Tru Talent Agency

Read this.

I had a good laugh about this today. When Wallace was  about one, Todd saw an ad in the paper for a cutest baby contest. He called and set up an appointment. We went in. We waited in the lobby next to the winners of the worst B.O. contest in the world.

When we were called in, the guy's office was ridiculous. The framed pictures on the wall were tear-outs from magazines of famous people the company does not represent (some of them obvious dated, we're talking 80s and early 90s) and his glass desk was dirty. It looked so incredibly unprofessional. The guy would not stop talking and literally railed on and on about how awesome they are (for a solid hour). He also made this big speech about them wanting to protect the children from parents who see them as cash cows. It was baffling listening to this guy. (I did mention the B.O. guys in the lobby and his explanation was that they had to accept all types to succeed in business. How true considering their deceit!)

Finally he gets to the point and drops the money bomb. "You pay us $2k for a lifetime portfolio by our professional photographer, yada yada.... is that something you're interested in?" And my response, which I will say I am so very proud of to this day:

That is definitely not something I am the least bit interested in.

ZING! I could tell he was caught off guard. He asked why, and I explained to him that I am a photographer, and that I KNOW it is not standard industry practice for a company to expect the person they are representing to pay money. The company is supposed to take a percentage of the earnings of the model. He poo'poohed that, and said he guessed that some people might do it that way.

Fast forward to 6 months later--
I get approached in the grocery store by two girls. They are coming up the aisle towards me, so they are facing the back of Wallace's head. Before they even see his face they start telling me how adorable he is and that one of them is an assistant at Tru Talent and they'd love to do a test shoot, yada yada. I was so annoyed. I told them I was too busy raising my child to engage with riffraff. Especially considering Wallace has a birthmark on the back of his head that wouldn't make a model scout look at him from behind and think, "this kid has potential."

Fast forward another month-- same grocery store-- I saw them coming from a million miles away-- two guys, one girl, dressed like they belong on the streets of NY (and not in a good way). They didn't even get the first word in this time. I knew she was coming towards me so I just said,

"What do you want? Do you want to tell me my kid should model?"

It was hilarious. She was so taken aback.

She stammered, "Yes."
I said something like, don't try to scheme me or something like that..... and she haughtily responded that I was missing a great opportunity for my child and that I should just take their interest as a compliment. Later on in the store I heard them in the next aisle talking to another mom. She was translating what they had said to the family with her (mother and grandmother). I was so angry because I knew they had duped her and she was ALL for it. So I went over, told her that her kid WAS beautiful and precious and that I had overheard the conversation and I knew that those people were trying to scam her. I told her to protect herself and not spend any money.

I was so angry for this mom, and for myself, for being harassed and schemed at in the grocery store that I went upstairs to the customer service desk and reported them. I got to watch security haul them out of the store. So worth the hassle.

I am so happy their horrible business practices are coming to light. They are LAME.