A personal note from Peter...

Please note that these ideas are not “new.”

They’re based entirely, word for word, on commentary concerning scams which I have shared in thousands of lectures, news articles, and television interviews over the past thirty years.

As many of you know, there is little on this planet that infuriates me more than hearing that the dreams and passion of an aspiring young performer have been manipulated, exploited, or destroyed for profit.

Simply responding to the complaints of isolated victims however, is not enough. We need to go beyond warning people to “watch out for this one or that one.” There needs to be a clear and credible explanation from those of us with decades of experience in this industry as to how things really work.

In that spirit, I have collected virtually all of my numerous past public statements on this topic, dating back to my first major television appearance (Donahue, 1987), and reproduced them here.

I hope my efforts over the years have helped and will continue to help protect you and those you care about.

Thank you.

Peter

Photographs, Head Shots, and Portfolios

In the entertainment industry, there are only two purposes served by any photograph:

1. Something to leave at auditions and interviews to remind the agency or casting people who you were; i.e. a face to go with their notes.

2. Something to submit on request before an audition or interview to assist the agency or casting people in determining if you are the general physical type that they need.

What photographs do NOT do, except very rarely, is to get you a job.

No matter how excellent your photo or portfolio may be, nobody in the world of Broadway, television or film is going to be able to determine from it any of the following central casting considerations:

1. How advanced are your talent and skills?

2. Are you intelligent and articulate?

3. Are you friendly and outgoing?

4. Do you have any other interesting personality traits we should know about?

All of those things are determined exclusively by an interview and/or audition.

What this means is that it is pointless to pay hundreds of dollars, or even more, for a portfolio with all sorts of different poses and varied angles of your face and body. Likewise, it is equally pointless to pay to have your photo placed in some sort of booklet for “exposure” purposes.

There is simply too little useful information contained in any photograph, head shot, or portfolio, no matter how professional it may appear, to warrant a large expenditure of money on such items. To suggest otherwise reflects either a lack of knowledge or dishonesty.

Make sense?

This truth is underscored by the fact that pretty much the only people you ever meet who insist that you need a portfolio are those who sell them!

What you WILL need eventually for the two legitimate purposes I listed above is a simple color photo of your face, (head shot), taken by a professional who does that, and only that, for a living.

I personally know several absolutely outstanding and first-rate such individuals who all charge less than four hundred dollars per session. This means that if you pay anyone in New York, or especially anywhere else, much more than four hundred dollars for a photograph of yourself, you are spending more than you need to.

There are lots of knowledgeable people out there who offer advice about choosing a photographer, and about having an effective shoot, so I’m not going to add to all that. I will only advise you this:

Seek out several positive word-of-mouth references, and then peruse the work of at least three or four of them, before deciding.

It is equally important that you have a strong sense that you will enjoy being with your chosen photographer. You will be working closely with this person; the nature of your rapport will reflect in your finished product.

A word of caution. You are not a professional photographer. Chances are you’re clueless when it comes to what agents and casting people want to see in a professional headshot. For this reason, I strongly recommend you do NOT try to pass a selfie off as your offcial headshot, nor submit something one of your friends took.

Talent Searches

To begin, it would be virtually impossible to find a serious actor, singer, or dancer in New York or Hollywood who is unaware of the existence and name of most of the major, legitimate talent agencies and casting companies in town.

As a result, these agencies and companies are besieged day and night by hundreds of the most skilled and talented, (and not-so-skilled or talented) performers in the world.

Their head shots arrive daily by email, snail mail, messenger, dogsled, and carrier pigeon. Further, there isn’t a receptionist at any of these agencies and companies who doesn’t have to spend at least part of their day, every day, politely shooing actors out of their lobbies, waiting rooms, and reception areas.

What does this mean to you?

It means simply this:

The LAST thing any legitimate agency or casting company or producer ever needs to do is to spend money advertising in newspapers, on television, or radio for talent!

Nor do they need to spend money flying around the country, renting large banquet rooms at hotels, paying staff, and all of the other expenses necessitated by supposedly “searching for talent”!

These events are ALWAYS ruses to sell something, such as modeling classes, portfolios, conventions, or other useless services.

This is not to be confused with classes or workshops given by people who are working full-time in the industry, such as legitimate casting directors. This is always a GOOD idea. Not only does it familiarize these people with your talent and skills and provide you with valuable and practical feedback, it also pleases talent representatives, (agents and managers), who will want to know if there are casting people who have worked with you and are familiar with your work. That said, please keep in mind that NO major, legitimate New York or Hollywood casting director flies around the country at his or her own expense, “searching for talent.”

One Exception:

I CAN think of something that might seem to be an exception to the points I raised above about talent searches.

A Revealing Casting Story...

I observed an interesting phenomena many years ago when I was coaching some of the kids in the original Broadway cast of ANNIE.

Columbia Pictures was in the process of casting the movie version of the show, and I recall that there was a nation-wide search for the little girl to play the lead.

It turns out that after spending what must have been many thousands of dollars, and several months of “searching”, that the child ultimately selected for the role, Aileen Quinn, (an extremely gifted and charming girl), had been the understudy, or “swing”, for all of the orphans appearing in the Broadway production.

Certainly, the production and casting people who originally placed Miss Quinn in the Broadway cast were aware of her considerable talents long before embarking on their lengthy and expensive nationwide “search.”

So, why did they do it?

The answer is publicity!

What better way to promote the opening of a major family-oriented motion picture than to have thousands of little girls appearing on television and in newspapers all over the country, lining up in droves for a chance to star in Annie!

We see this all the time even today: major, legitimate film and television studios announcing a “nation-wide search” for the lead in an upcoming production.

Not that this doesn’t often result in the selection of a talented “unknown”. One of my students, Laura Osnes, (in my opinion a brilliant actress/singer/dancer), was chosen during one of these searches to play the starring role of “Sandy” in NBC TV’s “Grease- You’re the One that I Want.”

Laura then went on to star in that role in the Broadway production, and subsequently landed the lead in the Broadway revival of South Pacific.

The point in the above examples is that neither Columbia Pictures nor NBC TV are talent agencies or talent scouts or casting companies seeking to “discover” or “represent” talent.

They are both giant, legitimate production companies, who had a specific legitimate project in hand. They were not selling anything; they were simply seeking to publicize their casting process, and thereby promote one specific project.

Even so, given the tens of thousands of performers who auditioned for just one role, the odds of being chosen were ridiculously minuscule.

I will however leave it entirely up to you as to whether it is worth flying somewhere, paying for hotels, and waiting in line for many hours for the chance of being chosen under such circumstances.

Modeling

The very first thing you should know about modeling is that extremely little of it has to do with fashion or glamour.

I’m not talking metaphorically.

I’m referring to the fact that all fashion, glamour, editorial, and runway modeling combined adds up to a relatively small portion of the overall modeling employment available to young performers.

Most modeling work, especially for children and teens, is something called “commercial print”.

This refers to most of those hundreds of informal catalogues and brochures you receive in the mail, or see on the Internet, and it also refers to most newspaper ads.

Commercial print modeling has far less stringent physical requirements than fashion modeling. People of virtually every “look”, every height, every weight, and every age can find at least some employment in commercial print.

Although it is a good learning experience, and often fun, it usually doesn’t pay very much.

In fact, extremely few people make a living doing it exclusively, and NONE have ever become wealthy.

What this means is that the percentage of commercial print income, (usually ten to twenty per cent) that goes to an agency in the form of commissions, is so negligible that pretty much the only times major talent agencies send their clients on such jobs are when acting jobs are scarce.

It goes without saying that the people who hire commercial print models rarely need to see portfolios or extensive collections of pictures or tear sheets before hiring someone.

Why? Because it’s not primarily about the person’s looks!

I have hired numerous commercial print photographers over the past two decades for various projects. When I first questioned them about what they were looking for in a model, I fully expected to hear things about “height”, “cheek bones”, “eyes”, things like that.

Not so.

Every one of them stressed the importance of personality and confidence, the ability of the model to relax, open up, and project who she or he was, and the ability to understand and follow directions.

The point?

NONE of these personality traits are apparent in a picture or portfolio!

This is true no matter how skillfully the model is posed or dressed or made-up. Paying for such pictures and portfolios for the purpose of getting into commercial print modeling is therefore pointless at best.

A simple color Polaroid-style home snapshot, either hand-delivered or scanned via the Internet, will provide most commercial print bookers and photographers with what they need to know about your looks.

Moreover, even the largest fashion model agencies who may indeed require certain pictures or portfolios, will more often than not arrange for a talented newcomer to have these taken on a complimentary or low-cost basis in the form of “test shots” by photographers who are looking to build their own portfolios and establish a rapport with the agencies.

Modeling Classes...

Paying for modeling “classes” is another dubious endeavor.

One of the more popular classes at most of the nationally-known, high-profile modeling schools entails learning how to do your hair/make-up, and nails.

Have you ever heard the phrase: “We have people for that?”

It is NOT a good idea to arrive on a set, whether for a commercial or fashion shoot, with your hair, make-up, and nails all perfectly stylized the way you believe you look best.

You are probably creating more work for the creative people, and costing the production company more time.

In terms of runway modeling classes, it is doubtful you will earn enough money doing runway modeling as you will spend learning how to do it.

This is even more likely in regard to classes in fashion or glamour modeling

To add insult to injury, most modeling classes offered by the large national chains are NOT taught by experienced professionals. They are taught by young people whose primary credential is that they recently graduated from the school themselves. Don’t believe me? Ask: "What are the professional credentials and work experience of the person(s) teaching me/my child?"

In conclusion, the term “modeling agency” is often a misnomer in that the company’s REAL income usually has little to do with commissions from bookings. Most of these operations should rightfully call themselves "modeling stores," since they devote far more time and energy, and derive far more income, selling classes and other dubious services to prospective models than to securing employment for them.

SAG (Screen Actors Guild)

The above is underscored by the fact that most modeling “agencies” are usually non-union, which usually means bad news for any aspiring performer. In fact, you should ALWAYS determine that any sort of talent agency, whether modeling or otherwise, is SAG-franchised before approaching them. If you have any doubt, call the nearest SAG office and ask: “Is such-and-such agency in such-and-such town franchised?”

Why? Because SAG has very strict rules regarding what franchised agencies can charge performers for various services, and especially whether or not they can offer such services. Also, most major work in this business is under SAG jurisdiction, which means that a non-union agency cannot offer you auditions for many major film and television jobs. Since most of these lucrative sources of commissions are legally denied most non-union agencies, these "agencies" are virtually forced to charge for such dubious services as modeling classes and portfolios, just to make ends meet and to ensure their survival.

Simply put, this means that the priority of nearly all non-union agencies is NOT getting you work; their priority is selling things. This belies the very definition of “talent agency,” which literally means employment agency for talent.

One additional thought…

I am reminded here of the many advertisements I have seen in newspapers, television, on the radio, and on the Internet that claim to be "seeking models and talent."

Read this carefully and remember it:

NOBODY who can offer you a legitimate modeling or acting job in this business, EVER needs to advertise to find talent.

New York & Hollywood

There’s an old saying in this business. (Actually, I’m joking; I made it up myself a few years ago.) It goes like this:

“You can’t get the jobs if you can’t make it to the auditions.”

All kidding aside, there are hundreds of talent and modeling companies, conventions, agencies, searches, industry photo booklets, and other such organizations all over America that are either oblivious of the above fact, or hope that YOU are.

Assuming you are “discovered” through one of the above places or organizations, the absolute best, most ideal scenario would be that they would secure some auditions for you in New York or Hollywood.

The problem?

You don’t live there, and you probably can’t get there often enough to make something happen.

This is absolutely 100% true even if your initial interview or audition is submitted online. If the agent or casting person is interested in you, they will invariably want to meet you live, in person, in their office.

Here’s what I mean:

Casting is one of the very LAST things production companies and producers do when they’re involved with a project for film, television, commercials, or Broadway.

By the time they’re looking for talent, they’ve already raised the necessary funding or sponsors, hired all the major production people, and probably begun advertising the project.

This is one of the reasons, as any New York or Hollywood agent knows, many if not most calls for talent come in either the day before, or the day of, the audition.

Therefore, if you do not live within the New York or Hollywood area, or cannot get there within 3-4 hours maximum, it would be virtually impossible for you to make it to enough interviews, auditions, and callbacks, and therefore have enough of a chance to book something, for a major New York or Hollywood agency to consider you a worthwhile investment of their time and energy. (I’m assuming for a moment that you do not own your own private jet, and do not have unlimited resources to spend traveling back and forth, over and over again, from coast to coast from wherever you live.)

The same applies to those large infamous modeling and talent conventions in New York, Hollywood, and elsewhere. However, the sad thing is that you may indeed be spotted there by someone who takes a genuine professional interest in you.

Why is that “sad”?

Here’s another famous saying- this time I didn’t make it up:

“So close and yet so far...”

I’m referring to the fact that NOBODY, no matter how marketable they think you are, is going to “sponsor” your involvement in this business.

They are not going to fly you back and forth for interviews, auditions, and call-backs, they are not going to pay for your hotel accommodations, or allow you to sleep in their apartment for weeks at a time, nor are they going to feed you.

In short, if you live far from New York or Hollywood, the strongest indication of interest you will ever hear from any major, legitimate New York or Hollywood agent, caster, or producer is the following:

“Please call me after you’ve moved here.”

That, as they say, is as good as it gets.

Lobbies, Waiting Rooms, & Elevators

If misinformation, maliciousness, and plain old fibbing have a safe haven, it is in the entertainment field. There is in fact SO much of this nonsense in this business, and it adversely effects so many young performers and their families, that after some thought, I decided it would be helpful to have you view such behavior a form of scam: a “misinformation scam,” if you will.

Examples?

I have overheard parents deliberately misinforming other parents of such things as the date and time of an important audition, spreading falsehoods to industry professionals about other children, purposely steering parents away from a legitimate talent representative in order to minimize competition with their own child, convincingly badmouthing this or that casting director for the crime of not choosing their child, and even knowingly referring other parents to the worst possible acting, voice or dance instructors in the city in an effort to minimize the skills of a competing child.

Perhaps less malicious, but equally misleading, is a syndrome I have witnessed hundreds of times, analogous to the famed “blind men describing an elephant” story. I’m referring to a parent declaring authoritatively that such and such casting director “hates brunettes,” or a certain acting coach “only works with union actors,” or that a photographer “shoots girls better than boys,” and other such implausible generalizations.

The price of believing such fiction, whether presented solely as one’s subjective experience or with the intent to mislead, may be the loss of a myriad of valuable contacts, appointments, services and even jobs.

My advice?

Never, ever, under any circumstances, believe ANYTHING you hear from someone in an audition or interview lobby, waiting room, or elevator.

Whether offered innocently or not, what you hear is ALWAYS inaccurate.

I do not mean “often” inaccurate. I mean ALWAYS. Even if you hear some shreds of truth, this will ALWAYS be accompanied by so many inaccuracies and distortions as to render whatever you're hearing completely useless. After forty years of experience with showbiz parents and kids, I can state unequivocally that exceptions to the above are statistically insignificant.

Cyber-Lobbies, Cyber-Waiting Rooms, & Cyber-Elevators

These days, the reigning undisputed champ of unbridled misinformation is Internet message boards, more accurately referred to as “gossip boards.” These clandestine, anonymous forums are perhaps even more dangerous sources of information than traditional lobbies and waiting rooms.

Why?

1. They are completely anonymous without even a hint of accountability. This means the misinformation their posters eagerly provide is usually even more outrageous than the stories communicated in person face-to-face.

2. They potentially have a huge, public audience, and therefore can mislead thousands of young performers, and their parents, as compared to a mere handful of people in a lobby or waiting room.

The “information” on these boards is NOT “the real scoop.”

It is laughably subjective at best, (reminiscent of the “blind men and the elephant”), and at worst, damaging to the developing career of an unsuspecting young reader. While I am inclined to give the moderators of such forums the benefit of the doubt as to their good intentions and their sincere desire to assist aspiring performers, I do NOT extend this inclination to the majority of posters who contribute to them. After reading years of erroneous advice, self-serving agendas, primitive interpretations of how things work, and one-sided opinions of just about everything they may or may not have experienced, I have dubbed the participants on these boards as the unhappy and the uninformed.

Why uninformed? Because the vast majority of posters on these boards quite obviously have very little professional experience or success!

Just this month alone, in preparing to write this section, I came across all sorts of simple-minded and erroneous “advice,” all of it communicated with absolute assurance. This included an assertion that the top priority of casting directors is actors with “the right look,” the best way to attract the interest of a major talent representative is to “tag along with a friend,” the best way to conduct yourself at a professional interview is to simply “make them like you,” what you should sing at a Broadway audition is “something they’ve never heard before,” it’s o.k. to “make up a few things” if there isn’t much on your resume, and much, much more. As I was reading, I found myself becoming angry as I realized there were probably thousands of young and naïve readers out there, and their parents, all busy swallowing it up. The lack of veracity and accuracy contained in all of the above would have been readily apparent to anyone who had achieved any real success in this business, and who had more than a few years of experience. But that’s my point: such people don’t spend their time on gossip boards.

Why unhappy? Simply because it is rare to find anyone posting on an Internet message board without an ax to grind.

Example? My most memorable message board moment was observing a colleague of mine, formerly one of the most powerful children’s agents in New York, shaking her head sadly and clucking over something she read on one board about a supposedly disreputable industry person- only to eventually realize the false posting was about her! Predictably, several other posters, with absolutely no firsthand experience of their own, jumped on board, (literally), to express their unreserved support for the poster. My friend’s subsequent inquiries and research revealed that the anonymous poster was none other than a parent who had inadvertently sabotaged a crucial call-back for her daughter by not following some simple directions. Rather than taking responsibility for her own negligence, this cowardly and less-than-honest individual instead chose to anonymously attack my colleague, who was her daughter’s agent at the time. Sadly and predictably, this mother’s message board of choice, its host, and its clandestine contributors, all eagerly gobbled up this woman’s rantings as complete gospel.

Typically, a dozen of the gossip board crowd piled on in support of the woman, eagerly attacking the agent.

Another colleague, an excellent photographer, was publicly and convincingly denigrated as “incompetent” on one of these boards for the crime of not offering an actor advice concerning his resume. (In case you weren’t sure, a photographer has nothing whatsoever to do with assembling your resume.)

Still another colleague, who I have known for twenty-five years, was shocked to read that he was being accused, anonymously of course of “sexual misconduct.”

And, as always, the gossip board crowd piled on.

Although he was quickly and completely exonerated, the subsequent gossip and hysteria cost him his teaching position. (The pain and anger this caused my friend inspired one of my recent blog posts.)

Even I have not been immune to the type of dishonesty and maliciousness my friend experienced, btw.

And there's more. Ready?

On one message board, I was amused to hear the following gossip about my lectures: “the general consensus is that it’s not worth it and he’s rude...”

My personal favorite? “At his workshop, they forced my daughter and other students to eat an excessive amount of food to the point where there were girls throwing up... I went to a nutritionist and found the food they gave us (“us?”) was not healthy. My daughter coughed up eggs and they still made her eat it. Her chaperones told her to wet her bed if she had to use the bathroom at night because she was not allowed to get up.”

Right. That’s what we do.

And, of course, the gossip board crowd piled on, swallowing every word.

But seriously, the only sad thing about this fiction is that someone, somewhere may choose to believe it.

And so it goes.

As a personal aside, a few years back, I was unfortunately a bit naive about these internet boards. I'd come across something false, and heatedly try to rebut every bit of nonsense I read, point by point. The result of my defensiveness was of course longer, more controversial threads, some of which remain visible to this day, replete with the gossip board crowd swallowing and supporting every word—except of course those of the person being attacked and trying to defend himelf—me!

Interestingly, NONE of these anonymous posts and complaints and accusations, especially on Google gossip threads, are found anywhere else on the web. This alone should tell you something.

These days, accurate, informed, or even widely accepted complaints, accusations, or beliefs would light up the web like a Christmas tree, showing up virtually everywhere you searched, rather than on a single anonymous gossip thread.

But I digress.

Want to research someone or something responsibly? Your absolute best source of truthful, accurate information in this or any industry is threefold, listed in their order of reliability:

1. What you learn by seeking out the opinions multiple references who include people who can demonstrate conclusively that they have had firsthand experience in regard to who or what they’re talking about, and- this is crucial- who are willing to identify themselves.

2. The number of formal complaints about an organization or individual registered with a recognized consumer advocate agency, (such as the Better Business Bureau), or an official industry organization, (such as Screen Actors Guild or Actors Equity Association), or an official government investigative office, (such as the state Attorney General’s Office or Department of Consumer Affairs).

3. What you yourself are told directly by several major, established, recognized industry persons with whom you yourself have a personal or professional relationship.

No exceptions! Any other source of “feedback” or “advice,” commonly offered in a lobby, waiting room, or especially presented anonymously on an internet gossip board, no matter how earnest and persuasive it may sound, should wisely be seen for what it is:

Someone somewhere, due to a lack of knowledge or integrity or both, is trying hard to convince you to believe something that’s false.

Want “the real scoop” about something?

Stick to the above recommendations!

Hope this is helpful.

Thanks.

Peter