Audition scam

[ranger100]

Hi
Did anyone else go to the CGTV auditions this weekend (7th Dec) at the Hammersmith Novotel?
They said that the select 30-40 out of the 300 kids that they see. I reckon they select everyone in the hope that you'll pay the $5000 to send your kid to LA for a week. If 200 people sign up, they've made themselves an easy $1m.
My kid got "the call" the following morning to say that they had made it. Did yours??

[saintlyjimjams]

Did you have to pay for the audition as well? (Not always a no-no - you pay for YMT & NYMT auditions but get a good workshop out of it).

[saintlyjimjams]

But didn't they advertise the cost beforehand?

[ranger100]

Didn't have to pay for the audition. No, they didn't advertise the cost beforehand. They get you all in a room and hype the kids up with the idea that they could be going to Hollywood. They then get one of the kid stars from Ant Farm to stand up and help sell the dream. After that they hand the parents a leaflet and on the back page is where they state that the trip os $5k. That excludes flights & accommodation so all in all, for the child & 1 parent, the trip would be £6,500-7k. They never spoke about the costs out loud. One of the things that also set off a red flag in my mind, was the fact that the dates for the LA trip was in June. They said that the US schools would have broken up but they have now found out that the UK ones wouldn't. I would have thought any bone fide organisation would have done some simple research beforehand to find that out. I don't doubt that the company is genuine. I just think that this is a revenue generating activity for them.

[saintlyjimjams]

Sounds like it. Sounds like the 'audition' is part of the selling process. Personally I wouldn't touch with a barge pole! :)

What age is your child?

[ranger100]

I won't go near it - dont worry!

My child is 9. I just think it's sad that she was so excited to get the call on Sunday only for us to tell her that it's a scam. It's akin to timeshare sales. There was also a section on the registration form that asked if you knew anoyone else that was auditioning. It's clear now that this enabled them to see if a group of 4 or 5 kids were auditioning, it would stink if they all got offered a place, so in these cases, I'm sure they just select 1 or 2 of the group.
The purpose of me staring this thread isnt to complain about what happened to us, as we didnt pay any money. It's just to see if the other people there find this thread and we can get some sort of count to see how many people were offered a place. That way, it should stop those other people getting scammed.

[ChestnutsroastingintheFireligh]

Sounds depressingly similar to Celebrity Talent Agency

Go to the forum on the website www.notapushymum.com & have a search

The poster named pg writes a good explanation if these scams including why kids from the UK are extremely unlikely to be cast in anything in America

[EdithWeston]

I've just had a look at the website: they are selling acting courses for children. They'll be picking as many as they have places remaining.

You may as well use a company in UK if you want to buy an acting course (I really don't think the 'business' aspects are worth it for children) and put the extra you'd have to shell out for a course abroad to a family holiday.

[ranger100]

Many thanks for your responses.

ChestnutsroastingintheFireligh - I couldn't find the post on that forum by PG about why UK kids are unlikely to be cast in anything US. Please can you post the link?

[ChestnutsroastingintheFireligh]

I think you have to be registered to search by username. Ill try & find the link.

[ChestnutsroastingintheFireligh]

notapushymum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=20278&p=219852#p219852

[ranger100]

Many thanks for that. Interesting.

[ChestnutsroastingintheFireligh]

Very long thread on a similar organisation.

notapushymum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=11065&hilit=Celebrity

[saintlyjimjams]

I was going to suggest checking out dodgy looking auditions on notapushymum as well - pleased to be beaten to it :)

Lots of audition opportunities on there as well - very helpful website. And if your child is cast in a professional production it won't cost you anything (well theoretically :counts cost of theatre tickets, parking, sanity: ) & they'll probably get paid

[Momonamission2]

I want to inform people that is same group of scammers was just in Tucson,AZ Going by many different names. Epic entertainment, Ag , CGtv and who knows what else. if you have can in contact with these people and want to help get the caught call the Federal Trade commission at 877-382-4357. they do ask for you name and address but unless people step up to get these people they are going to keep on scamming parents. I have also started a page on facebook called children and youth auditions. I hopes in doing this is to provide awareness to parents that don't know about these kinds of people my goal is to have my page go from east coast to west coast and try to stop these kinds of people. please like and share my page to help other parents not get scammed.

[rootsrock]

Hello. My daughter

[rootsrock]

Hello my daughter had an audition this weekend in phoenix az and was called back. Before she went into the audition they gave me the information for the class and the price. I don't think that this is a scam I think that they are actors who want to train young people in a way that they weren't able to learn. With any workshop you have to pay for it this is no exception. They even offered us a payment plan. I think that it would be a great opportunity for my daughter and I wish I could send her.

[Dori72]

My son went to an audition in New York City. They spoke about cgtv and played some short film along with a few celebrity's in the film who was stating in the film they became famous from cgtv!!! My son audition in front of a so called celebrity girl who has been in a show I looked her up she was the real deal but something was off about her dou. My son got a call back a few hours after his audition saying he was chosen to go to Hollywood for 7days as well but we had to pay for our own transportation and stay in some place they have chosen for us to stay at which we also have to pay for for a total of $5,000!!! I told that person I don't have that kind of money and right away he mention ok the so celebrity star who audition him knows of a program that would help him pay I guess half of that but he has to pay the rest lol.. He told me some one should call me back with that info. I should've done my research first before heading to this bogus place having my son audition in front of fake people. I want my sons picture back smh.... First of all all auditions anywhere is free thank goodness I didn't have to pay for him to audition, second if your really talented and they really want you they pay for all expenses, after they have you heading to the right direction that's when the money flow comes in for you. Once you start making that money then they get a percentage out your check. Once again I feel like a fool taking my son to audition in front of fake people for nothing ohhh and what I found funny was on the application it wasn't cgtv they called it to ogtv big red flag I noticed that in the short film after I left!!!! I guess they were using a real video with these real actors as a front.. STAY AWAY PEOPLE THEY JUST WANT YOUR MONEY AND IF YOU FEEL LIKE ITS THE REAL DEAL DONT PAY NOTHING UP FRONT ONTILL YOU GET TO THIS SO CALLED PLACE THEY HAVE LINE UP FOR YOU TO STAY AT FOR 7 DAYS!!! Make sure to find out who the owner or landlord to the place is before handing your money to some random person who's just going to run with your money who probably has keys to some place to rent out and the real owner or landlord doesn't know about it.

[Dori72]

My son went to an audition in New York City. They spoke about cgtv and played some short film along with a few celebrity's in the film who was stating in the film they became famous from cgtv!!! My son audition in front of a so called celebrity girl who has been in a show I looked her up she was the real deal but something was off about her dou. My son got a call back a few hours after his audition saying he was chosen to go to Hollywood for 7days as well but we had to pay for our own transportation and stay in some place they have chosen for us to stay at which we also have to pay for for a total of $5,000!!! I told that person I don't have that kind of money and right away he mention ok the so celebrity star who audition him knows of a program that would help him pay I guess half of that but he has to pay the rest lol.. He told me some one should call me back with that info. I should've done my research first before heading to this bogus place having my son audition in front of fake people. I want my sons picture back smh.... First of all all auditions anywhere is free thank goodness I didn't have to pay for him to audition, second if your really talented and they really want you they pay for all expenses, after they have you heading to the right direction that's when the money flow comes in for you. Once you start making that money then they get a percentage out your check. Once again I feel like a fool taking my son to audition in front of fake people for nothing ohhh and what I found funny was on the application it wasn't cgtv they called it to ogtv big red flag I noticed that in the short film after I left!!!! I guess they were using a real video with these real actors as a front.. STAY AWAY PEOPLE THEY JUST WANT YOUR MONEY AND IF YOU FEEL LIKE ITS THE REAL DEAL DONT PAY NOTHING UP FRONT ONTILL YOU GET TO THIS SO CALLED PLACE THEY HAVE LINE UP FOR YOU TO STAY AT FOR 7 DAYS!!! Make sure to find out who the owner or landlord to the place is before handing your money to some random person who's just going to run with your money who probably has keys to some place to rent out and the real owner or landlord doesn't know about it.