Talent Agent Scams: The Cost of Buying Your Big Break

Abstract

This thesis investigates how aspiring actors and online actor communities interpret and discuss exploitative practices by talent agents, with a focus on the cultural processes that normalize these practices within the American film industry. While certain forms of exploitation—such as upfront-fee scams—are illegal and occasionally litigated, many others operate in legally ambiguous territory and are reinforced through industry norms, peer discourse, and internalized beliefs about sacrifice and legitimacy. Drawing on interviews with aspiring actors and advocates, as well as a thematic analysis of Reddit forums, this research applies a modified version of John Caldwell’s theory of culturally constructed exploitation to examine three interrelated dimensions: industrial structures, social networks, and individual experiences. The findings reveal that many actors frame questionable agent practices as a necessary step in “paying dues,” and that online communities, while often protective, can also reproduce harmful myths. This study contributes to Critical Media Industry Studies by exploring how labor exploitation is rationalized from within precarious creative communities, highlighting the intersection of institutional failure and cultural normalization in sustaining exploitative labor conditions.