Hey Xer0, in my opinion the biggest thing that separates amateur producers from pros is lighting - and that goes for video as well as stills photography. If you take the set you did of Cherry as an example you can see that it is an amateur shooting it in a hotel room with poor lighting. I realise you said you have improved a lot since then so maybe lighting is one area that you have been working on (in which case ignore what I am saying, but if not then read on). If you are going to be spending money on hiring talent, don't waste that money by not spending a little extra and getting a decent portable lighting kit. If you hire a pretty girl why not make the footage / photos look pretty too? I think you are based in the UK so just head to somewhere like
www.warehouseexpress.com and you can pick up some fairly cheap continuous lighting kits there which you can carry around with you and will make even the crappiest hotel room look good (a basic two head kit should be ideal for you). And if you are worried about transporting a lighting kit to the US, don't worry - you can hire them locally by the day or week too
