You’re in the door. Now your visit needs to be treated like a job interview, but with some additional considerations.
Dress
You should wear something upscale and flattering that generally shows the shape of your body. You need to show the
agency that you can present yourself well on go-sees. Women should wear a skirt (from knee length to a couple of inches above the knee) and high heeled shoes. Do what models do: wear flats to the door of the agency, take your heels out of your purse, put them on, and put the flats into the purse. Then walk in.
Personality
Agencies want to see outgoing, confident, engaging personalities. You need to portray reliability, commitment to
modeling, and willingness to take direction as well. If a young model brings a parent, the parent should sit quietly and let the model speak. The agency wants to see how well you present yourself, not how well your mother can. Parents can respond when spoken to, or ask questions when necessary, but this is about the model, not the parent. Less is more.
Availability
One of the primary concerns of the agency will be, “Can you get to castings and jobs when you need to?” If you already live in their city and have a very flexible job (or night job) that may not be an issue. But be prepared to tell them how you will relocate, if necessary, and arrange your time so you can be available during the business day.
Things Not to Do
It’s not hard to turn “yes” into “no” if you don’t handle yourself well. Here are some common mistakes models make with their letter or visit to an agency:
1. Be late. That’s the surest way to get on the agency’s bad side. They sell reliability as much as they sell models, and
you just told them you aren’t reliable.
2. Come to the appointment looking very different from your photos. They asked you in for what you looked like when the
shots were taken. If you’ve gained age or weight, or cut or colored your hair differently, you should have sent in different
pictures.
3. List all the things you don’t want to be. “I just want to be hired to be me. I don’t want to lose weight, cut my hair, wear
clothes I don’t like . . . .” Models are hired to be what the client wants them to be. If you can’t accept that, you should consider another line of work.
4. Make an appointment to come to an agency, then reschedule it three times because you are too busy. You have just made it look like you aren’t available to be a model, or don’t place modeling high in your priorities. Agencies don’t like that.
5. Take your boyfriend with you and have him hang out in the agency. If you aren’t a minor, you should come alone to the
agency. If you need advice or support, you get it after the interview, somewhere else. If you are a minor, you should bring a parent along early in the conversation, if not the first interview.
6. Come to an agency door without an appointment, be told you need one, and insist on coming in anyway.
7. Have inappropriate pictures in your portfolio. Agents will look at the whole thing. If you have anything but excellent pictures, appropriate to that agency in your book, get it out.
8. The “L word”. If an agency offers you a contract, it’s fine to take it home and have a lawyer look it over. If you aren’t
comfortable reading contract language, it’s a good idea. But don’t tell the agency you plan to involve your lawyer. That
makes you sound like a problem. If they are wavering about you, that can turn the tide.
9. Argue with the agent. Make sure to tell him that the fashion industry is making a mistake and really needs people like you
instead of what they typically hire. He’s heard that one 7,000 times already, and it has never worked.
Non-Traditional Approaches
If traditional approaches don’t work it may be time for a different tack. Here are three time-tested ways to make a
favorable impression on an agency.
Bring Work
Have you been self-marketing? Had a job offer? If it’s a reasonably good job, call up an agency you are interested in (and
qualified for) and ask them to handle it for you. Many agencies are happy to do that. By showing you can bring them work, you become more valuable in their eyes. If you fit the profile of their models, they may well decide to regularly represent you, even if they rejected you in the past.
It can be a win-win. They make money on a job they otherwise wouldn’t have and may build a relationship with a new
client. You may have to pay a commission, but some agencies will waive commission on a job you bring them if they can charge the client an agency service charge. Even if you do have to pay a commission, the agency may be able to negotiate a higher rate for the job, and they will handle the billing and collection problem for you.
Intern
Model agencies love free labor. Many of them have formal internships available, and others will informally let people help
out in the office for free. Call them up, offer to come in for an interview and donate your services. If you work with them and
they like you, they may send you out on castings that you are qualified for and you are more likely to get representation. Or
you may get an offer for a paid office job with the agency.
Become a Celebrity
Having trouble being noticed as a model? Get known as an actor, a singer or anything else that brings you into the public eye. Fame is saleable in commercial work, and it’s common for advertisers and editors to use known faces rather than unknown models in ads and editorials.
Exclusive or Non-Exclusive?
If you get interest from a modeling agency you may have to deal with the question, “Should I sign an exclusive contract?”
Some agencies (fashion agencies, mother agencies and others who think they can get away with it) will ask you to sign an
“exclusive” with them. That means you can only work with their agency (or one they send you to). Any work you get, no matter how you get it, they get a commission. It’s easy to see why they want it. They don’t want to have to compete for your services, nor spend time and effort developing you as a model only to see you go to some other agency to get work. If they make a large investment in you, it’s they want to have a chance to get a return on the investment. On the other hand, if they aren’t offering anything you can’t do for yourself, you may be signing away your rights and a portion of your income for not much of value. Some agencies offer non-exclusive contracts: you are free to work with other agencies or on your own with no commission to them. That seems like a better deal for the model, and in many cases it is. Still, agencies are like anyone else: if you give them a bigger incentive to work for you, they are likely to do more work. Non-exclusive agencies are much less likely to devote a lot of resources to developing or supporting models.
An exclusive contract with an agency make sense:
— If you really are confused about how to enter the marketplace, and can’t get what you need from reference sources like this book or advice from Internet modeling support sites, you may need a personal manager or mother agent.
— If you don’t have the resources to fund your modeling career and an agency offers to front you the money, an exclusive
with them may be your only realistic choice.
— If you are not authorized to work in the United States and an agency offers to sponsor your work visa, they probably will
expect you to sign an exclusive.
— If you want to work overseas, you should have an exclusive contract with a domestic agency which has strong relationships
with foreign agencies.
— If the agency has a strong and unique position in the market, you may consider signing an exclusive with them even
when it’s not customary in that market segment. An example would be the Commercial Print division of Ford, New York,
which operates much differently than specialized commercial print agencies do.
— If it’s the only good agency in town (or the only one willing to work with you after you have applied to many), they require an exclusive, and you want to be a model there. You don’t have much choice.
— If they are widely known for the power of their marketing. This especially applies to the top fashion agencies. If IMG offers
you an exclusive contract, you don’t argue about whether or not you want to be with them on a non-exclusive basis.
— If it’s the standard for agencies of that type in your city. But confirm that with other similar agencies before you make that
choice. Even when the agency prefers an exclusive contract, many of them will allow you to work with them on a non exclusive basis(to “freelance”), at least at the beginning. That can be a wise choice; it allows you to get experience with the agency and its clients before you have to make a long-term commitment to them. There are times when an exclusive contract will be offered when it is not a good idea:
— A “personal manager” with little real experience in the industry offers to “develop you” and present you to agencies. If
they don’t have years of experience actually working in agencies as bookers, they are likely not going to be effective. Even if they do have the experience, do you really need them?
— Any “agency” or “manager” that operates primarily on the Internet. They rarely have much mainstream value and can keep
you from being signed by a good agency.
— A real agency that tries to get you to sign an exclusive even though the norms of his market segment are non-exclusive. An
example would be a commercial print agency in New York. Some of them claim they will give preferential treatment to the
models that are exclusively with them. The truth is, if you are right for a job, they’ll send you on it no matter what kind of contract you have with them. If you sign an exclusive you are limiting your ability to get work from other agencies.
— When the “agency” is a modeling school.
— When the “agency” is in some city a long way from you, doesn’t have an office where you live, and they aren’t a nationally
known fashion agency. You probably shouldn’t sign any kind of contract with them, but certainly not an exclusive one.
When It Doesn’t Work
It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not
a weakness; that is life.
— Jean Luc Picard
You get the right kind of pictures, write a good letter, wangle yourself an invitation to the agency of your choice . . . and they
turn you down. You build a portfolio and a comp card and they still turn you down. After six weeks of interning they still have
never sent you out on a go-see. It’s time to do something different. What to do?
Re-Evaluate What You Are
Yes, we know you want to be an editorial fashion model. Everybody does. But very, very few can do it, and thousands try
every year. Maybe it’s time to consider fashion print or commercial print modeling. Already tried commercial print?
Maybe instead of the glamorous babe type you ought to consider a comp card portraying you as a soccer mom or business woman. If you don’t have the finely chiseled features of a matinee idol, you might even consider the field of character modeling. It’s far less crowded, pays just as well, and you get the most amazingly interesting kinds of work.
Change Your Appearance
Get a new hairstyle, new clothing styles, gain or lose weight, joina gym and tone up, buy a set of contacts and lose the glasses. Inextreme cases, try minor cosmetic surgery to correct a nose orother small imperfection that may keep you from working.
Get New Pictures
This is the time to try the full portfolio and comp cardapproach, with your new look, in the market niche you really fit,
and with the best photographers you can get. The shots have to beabsolutely outstanding and perfectly crafted to the style agencieswant to see for your type. You want to turn a “no” into a “yes”.This is not the time for half way measures.
Try Different Agencies
It may be that your city contains several good, real agencies with different focuses. In New York there are well over a hundred model agencies with all kinds of specialties, from editorial fashionto fitness, commercial print, glamour, jewelry modeling, charactertypes and pregnant models. It’s just a matter of finding the onethat specializes in people like you. Look at agency websites, readnews articles about them, call up and ask if you can’t find enoughinformation. The best agency for you is one that alreadyrepresents models like you.
Try a Different Market
You’re the edgy, beautiful-but-not-pretty type? What are you doing in Omaha. Get to New York! Cheerleader type or surfer
dude? Try Los Angeles. Move to a smaller market with less competition or a larger one with more diversity of opportunity.
Self Market
If you aren’t already doing it, put yourself out there on your own. Get some experience and tearsheets, learn the ropes, and come back with a book that knocks a booker’s socks off. Nothing is more attractive than a model with proven success.
Try Another Line of Work
You might try one of the fields related to modeling and use it to come to the attention of someone who hires models. Act, be a makeup artist or stylist, assist a commercial photographer or go to work in an advertising agency.
If none of this works for you after you’ve really given it your best, it might be time to listen to your mother’s advice and become a dentist.
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