TVI Actors Studio

Primarily a scam run by charlatans who employ no-​nothings who use any means necessary to dupe gullible parents into enrolling their children by capitalizing on their dreams of fame and fortune. The priority here amongst management is on selling and not on instruction or education. Avoid this place.

I had a great experience with TVI! I attended the commercial workshop with a casting director from Liz Lewis Casting. I learned so much and definitely will be returning to TVI!

scam do not go to acting school here!
i signed up for a class on a weekday morning. they changed the day and time of the class without any warning. i could not make the new time of the class and they would not refund my money!
are you kidding me? a paying customer signs up for a class on a certain day and you change the day of the class after taking their money and then when they can’t make the new class date you refuse to refund the money!
fail fail fail epic fail!
don’t waste your time. many of the «teachers» that «teach» here are just struggling actors themselves.

This place is a complete scam — one that I fell for for over two years. It’s a pay to play scheme, acting style — that’s all. I’ll explain.
TVI offers classes with top casting directors as well as one-​on-​one meet and greet sessions with CDs and Agents. They claim that these classes and sessions will help actors hone their skills while making connections with players in the industry who have the power to cast them in legitimate projects. Sounds good, right? Don’t be fooled. This is simply a scheme dreamed up by Alan Nusbaum, the founder, to trick actors into paying for auditions. TVI is hardly alone — there are plenty of groups in the city that do this. What makes TVI slightly worse than the others is their «Membership» racket, which is designed to get actors to pay even MORE to play.
A while back I went to an information session at TVI regarding possible employment with them. Mr. Nusbaum was there to explain what TVI was all about and what they were looking for in their employees. He was a completely arrogant, condescending jerk, but that’s not surprising in this business. What WAS surprising to me was his 30-​minute lecture about how actors were fools to believe that they could actually expect to get noticed by CDs at the workshops TVI offered — even though that’s their entire sales pitch. He said what his company REALLY offered was «guided career advice» to members from their staff of «Career Coaches».
I can tell you one thing — in the two years I was involved with TVI I never once heard a word from any of their «coaches» if it wasn’t to try to sell me on another $ 400+ class. And while he may be lauded for being honest, it was still rather galling to hear Mr. Nusbaum call me a fool to my face for falling for his marketing strategy.
I maintain that TVI exists for one reason; to make money — for Casting Directors and Agents who get paid to come to their studios after work and hold general auditions for actors they would otherwise have to see for free in their offices, and for Mr. Nusbaum himself.
Actors should not have to pay to audition. Period. The fact that this has become standard practice in New York is ridiculous. But TVI in particular should be avoided, as their offensive membership «deal» goes above and beyond exploitation and into full on rip-​off territory.