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We want to report on our experience with Page Parkes School of Modeling & Acting and Page 713 in Houston, TX: In August of 2007 our son decided he wanted to take a serious step towards an acting career (something he has been interested in most of his life) so we decided to contact the Screen Actors Guild to get a list of legitimate Agencies in our area. We emailed some head shots to Page Parkes Corporation and were contacted by one of their Representatives immediately to book an interview with him. We were told that he had great potential and wanted to meet him for possible representation in Dallas in late summer of 07. We went to the meeting where there was about 30 hopefulls in the room for an interview. He was selected for the opportunity for representation under the condition that he first went through the Page Parkes camp which was to be held in October. They wanted to see how he did in front of a camera and said that this would have to be done in their Houston school. The representative also made it clear that it was important that our son be in the October class because he had such great potential and they wanted him ready because Disney was sending their scouts to their office in November to scout for new faces for the upcoming shows to be released in ‘08 and said our son was exactly what they were looking for. We agreed to go to the October classes at the price of $1695. The class included head shots, a hair cut & a little bit of instruction. In November we were called to go back to their Houston office for our sons last interview before he was signed for representation through the Houston office. At that time we voiced our concerns about whether or not they would have work for him closer to where we lived. We were assured that there was plenty of work in the Dallas market. Upon signing, we were then instructed that our next assignment for him to get a quick start in the acting arena was to go to Agent Review in April of 08 at an additional cost of $900. We were told that the $900 was well worth the investment as he would be infront of numerous Agents and Producers form all over the world which included people like Giorgio Armani, Disney, Nickelodeon, et cetera. In February of 08 we found out that these practices were not legitimate and asked to cancel our sons trip and get a refund. We were denied the refund so decided to go ahead and go anyway since we had allready paid for Agent Review. We went for the rehearsal the week before Agent Review and after our son did his rehearsal audition in front of Page Parkes acting coach, our son was told that he did a great but to cut the monolouge down little on the time as he went over the 60 seconds allowed. We were very disappointed at Agent Review because the Page Parkes acting coach did not insturuct our son to pep-up the monolouge (which is what the Agents were looking for). Our son played the calm, cool & collective part when the agents were looking for perky & up-beat. The $900 we were paying Page Parkes was supposed to included the instruction as to what these Agents were looking for. Lastly, it was 6 months before our son was ever even called for an audition and only was then because we made a complaint to the Agency. The two auditions he has been called for since did not even pay enough to put gas in our car to get back and forth to Houston to do the job. His manager has since been cought in at least one lie concerning an audition that he was suited for in Dallas. Our overall experience with Page Parkes has been extremely dissatisfying. Lastly, Page Parkes has broken the TX State Law: SUBCHAPTER E. PROHIBITED PRACTICES Sec. 2105.201. Advance Fees; Splitting Fees. (a) In this section, 'fee' includes: (2) money received by a talent agency in excess of the amount paid by the agency for transportation, transfer of baggage, or board and lodging for an applicant for employment as an artist; or (b) A talent agency may not: (1) charge, as a condition of registering an applicant or representing an artist, a registration or advance fee; or Sec. 2105.202. Requirement to Use Certain Services Prohibited. A talent agency may not require an applicant or artist to subscribe to or use a specific publication, video or audio tape, postcard service, advertisement service, resume service, photographer, or acting or modeling school or workshop. [Sections 2105.203 2105.250 reserved for expansion] This was illegal for them to have required my son to have attended this camp as a prerequisite of being represented by them. We are very disappointed in Page Parkes Corporation and would like to know if there is anything we can do to get out money back.
My 9 year old son has been in the industry for two years now. He is a minor and I handle all his agency representation. I have met and interviewed all the agents in the Houston Market. Some in Austin and Dallas. I am signing him with Page Parkes because they are selective and know what they are doing.
You obviously don't know about the industry. It is hit or miss. You should never be given any promises and I can assure you they didn't give them to you either. People get rapped up in seeing their child as a star and take comments like, "your child has potential", or "I could see you being on a Disney show" as them making a promise. Intellectually you cannot allow yourself to get wrapped up in stardom until you see your face on a TV series and their are people following you around taking your pictures wanting to interview you or your child. Most people want that and do whatever they can to pull it out of the agents. I will say that it is primarily up to you to train yourself or get training for your child.
The entertainment business has a lot of frauds and crooks in it. Page Parkes is NOT one of them. She was honest and clear to me about what needed to be done to have a chance. That is all I wanted was a chance for my son. They were offering you a chance for your son. Yes sometimes that costs money and training isn't cheap.
Agency reviews are not illegal. Paying production companies to get their child in a movie as a back-up is not legal either. It happens all the time. Do you think 100 talent agents/casting directors are going to come to Houston on their dime to look at potential talent? You may want them to but you don't pay their bills. Every minute they are away from their market not making calls or trying to get their talent work is lost money! Page Parkes is the only agency in town that brings this type and quality of people to our Town and many people get work from it. In return, her selectiveness and need to show them "the best" in Houston keeps them coming. You needed to ask yourself if you felt your son was talented enough to make more than the cost of the Agent Review. IF the answer is "NO" then you don't do it. You obviously started to find out how remote or difficult it is to become a successful actor/actress when you were going through the process and that unfortunately looks like it happened after you paid for the review. I always say to people, if what you are doing is easy, then everyone will do it. If what you are doing is hard, get ready to take some lumps, make some mistakes and learn from them. Hopefully you did in this case.