Looking for Modeling Agents
Modeling agents are an essential for anyone interested in a career as a model. I have been modeling for three years now, and let me tell you, the greatest mistake I ever made is responding to a blind casting call instead of first consulting a modeling agent. Blind casting calls take advantage of the fact that you probably know nothing about the industry. You are asked to participate, often at substandard rates, and receive little or no credit for your work. They are also one shot deals, which are much less likely to furnish connections than going through modeling agents who know the industry.
The best thing about modeling agents is that they are there for you. Think about it. Their income is dependent on keeping you happy and making you money. They don't get a salary. They get a cut of everything that they find you. Therefore it is in their interest to make sure you are happy with your work, that it helps you find other future work, and most of all, that you are well paid. Modeling agents know the industry better than you could ever dream of. That is their job. As such, they know how to talk to shooters and producers to make sure that everything goes just as it is supposed to go to keep you happy. They know how to handle publicity, and how to generate it. Without a modeling agent, getting involved in the fashion industry is a nightmare.
Trust me, I know. People thought that I was just another pretty face pasted over just another anorexic 18 year old body. I came from a small town where my options were limited, and I thought that it was better than working at McDonald's with my classmates, and so didn't realize that my work was being seriously undervalued. I was forced to work 10 hour shifts under hot lights for maybe half of what they should be paying me, without knowing what modeling agents could have told me: that I could do better. And that wasn't the worst of it.
I had to put up with come ons from obnoxious ego-maniacal photographers, job offers from smarmy producers which never came through, and a host of other nonsense too depressing to even wade through right now. If not for modeling agents, I might not have ever achieved the financial success and stardom which I have today. I would have continued to toil for substandard wages. Isn't it better to be rich and famous?
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