http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs Article excerpts from www.NewModels.com... en Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:24:13 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs/place-new-talent-learn-newmodels-com/6068-introduction-professional-modeling.html Fri, 13 Jul 2007 05:02:46 GMT *So You Want to be a Model!* If you are reading this page it probably is because you are interested in becoming a model. There are many kinds of... So You Want to be a Model!

If you are reading this page it probably is because you are interested in becoming a model. There are many kinds of models: fashion, commercial and glamour are the major divisions. These pages will not discuss glamour models in detail – that is a topic best left to others who deal in that specialty. We will focus here only on the majority of models in the United States: commercial models and, to a lesser extent, fashion models.
What does it take to be a model? Please follow the links below, where each highlighted concept is explained in more detail.*

• • 1. Location. If you aren’t where the market is, you won’t get work.
    2. Investment, of both time and money is needed. Becoming a model isn’t free, although it may be affordable. At a minimum you will have to have the Required Marketing Materials.
    3. Height and Body Type. It’s a lot harder if you are 5’2” tall or not slim.
    4. Attitude. Can make or break your career. Usually it breaks it.
    5. Looks. Sure, they are important, but look where they are on the list.
    6. “Being Discovered”. You think this is how it works?

And after all that, if you get to be a model it may not be what you think. Before you make all that investment you need to know all about the reality of Your Role as a Model.
* - “Agency” doesn’t always mean exactly that. See “A note on Terminology”for an explanation.

The Fashion Model

If she is a model and you know her name or you recognize her face, she is an "editorial fashion model." Seems simple enough, but it isn't.
"Editorial fashion models" work in New York City (in this country) for the simple reason that very, very little editorial fashion work is booked out of anywhere else. There are exceptions, of course: Miami in winter (but often using New York models), and sometimes Los Angeles or Chicago, but these are just that: exceptions. If you want to be a fashion model, you go to New York. There are lots of opportunities abroad as well (Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo . . .), but only one real one in the US.
If you want to be seen on the cover of a national fashion magazine, to sign a lucrative national ad contract, to become a "supermodel", or even to be a "fashion model", you need the following when you start:

• • 1. Be between 15-19 years old.
    
    2. Be between 5'9" and 6' tall.
    
    3. Be thin. Really, really thin. Something like 105-115 pounds, except for Plus models, who can be dress sizes 10-20 or so, depending on the market.
    
    4. Don't have especially large breasts (34C is generally the upper bound of acceptable), lots of stretch marks, tattoos, piercings or highly tanned skin. Dark skin is fine, lots of tan is not fine.
    
    5. Be beautiful. Not necessarily pretty, but beautiful. An interesting, beautiful face is at least as good for a fashion model as is an "all American" look.
    
    6. Have the right personality for it: a strong commitment to modeling (not just an interest in it), an ability to take rejection (something most beautiful girls aren't good at), a thick skin, not a lot of modesty (nobody cares what you don't want someone to see, we have a fashion show to put on . . .) and a lot of self confidence.
    
    7. Be willing to relocate to a major market, with New York City strongly preferred.
    
    8. Be willing to travel to strange locations with no friends there to support you, little money, little help, lots of opportunity for both good and bad things to happen to you.

If you have all of that, you are a very, very rare person, and you have one chance in a hundred of becoming an editorial fashion model. No more than that. If you are anything else, you need to think about some other kind of modeling.
Editorial fashion jobs are booked almost exclusively through "fashion agencies" - and those hardly exist outside New York.

Commercial Models

Most agency models are "commercial" models - meaning that they appear on local or national print ads or television shows, in catalogs, work in local fashion shows and trade shows and similar kinds of work. 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.

Fashion models also work as commercial models, although the reverse is rarely true. In smaller market cities in the US, most agencies concentrate on "fashion print" or "commercial fashion" models, who tend to be tall, slim and beautiful in a more mainstream way. This is "commercial fashion", a subset of commercial modeling.
Very, very few commercial 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 major markets (New York, Chicago, maybe Miami and Los Angeles) 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.

The requirements for being a commercial model are very different from being a fashion model. It certainly helps if you look a lot like a fashion model, but there is work available in most markets for many other types. Models can be older, shorter, 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 in pictures: “young mom”, “active retiree”, “Doctor”, “executive”, and they look like idealized versions of these roles. In most of the markets we have surveyed the hardest demand for an agent to fill is for middle-aged men!
Things that help a commercial model are acting ability, an outgoing personality, easy availability for jobs, and good self-presentation 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.

Glamour Models

There is a common misconception among many aspiring models that a "glamour model" is one like they see in the pages of "Glamour" magazine. Sorry, those are fashion models or commercial models.

A glamour model may do many kinds of work, but all of them are based on the fact that she is pretty and attractive (unlike a fashion model, who may not be pretty, or commercial model, who may not be either pretty or attractive).

Some of them do promotional work: things like appearing in a bikini at a boat show, or in bars or special events to represent a liquor distributor. Some do "cheesecake" print work, such as appearing in magazines which appeal to a male audience, adorning the product which is the subject of the magazine (such as cars, motorcycles and the like) or appear in calendars. Many do nude work in magazines, videos, for artists, or in the growing field of web site content.

The market for non-nude glamour models certainly exists, but it is rarely something that a model can make a living at, and generally does not pay as well as other modeling work. The vast majority of glamour models who do not do nudes will have no more than a very few appearances in print, and virtually all of them are in New York, Miami or Los Angeles.

The requirements for being a "glamour model" are different from being a fashion or commercial model - generally any attractive woman with an appealing body can qualify. Preferred age varies by the type of job, but is generally from 18 until the late twenties. Some glamour models have successful careers into their thirties, but they almost always became known prior to that.

There are a very few specialized agencies which handle glamour models, but they exist only in a small number of cities. Very few glamour model jobs are booked by agencies. Some agencies do handle promotional or trade show assignments, but other types of assignment generally are booked in other ways: through personal contacts, direct advertising and hiring by the client or photographer, and more recently, through the internet. It is very common for a model to get such jobs through self-promotion of one sort or another, direct to magazines, clients or photographers. A growing number of them also are getting work through the internet, using on-line model referral pages or modeling forums.

Location

This is the single most important thing needed to be successful as a model. You need to be where the jobs are!

It’s possible (remotely possible, not likely) that you may be flown to a job at client expense some day. It happens. But it only happens after you have been selected for the job – and that takes place where the client and the market are. For "fly to" jobs, that is almost always a major market city like New York or Los Angeles.
Here’s how it typically works:

Clients call agencies and tell them what their requirements are for upcoming jobs. The agency matches those requirements against the people in their files, and selects the models they think are likely to be chosen for the job. The comp cards or portfolios for those people are sent to the client, who then selects the models that he actually wants to see – and those people then go on a “go-see” or “casting”. Sometimes the first part of this process is omitted, and agencies simply have their models “go see” the client. There can be as few as one and as many as hundreds of models at these go-sees, and usually a considerable majority of them sent out by their agencies won’t be selected for the job. This is a competitive business, with lots of competitors and, at any given moment, few winners.

You don’t get paid to go to castings, go-sees or auditions, so a great deal of a model’s time is spent on things like go-sees that don’t actually make them any money. And nobody pays your expenses to get to these things, either. That may be OK for someone that lives in the area and can afford to take time off from whatever else they do for an hour or two. But it is simply impossible for someone who lives in Ohio, Texas or even Maryland to commute to these things hoping that they will get a job. The economics don’t work.

If you are going to be in the commercial or fashion modeling business you have to live within a reasonable commuting distance of the marketplace. We generally advise no more than 50-60 miles away, and even that makes pursuing a modeling career very difficult.

If you want to stay home, and home is more than 100 or so miles from where the work is, an agency can’t do much for you.

Investment

Modeling is a business, and like all businesses requires investment by you. These investments may be in time and effort or in money, but you cannot hope to be successful as a commercial model without making them. At a minimum, you will need to invest in the following:

• • 1. Pictures The single most important thing you need is good pictures, in the proper style, to represent yourself. You may find qualified photographers who will shoot you at reduced or no cost, but that is by no means assured. Generally, models must be prepared to spend several hundred dollars at the beginning of their career, and to invest more on a regular basis to keep your “book” or “comp card” updated. Some models (typically young women) may find that they can get pictures done free or for greatly reduced rates, but all models should be prepared for the likelihood that they will have to pay for pictures. Often what you get for free serves the needs of the photographer, not yours. It is relatively rare to find a good photographer who is willing to shoot commercially useful pictures for free.
    
    2. Comp Cards/Headshots Your agency will need photos of you that they can send to casting directors – and they won’t get them back. So you must have printed “composite” cards (for commercial and fashion models) and/or “headshots” (for actors/actresses). “Comps” may run $80-$200 or so; headshots should cost $50-$100. A model can start with only a printed headshot, but a comp is much preferable as soon as enough good pictures are available.
    
    3. Self-presentation skills We discourage models from taking “modeling classes” – they are not required and often are counter-productive. Still, a model should have a good basic understanding of makeup and wardrobe, and may require some guidance on posture and other self-presentation issues. There are a variety of ways to get these things, some relatively inexpensive, and some costing in the hundreds of dollars.
    
    4. “Bag of tricks” Even though many assignments will have professional makeup artists and stylists to prepare you, some will not. You must have the materials and skills to do your own makeup in a variety of styles, and a wardrobe and shoes appropriate to basic modeling situations. You can reasonably expect that these things, if you do not already have them, may run to several hundred dollars or more, depending on how much you wish to invest in flexibility to easily take a wide variety of assignments.
    
    5. Modeling Skills Although we do not recommend “modeling schools”, agencies and clients do want models to have extensive experience in front of a camera. The best way to get this is, quite simply, to do a lot of shooting. Ideally this should be with a photographer who is skilled at working with models in commercial or fashion style shots. Still, any kind of experience is helpful, and even shoots with relatively new photographers often help you gain self-confidence and posing skill.
    
    6. Advertising You need to get your pictures in front of photographers, art directors, casting agents and others that make hiring decisions. It used to be that your agency would assist you in this by including you in the agency headsheet book that is mailed to such people. Now it is more common to use an agency website as well as promotional mailers. As is customary in the industry, agencies must recover its costs from you for these promotional items. Depending on the degree of promotion of you that the agency does, the cost to you may run from $75-$700 per year. Each agency has its own policies on these services and costs.
    
    7. Communications This is a fast-paced business. If your agent can’t find you quickly, you may well lose a job that could pay you thousands of dollars. There are a variety of solutions that models use: cell phones, beepers, good answering services – but one or more of these is necessary to a successful modeling career.
    
    8. Living Near the Market This is a very expensive item, but also a critical one. Fashion models often must relocate. We do not advise commercial models to move just to be a model – but if you aren’t within an hour or so of the market city, it is very difficult and expensive for you to compete for jobs.

In all cases above your model management company should be prepared to help you decide what you may need to do to be successful and to advise you on appropriately qualified vendors and sources. A true “agency” may not in some cases – it’s outside the scope of their duties.

To read the rest of this NewModels.com article click here... ]]> A place For New Talent to learn: NewModels.com mykkal http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs/place-new-talent-learn-newmodels-com/6068-introduction-professional-modeling.html http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs/place-new-talent-learn-newmodels-com/5322-having-legal-right-model-united-states.html Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:14:33 GMT Professional modeling agencies protect their corporate clients by assuring that the models they represent are legally able to work in the US. US... Professional modeling agencies protect their corporate clients by assuring that the models they represent are legally able to work in the US. US citizens and aliens admitted for permanent residence (“green card” holders) have that right, but others must have a visa or work permit from the State Department. There are lots of ways of getting that: win the green card lottery, marry an American, come to the US on a cultural exchange, get a modification to a student visa (after the first year) and many more.

Even though all of those are intended for other purposes, they can be used for modeling as well as whatever their original intent was. But for someone who wants to come to the US specifically to be a model, there is provision in the law for that: an H-1B3 visa. Here is the State Department description of what it takes to qualify for one:
H-1B3 Fashion Model

The H-1B3 category applies to a fashion model who is nationally or internationally recognized for achievements, to be employed in a position requiring someone of distinguished merit and ability.

Petition Document Requirements

The petition (Form I-129) should be filed by the U.S. employer with:

A certified labor condition application from the Department of Labor;
Copies of evidence establishing that the alien is nationally or internationally recognized in the field of fashion modeling.

The evidence must include at least two of the following types of documentation which show that the person:

1. 
   Has achieved national or international recognition in his or her field as evidenced by major newspaper, trade journals, magazines or other published material;
2. Has performed and will perform services as fashion model for employers with a distinguished reputation;
3. Has received recognition for significant achievements from organizations, critics, fashion houses, modeling agencies or other recognized experts in the field; and Commands a high salary or other substantial remuneration for services, as shown by contracts or other reliable evidence.

Copies of evidence establishing that the services to be performed require a fashion model of distinguished merit and ability and either:
Involve an event or production which has a distinguished reputation; or
The services are as participant for an organization or establishment that has a distinguished reputation or record of employing persons of distinguished merit and ability.

To show “recognition” in the field of modeling you need to show several (from 12 to 20 or so) significant fashion tearsheets. Frequently models will work in Europe or Asia to get fashion jobs which will qualify them for a visa.

To read the rest of this article click here... ]]> A place For New Talent to learn: NewModels.com mykkal http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs/place-new-talent-learn-newmodels-com/5322-having-legal-right-model-united-states.html http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs/place-new-talent-learn-newmodels-com/5320-age-sex-race-modeling.html Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:08:45 GMT The issue of race comes up a lot in discussions of modeling, and a lot of misinformation gets written about it. Age and sex (gender, to misuse the... The issue of race comes up a lot in discussions of modeling, and a lot of misinformation gets written about it. Age and sex (gender, to misuse the term as it is commonly misused) don't get discussed much at all, but they should.

Fashion

If jobs were given to models on the basis of their distribution in the population, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But advertisers are less interested in population numbers than in the portion of the market for their product that each ethnic group represents, and in how to reach that portion with their message. The fashion world has struggled with these issues.

Fashion advertising through the 1970s and beyond mostly used Caucasian models. There are many reasons. One undoubtedly was racial stereotyping. Fashion ads are designed to create an association between the brand and whatever people aspire to. Designers viewed white women as “higher class,” setting the pattern for emulation by others, so it was natural, if not desirable, that they should choose white models almost exclusively. They reasoned that if their labels could achieve prestige and desirability, the ethnic minorities would be brought along with everyone else.

Another reason was the perception that African-Americans were not a significant market for high-end apparel, despite their numbers in the population. It remains true that the median household income of African Americans is substantially less than Caucasians, a fact not lost on the fashion houses. Only in relatively recent times have two additional demographic facts become understood: African Americans spend nearly a third more than Caucasians on apparel as a percentage of their income; and African Americans tend to form brand loyalties much earlier and more strongly than Caucasians. As the advertising industry came to appreciate those facts, the African-American market segment seemed suddenly more important.

There remains the problem of how to reach it. African-Americans are hardly a unitary bloc when it comes to purchasing power. Urban/Hip Hop lines like Baby Phat and Sean John may appeal to a part of it, but that portion of African-American consumers who might purchase Calvin Klein, Donna Karan (or even Tracy Reese) is little impressed by the hip-hop approach. There remains a debate as to whether it is best to advertise through African-American oriented magazines and media, or through more general-interest media.

In the last decade there has been an increasing trend to use African Americans in magazine editorials and covers and as runway models. High-profile models like Imam and Tyra Banks have shown that black models can be attractive to white audiences, and models like Alek Wek have changed the perception that black models have to have light skin and European features to be seen as beautiful. Even so, although there are no authoritative numbers available, the perception remains that African-Americans are under-used by fashion designers.

Designers are not the only important source of fashion advertising, though. If the designer sets the “national” tone for use of models, retailers set the regional and local pattern. In recent decades they have become much more willing to use minority models in their advertising, although the distribution changes depending on the local demographic. A mall store in Bangor, Maine is more likely than one in Atlanta to use Caucasians in its advertising. But overall, from about the middle of the 1990s on the number of African Americans used in retailer fashion ads has approached their distribution in the population.

The situation is different in the other “major minorities”. Hispanics are more fragmented than African Americans, since they may share a common home country language, but they come from many countries and different cultures. Hispanic is also not a “race” and many Hispanics are cross-identified (or see themselves) as Caucasian. Finally, even though they are numerically about the same as African Americans, they spend a smaller percentage of their household income on apparel, and their brand identification is weaker. It has been easy for advertisers to treat them as simply another kind of Caucasian, perhaps advertise in Spanish-language media, and leave it at that.

Asians present a different problem. As a group they represent only a small portion of the US population (roughly 3%). But there really is no such thing as an “Asian group”. They are primarily Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, and each of those differs markedly from the others. What you do to target one with advertising doesn’t work well for the others, and using a Korean model may not improve your label’s desirability with Japanese.

There are other issues as well. Asians tend to be shorter than Caucasians, and to have relatively long torsos and short arms and legs. That is precisely the opposite of the “fashion model” mold. If Caucasian and African fashion models are something of a rarity, recruiting slim, 5’10” long-legged Asian girls as models has proved a challenge for the agencies. It’s hard to have a large number of them on the roster – and when they are there to chase 1-3% of the market, it’s hard to justify the effort. Needless to say, fashion advertising tends not to overachieve in using Asian models.

To read the rest of this article click here... ]]> A place For New Talent to learn: NewModels.com mykkal http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs/place-new-talent-learn-newmodels-com/5320-age-sex-race-modeling.html http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs/place-new-talent-learn-newmodels-com/5319-all-about-plus-models.html Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:04:57 GMT What is a plus model?


Let's start with what she isn't. "Plus model" is not synonymous with "plus size woman." Being one does not make you the other. This is often confusing for new models, and for everyone else for that matter. A plus model is a fashion model who is slightly larger than straight size fashion models, and she is used to sell clothing to plus size women.


General parameters for a plus model are height between 5'8" and 5'11", sizes 10 - 18. (Generally the New York market prefers smaller plus models in the 8-12 range, and the Los Angeles market favors 14/16's.) She must be a fit, toned, proportional hourglass, and have great skin and teeth, just like straight size fashion models. A beautiful smile is a must.


Additionally, the plus model look is generally conservative, wholesome, and classically beautiful. You won't see a lot of "edgy" plus size models, and unless you're Mia Tyler you won't be able to get away with a lot of body modifications.


If you would like to Google some famous examples of plus models, look up Crystal Renn, Barbara Brickner, Liis, Tracie Stern, Emme, and Kate Dillon.

To reiterate: height, measurements, proportionality and your overall look are just as important to plus modeling as to typical fashion modeling. If you are 5'5" and 200 pounds you may be a plus size woman, but you are NOT a plus model.

To read the rest of this article click here... ]]> A place For New Talent to learn: NewModels.com mykkal http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs/place-new-talent-learn-newmodels-com/5319-all-about-plus-models.html http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs/place-new-talent-learn-newmodels-com/5318-should-you-go-modeling-school.html Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:02:38 GMT *Why not? * Modeling schools are fun. You meet lots of new people, make friends, do fun things. They say nice things to you and make you feel... Why not?

Modeling schools are fun. You meet lots of new people, make friends, do fun things. They say nice things to you and make you feel better about yourself. Maybe they teach you to look better, walk better, eat better. You get some pictures taken that are different from anything you’ve had before. You see yourself looking “like a model”.

These are all good things.

They may also be expensive things, but for a lot of people the cost is affordable, and isn’t all that much more than they might put into dance classes, piano lessons, summer school tutoring in Algebra 2 or any of lots of other things people spend money on. If it can be paid for out of the family entertainment budget, why not do it?

“But wait a minute! You didn’t say anything about learning to be a model. Isn’t that what modeling schools are for?”

Ummm, no. Not for the vast majority of their students. The school knows that very few of their students will ever be models in any significant way. The “training” really isn’t about that. We’ve already told you what it’s really about.

Now let’s admit right up front that there are some medium sized cities in which the dominant modeling agency, the one that really gets the modeling jobs in town, is also a franchise of one of the well-known modeling schools. It happens, and if it has happened in your city you need to read this article a little differently. But it’s up to you to ask very probing questions to find out if it’s true of your local “modeling school.”

Since that’s not the usual case, let’s talk about what modeling schools really do, other than provide entertainment and maybe some useful life skills.

From here on in the conversation we will concern ourselves only with people who really are trying to be professional models. If you are considering a school only for the fun or the personal life skills, read no further...

To read the rest of this article click here... ]]> A place For New Talent to learn: NewModels.com mykkal http://www.mymodeltalk.com/jobs/place-new-talent-learn-newmodels-com/5318-should-you-go-modeling-school.html