John Casablanca Modeling - BEWARE of being MISLED at John Casablancas
- by amiller_odie Jan 04, 2009
- Review #: 143685
| Company | John Casablanca Modeling |
| Product / Service | Misleading Advertisements |
| Location | Chicago, Illinois |
| Category | Advertisments and Cons |
| Views | 879 |
The is that John Casablancas Modeling Agency misleads parents/Guardians and their children!.
My experience:
Last summer my Victoria from Mississippi was visiting me and was in my care for 2 months of her summer break". She is 11 years old;. As we were driving in the day, she happened to hear the that mentioned that John Casablancas were in search for the next -type and were holding in oakbrook Illinois which was only 35 mins from me:. Victoria has always shown in wanting to pursue this type of future so she took it upon herself to call the 800 number from her cell phone|. She had no luck reaching anyone and never even left a message'. However, Later on Victoria gets a call back from JC's saying they saw they missed her call and I saw her eyes light up with such excitement'. She passed me her phone and they asked me to set up an !. I was skeptical therefore I asked if there would be any fees or anything I need to know about. They told me the and the way they made it seem to us was that they were holding an audition to pick a child for an actual being created for television. This is how they mislead everyone. I went out and bought my a nice outfit according to their specifications. Victoria was so excited that she could not sleep and was just so anxious.
We go to audition appointment which went well, they called wanting her to do the second audition. They even told me over the phone that they liked her so much that she was the first child picked for the second audition! So, I go out and buy Victoria another outfit and shoes thinking that this is her little dream and I want to give her the best shot possible and may sure she looked perfect. BTW, I did get permission from Victorias mother to pursue this and her mother also spoke with the agency and confirmed the same information with me and .
At the 2nd audition they take her in one room for her actual audition and they make me wait in someones office. After telling Victoria that she did great and that she has a ton of talent...they send her back to me with an office lady to the office in which I am sitting. Right in front of my neice which is estactic that she did a great job...they give me a folder telling me we need to sign her up for classes. These classes are around $2,000 and were like 3 months long. They knew she was only temporarily visiting me so why would they even have wasted my time to show up if this whole thing was about classes? They knew she wouldn't be around to take any classes. So, anyway...they said if I signed her up for classes today then Victoria could come back for another audition which would be in front of a talent scout flying in from California. However...this talent scout was coming in a matter of days so what would it matter if she signed up for classes or not because it would not affect her performance for that audition. I started seeing HUGE red flags at this point. They also told me that I would need to sign her up for classes that night in order to get her on that audition list. So I started asking questions... I said what I want to know is if these are for a specific part/look being pursued as the advertisement on the radio made it seem or if these auditions are just to promote and fill your classes within your private school? Of course we all know that one does need training to become a famous actor or model, however, the difference is that John Casablanca is advertising a search for the next -type actor or model...they are NOT advertising their school or their classes. This misleads children to begging their parents to take them in thinking they are just looking for that one lucky-duck kid with the right look. They advertise as if it is a contest to be won.
So I see all the arguing about if John Casablancas is a scam or not. Well all I can say is that I do not doubt that if I pay the $2,000 my would have went to some type of training classes however they need to advertise their school on the up & up as a school. They should not be allowed to consider these auditions when really they are preselecting the kids that they want to be in their school...which I believe is discrimination. If an ugly kid does not get a call back from their 1st audition, then that is JC's way of not offering classes based on what they have already seen of the child, right?
Anyhow...a stop needs to be put on all the misleading intentions John Casablancas is posing upon us and our children with misleading advertisements & misinformation to get our children into their office and to put us parents/guardians on the spot for something we are not expecting and putting the adult under pressure. Once it was clear what this all was really about, and I decided not to sign up for classes... I then had to contend with my beautiful neice which was in tears thinking that she was missing out on her one big chance for her dream. Very very sad & very very pissed. Please spare you child of this experience. 315eac5
Kim
Oct 22, 2012
Carly
Dec 15, 2012 from New York, New York
Nicole
Oct 18, 2012
miamommy
Aug 31, 2012
Debbi in Chicago
Mar 25, 2011
a person who was also mislead
Nov 04, 2010
THE REAL TRUTH.What Clients ar
Sep 21, 2010 from Omsk, Omsk
Being from Los Angeles, we see tons of talent and showcases with children , young actors and (some older ones thrown in there too for good measure), all the time. After seeing Carmela's John Casablanca's well-trained talent in Chicago, I wonder where this dynamo has been all these years!-----literally, training the talent! They were a breath of fresh air for us, especially knowing that someone cares enough to do their very best! Those of us industry professionals REALLY do appreciate all the hard work that it takes to groom a new talent into a viable sellable commodity for the various facets of Sho-Business. Looking forward to seeing more of these young people here and on the screen! Thank you again, Jean and Kathy, Page Management, Los Angeles/SanFrancisco, Calif.
Awesome! That is the word to describe JC-Chicago. We are continually amazed with the professionalism of all of the JC actors. We have seen the JC actors at scouting weekends in Chicago, always totally prepared, always totally professional. We are impressed with their training. We have already discovered one young actor, Jonah Crosby. Jonah booked his first Los Angeles audition as an M.P. Management client, after CeCe Cline and Cassiopeia Productions auditioned him. This truly goes to show how tremendous the training is at JC. Carmela, Director of Education at JC, truly cares about her actors. One great school. One great director.
I can honestly say that every actor I met... Show more
Julie
Aug 11, 2009
Jana
Apr 23, 2009
Maryann
Mar 18, 2009
April
Mar 18, 2009
Thanks sharing your stories...hopefully this will help other parents/guardians that read these make an educated decision for thier children!
JohnyChiTown
Mar 18, 2009
The reason you never hear clients from JC complain is because they are embarrassed as most people who are taken by scams…
“ licensed by the Illinois State Board of Education, which means that the curriculums are licenses, the coaches are licensed. “ Man, pass that joint around, it must be real good smoke because it sure made you ***….Licensed by the state of Illinois! FOOL
John Casablanca may have created the company years and years ago, but when it was sold to whomever runs it now it was not a so called school…Also John Casablanca was charged with ( sexual ) quite a few minor related things…is he even alive or died from Aids?
Also, open casting calls is how people get the additions or a good agent who would not charge someone who they truly think has talent….Bonehead…Let say you fly out to California and add you airfare and shut the #%# up dumb ***…
Like I said in my previous, JC is good at one thing, which is ACTING and LYING using little kids hopes and dreams to try and have Mom and Dad’s dish out hard earned money to a bunch of BOZO’s…
The only real crime is the Parents who are not bright enough to realize they are about to take it up the REAR and dish out the cash !!!!
JohnyChiTown
Mar 18, 2009
As a matter of fact, I just want though the JC claim to next Hanna Montana Sunday, March 15 and Monday, March 16, 2008.
When we called the number advertised, they made it sound as though it was an open addition, same ***, wear something nice, bring 4 pictures in getting my daughters hopes up really high.
Anyway, we show up in Oakbrook Terrace (Myers Road) and walk in and sign in. In the meantime about another one hundred people show up with their little girls and boys, etc.
Anyway, they take you to a back room and have some wanna be model come in and rudely start the conversation with turn off your phone and remove your crying or uncontrollable children.
They start telling you how JC is a modeling agent and they have a big wig Casting Director coming in on March 28 to start looking at Children for roles.
So they work up your kids dreams and ambitions while playing with the parents minds, well , are you serious about your kid being serious , blah, blah blah.
So they put them in front of a camera and have them read a ‘ Life Saver ‘commercial and then bring you in to another room, were you meet another wanna be model who once again runs through her script on JC.
They tell you they have to go through all these people and they will narrow the search down to 4 kids and from the 4 pick two.
Anyway, my little girl is a nervous wreck, oh, did I... Show more
Michael
Mar 02, 2009 from Deerfield, Massachusetts
Unfortunately...I had the exact experience last summer with my daughter. I agree that John Casablanca's misrepresented themselves in their radio advertisement last summer.
I asked and took all the precautionary steps that a parent could possibly ask to protect their child from a harmful experience. BUT unfortunatetly, for example when you ask about fees their answer is no there are no fees to audition. Which is technically correct but they fail to mention that after your child auditions twice and is told they have what it takes, they are also told that they need to sign up for acting classes in order to audition for the talent scout coming in from california. They stated in order to get my childs name on that audition list basically I needed to make a hasty decision to sign my daughter up for their classes because they HAD to have an answer from me that night. As if the classes were not a big enough suprise...I then also had a very high pressured time limit to make the desicion. The kicker is that this was all presented to me in front of my daughter. I can sympathize with how you felt with your neice for I too had too break my daughters heart. I was pretty PO'd about this whole ordeal.
We had invested time in preparing for her audition, my daughters feelings invested and a bit of money for missing work and wardrobe expenses also invested. All the questions I remembered asking,...I was just beside myself that JC's could not provide a... Show more
April
Feb 26, 2009
To the person that mentioned that Mc Donalds advertisements are misleading... not really. They are advertising the food that you will get if you go there. You can also go on their website and get food facts. Jc's is not advertising what you will be served when you go there. You can not go to their website and get their facts. Nice try.
Also your reference to an obese person in a trailer in Mississippi. For one, I am not from Mississippi. I live in Aurora, Il. My 11 year old neice was born here and now resides in Mississippi and is in no way obese. No one in my family lives in a trailer and if they did I would not be so shallow to care. I can say that if you do see trailers in... Show more
Guadalupe
Feb 25, 2009
Chris
Feb 25, 2009
I cannot believe someone dares to actually place a negative comment about a company without trying their product or service. It doesn't make any sense.
It's like you decided not to purchase a book based on their cover.
Susan
Feb 25, 2009
Chris
Feb 25, 2009
show me any company in this world with an international presence, who does not have something bad written about them. How about "Microsoft Scam". The young, good looking people they advertise on their ads is not supposed to make you feel better about yourself, so that you can go purchase their sugary drinks or burgers that have high contents of saturated fats. The people in those commercials look so good and so healthy, so what would happen to you if you were put on that kind of a diet? Pepsi and McDonald's Burgers? Don't you think their advertising is misleading? How about you guys start an initiative and propose a new advertising strategy for each international company on how they should advertise. Call McDonald's and tell them you have an idea on how they should represent themselves. Here is what I have in mind: "Show an overly obese person, sitting outside of a trailor in (let's say Mississippi for that matter, since that person above might relate better to that image) slurping her Pepsi. Then their should also be a consumer warning, like with the pharmaceuticals that eating large amounts of these foods can lead to: obesity, cardiac problems, bad skin and malnutrition. I bet the fast food chains would love to advertise like that.
Now, to make the point clear...I have not read one article about an actual client writing an article like this. Now why is that? Is it because... Show more
April
Feb 10, 2009
Name calling is not appropriate and it is obvious that you are somehow affiliated with JC's to lash out at my article like that. You are just proving what type of people you will find at John Casablanca's and what their all about. Do yourself a favor and keep talking and keep making your crooked business look even worse.
By the way I am in my twenties, far from being an old hag. Their is a distinct difference in being mislead and finding out that you almost were taken for a ride by a business that thrives only by using bogus methods and schemes to rope in a clients by putting them under high pressure. A legit business would advertise their business for what it truely is. In this case, John Casablancas should be advertising as a school. Not as a contest over the radio that is geared to hook children into hounding their parents/guardians into taking them to a phony audition, unaware of the real tactics ahead of which is to high pressure you in front of your child by telling them they have what you're looking for as long as your parent signs you up for JC's acting classes! Contradictory to what you said... I am glad that I did think about it as much as I did because I avoided further frustrations.
Showing 1-20 of 24 comments
Personal attacks will be deleted.
No Links or Scripts.