by lydia 68 Replies latest jw friends
The discussion on this thread was directed to ex-JW's not to a "lurker"
Well it sure is going to be hard to make non-jw friends when you guys kick out any non-jws who care enough to post. Hey I know! Let's talk about how to make friends who are not x-jw..hey what the hell? Get out of here you non-ex-jw..we are talking about how to make non-ex-jw friends and you are not welcome
Good point Bboyneko,
That is the way to make a remark and tie it in to the subject.
Btw: did you get rejected by Model Search America? I know first hand that it is not a scam. They don't make any promises that they don't keep. They do have the agents there and you do get exposure. It just so happened that my daughter found work through an agency after attending the Model Search America convention.
Tim B
did you get rejected by Model Search America? I know first hand that it is not a scam. They don't make any promises that they don't keep. They do have the agents there and you do get exposure. It just so happened that my daughter found work through an agency after attending the Model Search America convention.
Oh i know they find people work...but they are a scam in that they charge you money. All you have to do to find work as a model is take some nice polaroids of yourself, send them to an agency requesting an appointment or asking for their next open call and thats that. If anyone comes to you saying 'oh wow you could be a model all you have to do is give me $500 so i can fly you to a big conventions where many agents are' then its a scam in thise sense:
They will take ANYONE..they dont care..they are making their money by the upfront money. You should NEVER give someone caliming to be an agent money up front. i was accepted for free, i never have to pay agent a dime. She makes money by the work she finds me, she gets a 15% cut. Thats how valid agents make money. If they beleive in your potential as a model they will pay for you, invest in you.
Like i said, model search america does find work for people, but thats the great minority.. and you didnt need them to find work. read the following links to learn more about why they arent the most honest people:
.. http://www.modelscamamerica.gq.nu/
also this link that exposes their scheme
uuumm bboy I didn't come to an EX JW website to find non JW friends (good thing huh?)...I came here to chat and share experiences with EX JW people...lol I make my non JW friends a little closer to home.
lol robdar you made some very interesting points! :-)
and tyydyy...thank you for your support!
hhhmmm you think I might have made a couple of new friends today in spite of my "hostile" attitude?
uuumm bboy I didn't come to an EX JW website to find non JW friends
You came here just to be in another closed society? You sure you still don't feel superior to 'worldy' people?
Bboyneko,
This is getting old. Who was the hostile one? I can't remember now.
[You came here just to be in another closed society? You sure you still don't feel superior to 'worldy' people?]
I have news for you. This is not a society. This is just a discussion group. Most of us have lives outside of this discussion board. It seems you feel the need to just personally attack someone who obviously just took offense to an insensitive remark by another.
And you have your info wrong on the MSA thing too. If you have been to one of their open calls you would see that they turn away at least 75% of the people who think they are good looking enough to be in the modeling business. As far as the cost. Yes it is $500 but they are not an agency. They tell you that several times. What they do is assemble 35-40 agencies from all over the US to come look at you. That is clear and noone is deceived. What would it cost for someone in Kansas to go to the agencies on their specific open call days in Miami, New York, Dallas or LA? I would guess that it would cost a hell of a lot more that $500.00. Are there any guarantees? No. Do you get what you pay for? Yes. Not a scam. It may not be worth it for some but it is not a scam. Get your facts straight before you criticize. Please.
Tim B
That's right bboy you have caught me...I am a closeminded anti-worldly nasty hateful warmongering bloodthirsty haughty ex JW with a hostile attitude oh and I have a superiority complex too....I want excluse rights to this site so I can boo hoo to my hearts content...can't believe I was busted like this...thought I covered my tracks so well...you are just WAY to insightful for me bboy...
Honestly though...all spiteful remarks aside (for a change)...you wanna know what really pissed me off about you and your "girlfriends" remarks? I am new here...have only been out of the JW's a short while after being in for most of my life...I tend to laugh at just about everything because I don't want to cry...I cover over my feelings with my humor and move on...but this thread is something that I cared about..something that mattered to me...I posted a few (very few thank God) of my real feelings on this matter and so when I read a post telling me to basically "Shut the Hell up and get on with your life" yes that made me angry...and I think I had a right to my anger...agree or don't agree with me bboy and co...I really (to quote Farkel if I may) don't give a rat's fuck! And I sure as HELL won't be putting my emotions out there anymore for you or anyone else like you to shit on again...
Thank everyone else for their helpful comments and suggestions...nice to know there are some decent people out there still...
Tim the fact is they use deceptive advertising and WILL TAKE ANYONE to go their convention, so it is a scam because they dont care about your real model potential, they take your $500 no matter what have you go out there. Like I said, you dont need them. C'mon, if you were an model scout for a major agency and you are sent to these conventions, after seeing like 500 pretty faces in a row how would you feel? They all start to look the same..think about shopping for colognes..think about having to smell 500 different scents in one day. Its not a fair representation to the agency.
A rip-off is not illegal. It tends to make vague promises or have one or two out of thousands that actual do get careers. It tends to work with anyone who has the money to pay up front no matter whether they have talent or not. Of course, it tellsl everyone they have some type of talent. This is a big category. It can include modeling agencies that charge up front for signing fees, photo shoots, or require you take their class before they will work with you. These can include some of the modeling conventions, searches, and competitions. There are lots of virtual modeling sites that are springing up all over the web. It seems there are new rip-off enterprises starting every day.
Warning Signs (taken from modeling advice.com)
Warning signs of a scam or a less then legitimate or poorly run modeling agency.
1) Newspaper classified ad or display ad looking for any kind of model or talent other than nude glamour modeling. Modeling agencies have plenty of wannabe's coming to them so they don't have to advertise for models. If they are short of talent they will send their scouts out to public places to look for potential talent.
2) Pictures of famous New York models on the walls or their comp cards on a wall rack. I don't think Cindy Crawford needs a modeling agency in small town USA. Get real people!
3) Any up front fees. This might be signing fees, new account fees, evaluation fees, etc. If an agency has to charge money at the front end it means that there is not enough money at the back end. This means the agency does not have enough modeling work for the agency to survive on commissions and not enough work for a model to survive.
4) "We are interested in you but you need to test shoot with our photographer and it's going to cost you". Legitimate agencies will provide you with a list of photographers that you may go to. Many will have a place by the front door for photographer's business cards that you can take on your way out. You should be free to go to any photographer you want to. If the agency tells you that you must use their photographer, watch out.
5) "We are interested in you but you need to go through our classes first and it is going to cost you". Again money at the front end = not enough modeling work at the back end.
6) "We guarantee you work". Modeling agencies are not employers. They represent you to try and get you work. Most of the time they don't know for sure what type of jobs will come in or what look may be needed, thus there is no way a legitimate agency can guarantee you work. The best they can do is give you an idea of their track record on placements. But, just like a warning with mutual funds, past performance is no guarantee of future perfomance.
7) "As it said in our newspaper ad we guarantee you work, just like the famous models on our walls, just as soon as you go through our modeling classes, shoot with our photographer, and pay our agency fees". RUN do not walk to the nearest exit.
Like I said you can easily get seen by top agencies on your own with a little research. I did do my research and that is how I came to the conclusion that Model scam america is a rip-off. I can give you the email of my photographer, he has been in the ligitimate modeling business for a long time and has alot of inside knowledge of the many modeling scam agencies, including pro-scout, Model One, and of course model scam america.
Read this personal experience by someone who was scammed by them.
.. http://www.modelingadvice.com/ModelSearchLow.html
among some fo the quotes:
He told us how if we knocked on doors in New York or L.A. , it would cost us thousands of dollars. He said paying for a portfolio and going to modeling schools are rip offs and that MSA would give us the chance to model without all the expenses of getting there.
It sounds to me like you are parroting the crap David fed to you in your post. Parroting is a sign of not thinking. You went thru this as a JW, parrot what was told to you by an authority figure instead of saying things in your own words.
also:
So, that was it. The convention was over. I waited two weeks and called the agent I was most interested in. He told me I was one of the 16 girls they chose to represent out of the 60 girls they called back at the convention. He also wanted me to fly to New Orleans as soon as possible to do a photo shoot. I would have to pay for my plane ticket ($120), pay for the shoot ($375), pay for the prints ($15 each) and pay for my composite cards ($125 for a box of 50). The whole purpose of going to Model Search America was because David Mogul said the agencies that attend his event are only the reputable ones that will not charge you money. I would only make money. Ha! He never informed us that some of the agencies at his event would make us still pay. I learned the hard way that I can knock on doors and spend either the same amount of money I've spent on model search America or less and find an interested agency in the process that will have enough money to not charge me for materials and such.
sounds to me like you got ripped off. Next time before plunking down a ton of money on something that sounds too good to be true why dont you research it. Im a represented model and actor and guess how much I had to pay? Zero.
[Tim the fact is they use deceptive advertising and WILL TAKE ANYONE to go their convention,]
Did you actually read my last post? You definitly didn't address my question to you. "Have you ever been to one of their open calls?" I have been. Yes there are a lot of scams out there but evidently you just PARROTTED, from a web site, the 'sour grape' stories of some people who didn't get chosen. If you had any valuable 1st hand knowledge you wouldn't make those claims.
Your warning signs are warning about modeling AGENCIES not a screening service. MSA does not offer any classes. All they do is prescreen and gather people who are interested and possibly have modeling potential. They tell you over and over that they do not guarantee you will get work.
[
He told us how if we knocked on doors in New York or L.A. , it would cost us thousands of dollars. He said paying for a portfolio and going to modeling schools are rip offs and that MSA would give us the chance to model without all the expenses of getting there.
It sounds to me like you are parroting the crap David fed to you in your post. Parroting is a sign of not thinking. You went thru this as a JW, parrot what was told to you by an authority figure instead of saying things in your own words.]
Again, did you read my last post? Give me an estimate for what it would cost for 2 people to fly to NY & LA and stay for a week in each city while making the open calls for let's say only 10 agencies. If you can find airfare lodging and food for less than $500 then I'll concede. Fair enough. As for a modeling scout, which would you rather do? Go out and walk down the street looking for a potential model or sit at a table one weekend and watch 500 prescreened people who are actually interested in the business?
You sound like one of those people that would tell me. "Oh, you're a JW? I know all about you people. You people don't believe in Jesus." You know an awful lot about something you have never PERSONALLY investigated.
How can you say I got ripped off. Again you didn't read my post. I told you that my daughter found an agency to work with and worked.
I am so happy for you that you didn't have to pay anything. WooHooo!
If you think you know it all, you'll never learn anything.
Tim B
That's right bboy you have caught me...I am a closeminded anti-worldly nasty hateful warmongering bloodthirsty haughty ex JW with a hostile attitude oh and I have a superiority complex too....I want excluse rights to this site so I can boo hoo to my hearts content...can't believe I was busted like this...thought I covered my tracks so well...you are just WAY to insightful for me bboy...
don't give a rat's fuck! And I sure as HELL won't be putting my emotions out there anymore for you or anyone else like you to shit on again...
You arent sincere in your desire to post your real feelings and be open on this board. You say want to find out how to make real friends outside of the borg and x-jw mindset, yet you get given advice by a 'wordly' person and then you resort to cursing and name-calling. Remmeber this is a NON-JW who has NEVER been a JW..cant you take her words with a grain of salt? She never said to shut up in fact she said to TALK about it, tell your friends help others avoid the same mistake. You won't grow as an individual free of the borg if you only assosiate with x-jws. you need outside friends and outside advice as well. There was a lot of good advice in her post but you ignore it and choose to focus only on the negative. You have a lot of hate in your heart and you need to let go of it before you can interact socially in a 'normal' fashion. Like bgurl said, we were spoiled as JW's, we had instant friends and not only that, we were deceived because they were not really friends at all. With that in mind she gave good advice regarding how to gain friends, that basically it aint easy and you have to be brave and face possible rejection. Sheltering yourself wont help. and if you honestly beleive you can interact with other people and not get hurt in the process, then you are greatly mistaken. Running and hiding just becayse you were offended wont do you any good. It will only happen again and then what will you do? run again? In the real world we arent sheltered, we will face brutality, heartlessness, and general meaness all the time. You have to learn to deal with it without spitting out obsenities and running off.
