Everyday the news informs of horrid stories of violence. Many times these stories seem to be circled around home life, with the occasional burglary or employee who strikes out against their employer. There are also the phone scams, door-to-door salesman scams, pyramid scams you name it and there is a scam for it. How often do you hear about a scam when a person goes on a job interview? Not often, but it is more frequent than one would think.

There is a phrase used around the industry "The Director's Couch" or "The Casting Couch", what does it mean? This phrase refers to an actor getting the role not by talent, but by exchanging sexual acts to land the part. This is unprofessional and unethical, yet it happens. This is probably the most famous "scam". Others in the industry have include false auditions, where aspiring actors have been conned into doing porn, raped or even been abducted. How can the inexperienced, or even the experienced, actor stay out of these situations?

The fact is everyone gets scammed at some point in his or her career. A photographer has even scammed me. I was in a mall, and approached by a photographer. I was told that they were taking pictures of people interested in getting into Showbiz. A picture selected by the individual would be published in a magazine that "casting directors across the country" use. In addition, we could purchase a full color page & include several pictures and our resume. PLUS, there were packages available for us to purchase to use as a portfolio. Sounds good, but what do people say about things that sound too good to be true they usually are. Not knowing any better, I paid the $100 registration fee and $40 sitting fee. I came back the following day to see my proofs. In this case, the people were still there. Many times the photographers shoot & flee with your money! The pictures looked wonderful, probably the best I had seen. The photographer definitely had talent. So I sat down to discuss the packages and what I would get for the money I had already spent. I was told that I would get a copy of the magazine with my tiny black & white picture I had chosen. I was told of the prices for full-page ads & photo packages. The prices were way too high for what they offered. I could only buy packages, I couldn't buy my proofs and I had to pay them right then. I don't know about you, but after shelling out $140 that I hadn't intended it was hard to shell out another $500 dollars the very next night. (Taking into consideration I had just graduated high school and was only making $5 an hour.) I explained my financial situation and was told that I could purchase the pictures at a later date, but they would be a little more expensive. I took their information and left. I decided one month later that the pictures were too good to pass up & I would purchase their basic package. When I contacted the company, guess what??? The company had never heard of the photographer & had no record of me on file. Only one month later!!! To this day, I never received a copy of the magazine. My story isn't even that bad in consideration to some I have heard. So, how does one protect himself or herself against the wolf in sheep's clothing?

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