Modeling school's steep price

George Burke says he spent $30,000 on his daughters' modeling careers. More than $16,000 went towards fees for the school and competitions for the twins. The rest was for travel, dresses, makeup and shoes.  And what do they have to show for it?

Did they ever get a job modeling?

George Burke, parent: No.

Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent: Did they ever get a job acting?

George Burke: No.

Deborah Burke, parent: No.

Hansen: So, one audition?  Any jobs?

Joan Schrier, parent: We haven't worked yet.

And some of them are frustrated because they claim success was virtually guaranteed.

Anne Trombley, parent: When they tell you you're going to be trained they actually make you believe you're gonna get a job out of this.

Just what are the promises, if any?  We saw an ad for a Barbizon audition at a hotel in New York City. It said "Children for modeling, interviews held one day only." We went inside the hotel and recorded the pitch on a cellphone -- they made it clear you had to have something special to be accepted.

Dateline conducted an unscientific survey of 10 girls as they left the interview, asking them to let us know if they had been accepted... one hasn't heard back and the other nine all told us they had been selected.

To see what happens for ourselves, we sent a Dateline associate producer to a Barbizon office in New Jersey. She auditioned for IMTA, the talent convention. Soon after walking through the door, she hears the big sell.

Video: We had 100 percent of our New York contestants with call-backs and every single one of them have signed except two.

Our associate producer is asked to do an acting audition and deliberately struggles through her lines for a hypothetical TV commercial.

She wasn't exactly next year's Oscar winner. Still, the very next day she gets a call. And she's told she got all 10s in acting and that's the highest they score. The woman goes on to encourage our Dateline staffer to go to the convention because she thinks she can win a lot and get signed by an agent.

But just as those kids had to pay, she'd need to fork over almost $5,000 to go to the convention.

So does everyone who comes to Barbizon pass those auditions? The only ones who know for sure are the those who oversee the auditions themselves.

So we decided to go on a job interview for the position of an admissions director at Barbizon.

Barbizon job interviewer (on hidden camera): Every person that you contact has contacted us first in one way or another.

He says Barbizon advertises on the Internet, at county fairs, in malls, through radio and print ads.

Interviewer: We advertise on the back of 17 different magazines.

It wasn't long before our interviewer explained who they accept at the Barbizon school.

Interviewer: Do we want every child that comes through the door to enroll in Barbizon? Absolutely. For one, we're a business. And every business, I don't care who you are… you need revenues.

He went on to explain the process of signing up new clients. He says the girls are given a pitch, interviewed, asked if they can afford it and sent home.

Interviewer: That's on a Sunday. You come back here on a Monday and you call them – “Hi Mrs. Smith, I have great news for you. We'd love to have Susie be part of the Barbizon family.”

The Burkes say that's exactly what happened when the girls tried out for both Barbizon and the IMTA convention.

George recorded the call they got the day after they auditioned to go to the IMTA convention for the second time.

But Neal Hamil, the director of top modeling agency, Elite, says save your money because in the real world, only a small percent will ever be working models.

Video   What it takes to be a supermodel Neal Hamil of Elite Model Management tells us what it takes to be a super model. Dateline NBC

Neal Hamil, Elite Model Management: The only people that are gonna make it here are the best of the best of the best of the best. Because it just comes down to like a very pin point, tiny little group of magnificent girls. And they are God made.

We showed Hamil the photos of Alexis and Alezea.

Hamil: They're daddy's little girls and they're adorable.

George, their dad, is the one who told us he's already spent $30,000. Part of that went towards these photos taken by Barbizon. Their information is stapled to the back, complete with misspellings.

Hamil: Oh, gosh.

Hansen: "Special kills," instead of "special skills.”

Hamil: $30,000.

Hansen: They're cute kids.

Hamil: That's why I'm sitting here.  $30,000.

Hansen: And he's thinking about sinking another $10,000 to go to another convention.

Hamil: He absolutely should not.

Hansen: So you say to the father, what?

Hamil: “You're a great dad and you should be commended for supporting what your children want to do.  But, you've gone way, way over the deep end."

Hamil told us he judged one of these large talent convention a few years ago.

Hamil: I was so heartbroken to see these lovely people with no potential parading across a stage. It made me sad.

But not all the judges appear to be "A" list.  The twins were excited to get a call back from an agent at the convention, but the excitement didn't last long. After hearing nothing from the agent, they called Barbizon.

Deborah Burke: We found out that the agent that we got a call back from went out of business.

When contestants enter the convention, they're told super stars have gotten their start here, stars like Ashton Kutcher and Katie Holmes.

In fact, we heard the same two names again and again. Early in their careers, both Kutcher and Holmes competed at the convention.

Zino Macaluso of the Screen Actors Guild says he's not surprised.

Zino Macaluso, Screen Actors Guild: When you're a clearing house for talent, odds are someone who's gonna drop in who has "it" at some point or another. It doesn't make the actual convention any more legitimate.

But he understands how young hopefuls are enticed by the spectacle.

Macaluso: They get caught up in the dream.  The parents get caught up in the dream.  And really it's all one large deception to separate entire families from their money.

Hansen: So, the odds of making it big after attending one of these conventions or going to one of these acting schools are…?

Macaluso: I would say slim to none.

Both Barbizon and IMTA point to many success stories on their Web sites. And Barbizon told us about this girl--she was cast as one of the decoys used in a "To Catch A Predator" investigation.

The former decoy tells us Barbizon and IMTA gave her what she needed to make it in Hollywood, and adds she just landed a role in a major motion picture.

IMTA says it doesn't set the cost for the conventions, that comes from the independent schools who send students to compete. And IMTA says it requires participants to sign a release acknowledging "No one has promised anything to them in return for their participation at an IMTA convention." IMTA does say however, that contestants "are seen by more industry professionals in one week than they could ever see by knocking on agency doors." And 80 percent of participants get callbacks from industry professionals "to further explore" their potential.

As for Barbizon, it pointed out that "these conventions are independent of Barbizon international and not part of our curriculum" and "only 8% of the young people that complete Barbizon's basic program avail themselves of this opportunity." They also add that "Barbizon international has not received a single complaint for at least the last five years."

One of our parents says she got what she paid for -- both her kids have been signed by a local agent in Buffalo.

Hansen: Did they fulfill their promises to you?

Joan Schrier: I think they did.

The others feel they've been left empty-handed.

Hansen: Looking back were you getting conned on this deal?

Anna Trombley: I think so. You know, I'm pretty sure of it. You know, that's that little voice inside your head telling you, "Wow.  Why are we doing this?" You know?

Hansen: Maybe this isn't a good idea?

Anna Trombley: Yeah.  But you're doing it not for you but for your child because you believe in them.

Hansen: Do you think these people know the right strings to pull?

Trombley: Absolutely.

Video   Modeling traps: Watch out for Zino Macaluso of SAG talks about what parents of superstar hopefuls should watch out for when entering the talent business. Dateline NBC

And Hamil says the desire to enter this glamorous world can be so strong it can cloud people's judgment making them easy marks.

Hamil: "Excuse me, have you ever thought of being a model?"  Well, the minute those parents hear that, they just abandon everything that they know to be sensible.  And just go for it hook, line and sinker. 

As for the Burkes, they've decided not to spend any more money-- but George and his wife will always stand by their children.

Hansen: Did you think one of your girls could be the next Katie Holmes?

Deborah Burke: Yes.

Hansen: In your heart?

Deborah Burke: Yes.

Hansen: What about now?

Deborah Burke: I still do.

George Burke: Yeah.  Who's gonna have hope for your children but yourself?

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