That's not an entirely fair perspective. We're not just talking about aspiring actors and models. People with legitimate business degrees are forced into (frequently unpaid) internships just so they can work in the less glamorous production/marketing/financial arms of the entertainment industry - the parts that they won't get famous or rich for, but which they want to do because that's their dream.

My significant other will be graduating college soon in exactly that predicament, she wants to work on Broadway.