The world is full of excellent people who care more about their fellow man than about their own welfare. Unfortunately wherever there is good, there is also evil standing close-by devising ways to poison the good.

Now that we’ve covered Good vs. Evil 101, let’s discuss how it relates to the entertainment industry. If you have a website, or are listed on a directory like GigSalad.com, then you have undoubtedly received leads for gigs. A certain percentage of those leads will be non-serious, inquisitive people just poking around, some will be low-budget quickie gigs, and some might be high-end, high-dollar engagements that open the doors to greater things in your career. And at the bottom of the pile, straight from the seventh level of Hades, are outright fraudulent requests from slimy individuals who try to rob you of funds, identity or both.

Many posing as “event planners” will appear to solicit your services and will send you excessive “up front” payment in the form of money orders, cashiers’ checks or bank drafts, have you send them the difference, then cancel the payment they had originally sent you.

They will also try to collect sensitive information from you by telling you they will book your hotel or flight, then use it to do terrible things with your identity.

PLEASE BE AWARE OF ALL SUSPICIOUS REQUESTS, from requests originating from ANY SITE or email address. Never give sensitive information and do not send money back for any reason.

Here’s are a few examples of outright fraudulent requests made to members in the past. We were able to intercept it an alert our members, but here’s what they said:

From bob.max101@yahoo.com
(no phone number listed)
Goodday,
My name is Bob, i am preparing for my wedding which will come up on the 15th of august 2009.. by 10;00am here in 124th Avenue Miami, Florida 33183 , As i was searching for the best comedian to make the day a memorable day for me and my wife. I saw your advert and i am really impressed about your performance. and you are going to start by 12:00pm and end 2:00pm, How much will you collect if you are to entertain my guess with the travel expenses….i am having 50 guest for the day.
Hope to read back from you.

Greetings to you,I am Mr.Robbin Mart from Louisville, KY.I will like to have your service for my son’s Philip Wedding ceremony with her wife, named as Jessy.I found you at webpage saladgig.I am making an enquiry in regards to your services on my son’s Wedding,We are having the party at his wife residence,in which i will like to get your price for 4 hours of service and we are having 120-140 guests in which the party will start at 11:00am by recption which is about 5 mins drive to the party venue and ends the party till 7:00pm and i will like the best of your performance on that date.Also let me know if there will be any little charges for your flight fee.What time will you show up for my event? What type of equipment do you use? Are you licensed, registered and insured? Do you want me to book a near by hotel we have here for you?And are you coming alone to perform at the party?Also i will like to know if you are available for the date 5th or 6th of July 2006. I await the best of your message soonest.The party venue is @ 4410 Shepherdsville Rd Louisville, KY 40218 Get back to me asap. NOTICE: Email me Reply me to robbinmart3@yahoo.com Engr.Robbin S. Mart.

Here’s a response one of our members received when he followed up with a fraudulent lead:

Thanks for the mail,am very happy that you will perform on my wedding,the date of my wedding is on (9/20/2009).,i will give you the location as soon as the location is ready,i told you in my last mail that am not in state for now. Since your fee is $250 and i will add $150 as a compensation from me making $400, i want you to reserve the date for me.I have a client that will send you a cashier check or Money Order of $2500. I believe true transaction should be based on trust that is why i said he should send you the payment,as soon as you get the money you will deduct your fees and send the balance to my Wedding Cake Baker vendor via western union money transfer. So i will like you to get back to me with your Full Name and Full Address with your Cell And Home And office phone #,.Looking forward to read from you Soon
Thanks God Bless

Here are a few telltale signs of fraud:

1. Requests that you contact client by email only;
2. Requests made that do not apply to the services you offer;
3. Messages from event planners outside North America;
4. Emails with exceptionally poor grammar;
5. Event planner who requests to pay you up front and asks for a check from you for the difference;
6. Inquiries with invalid phone numer;
7. Leads you receive through your website or ours with missing data such as EVENT LOCATION. A simple test is to call the phone number they provide. If it’s a generic answering system, a disconnected number, a wrong number, or if there’s no number at all, be very cautious.

Nigeria has been notorious for sending stuff like this out, but it really comes from everywhere.

We have security measures in place on Gig Salad to screen fraud, but since even the slimiest of folks can be clever, we cannot cannot guarantee the validity of requests made through contacting you through the website. Please use caution when responding to inquiries through this site (or other websites) that appear to be suspicious.

PLEASE CONTACT US AT 1-417-889-9909 IF YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT THE VALIDITY OF A REQUEST that has been made to you.

We’re here to help!

-Steve & Mark

Escape Artist Curtis Lovell

Lovell’s New Year’s resolution to obtain a world record will be attempted in Spring 2009.

“I have always wanted to obtain a world record and I have always wanted Cher to strap me in a straight jacket,” Lovell said. “I hope both goals can be accomplished 2009.

“I have been asked, ‘Are you crazy?!’ when I attempted Houdini-style stunts in the past, so I think it’s time for me to be placed in a straightjacket.”

Lovell will be placed in a straightjacket — and escape — at least 194 times in a period of eight hours during his attempt to break the world record.

Also scheduled for 2009 is Lovell’s Cube of Death, which will appear on Master of Illusions on MynetworkTv, a weekly series beginning in January 2009.

If you are Cher — or if you wish to strap Lovell in a straight jacket, host or otherwise participate in his Guinness World Record attempt, contact Lovell’s team here.

However, I can’t tell you how many times, no matter what the path is of an individual within the industry, it almost always involves not necessarily just who you know, but who also knows you. I have been fortunate enough to have the great opportunity of an early start of getting in the mix by working for the huge conglomerate Live Nation as well as working here with Gig Salad and Book The Best and Steiner Talent.  I have made great contacts which I am very confident will lead to the start of my success within the industry.

With all this said, I can’t help but wonder how other people in my program plan to actually make it. I have a feeling people have the notion that as soon as they get the little piece of paper that says “Entertainment Management Degree”, they will receive a job offer.  With little to no actual job experience with entertainment, it’s just not going to happen.  I have met numerous people with great jobs in the entertainment world that don’t even have a college degree and have been working in the field for 10-30 years.  And these undergrads think that they will just magically get hired in similar positions because of what a piece of paper says?

If you want to make it in this business there are a couple key things I would suggest:Â

Get a degree first! Even though jobs in this field don’t always require a degree, it can only help you have a competitive advantage.  It might also be required further along with a different job title or company in your career path.  The Entertainment Management degree at my university has great aspirations and ideas; however it has a lot of flaws as well because it is so young.  This degree is basically a combined management, finance, and accounting degree with a minor in entertainment.  You really only take about 3-4 classes dealing with entertainment, along with a required internship which brings me to my next key.

Get your foot in the door at a company that you think can help you get to were you eventually want to be.  If this requires you to pack up your bags and move to L.A. for the summer interning for free, working a second job to pay for your overpriced apartment, living off ramen noodles 3 meals a day, than do it!  While you’re there, make sure you work your hardest every minute for that chance that someone will notice and remember you.

Don’t settle. If you know you want to work for CAA someday and you know that you deserve to, but the only thing that seems to be biting is an entry level position at a nightclub, don’t do it.  All you are doing is prolonging your job search.  Get out there and start searching as soon as you know what you want to do.  This doesn’t mean once you graduate.  Do it today!

The last key I am going to suggest is to never burn a bridge! Not burning bridges is key in this business, because everyone knows everyone somehow and it will always come back to you.  It doesn’t matter if you have the worst boss or co-worker in the world, or if you have that day in life where your high school sweetheart just admitted to you over a text message while you’re driving to your part time job, that she cheated on you with your roommate.  Once you arrive at work late because you ran out of gas, you check your email and your professor of your hardest class just posted your grade for the final exam and you failed.

About that time an older gentleman walks by your desk asking for directions to your Mr. Jones’ (your boss) office (even though there is a big sign right in front of your desk that says Mr. Jones with an arrow).  So you reply very rudely “look at the sign”.  Little did you know that job interview you have been trying so hard to get for months happens to be with this older gentleman who will remember you next week when you show up at his office.

-Murdock

Longevity is what we all strive for in the entertainment business. A long career doing what we love. What we were born to be doing. This is success as a performer. But how do we find it? How do we get from here to there?

I believe the answer is found in these three qualities: hard work, passion, and persistence. If you want to be a working actor, musician, singer, dancer, model, magician or clown, then work hard, every day. Train, learn, practice, audition. Be heard and seen without getting discouraged when you don’t get the part or when an event planner chooses another act over you. If this does not sound compelling to you, then do something else.

But even if you do find something else that floats your boat, you are still going to have to apply the above to whichever profession you choose. So do what you love so that the process isn’t daunting and difficult to approach each day. To be excellent and successful in your vocation, you must master your craft. If there’s a talent in there, whether natural or learned, then you can make it. There’s a Biblical proverb that says: Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before obscure men.

You can do it, but don’t whine… and no complaining. You can’t be a victim if you’re not where you want to be because it’s nobody else’s fault. Life is too short to point fingers. Keep your eyes on the prize and work hard. The cream always rises to the top.

-Mark

Or maybe you just received the good news from your neighbor telling you that there’s a talent search going on this weekend at the hotel ballroom, where top agents and talent scouts will be present. What an opportunity! At my mall? How should you prepare? What should you wear? We can answer those questions easily in one sentence: RUN FAR, FAR AWAY.

Hollywood and New York are not coming to a town near you. They have done ok without you, and they’ll wait for you to come to them. They are pretty lazy that way. These ‘talent search’ companies touting the idea that they are traveling around with top New York City casting directors or Hollywood talent agents are nothing more than posers who are preying upon the weak, starry-eyed and unschooled. If these talent and casting agents were any good, then they would be back in their prospective towns doing what they do best: casting and booking talent.

If someone tells you that your little girl should be in pictures and that all you have to do is sign this little contract and then pay their photographer a whole lot of money for a “portfolio”, then we have other ideas of what you should do with that pen. If another caring individual stops you in front of their mall kiosk and tells you that your son is the cutest they have seen in a long time and that they can get him modeling jobs if he just takes some classes for $xyz amount of money, then rip yourself away and continue down to the Gap. Spend your money there. At least you’ll be able to actually get something for your money.

Do your research, get outside advice. And, for goodness sake, don’t pay anyone a dime for representation and don’t sign any contracts until you are darn sure you know exactly what you are signing. Agents and managers get paid when they get you work, not beforehand. Do not pay any upfront fees for ’services provided’. They may make suggestions about where to have a head shot done, but by no means expect you to use that photographer. They may tell you about a really good acting class or coach who is working with all the new hot talent in town, but unless you audit the class first and recognize some of that really ‘hot’ talent, then, you may as well take an acting class from your Uncle Jerry.

If you’re still convinced the talent agent guy you spoke with at the mall this weekend was legit and that he’s the one who’ll get little Sally to star on Hannah Montana by next Spring, then please give me a call. I’ve heard it all before and would be glad to help.

-Mark

Most websites are very different, so an apples-to-apples comparison in most cases doesn’t apply. We simply recommend that you find out what works for you and do it. But to think that you should only pick one website to advertise with and sacrifice the others might be a mistake, as some will work better than others, but the ones that don’t work aswell still may effectively work on some level for you. Spread out your marketing dollars and test the waters.

In truth, we don’t really see Gig Salad as having “competition”. We’re all in this together. Just do some homework and see what works for your specific services and what doesn’t. In this wild economy, every penny counts!

Why it isn’t true: Don’t expect a manager to do all the work for you, first of all. Hooking up with an agent is very much a partnership. A manager is someone who’s going to be on your side and working with you, but chances are the manager is working with plenty of other talent at the same time.

This myth is really common among actors who move to a large market like New York or L.A., according to Mark Steiner, one of Gig Salad’s co-founders. He should know. He was that guy at one time. (I won’t go into his story here, he’ll be blogging all about it himself in the future.) Many of these actors think they’re going to get with a manager who’s going toss their name out for auditions right and left.

That may or may not happen. The best way to secure a good manager and to make sure that manager is going to work hard for you, is to work hard yourself. Concentrate on honing your craft and making sure you’re the very best you can be in your field. If you’re an actor, try to make a name for yourself in some way: niche roles, versatility, whatever. If you’re a musician, try to build your fan base as much as possible. Every single name you add to your mailing list matters.

You still have to go out there and hustle. Don’t put all of your faith in any one person besides yourself.