Urban Talent Management is a company that boasts about being a legitimate modeling agency, which they are far far from. They will solicit anywhere they can to get girls to come into their office for an "audition." Tina Bullen will tell them that they are "perfect," and in an effort to appear credible, Tina, Camilla Larsen or Holly Wren will tell "models" that they have to take a digital photo, which they will then pass around to their clients to make sure that they're "marketable;" because after all that's the only way they make a profit --this is a bold faced lie that will be repeated over and over to the girls that meet with them. By the second or third interview, they will have the "potential model" meet with owner Bret Udy who will say that their clients are very interested. He will proceed to explain that he only makes money off the 15% of work that you book . They will pull up their BBB rating, which is an A+ and assure you that they are one of the best agencies out there. This is disingenuous; the only reason they have such a high rating is because they made an effort to resolve disputes, which ended up in their favor due to the fine print in their deceptive contracts. Even the BBB acknowlegdes that the credibility of a company is not guaranteed based on their rating (go into "explanation of ratings").
Once they have given you an earful of how legitimate they are, they will ask you for money, usually upwards of $1,500. They will tell you that this money goes to independent contractors (Style Inc.) who will train you and take your photos for a new portfolio. This is all a lie. Style Inc and Urban are the same company with the same employees. When they say they don't make a dime off the fees that are assessed, nothing could be further from the truth. They appear to be credible because they represent a handful of girls who get a lot of work, and those girls don't have to pay for any classes or training. If you log onto facebook and look for the group "Models of Utah" you will see a post by Haley Nord that verifies my claim. This is how they trick girls into believing they are a real modeling agency, not a school when in fact, they would not charge anyone a dime if they were real agency because they would be profiting from the jobs they get their models, not from classes and portfolios.
When I met with them, I told them I didn't want to sign anything until I read their contracts at home. I said I could come back in and speak with them the next day about any questions and whether I was still interested. Camilla Larsen, one of their "representatives," said she would not be in the office until much later the following day. She said that instead of messing up my schedule, I could just sign and then let her know the next day after I read the contracts if it was plausible that I could come up with $2000. If not, she said I could contact her and the document would be voided. I regrettably believed Camilla. I was scammed into signing something before I had a chance to actually read it or even skim it, and I naively believed that it would not go into effect until I contacted them the next day. I wrote the very next day telling them I was not interested and because of personal extenuating circumstances I could neither attend, nor afford their classes. They have now threatened me with collections and claim that I am lying, that I never had the option to tell them "no" after I had signed. I do not want this to happen to anyone else. DO NOT SIGN any contracts asking for money! If you read the contract you will see that all they really want is the $2000. The fine print of the contract says they are not obligated to provide you with any service but you must pay them no matter what! They are not a legitimate agency! If you look up the address for Urban Talent on google maps, Style Inc pops up. They claim over and over they do not profit from these fees, and that it is a separate company named Style Inc that is getting the money; it's ALL LIES. This "so called agency" is a wolf in sheeps clothing - Beware. |
