FABSCOUT-FORESTMEN PRESS CONFERENCE
I received an invite to attend the big "secret" publicty event at the Universal Hilton, and ANTHONY DURAN called, asking me if I was going. I was so tired, having just returned from the Dirty Bird shoot RING LEADER the day before, but I decided to go anyway.
Upon arriving at the hotel ($4 parking for the 1st hour!) I arrived to find that the heat was driving the event from an outside courtyard to in indoor ballroom. While we waited for the bar to be pushed inside and the mariachi band to run through its playlist, I chatted with ANTHONY DURAN, ANDREW ROSEN, KEN KNOX and DOUG JEFFRIES. HOWARD ANDREWS of Fabscout approached us and said, "I'd rather have done this with an internet e-mail, but David wanted fanfare." I saw ex-Pacific Sun alumni PHIL ST. JOHN and EDWARD JAMES in attendance. Finally, the band finished playing, I got a coke from the open bar and sat down as ANGEL BENTON approached the podium.
He said he was going to moderate the Q&A session that would follow the announcement, then introduced Howard, who said that most of us knew why we were there, namely, that he was acquiring ForestMen Entertainment, DAVID FOREST's talent agency. He introduced David, who mentioned that it was time for him to retire and to pursue other interests. The two men then sat down and Angel said he would ask a few questions.
David Forest and Howard Andrews
In response, Howard said he would be opening a West Coast office of Fabscout and that all the Forest models were now his to book. The "Meet the Stars" program would be changed to handle booking models into bars and events (which would be handled by Eric Hanson), and that the escorting aspect of the program would be cancelled.
Upon opening the floor to questions, PAUL BARESSI asked Howard if the practice of charging directors a fee in addition to taking a percentage of the money from the models themselves would continue, and Howard said yes, explaining that the percentage of the model's money was a charge for career guidance.
The press conference ended soon after, with a picture taken of the room's directors. I chatted for a bit with other people I knew, including JAMIE HENDRIX, SHARON KANE and J.C. ADAMS, then said goodbye to Andrew and Anthony and took the elevator down to my car, where I beat it like a bat out of hell back home where the air conditioner was set on a power-greedy 75 degrees. Ahhhh...
Congratulations David, and good luck Howard!
JBK
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