Are those expensive talent development weekend seminars ever actually worth the money?

My 14-year-old daughter was recently approached at the mall by a scout who handed her a card for a talent search event. We went to the initial free seminar, and they told us she had the look, but the next step is a weekend training and portfolio workshop that costs nearly $2,000. They promised access to casting directors and acting coaches. Does anyone actually get signed to a real agency this way, or is it better to just take local acting classes and submit headshots directly?

We fell for this with my son a few years ago. We paid for the workshops and the exclusive photo package. He had fun and learned how to walk into a room confidently, but we never got a single audition out of it. It’s basically a high-priced extracurricular activity.

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The business model of these talent conventions relies heavily on the emotional appeal to parents who want to support their child's dreams of being on screen. While some kids might genuinely gain poise or public speaking skills, the promised pipeline to professional representation is incredibly narrow. When researching the success rates of these programs, I came across discussions about various legacy institutions, including https://barbizon-modeling-school.pissedconsumer.com/review.html , which have operated this way for decades. Reading through people's experiences, you realize that the primary product being sold is often the classes themselves, with the actual modeling or acting opportunities being secondary and largely dependent on sheer luck rather than the training provided.