Printable View
Has anyone ever dealt with them?
I sent a couple pics of my Ds1 to them the other day and they are ringing tomorrow as they want to arrange an interview
not sure what is involved , costs and if it is even worth it as we would have to travel
so just wondering if anyone on here has dealt with them before
just bumping this up
aussienic - OSrry but i have no idea and wanted to give this another bump cos I would like to know too!
AussieNic,
Yep, I had e-mailed them some pics of Jessica, they rang me the next day saying we just 'loved' Jessica & want to see her further because she will be a great asset in our agency, blah blah blah. I hadn't told anybody what I had done, so I kept it quiet, then the day before the interview, I was just busting with pride, so I rang & told my sis. Now my sis is a very straight up person & she said that 3 of her daughters friends from school had just been 'accepted' into Bettina as well & they paid for the portfolio & never heard from them again.
So, I thought about it all overnight & decided not to show up to the interview. Thinking that if Jessica was going to be this massive 'asset' to the company, they would be calling saying 'what happened, we need to see her, we're super excited to see her' but they didn't. So I festered over it for a week or so & then also realised that had they have said to me 'look, we are so confident in Jessica that we will fund her portfolio price & that can be deducted from her earnings' I would have signed in a heartbeat. But they didn't & I have never heard from them again. Also, the woman who would have rung you to arrange the interview, their call centre isn't even based in Perth, so that was another thing that I didn't like. The people who were looking at her pics, weren't even the people who would be interviewing us in Perth.
Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't go for the interview, I reckon it'd be fantastic, but the portfolio is around $395 & you are NOT guaranteed any work & I have been told that the photo's weren't even brilliant photo's for the price. It's completely up to you, I do however feel as though they are putting as many kids on their books as possible and with a price of $395 PLUS an annual fee each year there after they are making a fortune. Also, have a big think about just how many catalogues, adverts, billboards, commercials, etc... are actually Perth generated, you'll find that most of them are done over East.
Now, I have just re-read this & I am sounding really negative & I'm sorry, I don't mean to be, but I was that over-excited-can't-believe-my-daughter-is-going-to-be-a-star mummy a few months ago & I didn't even hear back from them!
If you're really interested in it, go for it, maybe even just go to the interview & see what they say!
Let me know what they do say though, I'm really interested to hear what happens!
HTH!
Jayne
I am still in 2 minds about it.. I haven't rung to organize the interview either. I thought about just going along and seeing what they have to say..
I think I was told $425 for the portfolio pictures,
I certainly won't be paying that amount of money until I know for sure.. I do think that our location would make things difficult..
Thanks for giving me your opinion as I now know I have a little more thinking to do...
i took my dd1 too bettina,my 2 older boys had the day off so they came along for the ride,they didnt want dd1 but wanted the 2 older boys,i payed $1000 they had photos taken and i never heard from them again,in the mean time i took dd1 to tinlids in box hill they wanted her and she got work on a medifacts commercial,2 target catalouges and target online website,i took one of the older boys over to her 1 year later to see i he could get any work for him and he got a yellow pages commercial.myer catalouge and target catalouge,i only had tp pay $140 each for them.i have since given the number to 2 other bb girls and both of there children have had several jobs for target catalouges.if you google tilids you will find them.
nikki
my friend went to bettinas and got all the photos done and again never heard again from them!! i have heard they have so many kids on file and alot that look the same in a round about sort of way IYKWIM?? like what nicole mckay said tinlids are good my friend went with them and has got so much work for her DD she is in the safeway commercial!!!
just watch you dont get sucked in!!;)
Ummm if you have a spare $500 to throw away, yeah, sure do it.
My Dd#2 gets commetns ALL the time what a cutey she is - so we sent in piccies, got an email back asking to see her. We did. They loved her. They said they wanted her. We paid $500 for a photo shoot and to join...that was 2 months ago......like i said, if you wanna throw $500 bucks away...yeah, do it.;)
Thanks for all the responses.. Dh and I have decided to not go ahead with it.. Shame we don't live closer to a big city but oh well...
I too, like nikki did the betinna thing and heard nothing from them but have my girls with tinlids and they get work. They dont just accept every kid offered to them at tinlids which is good so they dont end up with 20 blonde blue eyed size 2 girls IYKWIM... She would rather concentrate on fewer children
I had to lol at this comment as I had the similar view after I Mason was taken on by an agency when he was 2. That company went bust after a month and we lost our money and after that I decided not to pursue it, once bitten, twice shy so to speak. Mason also didn't like the photographer very much at all (big man, beard, not really kid friendly :rolleyes:) and it took 2 hours for him to get game enough to come and sit on the chair for his photos. I was ready to go home as I felt like I was being a pushy parent for inflicting this on him and this wasn't even a casting call!:
Ummm if you have a spare $500 to throw away, yeah, sure do it.
How would you feel after paying for this and your child refusing to co-operate and having a tantrum?
BUT the pictures that were taken have pride of place on my wall. I had the 8 mugshots printed up and framed as we got a copy on CD and I love them.
I have in the past paid $400 at pixiphoto and like these portfolio shots more than the pixi ones.
So I would say that if you want to give it a go, make sure for one you get a copy of the pictures taken as that is a big part of the listing fee (it pays the photographer) and go into it with the attitude that you might not get work and then you won't be disappointed.
Bettina's have also arranged an interview with me for Harrison.
It seems like a lot of fuss and $$$ for not much return really.
We're in Newcastle and need to travel to Sydney for the interview. After everything I have heard, I am seriously thinking about cancelling... but on the other hand, I do want some professional shots done of Harrison, and figure that I could have him on the books with them at the same time.
Hmmmm... what to do? lol
Lisa: A decent photographer could take some great pics for you for around the same price if not less.. I know I live in a smaller town but I got Pro shots done when Ds2 was 6 months and it cost us under $300 for the shoot and 12 pictures..
Maybe look into getting some great pictures that way..
That's what I have been thinking about doing Nic. But as I said, I kinda figure I could kill 2 birds with 1 stone by getting his pics done there and that way having him on the books at the same time. I can imagine the competition would be quite fierce in Sydney, with loads of proud mummies and daddies putting their babies in too. I'm not too worried though, but I have had so many strangers in the street, and members of my family telling me that I should look into putting him into an agency. I have contacted Bambini in Sydney also and registered "my interest" with them also. I figure if we're going to drive for around 2hrs to go to one agency, I might as well make a day of it and go to 2.
Thanks for your advice in regards to the photo's. I am going to have Pixie photos done of him either way, and we're planning a new family portrait in the near future.