When I was recently back at the Danbury Fair Mall in Danbury CT, I was approached by my wife playing almost half way down the hall from this young man.
“Forgive me, my lord, forgive me!”
I turned to him; His acne shone in the white light of the Danbury Fair Mall.
“Yes?”
Can I offer you my business card?”
I was in a hurry, but always interested in doing my first hand reporting for my blog and sites like Content Associates, so I approached him.
“What’s the matter?” asked
“Come on, try to be an actor, a model, or a singer.”
I couldn’t help but be silently amused by the shock and the noise. My singer/actor wife took a step back when she already knew what was going on. He knew who he was and what that rap was about me. I felt aware that something did not ring true in his delivery. Moreover, when I asked him what the matter was, he did not answer the question. I clutched his card with his outstretched “Interface Talent Network;” He had already drawn me into the sphere with his slippery right hand. He was just a kid, but he had learned his predatory side pretty well.
“Well, because you’re an actor, model, or “-
I cut him off. This was a little funny.
“No, but you see I’m an actor and I’m a producer; are you interested in working off-Broadway?”
My forward nature threw him into play; he returned to prayer;
“Anyway, if you want, we could take some pictures of you.”
We chatted a bit and left, business-cards in hand, somewhat tickled by the experience.
So the Face Talent Network is based out of South Norwalk, Connecticut, but apparently has satellites as far north as the Danbury Fair Mall. A quick internet search reveals a (read: heated) discussion about one Inter Face Talent Network message board for actors and models and for singers who want to break into the industry, Backstage. A long scene is a strong man in a shaky, less than honest industry; but the message board on backstage.com does not hold any private, and one mother who had come, cf. of all places, man mall!
Asked by a girl in the mall if I would like to take my little girl who is 4 years old if I would like her to be an example. But I want to do it the right way and not be scammed. Is there an Interface Talent Network bench?” asked the mother. There were many answers that I was curious to do their own research.
Of particular interest was that one poster “CSlivera” wrote “It’s quite a lot to pay that the agents can’t scan the read/matrices/cds in the malls. And remember, don’t send legitimate agents to you for head shots or anything up front, not esp. oh, say in the $1000 range, to which the mother replied that she “needed” to get the heads of her youth; to the tune of $750!
My wife, an actor who had heard of an attempted rape scam before had told me it was illegal. It is a wrong tool to tell you “NECESSARY” to get leads from a specific photographer at a specific price. I think the Inter Face Talent Network was going around saying that (like most scams) it was $750 for “reproduction, reproductions and time.” But it’s all a scam.
Beware of Face Talent Networks – they can’t even pick a writer from an ACTOR in passing! South Norwalk. Danbury Fair Mall. And maybe I’m coming to a kiosk or shopping plaza near you!
