{"id":13877,"date":"2010-06-02T13:33:26","date_gmt":"2010-06-02T10:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/model.world\/directory\/?p=13877"},"modified":"2025-03-15T16:52:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T13:52:50","slug":"what-agencies-and-managers-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/what-agencies-and-managers-are\/","title":{"rendered":"What Agencies and Managers Are"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mother Agencies<\/strong>
\nThe job of the \u201cmother agent\u201d (who might be a man or a\u00a0corporation, and might be called a \u201cPersonal Manager\u201d) is to\u00a0prepare you for the market and introduce you to people who can\u00a0get you work. A good Mother Agent will know how to evaluate\u00a0your look against the types used in modeling and advise you on\u00a0changes you need to make. He will have a stable of
\nphotographers who can shoot in the style you need and a printer\u00a0who can make composite cards for you.\u00a0It is common for mother agencies to have relationships with\u00a0agencies in larger markets, either in the US or overseas. They act\u00a0as filters for these larger markets, finding, preparing and sending\u00a0models that they believe are suitable for those markets.<\/p>\n

The positives<\/strong>
\nA good mother agency can save you from paying for bad\u00a0pictures and the trouble of going to agencies in a bigger city if
\nyou are not suitable; can prepare an effective composite and\u00a0portfolio and give you experience to help you be successful in the\u00a0larger market; can open doors for you when you arrive, so you are\u00a0not just one more pretty face at an open call, and can arrange for\u00a0support when you arrive at another city. Through all of this they\u00a0offer experienced advice to help you deal with the problems you\u00a0face. In addition, many of them can get you local work until you\u00a0are ready to go on to the larger market.<\/p>\n

The negatives
\n<\/strong>A mother agency gets a cut (typically 5% to 10%) of your\u00a0earnings from the larger agencies. In times gone by it used to be
\nthat the mother agency commission didn’t come out of your pay,\u00a0but from the booking agency commission. Now mother agencies\u00a0often take their cut from the model (or from both the model and\u00a0the booking agency). So why pay that money? It’s a lot cheaper\u00a0to get some pictures done, send them to agencies or go to open\u00a0calls on your own. \u00a0
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Should you have a Mother Agency?<\/strong>
\nHere’s when it makes sense, and when it doesn’t:\u00a0If you are in a moderate sized market city, working with a\u00a0booking agency there can also get you prepared for «the big\u00a0city». If you are living in an area with a good local mother\u00a0agency that you can see routinely, who can take the months to\u00a0develop you for a major market, and who can open doors for you,\u00a0it makes sense. They are your safety net at home for when the big,\u00a0bad booking agency in the big, bad city doesn’t seem to be doing\u00a0what you need, or you don’t understand what is happening. Your\u00a0mother agent knows you, knows the culture you came from, and\u00a0can help you and your family understand what is happening.\u00a0When it doesn’t seem to make sense is when you are already\u00a0living in the major market city or when the «mother agent» is far\u00a0from you. In the first case, you can go to the open calls on your\u00a0own, seek advice from the agencies you see, and use it to find\u00a0photographers or other services you need. You don’t need a\u00a0mother agency; you just need to know where the booking\u00a0agencies are and how to approach them.\u00a0In the second case, if you are hundreds or thousands of miles from\u00a0the «mother agent» they can’t do much more than you can do for\u00a0yourself. Unless you are willing to move to where they are all\u00a0they can do is give you generalized advice and «development». A\u00a0mother agency must have a long term relationship with the model,\u00a0and know the model and her family very well — or there is little\u00a0use in having one.\u00a0There is an exception: where the model and the «mother\u00a0agency» are both in remote areas but the mother agent has good\u00a0contacts, such as overseas, where the model might want to work.
\nIn this case the mother agent can help with understanding the\u00a0demands of working in a different culture, and can smooth the\u00a0legal and cultural difficulties.\u00a0There is an alternative to the advice role of a mother agency.\u00a0Books on modeling have long been available, but they were\u00a0incomplete resources at best that didn’t always answer a model\u2019s\u00a0questions. In the last few years the appearance of Internet forums\u00a0devoted to mainstream modeling has greatly improved things.\u00a0Now models can find a wealth of knowledge that used to be\u00a0known only to the few, and can ask questions about the industry\u00a0from models, parents, makeup artists and agents who are actually\u00a0in the business, all for free or nearly so. Users of the best of those
\nforums should not find that a mother agency is necessary.\u00a0All of the above discussion has assumed we were talking\u00a0about real, good mother agencies. Certainly there are many of\u00a0them, but there are a lot more that are scams or simply useless.
\nThe worst of them also find other ways to make money at your\u00a0expense: setting up photo shoots with \u201ctheir photographers\u201d,
\nputting you in models apartments at inflated prices and fees for\u00a0various services. It can be difficult to tell the bad from the good,\u00a0since many good agencies do similar-appearing things. But a little\u00a0common sense goes a long way. Ask yourself some questions:
\n1. Does the mother agency really have an opportunity to work\u00a0with me for a long time and really get to know me and my
\nproblems?
\n2. Does the mother agent have years of work in the industry in\u00a0a major market?\u00a0In this time of ready access to information it’s smart to ask,\u00a0«Why do I need to pay for this?» when so much information and\u00a0so many support services are available free to models.<\/p>\n

Managers<\/strong>
\nThe term \u201cmanager\u201d can mean many things. At the\u00a0beginning of a model\u2019s career \u201cmanagers\u201d are the same thing as
\n\u201cmother agents\u201d. As the career develops a manager may have\u00a0very different roles: managers may handle the business affairs of\u00a0a model, including collecting his fees, managing his investments,\u00a0advising him on the course of his career, and developing the\u00a0model in different aspects of modeling and performing,\u00a0recommending and scheduling classes, getting pictures done, and\u00a0dealing with the press. Sometimes \u201cmanager\u201d and \u201cpublicist\u201d\u00a0become close to the same thing.\u00a0For the most part managers do not book work for models \u2013\u00a0that\u2019s done by agencies. Agencies tend to think of managers as\u00a0nuisances or necessary evils; models may feel they need the\u00a0manager to protect them from the Big Bad Agency. The\u00a0relationships can be cooperative or quite confrontational. To an\u00a0agent, that manager is best which is heard from least. Some\u00a0agencies refuse to deal with models who have intrusive\u00a0managers. If you feel the need for a manager, bear in mind that it\u00a0could affect getting and keeping an agency.\u00a0Managers normally take a percentage of the earnings of the\u00a0model (10-15% is common) on top of whatever the agency\u00a0commission on fees is.<\/p>\n

Agencies<\/strong>
\n\u201cAgency\u201d vs. \u201cModel Management Company\u201d
\nThroughout these pages we use the term \u201cagent\u201d in the\u00a0common sense meaning. In New York City (and some other\u00a0places) many \u201cagencies\u201d really are not agencies at all \u2013 they are\u00a0\u201cmodel management companies.\u201d In fact, none of the famous
\n\u201cmodel agencies\u201d in New York are really agencies; there may not\u00a0be any real model agencies in New York City (although there are\u00a0many \u201ctalent agencies\u201d which deal with actors and other\u00a0performers, and some model management companies with \u201ctalent\u00a0agency\u201d divisions.)\u00a0There is a difference in what agencies and model\u00a0management companies do, and in the way they are treated by law\u00a0and by union contracts. Talent agencies have a fairly simple job:\u00a0to find work for their models. They may find it useful to invest\u00a0some effort in advising models on what to put into their books and\u00a0other things a model needs to know, but that is not their primary\u00a0function. By law in New York, or if franchised by a performers\u00a0union, they are limited to a 10% commission on their models\u00a0work. \u00a0Model management companies, by contrast, are responsible\u00a0for managing all aspects of a model\u2019s career, and to provide a\u00a0much wider range of services. In New York they typically charge
\na 20% commission from their models. In cities where model\u00a0management companies act as booking agencies, it is not unusual\u00a0for a model to have a \u201cpersonal manager\u201d who then deals with her\u00a0\u201cmanagement companies\u201d who act as both managers and booking\u00a0agents. It\u2019s enough to make the head hurt with all the overlapping\u00a0functions.
\nIn this book we will not be precise about the terminology\u00a0unless we are specifically discussing the differences between true
\nagencies and booking management companies. In common\u00a0language they are both \u201cagencies\u201d and we shall treat them that
\nway.<\/p>\n

What Agencies Do For Models<\/strong>
\nGetting Work for Models<\/em><\/span>
\nAgencies make their primary income from commissions on\u00a0modeling work. If they fail at that they can\u2019t pay the rent. They
\nadvertise themselves and their models, make and maintain\u00a0relationships with people who hire models, find job opportunities,\u00a0match models to the opportunities and send the models off to see\u00a0people who have modeling jobs. Then the model wins the job or\u00a0doesn\u2019t.
\nAdvice<\/em><\/span>
\nAn agency will advise a model on the work he is suited for\u00a0and how he can prepare for it. The agency will suggest haircuts
\nand coloring, styling, grooming when needed, and may suggest\u00a0photographers, health spas, hair salons, print shops and other\u00a0support companies as needed. A model ignores the advice of his\u00a0agent at his peril.
\nModel Sharing<\/em><\/span>
\nNo model agency can satisfy every possible client request.\u00a0The fertile minds at advertising agencies come up with far too
\nmany unusual types for any model agency to have them all. So\u00a0agencies have sharing agreements with other agencies. Acme\u00a0Model Agency and Awning Supply Company may find that they\u00a0don\u2019t have enough Chinese basketball players on their roster, and\u00a0call up Wong\u2019s Model Agency and Noodle House (hey, the\u00a0modeling business is tough — agencies may have to do something\u00a0else on the side to stay afloat) for the models they need. Which is\u00a0why a model signed to Wong\u2019s may get a call from her booker\u00a0asking him to go to a go-see at the gym, but to sign in as an Acme\u00a0model. In situations like that the agencies negotiate how they will\u00a0split commissions, and the model should get exactly the same net\u00a0pay as if Wong\u2019s had gotten the original casting call.\u00a0Sometimes those shared jobs can be from an agency in a\u00a0distant city. It\u2019s not unusual for a New York agency to supply\u00a0models to a small-city agency to meet a difficult request.
\nLogistic Support<\/em><\/span>
\nSome agencies go far beyond providing advice and job\u00a0leads. They may provide housing in \u201cmodel\u2019s apartments,\u201d\u00a0advance money to the model for airfare, pictures and portfolios or\u00a0visa applications for foreign models. They may store a model\u2019s
\nportfolios at the agency office and courier (or FEDEX) them to\u00a0clients. They may also give a model his net pay (less advanced
\nexpenses) immediately after a job is completed, instead of waiting\u00a0for the client to pay them. Any of these services might come at a\u00a0price; fashion agencies typically mark up the cost of each of these\u00a0and charge the model for them. At some agencies the model\u2019s\u00a0apartments are a significant source of revenue.\u00a0Many people are under the misimpression that agencies\u00a0always do these kinds of things for their models. In fact, they are\u00a0relatively rare. An agency which has a non-exclusive relationship\u00a0with its models may do none of them. An agency with exclusive\u00a0contracts is more likely to provide some or all of those services,\u00a0but still may not, or may do it very selectively. Models should\u00a0not assume any of this kind of support will be made available to\u00a0them. If you need it, ask about it and don\u2019t be surprised if the\u00a0answer is no.
\nFinancial Services<\/em><\/span>
\nAgencies will also provide a range of financial support\u00a0services: invoicing clients for work done, following up to assure
\npayment, and even bringing a lawsuit if necessary to force a client\u00a0to pay. They will also provide you with end-of-year tax forms\u00a0like 1099s to show how much money you made through them.
\nTraining for Models<\/em><\/span>
\nAlthough many of the \u201ccraft of modeling\u201d skills are acquired\u00a0through experience on the job and in tests, sometimes a model
\ndoes need training in a specific skill. Agencies may produce\u00a0training aids, have in-house seminars or put models in touch with\u00a0private tutors for things like runway and photographic modeling.\u00a0Such training usually is at modest or no cost to the model.\u00a0Fashion agencies may also send models abroad to places like\u00a0Milan and Paris for experience and to build their portfolios. The\u00a0major European modeling markets have many more fashion\u00a0magazines than does America, and it\u2019s often possible to jump start\u00a0a career by spending a few months in Europe.<\/p>\n

What Agencies Do for Clients<\/strong>
\nThe simplest version is: they get models to them. It sounds\u00a0simple and helpful, but not extraordinary. Clients should be able
\nto do it for themselves, if they wished. Yes they can, but . . . .
\nTrue stories:
\nJob One<\/em><\/span>
\nA major national news magazine calls an agency on Tuesday\u00a0afternoon. They want a model for their cover, but she had to<\/em>
\nactually be the kind of person they to write their cover story\u00a0about. It wasn\u2019t the kind of model data the agency keeps, so they\u00a0ended up calling 75 models to find out who qualified, and then\u00a0had extensive conversations with each of the four candidates who\u00a0got through the first screening. The client needed comp cards in\u00a0her office Tuesday evening, and she got them by special courier.\u00a0Later the agency found two models who hadn’t made the cut in\u00a0time for the courier run, and the client looked at them on the\u00a0agency Internet site, but it was harder for them to be considered.\u00a0She needed paper to take to the production meeting Wednesday\u00a0morning.\u00a0Final selection was done right from the comp cards, based\u00a0on those pictures and the conversations the client had with the\u00a0agency. Thursday morning two of agency\u2019s models went in for a\u00a0paid shoot. The following Monday one of them was on the cover\u00a0of the magazine at a news-stand near you.
\n<\/em> \u00a0 \u00a0It’s customary for agencies to charge clients a 20% service\u00a0charge for models. When it\u2019s not explicitly stated at the beginning\u00a0of a casting conversation, the agency will confirm it with the\u00a0client, just to avoid surprises.
\nThat happened in this case, and the agency got a nice\u00a0response: «I’m happy to pay that fee; it saved me making all those
\nphone calls. I like being able to pick up the phone and make one\u00a0call and get what I need instead of having to find it myself.»
\nMore than that, there were three qualified backup models\u00a0who were available for the shoot if something happened to their
\nfirst choices. They were ready to get to the shoot in very short\u00a0order if necessary, and the client knew it. It’s part of what the
\n20% fee is all about. The agency made nearly 200 phone calls for\u00a0that one job. They got paid a «premium price» for that service,
\nand everyone involved was happy about it.
\n<\/em>Please note the timeline in the story above — it’s pretty\u00a0common in the commercial print business. Clients don’t have time
\nto wait for hours or days for someone to return an email. They\u00a0want an answer NOW for a shoot in a day or two.
\nSophisticated clients understand that they are buying more\u00a0than «a model» from an agency. They are buying service,
\nguarantees, backup models and assistance in making the shoot\u00a0come together. That’s what they pay for, and it’s what they expect\u00a0to get.<\/p>\n

Job 2<\/em><\/span>
\nThe agency had a website that showed their models to\u00a0prospective clients. Between half and a third of their business
\ncame from the site, either because a client found it on his own and\u00a0chose models he wanted to hire, or because the agency referred a\u00a0client to the site as a step in picking models. In that way it almost\u00a0sounds like an \u201cInternet Agency\u201d, but it\u2019s not.
\nAn international airline with its ad agency in Los Angeles\u00a0wanted to do a photo shoot at JFK airport in New York. They
\ndidn’t want to fly in models from Los Angeles. They wanted good,\u00a0professional models at the shoot. New York models. So they
\nresearched New York agency Websites, decided on one, and\u00a0through email indicated an interest in several of the agency\u2019s
\npeople.\u00a0The agency called the people they were interested in,\u00a0determined their availability on the proposed shoot dates, and
\nafter the client had settled on the four models they wanted to hire,\u00a0handled the logistic and administrative details with the models.\u00a0Part of the conversation with the client was through email (which\u00a0is better for passing on lists of data) and part through telephone\u00a0calls (which is more immediate and better for negotiations). In no\u00a0case did the client contact the models directly; that’s the agency\u2019s\u00a0job. They tell the agency what they want, and the agents do\u00a0whatever work it takes to make sure it happens.
\nGetting a shoot permit for JFK isn’t easy in these days of\u00a0Homeland Security alerts, and the shoot time was tightly\u00a0constrained. One of the things the agency did was make sure that\u00a0there were backup models of similar type available on call in case\u00a0there were any last-minute glitches (which tend to happen in New\u00a0York). An alternate model could have made it to the shoot within
\nhalf an hour if need be. In addition, the model agency was able to\u00a0provide a good, print-qualified makeup artist for the shoot.
\nThe shoot went overtime. Rather than have the models try to\u00a0negotiate a rate for the extra time, a model called the agency,
\nwhich called the home office of the ad agency, and the issue was\u00a0worked out. That saved any problems and possible disruption,
\nbad feelings or delay on the set if the models had tried to handle it\u00a0themselves.
\n<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0 If the agency had said «Please look over our site and contact\u00a0any of our models, and we won’t charge the 20%» they would
\nhave never gotten that job. Clients are less interested in saving\u00a0money than in reliably, easily getting what they need. Clients
\nwant the agency to do the preliminary work so the client can\u00a0concentrate on what they need to be doing.
\nEven at the rates models get paid their fee is a very small part\u00a0of the cost of an advertising campaign. Production costs are much\u00a0higher, and the cost of media placement (TV time and magazine\u00a0pages) usually dwarfs any money that is paid to models. That\u2019s\u00a0not to say that budgets are insensitive to price, but clients are\u00a0much more interested in speed, convenience and reliability than in\u00a0saving a percentage of the model\u2019s fee. That\u2019s why model\u00a0agencies are still in business, despite all the model resources on\u00a0the Internet.\u00a0There is a different class of client, of course, who is very\u00a0concerned about the cost of models, and who is willing to do the\u00a0work of finding his own, and also willing to take the risk of no\u00a0responses, no shows and no-ability-models. There are lots of\u00a0those clients, and they don’t use the agency system all that much.\u00a0They use friends, employees, or models they find on the Internet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mother Agencies The job of the \u201cmother agent\u201d (who might be a man or a\u00a0corporation, and might be called a \u201cPersonal Manager\u201d) is to\u00a0prepare you for the market and introduce you to people who can\u00a0get you work. A good Mother Agent will know how to evaluate\u00a0your look against the types used in modeling and advise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":13878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2166],"tags":[2261,2267,2266,2264,2265,2263,675,1581,2260,2259,2262],"class_list":["post-13877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guide","tag-booking-agencies","tag-editorial-fashion-agencies","tag-fashion-work","tag-logistic-support","tag-model-sharing","tag-models-portfolios","tag-mother-agent","tag-opportunities","tag-should-you-have-a-mother-agency","tag-what-agencies-and-managers-are","tag-what-agencies-do-for-models"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13879,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13877\/revisions\/13879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/map.model.world\/directory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}