Modeling Agency News
To model or not: parents measure benefits for children
"Preying on this desire to make a quick buck for what is perceived to be a relatively easy job, several companies buy birth lists and send out mass mail to parents saying there are print jobs awaiting their babies. Sometimes those same firms will charge up to $500 to shoot a package of baby photos. Not everyone is convinced that that is the best route to take. Calenberg runs Contact, a service that reports on modeling scams. "For the most part, these agencies get you nothing. Once they find parents are hooked, they invite them to their modeling schools where they charge $2,500 for a ten-week modeling course for the older children." Then they invite the families to a large city like New York under the guise of introducing children to potential clients. Parents may cough up $5,000 for such a meeting, Calenberg said. "Ninety-nine percent will not get anything out of it," he said. He says the safest option is to research the best modeling agencies in your city and work directly with them. The chances of any child being selected to really be a model are low. "Only one in ten of the pictures we send out get selected by clients," said Patti Fleischer, owner of Generation Model Management, a mid-sized child model firm in downtown Manhattan. "We are very selective ourselves so the odds aren't great."1
1. Anusha Shrivastava, "To model or not: parents measure benefits for children," Columbia News Service, Apr. 3, 2002.
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-03-20/294.asp
(Child Modeling)
Modeling
“You actually get to dress up and be someone else and that's what I think is fun.” Cassie is a full time college student who works after class to help finance her dream. “Everything I've ever worked for goes toward this because this is something I really want.” Cassie paid a bundle to sign on with Millennium Model Management. “The initial fee is $1,500 and they lead you to believe that the $1,500 pays for a lifetime of photo shoots.” But then, Cassie was charged nearly $400 dollars more for publicity photos. A short time later, she was shocked to find the business closed. “I got out of the elevator and their office was dark.” All Cassie got for her nearly $2,000 dollar investment was a few photographs."1
"Christina has advice for people thinking about a modeling career. “They should call agencies in their own market and find out when their open call is and submit photos to be reviewed by that agency.” And instead of paying for fancy photographs, Christina says don't waste your money. “Matter of fact, I prefer that they just be snapshots taken from a normal camera by a friend.” Christina also has this warning… “if they really are pressuring them to go under contract, they want them to sign something, if they're really pressuring them to do that, red flag.” “I just want people to not fall for it, not waste their money and to go for something that's real and not a scam.” The phone number for Millennium Model Management has been disconnected. We were able to track down someone who used to be affiliated with the company, who told us the company is no longer in business. Cassie plans to file a complaint with the Missouri Attorney General's office."2
1. "Modeling," Contact 2, Fox 2 St. Louis, June 18,
2004.
2. Ibid.
http://www.fox2ktvi.com/dynamic/story.asp?category=62
(Millennium Model Management)
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