ComplaintsforActors Access

• Initial Complaint

  01/23/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Subject: Unethical Practices at Actors Access - BBB Complaint I, a seasoned talent representative with over 30 years of experience including ***** and Golden Globe nominees and winners, feel compelled to bring attention to the unethical practices at Actors Access/Breakdown Services particularly under the management of *******************.************** attempted to extort $5000 payments from me, claiming they were fines unrelated to his services. Despite multiple inquiries, he refused to clarify the purpose of these fines, simply stating, "you know." This manipulative tactic is unacceptable, especially considering my substantial ******************** over the years. I felt Raped.It's evident that ************** pursues a larger cut & targets vulnerable individuals, especially women reliant on his services for success. ***** has full access to all subscriber online activity- more than once my bookings went elsewhere to a friend of his! I subpoenaed the reports. I paid fees imposed by AA/BS , approximately $500 per month for decades; thats a lot of hard earned commissions! This itself is concerning, considering the diminishing returns on services provided, most listings had been exhausted before he released them w/ policy stating your subscription doesnt provide fair & equal opportunity (a union requirement)! Moreover, it is worth noting: charging upfront fees in ******** for obtaining work is illegal. AA/BS appears to be in violation of this regulation, charging talent and reps, a questionable & corrupt practice.******* attempt to instill fear by implying he is the actors union is misleading & serves as a bullying tactic. It is crucial to expose such behavior, & I believe AA/BS must be held accountable for its damaging impact on careers, particularly those of women.In conclusion, I urge the BBB to investigate these unethical practices & take appropriate action to rectify the harm caused to my *************** affected by this longtime exploitative gangster behavior.

  Business response

  02/02/2024

  ******************** is actually using a name that she does not use on our website. Actual name is ************************* in our system. ****************** worked for ********** ************* and then left the agency and started her own ************************** ********************* She was a client from 2006 until 2011 when it came to our attention that ****************** blatantly broke the terms of service as a Manager and was using **************** (our subscription service for Talent Agents and Managers to submit their actors for roles to be considered for auditioning). As a Talent Agent or Manager the terms of service are explicit that ****************** could not use the service to self submit herself for roles to Casting Directors. It not only gives her an unfair advantage above other actors who are not represented by Talent Agents and Managers, it is a violation of agreements we make with Casing Directors on who they wish to release job information to. Some information can be released widely on ActorsAccess, others information can only be released to talent agents and managers. We do not control who a casting cirector wishes to release information to across our site. As a result of the *** violation, we stopped Cinematic Managements account in 2011. ****************** then began using our other service ActorsAccess to self submit for roles. That account remains open and she can self submit for free as a subscriber. The actor can opt to pay for storage and upload of media and data on our site. To this date she is still registered with our system as an actor with full permissions to submit, add media content to her profile and connect her profile to other agencies or management firms that can submit on her behalf across ****************. We find this complaint wildly fictitious and don't understand the premise of such baseless accusations. However if ****************** continues to use this forum to throw up false accuations without proof, we will cut her ActorsAccess account with us and ask that she take her business elsewhere.

• Initial Complaint

  08/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Hi, Actors access is a website for actors to find work. PAID work. There are jobs on these boards that are ***** day shoots that are NOT paying their actors for their time or not even paying at least minimum wage. Actors go to school to learn how to be actors. Just like plummers. You wouldn't hire a ******* for free.... it's absolutely ridiculous that the state would allow a website to post job opening for actors from people with absolutely not pay for their talents or the ***** hour days they would be shooting. NO PAY and work 12 hours??? That's not ok. It's against ********** labor laws to pay people a living wage AND actors access should be regulating this so actors don't get scammed or taken advantage of for their time.

• Initial Complaint

  08/05/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I am an owner and agent of my talent agency **************** We represent talent in the ************ region across all mediums. Actors Access is one of the main sites where an agent find breakdowns to submit our talent to. Upon applying to Actors Access my talent agency has been repeated denied. I've sent several request for approval and continued to get denied. I received an email, stating that I was a manager. I insisted that I was not and I was a Talent Representative. I've tried to call several calls to all the numbers listed to only get a nasty response from each person that I spoke with. I recently received a very nasty email stating " your agency as been denied, stop sending in new request". This place is just a front and workers work by computer systems, I assume. The customer service person answering the phone indicated that they can't give me any information and I can't speak to anyone about my request. This place seems to let in whoever they want to. A new agency that relies on the site is unfair that there is no one to talk to about concerns. I have replied to their emails without any response on their end. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!

• Initial Complaint

  02/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I had been a customer of this service for over 10 years. This business is disrespectful to its customers, and because they operate a virtual monopoly, decide arbitrarily when they want to cut off a business service. My service was cut off without warrant or notice. When I called to inquire I was belittled and disrespected. When I responded, my service was cut off. I represent over 50 careers and my clients are ready to file a civil lawsuit as well as damages for discrimination. In addition, I am apart of a group of 20 Ent. Professionals who have all experienced the same horrific treatment from this company and are ready to take the claims legal. I have tried multiple times to contact the owner to resolve this matter.

• Initial Complaint

  01/03/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Recently I became owner and agent at my own talent agency, ****** Co. Agency, LLC. We represent entertainment talent across all mediums. In order to properly represent our talent and submit them for projects we are required to be on the major casting sites (i.e. ****************, ********* ******** and ****************). Upon applying for access to ******************, my talent agency been repeatedly denied - despite providing all necessary documentation and meeting all the criteria previously outlined by the business. Our agency has provided ****************** with our agency license (licensed by the State of **********), bonding certification, affidavits of character, copies of our Labor Commissioner of ********** approved contracts and my own personal resume/record for verification purposes. Likewise, we have answered all necessary questions that were asked about our agency. During each correspondence, the representative handling our case has refused to provide their name and refused to provide adequate reasoning for their denial of service. Instead, this representative has begun stating that we now need to receive "SAG-Franchising" from the Screen Actors Guild to gain access to their site. However, SAG is a different affiliation and there are already many agents and managers (who are unregulated and unable to be franchised) utilizing their sites services. That said, there is no reason our agency should be denied service. I tried calling ****************** support number, but they do not offer phone support to discuss agency site applications. Likewise, their business location is just a front and is not an actual working office that can be visited. My agency and the twenty-six talented individuals we represent require us to use ****************** to properly represent them and to function. I'm not sure what is going on but this could damage our business irreparably if it's not resolved.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩