Acting School Agrees to Settle Charges of False Advertising

A Beverly Hills modeling and acting school agreed Wednesday to pay $50,000 to settle false-advertising charges stemming from its “star search” promotions.

An attorney for Beverly Hills Studios denied the allegations but said the school agreed to settle to avoid the cost of litigation.

Deputy City Atty. Ruth Kwan said the so-called star searches were actually large-scale solicitations for costly acting lessons. Kwan said participants--mostly teen-agers--were led to believe they had been offered $2,000 acting lessons based on their talent when, in fact, virtually everyone who auditioned was recruited for the program.

Kwan said three undercover agents from the city attorney’s office attending a star search were asked to walk across a podium and state their names. Several days later, they received telephone calls from the school during which acting lessons were aggressively pitched.

She said the school advertised the searches on local radio stations, promising the youthful participants a chance to meet stars from the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” or “Saved by the Bell” television shows--which did occur.

Kwan said the school has been conducting the star searches for at least the past four years, attracting 500 to 1,000 aspiring actors and models to the events.

As part of the settlement, Kwan said, the school agreed to modify its advertising to make it clear that the searches are solicitations for students.

A spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau of the Southland said aggressive promotion tactics by other modeling and acting schools have been the subject of consumer complaints.