ade it a specific point to talk to each girl about certain situations to avoid, and in some instances, certain people.” Veteran acting coach Mirren Lee said more often than not those “certain people” are the not-so established industry folk that prey on inexperienced, naïve actresses. “The ‘casting couch’ is alive and well. Stories still come out about shonky casting people. Often these things happen with people that aren’t that high up or professional – all the vanity/amateur/short film projects people do,” she said. “People who are so desperate for fame, adoration, and money are gullible and that is the key to how the shonks work.” In Lee’s own acting days more than thirty years ago, auditions were taking place in all sorts of odd places – often in one’s apartment – and at the tender age of 16, she didn’t realize this in itself was a red flag. “I showed up at this one audition, a guy answers the door and takes me to the bedroom and demands I do certain things to him. I was very naïve, and just told him straight I couldn’t possibly do that,” Lee recalled. “The guy must have thought I was endearing, because when I asked to go he said I couldn’t yet because there was another girl in the living room with his business partner. That was one of many, but I’m actually one of the lucky ones – nothing bad happened to me.” Yet the passage of time certainly doesn’t seem to have killed off the plague. “I had one client who was lured away by a larger agency, the new agent took her out to celebrate and ‘made a move’ on her that very night. She was smart enough to resist and put him back in check, but I found out later about others who were not as fortunate,” Shankman said. “I also know of a former agent at another agency who would have clients stay at his house while they ‘got settled’ – although that never seemed to end well.” According to one performer we talked to, who recently had enough of the industry and left, despite a lengthy and successful career, some predators just won’t take no for an answer. “There’s an agent at one of the top five agencies in town who emails me often and begs for naked pictures of me,” she said. “And he tells me, the slu**ier, the better.” But be warned, even if one does concede, it still doesn’t guarantee the gig or the coveted contract. “I went for an audition to sing in an opera variety show and on arrival I stood by the piano to sing my piece. The 'director' asked me to move around the room and sing it again. I did. He then said, 'you will need to interact with the audience, I want you to sing it again and work around me, rub yourself up against my chair,’” the songstress told us. “Wanting the job I did as requested – not a comfortable or natural way to perform an aria. With the pianist in the room, it was a very demoralizing experience – and I didn’t get the gig.” A