your monthly payment for the
web site. They will call you an arrange interviews for no
reason. They will pretend that this is the where you get the
jobs. Now. It IS possible to get a job through them, but it you look
under the surface it's not pretty. This organization takes casting
calls off the web and out of BackStage. Adding the posts to the " One
source Talent " Site. You could find any of them on-line on your
own if you know where to look. So beware Generally if they want money
upfront for anything.
JOHN CASSABLANCAS MODELING SCHOOL
and others of the ilk. These
are a lot of money out. No money in. This one has been
nailing would be actors and actresses for years. They get you to
pay for classes and photo's. They will rarely get you work. A hard
lesson after putting out money in the thousands. You want an education
in the entertainment industry. Read a book about it. Or better yet.
Just go to as many productions as you can. Learn by doing and you get a
reel out of it at the same time. For every actor / model that pays into
businesses like this. You are just helping THEM grow. Your not helping
your career grow.
Scott Stetts and Cricket Snapper : Sex
scenes are common in
the industry, but be leery if the director is in the sex scene with
you. During a shoot on this production.. I worked on a scene with this
director. He attempted to convince the actress to do a topless
scene with him. Now I have no problem with nudity or sex
scenes. It enhances production value and can be an invaluable method
for telling a story, but negotiations for this sort of things should be
done ON PAPER and NOT ON SET.
He proceeded to liquor the
actress and himself up on set. Attempting to convince her to the
nude scene while the crew waited in a separate room. He closed that
door to speak with her in private a number of times.
This just looks shady and wasted a lot of time. The actress was
so uncomfortable after this experience. She was reluctant to
shoot with him again.. A few days after the shoot. She received a
threatening message from the director . Stating that she had better
come back to the production and do the scene " His way. " or he would
recast. He also accused me of stealing his videotape and destroying his
shoot. Well to be fair. I DID leave with the footage on one of my
tapes. However after reading all of his accusations and at the
request of the actress. I did not feel legally or ethically bound to
give
him one of my tapes. Despite the fact that I shot it for his
movie.
The common opinion of those who have seen the tape and read the letters
were most often..
" Creepy. He pretty much molested her. " ( mostly
from the girls. )
and " It looks like he's never been with a
woman before. " ( From the guys. )
Now this is just one instance that I was present for personally. Now
other stories are being brought to my attention about this being
his typical style. One that makes other indie directors look
bad.. Well enough of Scott Stetts. He may yet get some movies
shot, but I would never recommend him. to others.
Now as talent you need to know some things about the entertainment
industry.
A. When you make an appointment to audition and blow it off. It
costs the production company money. It makes them look bad, and it will
hurt your career. The key to success in this industry is
networking. Directors, Producers, and other actors talk to each
other. We work on each others projects. If you can NOT attend an
audition or a shoot. CALL as soon as you can.
EXAMPLE :
Jena Ward was a case
example. She auditioned for a role. She got the
lead. She signed a contract. Then three months into shooting. She
simply quit. Costing the production company thousands of dollars. She
was taken to court and lost. Then she left the area to avoid paying the
settlement. Needless to say. No one wants to cast her now. Out of the
fear that she may do the same thing to them. If your not as good as
your word. Get out of the industry.
Another case was Heather D. Lee
: Contacted us repeatedly to schedule an
audition. Did not cancel. Did not show up. Rescheduled then canceled.
Once I believe. Twice maybe. Three times is just wasting our time
and resources. This is why it's so hard to get into the industry folks.
From here on in. We are making a list and checking it twice. Then
we are posting it.
Most of the time. The prima donnas will show themselves at the top of
the production. Sometimes it's slow and insidious. Either way.
This page is reserved for you.
For every no show and contract breech from today until this web sites
death. We want to know about it. We want to post it. We want to make
casting and production easier for everyone. So contact us at
Kobra@BlackStripe-Video.com If you have been burned by an actor /
model / or a production company. We will post the good and the
bad.
Ty Yachaina : I'm surprised on
this one. He owns his own production company. He scheduled and blew off
an audition.
I recieved an e-mail a while ago and I thought it was
relevant so I am posting it along with the rest of this page.
Hi,
I like your information page for actors.
Here is a topic:
"The actor not getting a copy of the final
product".
I would like to hear what actors have to say about
this growing topic.
I find it difficult to understand why SOME
filmmakers out there do not send their actors a copy of the final
product.
I worked on a 16mm film 2 years ago and have not
seen my copy of the film. My agent contact in NYC is still waiting to
see the film! And this is holding me up!
Although the film has been screened and the student
received her college credits, I have not seen the movie or my DVD
copy of the film.
This is NOT cool because as you ALL know, actors
defer 100% of their salaries on most student and low budget shows.
The ACTOR is counting on getting a copy of the
film for their reel so they can get an AGENT in NYC or LA.
THIS NEEDS TO STOP!
By LAW filmmakers are not allowed to screen a film
without the ACTOR getting his/her copy FIRST.
By LAW the ACTOR could stop the screening of the
film if he/she did not get first look at the film.
Without ACTORS there would be no movies!
Student filmmakers and low budget producers, get
the copies out to your ACTORS two weeks after the product is finished.
And if you don't...you should not get your college credits
or be allowed to screen the film until you do so.
I know actors are reluctant to say anything about
their LATE copy to the filmmakers because they want to continue
their relationship and maybe work with the filmmaker on her/his
future feature film.
Use your best judgment when working on a show...at
the end of the day this is a business!
Thank you,
James Stiles
