Question about a talent agency…

18 comments

1. As the parent of two daughters, absolutely no way.

   And that about ten times over.

2. If they are a proper agency I don’t think you need to worry about much, except having to manage your daughter’s expectations. There’s a large chance that she just ends up in a file of talents and never gets anything from it. Especially if you don’t actively look for opportunities by yourselves. If she is really interested you might want to help her look for auditions and support her through it though.

3. I think that the only 2 actions that should be done are: 1. Verify if the offered contacts actually belong to the official representatives of the agency. 2. Discuss with your daughter what kind of talent she thinks she might perform as. The way I see it, this could provide some occasional opportunities (for example, in modeling and mc-ing) that could be enjoyable and educational, hence why I do not understand why other people in the commends are simply dismissive without giving any reasons. Sure, we all see talent agencies and their work as something associated with toxicity, abuse, and scandals, but that is not always the case and really depends on what actual work is being offered to your daughter. The main takeaway is that more information on opportunities would be disclosed once you contact the agent, so maybe just talking to your child about being realistic and not accepting things instantly would be more than enough of a preparation.

4. Who knows. You need to be realistic.

   Their website says they have over 1000 actors etc under their management. Most likely they will suggest that she will need a portfolio and headshots to get work. And a course to teach her how to walk and pose. Many agencies do this in-house. It is their way to make rent money from hopefuls.

5. Stardust is like one of the biggest agencies in Japan.

   As such, it’s very realistic for some scumbags to just impersonate them to creep on girls. Never go with those scouts.

6. anyone (literally anyone) can be a model/talent. actually getting work is another story

7. This is my opinion but I wouldn’t touch any talent agency with a ten foot pole.

   Johnny’s was one of the largest and “reputable” talent agency in Japan and tons of parents sent in their kids applications themselves. Sure not everyone gets abused but this shit runs deep in the entertainment world. It’s not worth the risk of chasing stardom.

8. Stay away from that business. Do not let your kids be an idol or talento or actor or singer or whatever. The business will chew them up and spit them out.

9. People make memes about Producer-san for a reason. Don’t let your daughters anywhere near Japanese showbiz. Its a yakuza dem.

10. About 7 or 8 years ago I dated a girl who worked for Stardust. She was a manager of a couple of minor actors, but when there was nothing scheduled she would occasionally just go to a random train station and scout all day for work.

    If your daughter is half Japanese then that will be more appealing for scouts. But they have a quota to keep as well. My ex had to scout a certain number of people each day. And for every 10 people they approach, maybe 2 or 3 will be interested. After that, it’s kind of on the person scouted to follow up.

    They’re a big company, though, so legit in that sense. But no idea of the person who scouted your daughter.

11. Ya I got approached years ago by a few (not same agency) and they basically took some photos after like 40 other people and never contacted me again.

    So you might want to let your daughter know they basically approach anyone with whatever look

    If she actually wants to model you guys should be her ‘talent agency’.

    I’d say let her go for it but let her know she might just be a photo in a draw. Not because she isn’t pretty but because they probably gave that letter out to like 50 parents a day.

12. All talent agencies in Japan are creepy and predatory. Don’t get involved with this industry.

13. I’m sure they say it’s free and then, “Oh, by the way, we need pictures and they’re only ¥50,000 with our friend Tanaka-san”. Shit like that. My sons did some modeling and kids TV when they were munchkins. Until you get traction it feels like they find ways to suck your money. We did for a few years until they got busy with soccer at about 6 years old and then said fuck it. Be super wary and realize it’s a lot of waiting around and being told at the last minute to be somewhere the next day or so.

14. My friends son was ‘working’ with them from ages 8-13 abouts as one of their boy bands backing dancers. Might be noting that she was very much a stage mom who had him modeling/acting since he was a baby.

    The audition they litereally just looked at him, and I guess he had the (harfu) look because he got in.

    They gave him near daily dance lessons and he would occasionally do these free shows trying to build a following as a part of this boy band.

    It didn’t cost any money but his contract had him unable to work in any other modeling/acting job, and his mother wasn’t allowed to post any pictures of him on social media. They were also unhappy when she took him back to the states for holidays since he’d be missing dance lessons.

    His mother was always keen for him to do more acting but that wasn’t their plan…

    Thing is her son started skipping the dance lessons so I knew it was the end. His mother always insisted he said he wanted to continue but his actions said otherwise and there’s hundreds of others with more pushy parents who will make them do what is needed.

    Not sure how it all ended with stardust but he barely graduated high school and has done some modeling work recently. If he didn’t get diddled then guess that’s lucky.

15. Every mixed couple wants their half kids to be the next Joy/Becky/next famous half talent/model. These companies will sell you the dream but of course they need a portfolio of pictures to show to prospective clients don’t they? Well here’s the kicker – these pictures will cost hundreds of thousands of yen and there is no guarantee of your daughter getting any work. That’s just how these companies make money.

16. My daughters were approached by Stardust in the same way a couple years ago. We did an audition on Zoom with them at the time. We decided against it in the end. The main reason was that they only wanted to work exclusively with them, but my girls were already singing, voice acting, & modeling as free agents (with free choice to do or not do any job). Also we got the feeling they really saw them as “Idol” potential & that would be… both mine & their nightmare. With the free agencies we worked with, we never needed professional photos for headshots, etc. we never paid to make recording demos, we were never asked to pay for lessons. That’s just my personal experience.

17. Thanks everyone for your adivce/info. My wife and I will let her do the zoom interview. From there who knows. The company does seem legit. My daughter is aware that her chances of getting anything out of this are slim. As a father, I’m hoping it will end here, but we’ll have to see.

18. theres a reason its called stardust. 1% of their talents are stars, and the rest are just dust.