Complaint Review: I and I Agency

WARNING about I & I Agency in Kansas City, Missouri. I am submitting this complaint in an effort to protect other models and actors who may deal with this company and avoid having a series of bad experiences like I did.

The owners of I & I Agency, LLC are Mark Anthony Jones and Clark Cordova. When I attended their agency interview and orientation they tried to sell me many things; which included a participation at the Global Stars Network Cruise, which Mark Anthony Jones admits he owns. The cruise was explained at a cost of over $5,000, not including airfare and transportation as well as a hotel stay to arrive one day early before getting on the ship. Not for me… I am trying to make money as a model, not spend money to others who want to profit off of me while I seek legitimate paid bookings.

I & I Agency also would not accept my 12 images for marketing; instead they insisted that I pay high fees to shoot with one of their recommended and “exclusive agency photographers”… how convenient. The agency also does not allow the models they represent to see the images the agency posts on its website, which the agency says is a “client only” portal website. I find this very interesting and to be a very uncommon practice amongst other agencies by comparison.

I was also displeased when Clark Cordova insisted that I pay for and attend acting workshops, at a workshop client their agency works with and conveniently located immediately next door in the same building… very interesting.

Not only could I not take a copy of the contract home to look over before any decisions were made but I also did not receive a copy until I had to ask for a copy later when I wanted to get away from this agency. The agency contract is very descriptive in making the model do most of the work and the agency demands money from the model, even if they leave the agency and do work on their own, after properly terminating the contract. In my opinion this is extremely presumptuous and greedy.

I was not offered any bookings for the first six months after I signed/ represented I & I Agency and the only email booking I received was one that I inquired and was promptly denied. After waiting the amount of time that I did I could see that this agency was not working for me and I believe it was because I would not spend money doing all of the “recommended” training and workshops that they were offering to make money from me. I then sent a notice to terminate my agency contract with them via email. Mark Anthony Jones told me that I could not get out of my contract and immediately followed by threatening me with legal action.

It is quite obvious to me that I & I Agency makes most of their profits selling castings, cruises, workshops and classes, expensive photo shoots, and more. I went to this agency with the hopes that it was a hard working agency, but they do not operate the same as other agencies in New York, L.A. and other profitable agencies do. I am not going to allow this agency to further bully and threaten me and my contract is null and void because of the lack of proper exchange and reciprocation on the agency’s behalf. They never got me a single booking, paid or unpaid and I thought this was what an agency was for in the first place, to procure work for models. It is agencies like I & I Agency that give the industry a bad image due to their (I and I Agency) lack of courtesy, professionalism and respect.

Signed… B.R. Brown, a 26 year old business professional and model/actor.

NOTE: New address of I & I Agency is 3619 Broadway, suite 12 in Kansas City, Missouri 64111

WARNING about I & I Agency in Kansas City, Missouri. I am submitting this complaint in an effort to protect other models and actors who may deal with this company and avoid having a series of bad experiences like I did.

The owners of I & I Agency, LLC are Mark Anthony Jones and Clark Cordova. When I attended their agency interview and orientation they tried to sell me many things; which included a participation at the Global Stars Network Cruise, which Mark Anthony Jones admits he owns. The cruise was explained at a cost of over $5,000, not including airfare and transportation as well as a hotel stay to arrive one day early before getting on the ship. Not for me… I am trying to make money as a model, not spend money to others who want to profit off of me while I seek legitimate paid bookings.

I & I Agency also would not accept my 12 images for marketing; instead they insisted that I pay high fees to shoot with one of their recommended and “exclusive agency photographers”… how convenient. The agency also does not allow the models they represent to see the images the agency posts on its website, which the agency says is a “client only” portal website. I find this very interesting and to be a very uncommon practice amongst other agencies by comparison.

I was also displeased when Clark Cordova insisted that I pay for and attend acting workshops, at a workshop client their agency works with and conveniently located immediately next door in the same building… very interesting.

Not only could I take a copy of the contract home to look over before any decisions were made but I also did not receive a copy until I had to ask for a copy later when I wanted to get away from this agency. The agency contract is very descriptive in making the model do most of the work and the agency demands money from the model, even if they leave the agency and do work on their own, after properly terminating the contract. In my opinion this is extremely presumptuous and greedy.

I was not offered any bookings for the first six months after I signed/ represented I & I Agency and the only email booking I received was one that I inquired and was promptly denied. After waiting the amount of time that I did I could see that this agency was not working for me and I believe it was because I would not spend money doing all of the “recommended” training and workshops that they were offering to make money from me. I then sent a notice to terminate my agency contract with them via email. Mark Anthony Jones told me that I could not get out of my contract and immediately followed by threatening me with legal action.

It is quite obvious to me that I & I Agency makes most of their profits selling castings, cruises, workshops and classes, expensive photo shoots, and more. I went to this agency with the hopes that it was a hard working agency, but they do not operate the same as other agencies in New York, L.A. and other profitable agencies do. I am not going to allow this agency to further bully and threaten me and my contract is null and void because of the lack of proper exchange and reciprocation on the agency’s behalf. They never got me a single booking, paid or unpaid and I thought this was what an agency was for in the first place, to procure work for models. It is agencies like I & I Agency that give the industry a bad image due to their (I and I Agency) lack of courtesy, professionalism and respect.

Signed… B.R. Brown, a 26 year old business professional and model/actor.