Tempest7: Blogger

Destination - The Group

This post is in response to a previous comment left on my blog. Because I have had some potential legal difficulties brought on by another company which I blogged about, I'll need to formally make the following disclaimer.

What I write about on my blog is strictly my own opinion and should not be taken as fact. It may or may not be based on my own personal experiences.

An anonymous writer wrote the following, all in Chinese which makes it difficult for me:

"HI
我無意中入左你blog...
我有d野想問你
希望你可以幫到我
之前係街度有間model 公司話有興趣搵我做model,間model 公司叫Destionation-pro company (又名The Group)
我入到去佢地叫我俾$980話影相,話用黎俾d客睇,我影左,之後拎相果陣,佢又叫我俾$6000,要黎影laser print photo shooting,但我話冇咁多錢,佢叫我俾住$2500先,尾數係之後d job度扣.
我好驚,其實間公司係米厄人,係米間間model公司都要收錢,先有job做..
我真係好驚俾人厄
請盡快回覆
thaks!!"

I had a friend translate it and I've got the rough feel of what this person was asking about. It was a strange coincidence that someone asked me about Destination / The Group because the other day I was in Tsim Sha Tsui getting my China VISA done when someone stopped me in the TST MTR station. I saw him standing there and he kind of chased me down to talk with me. He introduced himself as Robbie Tin and asked me if I had an interest to do modeling for news papers and magazines. The introductions are pretty similar anyways. I'm starting to get use to them since this is the 3rd local talent agency or production house to stop me in Hong Kong. Left my name and number with him, because I'm kind of stupid that way and I'm always curious about these companies so I can blog about them, and then left on my way. Afterwards I saw the comment on my blog about this company. With that in mind I went Saturday for a casting at their company near Jordan. Their office is located at Room 103, Park Tower, 15 Austin Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Now I can't give a lot of information since it is my first time meeting them. I can only relate my story on my blog.

I spoke with a women named Joanne on the phone late at night and arranged the meeting for Saturday around 4:30 pm. She was fairly nice on the phone, and sounded quite friendly. While I was in TST Saturday to pick up my Visa I actually saw "Robbie Tin" again in the MTR station. The card he handed me is their business card with his own name written using a normal ball point pen. When I arrived I was asked to fill out a form at the reception. The form is standard, of course they need your information. I've filled out similar forms at every agency and production house that I've been to. I filled out most of the information truthfully but did not leave my ID number. I have a public email address that I use which is separate from my personal email address. I went into an office where I met a "Rachel Chan". Her card, which I obtained later, labels her as a Project Manager. She told me the basics about how they do production work for several clients and told me about their work for HSBC and Watsons. We had some idle banter about myself and she finally broke into the picture taking part. Now I am not an expert on the modeling industry. I do not even claim to be a model. From my understanding models do pay money to produce composite cards (comp cards/zen cards). They may pay an agency to use a standard agency template, or pay to have one designed for them. The costs vary. So I can not give you an estimate on the costs for a composite card. As for production houses asking for pictures, this shouldn't come as a surprise since that's what they need to show to clients.

The catch I think is everyone of these production houses has asked for me to take pictures with their own photographers. The typical "reasons" are that they trust their photographers, their photographers know what their clients want, and they can offer a cheaper rate than going to an outside studio to have these pictures produced. These were all points that were brought up with my discussion at my casting. I can not fault a production house for trying to sell their own services, but since I need a safety net against being taken advantaged of I won't use their in house service. I really only "trust" the big local agencies, and probably the Dream girls the most. When I brought up the fact that I was interested in having pictures done on my own, Rachel presented reasons for me to have it done with Destination / The Group instead and also threw in the fact that if they're not happy with the photos I submit outside, they may ask me to do them again using their own in house photographer. She did not however pressure me into using their services.

Again this is as far as I've gotten into the process. I'm seriously considering having pictures done, either finding a friend to help and locating a studio someplace. I think I would be better prepared if I had some nice shots done. I can have other people judge them first before releasing them. I trust the judgments of the people that I know in the industry. If future companies don't accept those photos then I could discern their personality based on their responses.

If anyone else has had experiences, good or bad, with this or any other agencies I encourage you to post about it.

Labels: Hong Kong, Scams

posted by Tempest7 @ 23:59