Okay, let’s list some more names. . . Oh, wait! We can’t! Nobody knows the names of commercial print models. They work in obscurity, playing the roles of other kinds of people. A “commercial print model” is one who specializes in print
advertising (magazines, newspapers, store inserts, posters and billboards and the Internet). They don’t get huge fees (although pay can be very good indeed), national recognition or lucrative national ad contracts, but they are the backbone of the modeling industry. The requirements to be a commercial print model are very different from a fashion model. It can help if you look a lot like a “model,” but there is work available in most markets for many other types. Models can be older, shorter, or heavier and need not be pretty or beautiful — «interesting» often will get work, and “generic good looks” is the most common look required.
Commercial models are asked to play roles: “young mom,” “active retiree,” “Doctor,” “executive,” and they should look like
idealized versions of these and other roles. In most markets the hardest demand for an agent to fill is for middle-aged men. In addition there is ample opportunity for “character” models – people who don’t have standard good looks, but do have
interesting, expressive faces and don’t mind playing character roles. Things that help a commercial print model are acting ability, an outgoing personality, availability for jobs, and good selfpresentation skills. The great majority of commercial jobs are booked through agencies, except for those that are given to friends or members of the client’s family, or very small jobs
where the client feels he can’t afford to use an agency. Relatively few commercial print models make a living at it. It is not a career; it is something they do on an occasional basis while they do something else «full time.” Outside of the large markets (New York, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and maybe Dallas and Atlanta) it is doubtful that there is any city in America in which more than a dozen people make a good living at modeling, but in virtually all cities and substantial towns there are
many, usually hundreds, who are in the modeling market, and who occasionally find work.
