Complaint Review: Network International Models & Talent

Okay, so time has flown by, and now that the dust has settled with Patrik and his brood, I feel a little more comfortable providing additional info and (more) supporting documentation.

Since I already paid for the photos, I demanded print-quality sized computer files of them. It took several weeks and harassment on my part before I was able to obtain them. At one point, Patrik and I were literally screaming at each other on the phone. Apparently, since the "photo company" was called 'Beverly Hills Photo Studio' (look it up if you can - no such agency exists, and as already noted I'm pretty confident on the computer), he didn't feel obligated to "fulfill their contract". I told him that having contracted their services and collecting payment entirely on their behalf, he was very much obligated to provide them. On that note - he took a second look at that contract and sent me the prints he was legally obligated to provide as well. He picked and chose 3 without my input, no retouching, and in a nasty envelope that got bent and scraped on the way to me. Guess he was afraid of being sued.

Finally, he sent me a list of my top 10 photos (picked from the thumbnail sheet). He intends to hold your photos hostage, folks. I even offered to find a better priced printer than $280 for 100 ZED cards for him (which he gracelessly rejected) before a friend pointed out that most people use email these days, not printed cards, and most job submissions are entirely via internet - more on that later.

Fortunately for me, the photographer that did take photos of my son was a wonderful lady who fell instantly in love with him, and we managed to connect on Facebook. After providing the contract to her to cover her butt as well, she took pity and shared her Picasa album so I got all the photos she had for me, even the duds. BTW - that photographer was only recently contracted (as in, the first day we came in for photos was her very first photo shoot for him) with Patrik when I met her, and her company was "One Sweet Light" photography, NOT 'Beverly Hills Photo Studio'. 

Patrik never sent my son's photos in for a single submission, and refused to terminate my SAG contract with him. He'd already made it abundantly clear that he had no intention of working with me, even told me to talk to his associate "Miss M" if I ever called again. This made me very angry. You won't like me when I'm angry.

I demanded to know which methods he used for submitting work. I've lost my notes since then, but he had 3 semi-under-the-radar websites he used exclusively. Another friend (who has had more success than us in this industry) remarked to me that the big ones are Agent Access, Actor's Access, and a third I can't remember... and they are so completely bombarded, they rarely check the lesser sites. Via rumor, I found out that he's blacklisted from the bigger sites, but obviously I can't confirm that. All I can confirm is that the sites he DOES use are NOT the main ones in the area.

So, I contacted SAG. I sent them everything I had. Contracts, emails, you name it. Patrik's franchise with the Screen Actor's Guild was terminated because he is a slimy mo-fo and he screwed with too many of the wrong people... namely, me.

I also emailed the BBB about that misleading placard, but they never did get back to me. And I've been all over the internet exposing him for what he is. There's a little more to this story, but I can't put it out there without jeopardizing anonymity of other people connected to him that I've met on this little adventure.

Best of luck to you, reader, on your search into this industry. Don't rely on this guy.

Like you, my sister and I had received a call from Network-International.  They called us and our babies in for an interview.  When we walked into the office, we got a bad vibe-- it all just seemed very unprofessional-- office chairs that were not put together, the papers were a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy, etc.  The lady interviewed us, and then said she needed to see how our kids did on camera.  There was no area of the office set up for photography, so they just kind of filmed them in the hallway.  She used what looked like her cell phone to video record them.   It was weird.  I had asked about signing contracts, and she flat out told me that no contracts would be signed unless there was work for the kids.  The next day they called to say they wanted us to sign contracts, so we thought, "Cool!"  We drove an hour and a half to their office (which is a loooooong way for a 4 month old, plus an hour and a half home), but when we were there, Network International admitted that they did not have work for us (which contradicted what the girl had said the day before), and vaguely said, "We have some Babies R Us coming up."  Network International never mentioned anything about needing a work permit before the kids could actually get work, and other pertinent information that I looked into later.   When we asked questions about the contract, the guy couldn't really explain it, so he had to get another guy to come in to try to explain it to us.   We didn't have a good vibe about the place, so we said that we wanted to take the contract home and discuss it with our husbands.  They told us that we could just come up the next day to sign-- I said we'd mail it in, and they seemed hesitant about that.  (I guess if you don't come in person, they can't talk you into signing.)   We ended up deciding against it.  The next day they crank called my sister.  I'm sorry that you went through all of the troubles with them, but I'm thankful that you posted this.  We wanted to give our kids an opportunity, and we were wondering if we were being overly suspicious, but now we can have some peace of mind that we made the right decision.  I just hope that lady deletes my daughter's video from her cell phone.  It weirds me out that some con artist has a video of my child.  Thank God I didn't know her social security number, either!!