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Review 6/29/2010
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The Hollywood Film & Acting Academy is a total and complete scam. Never in my life did I ever think I would be the subject to verbal abuse on a constant basis from the owner Josh Sands. He is a money hungry and will tell potential students ANYTHING to get them to sign up. The students would complain and with all good reason. No curicullum, no structure, lies about feature films, imdb credits, demo reels, free headshots, among others. The class was told they'd would be shooting scenes every week and although lines were memorized, character's broken down, and the insistance of the students to film, it was near impossible to get Josh off his behind. His insistance on threatening students constantly, because of problems that were not the fault of the students, is because of his severe personal issues. Respect is a severe issue with him. He demands it without offering it to others. He will love you to your face, hate you to your back, and then find the dumbest reason to hate you to your face for his own benefit (I'll get to that).
Josh claims to not be a landlord for the free housing (which really isn't free), but will find any way to kick out a student. Once a student has signed their contract Josh purposefully creates a negative energy, and denies his students what is promised in order to upset them to the point that they either want to leave, or, will create such a confrontation that happily gives him authority to kick them out.
You have to understand this from a business stand point. Out of 18 students that were fully committed to starting their careers and signed up to his 6 month program, all but 3 left the program early. So, from a business standpoint, he doesn't feel obligated to make a feature because of the lack of students, his operating costs drop 80%, and he STILL COLLECTS on their tuition. How's that for a scam. It got so bad for him while the school was called The Hollywood Digital Film School that he shut it down and re-opened under the current name.
His former involvement with The Huntington Career College and the process in which he brings in International Students is completely illegal. He would pay Huntington's student tuition so he could obtain the proper international document for his students. This school is not accredited with the state of California for these obvious reasons and his illegal involvement with Huntington IS POSSIBLY being investigated by authorities.
While The Hollywood Film & Acting Academy has changed their website and programs, it is the same story year in and year out. The book stays the same and the cover changes. It's funny that out of 18 alumni in the Sept. program only 1 is featured on their site. The interviews and clips are ancient and the current feature that they are touting is poorly filmed, just look at their clip, and it was supposed to be made long long ago for a previous program. There will be no IMDB, their distribution is likely through selling it through iTunes which I can do with a home video.
Their promise of an edited demo reel is a lie. Josh & his brother Larry never have time to film so it's obvious that they never have time to edit their reels. Students that attend who only want to act should not be forced to edit their own material if they do not know how to, and, when an editing class was offered Josh got so frustrated with trying to teach the students that he all but gave up.
In reality, Josh Sands NEVER GRADUATED from a film school. He claims that he learned more in the real world than in an accredited upper tier film school. This is an excuse for his own inability to learn from others which in turn has made him, NOT a director as he claims, but a GLORIFIED cameraman. His cinematography and lighting (which he claims to teach) is so poor a dyslexic monkey could do better (just check out his directed scenes). Recycled Parts for example is a HUGE pile of kaka.
Josh was so proud when Shug Knight came to the school that he didn't realize that he could potentially be putting the students in danger. This is a man who has been accused of murder and within a week of shooting a small scene was arrested. This is a huge reason for me leaving.
Josh's former students include an Arizona fugitive who had severe mental problems, an Arizona sex offender who is currently in jail for sleeping with one of his former students, a formerly homeless and currently alcoholic that can be obviously seen in a student testimony on the website, and a man who was previously institutionalized, had a violent temper, stalked one of the students, and was taken to a mental evaluation facility because of his threats to commit suicide by jumping off the Kodak Theatre building. This is considering he does background checks on all the students to ensure they feel safe living together in the "FREE" Housing.
During my time as a student I have seen students, teachers, and faculty come and go combined (on bad terms) at a percentage close to 85 - 90%. Those that stayed were few (and worked for him), and most of those who left had their money stolen from them and had their dreams dashed when they went back home. I hope for the sake of any perspective student that they don't as well fall into Josh's trap and scam network at The Hollywood Film & Acting Academy.
For the sake of anyone who review this for the Better Business Bureau please note that numerous students have attempted to write a poor review to no avail.
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