Ramblings of a Constipated Mind

So I'm looking through the school newspaper, right, and I see this ad for movie extras. I think to myself, "Sweet! I wanna do it! It pays good money!" and call the number listed.

Turns out it's this casting organization in California. Fine. The guy tells me that there currently are movie extras needed in the Raleigh area. I'm thinking to myself, "Cool. He'll tell me the details, and I can look into it."

Wrong. There's a catch. And being the naive, unexposed-to-the-harsh-reality-of-life college student that I am, I fell right into it.

Turns out that I need to access the casting agent's web site in order to find jobs in the Raleigh area. That doesn't sound so bad. HOWEVER, there's a $60 registration fee. If I'm not satisfied within 14 days, I can get my money back.

At this point, a little warning bell started to go off in my head. Sixty bucks to be part of this agency? What if I don't wanna be part of this organization? It's not like I want to make a living off of acting or something. What if this is all some sort of scam?

But then part of my brain tells me to stop being paranoid, to have a little faith, that sixty dollars isn't a bad deal if I get even a single job that pays twice as much. So I give them the necessary information, and that's it.

Now I'm thinking that wasn't such a good idea. I don't want to be part of a particular organization. If someone needs movie extras, I just want to be able to volunteer and do the job without having to pay anything. So I called back, and was informed that it takes 24 hours for the information to be processed, and that if I call back tomorrow I'll be able to get a full refund.

A scam or not a scam? That is the question. The way I see it, I've gotten myself into a situation that has various pros and cons:

Pros:
1) There must be some way the NCSU newspaper staff verifies that the ads it puts in the newspaper are for real. Surely they wouldn't knowingly take part in a scam.
2) The website, http://www.searchfortalent.com looks legit.
3) The guy on the phone sounded for real. He wasn't trying to smooth-talk me into it or saying things like, "This is the greatest deal of a lifetime!" His tone seemed to instead say, "Yeah. Here's how it is. Take it or leave it, we don't care." And that's how real casting agencies in Hollywood are supposed to be.

Cons:
1) They said it would take 24 hours to verify all my information and activate my account. Well, my account is already activated, and it looks like they've already taken my money. Hmmm. That was quick.
2) Isn't $60 a little high?
3) The website is for creating a portfolio, etc. etc. I don't want to do that. I'm not an actor, just a guy looking for a cool way to make an easy few hundred dollars.

This situation has made me realize a few things:

1) Don't be so trusting. I need to get it through my head that some people are greedy, manipulative phonies who just want to steal my hard-earned money.
2) I don't like casting organizations that require a fee, scam or not.
3) Don't trust the classifieds.

Anyways, hopefully I'll be able to call tomorrow and get my money back and it will be no big deal. If not, I'm gonna feel really stupid. Not to mention the fact that I'll be screwed out of 60 bucks.