I was issued a batch of site submissions a couple of days ago to review and prepare for listing on the EFM web site.

One application was a older male, the type that would have great potiential for work. I reviewed the application, and everything seemed to be in order, it was filled out correctly so I proceeded to the next step which was to review the photo the person was submitting.

We are always unsure if an applicant will get approved until we see the photo(s) that they submit, if the photo is not up to standards, then the process starts to assist the person to get a decent photo to post.

Members need to understand that the photo you list on our site need to be clear among other qualifications. It is a simple request really, the photo needs to be head and shoulder and clear. (Please see our post on photo quality that is acceptable)

In any event, I reviewed the photo, there were a couple of issues:

1-It had a horrible blue cast, it was not clear and the applicants face looked a sickly blue.

2-The person submitting happened to be a police officer and he was wearing his official police uniform. We were advised by one of our technical directors that this was not a good idea to post a photo with patches and collar tags of a real police uniform. He said that this applicants department undboutly has a strict policy prohibiting it's officers from appearing in uniform in ANY outside activities not directly related to their law enforcement duties.

So I wrote back to the applicant requesting if he had any other photos we could use and pointed out the two issues above rendering that particular photo unusable.

About an hour later, he sends me back the exact same photo with one change.. he scribbles black over the arm patch! He does not bother to disguise or correct the collar tags or the patch, nor the horrible blue cast. All he does is scribbles black over the patch, still allowing the patch to be readable! In his email reply he says... "this should do it".

Normally the process of reviewing and listing an applicants photos on our site is about 30 minutes. But there are some people who just do not or cannot understand the meaning of professionalism nor do they READ before submitting to make sure they are on the path to getting on our with the correct items. Nor do they appreciate the fact that we are trying to help them.

All we are asking for was a clear photo. How hard can that be for someone who wants to display their picture to casting directors?

 (Please see the photo in question below and NOTE that we have blurred out the face, blurred the patches and collar tags but left the black scribble he put on the photo the second time he submitted.) This photo is just not going to help him get work, whereas a good clear photo would increase his chances.

So now the process of taking even more time to write back to the applicant to tell him that he had now make the photo even worse by scribbling on it and at this point he needs to read our articles and photo tips and how to get into the field and so forth. Once he read the articles, please send us a picture we could use.

A day later we receive a email message from him calling us sour pusses and a note saying that another site accepted his photos just fine.

Well all we can say to that is:

Probley why another web site accepted his photo is because they do not care about helping him achieve success; all they care about is taking his money. Once  they have his money, they have no interest in helping him be successful.

This is a field that is ripe with scammers, and they depend on people being so ignorant that they will not question them about their lack of professional standards. So people just keep on giving them money.

If this is the type of web site people prefer to associate with then we wish everyone all the luck in the world. We will be refunding your insignificant listing fee so you can concentrate your efforts on dealing and giving far more money to websites that are essentially uninterested in helping you achieve success.

Apparently some people perceive the world of acting/modeling to be one that does not have professional standards to which you must adhere.

However, just as the field of law enforcement requires working knowledge of criminal law and rigorous standards of dress and appearance and embodies particular expectations about professional conduct, acting like any other profession  has similar standards.

If you are not willing to make an effort to apply those standards, then your chances of success will be minimized.

The EFM Staff