By Rhiannon Bamford-Punchen
@stylebyrhiannon
We’re not all here to boss you around and take all your money. We do actually care and we do want the best for you. As i’m sure there’s plenty of things the models want to tell us, here’s a few of the things we want you to know.
Most agents put in the hours – big time.
The day you spent on set for the shoot accounts for so little of the time your agent spent coordinating and securing it for you. It’s likely that your agent has spent many hours before putting in the groundwork, networking with the client, attending events, liaising and nutting out the specifics. But it doesn’t stop there, afterwards they’re following up and chasing invoices, making sure you get PAID.
We hate telling you to lose weight.
In all honesty, it’s the worst part of the job. As much as it makes you feel terrible – it makes us feel terrible – just a bad situation all together. It’s not without its reasons. The main reasoning behind why we do it is because you’re most likely not fitting samples, therefore missing out on jobs. Of course, we hope one day the industry is different, but for now it’s sadly part of the job and an unwritten rule of the industry.
Your bad behaviour reflects badly on us.
You showed up half an hour late for a shoot? You think no big deal, wrong. It’s a big deal! The client may play it off as cool to avoid drama on the day, but it will always come back to your agent, often ruining the reputation of the agency and creating an awkward situation in terms of money owed.
If you’re late to a shoot, you’re wasting the time and money of the client, and often your agent is forced to either cough up the cost of the equipment and staff for the time you wasted (which can be often over $1000’s of dollars on big campaigns) or cut your fee. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve texted a model to ask how a shoot went for her to text back ‘amazing!’ only to get a phone call from the client minutes later about how late they were or un-professional and rude.
We don’t play favourites.
That girl who’s got 10 shows lined up and 3 campaigns in the works? She probably works really hard and networks herself because in all honesty, we try really hard to spread the work around. If a client really likes someone, it’s so hard to change their mind. We want to get you all the amazing jobs!
Stop complaining about test shoots, we don’t get paid either:
YES, you need to do another test shoot. It’s either because A) your portfolio is light, B) it’s a great opportunity or c) you’re networking with an important client.
Please trust us that’s it’s going to help your career.
We really care about what you want, so tell us.
It’s so much easier to help you if we know what you want and your goals. We’re here to help you work for the brands you’re passionate about, and work on projects you’re proud of. If you don’t tell us what you want, it’s more than likely you’ll end up on set with clients you don’t want to work with.
Speak up.
