The Model Agency Mega Thread

[agee]

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Welcome to the Model Agency Mega Thread!

This is the place for you to discuss anything that has to with model agencies. You can ask about certain agencies, post information about certain agencies and comment on certain agencies. Have fun in here!

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From The Imagist

SCOOP DU JOUR: CONTINENTAL SHIFTS AND A REALIGNED UNIVERSE
Submitted by Wayne on Tue, 2010-03-09 04:32.​

In LA recovering from two epic Post-Oscar blowouts but hangover or not TI is forced to contemplate that astonishingly radical shift that rocked NYC this morning. In one fell swoop, three of the biggest modeling agencies in NYC have been thrown into realignment. Bonus points to the punter who can name all three power shops currently processing what amounts to a continental shift in the business.

Scroll down to the comments section for speculation about the agencies involved.

 

[cold_sun]

Wow this is quite a big deal Id say ... wonder whatll happen to Supremes board now

 

[A.in.wonderland]

What do you guys know about karin paris?? Would you recommend it? I get the impression that it used to be quite a good agency back then but now ,it might not be the best idea..Just an impression though

 

[penny609]

^They used to be a top agency quite a while ago... now they're more commercial, maybe they're doing well at it. They have one high-fashion girl doing well from time to time (this season Pauline Surget had a honest show lineup and she's quite promising). So if you're looking for B-list magazine, catalogue and potentially well-paid modeling job, maybe Karin is for you or at least give it a try.

 

[sleb]

Well, to recommend smth to you one needs to know of your situation. I could think of lots of girls whom I would never recommend to got to Karin to. And quite the opposite, there are models that may only benefit from this. Karin is more or less stable commercial agency. So in case you want to live in Paris and you're more commercial than fashion oriented so to say, you may want to consider them as one of the variants. But if you give some further details, people here will be able to give you more specific advices.

 

[fritmayo]

What do you guys know about karin paris?? Would you recommend it? I get the impression that it used to be quite a good agency back then but now ,it might not be the best idea..Just an impression though

on modeling forums, i m always amazed that aspirant ask questions like if they are in position to choose they agency they want.
A bit like if a 12 years old teenagers playing basket ball would to ask if it is better to join the Lakers or the Bulls...

Unfortunatly, modeling dont work much differently than Basket ball ...it is the agencies who choose the girls, not the girls who choose the agency (well, apart for girls reaching a certain level of course)

so if you apply, apply to anything which is of good level enough, and u will see how it goes, choice is a luxury that almost no new faces ever have...

Karin worth to apply, they are not much into high fashion, but they have one of the best board of celebrities in all Paris agencies, and this not only bring them good income but also help their commercial board in general.

 

[sleb]

fritmayo: Misleading again.To choose an agency is a liberty everyone has. It may be better to work in certain China than in certain Paris agencies. Due to a poor job of some mother agencies the models get pretty often to the agencies they never belong. And it's just normal to check any agency with the people before to sign anything.

For your information, before the agencies choose the girls, 1st the mother agents choose the agencies. And that is not necessarily connected to the girls' levels.

Signing a binding contract with the agency a girl won't be able to work with - that's what is called a "luxury that almost no new face ever has" in fact. Or would you like smb to remind you which is the cost of getting into 5K debt in Paris?

I believe that celebrity board doesn't help too much to the mainboard/new faces - check that of Nathalie. Usually it's a totally different department and the agents that work with the celebrities don't take care of the models.

 

[fritmayo]

fritmayo:

For your information, before the agencies choose the girls, 1st the mother agents choose the agencies. And that is not necessarily connected to the girls' levels.

Signing a binding contract with the agency a girl won't be able to work with - that's what is called a "luxury that almost no new face ever has" in fact. Or would you like smb to remind you which is the cost of getting into 5K debt in Paris?

I believe that celebrity board doesn't help too much to the mainboard/new faces - check that of Nathalie. Usually it's a totally different department and the agents that work with the celebrities don't take care of the models.

if mother agencies dont do placement in connection with the girl level, what is their work about?

talking about 5k debts, fact is that it is very likely to happen much more often in top high fashion agencies than in more commercial agencies, so THIS is a really misleading statement.


and the celebrity board will not help in the way that the same agents will care about the models, but it will help that the agency will have close links with top commercial clients usually booking the celebrities, and these close links and connections can of course benefit to all boards of the agency.

 

[sleb]

I believe their job is to define more or less the potential of a model, to figure out how she will be positioned and sold better over this or that market and to place her accordingly. One may place a new face girl with a strongest editorial agency and a working average level model with a half-commercial agency or vice versa - it is about the strategy only.

Yes, that's right, in editorial agencies it's much easier to get into a huge debt. And I never said that the opposite was true. What I said is that a model SHOULD NEVER sign anything as you recommend: in order "to see how it goes". This way it may result in a very uncomfortable situation when a market gets closed for the girl until she returns her debt in cash. So before to sign any binding contract a model should check and double check everything about the agency, especially in case she needs all the expenses to be advanced.

Your claim re celebrities is still pretty arbitrary and the example of Nathalie doesn't support your theory. And an example of D neither, btw.....

 

[A.in.wonderland]

So, thank you for your answers ..
Considering im not the tallest-haute couture kind of model karin might not be such a terrible idea .In any case ,i know there were some time ago fashion oriented agencies interested in me( viva, img ,silent)but i was 15 and not interested in travelling yet, now im 18 and willing to do so.
My mother agency has this very very close relationship with karin and i think thats why they insist on me going to paris with them(and not necesarily because its the best for my specific case as a model).. I was simply wondering (and not just asking like a 12 year old, as someone above said) which would be the best move for a model with a strong book but rather on the short side.Considering of course that the whole idea of heading to europe is to get some reputable jobs and not to be stuck in catalogues and b list editorials...

 

[fritmayo]

And I never said that the opposite was true. What I said is that a model SHOULD NEVER sign anything as you recommend: in order "to see how it goes". This way it may result in a very uncomfortable situation when a market gets closed for the girl until she returns her debt in cash.

Your claim re celebrities is still pretty arbitrary and the example of Nathalie doesn't support your theory. And an example of D neither, btw.....

u actualy missread me
i never wrote to sign a contract and to see how it goes.

i wrote" apply to anything which is of good level enough, and u will see how it goes" , i was talking about applications only!

There is nothing to loose at sending applications to many place and to check carefully the propositions after.

And from that, i still think that wannabemodel who spend time to try to find the best place to apply are just wasting their time. Apply in different places, and see after, there is nothing to loose in doing that way.

 

[sleb]

Well, it would be difficult not to agree now. The only thing is that it's not usually a model who applies and your advice was addressed then not to a teenage girl but to her mother agency Paris is not China, my friend, they won't talk to a teenage model especially while she's from another country...

The situation the girl described happens very often I believe. A mother agency works well with an agency in Paris and they want to place a model there. Is it good or bad for a girl? I don't have an answer, for instance. To some extent depends on what a mother agency actually does for the model: in case they are only about some placement, I believe, for the model it will be the same whether she's placed with a good partner or with some agency they never worked before. If a mother agency has got some special agreements with the local agencies, if they really promote a girl, putting a pressure on the local agencies when needed - then it's sometimes better to work with the agency they know very well. It all depends really...

While I still haven't heard of any specifics like measurements etc, but heard the words "strong book" and "short side", I'd ask again what are you gonna do in Paris. As it may happen that in the other markets the catalogues pay more )
In case you may want to share finally some details at least in private, you're welcome

 

[fritmayo]

The situation the girl described happens very often I believe. A mother agency works well with an agency in Paris and they want to place a model there. Is it good or bad for a girl? I don't have an answer, for instance. To some extent depends on what a mother agency actually does for the model: in case they are only about some placement, I believe, for the model it will be the same whether she's placed with a good partner or with some agency they never worked before. If a mother agency has got some special agreements with the local agencies, if they really promote a girl, putting a pressure on the local agencies when needed - then it's sometimes better to work with the agency they know very well. It all depends really...

but the mother agency has exactly the same interest as the model. if the model work, they make money, if the model dont work they dont make money.
There is of course different strategies possible depending of each mother agencies (and there are still few around who clearly dont have any clue about what they're doing...) but overall, it is never in the interest of the mother agency to choose a wrong partner for the girl.

 

[sleb]

but the mother agency has exactly the same interest as the model. if the model work, they make money, if the model dont work they dont make money.
There is of course different strategies possible depending of each mother agencies (and there are still few around who clearly dont have any clue about what they're doing...) but overall, it is never in the interest of the mother agency to choose a wrong partner for the girl.

Well, I won't agree, the mother agency has got the only interest - to make money. They could either send 100s of models to the major markets just so that at least 5-6 of them do smth good. Or they could send only 10 models to some particular agencies and see that they are working and that everything is fine with them. Or they could choose any variant in between of these 2 opposite options described above.

A new face model may want: to become a star, to earn money, to travel, to live in Paris, to learn or to practice French etc

I mean the problem is not about how not to choose the wrong agency, the problem is about choosing the right one. The commercial agencies do always have a tendency to underestimate the models as it's easier to get them busy with catalogues other than to raise them so that they start doing campaigns. The main fashion editorial agencies on the opposite don't let their girls pretty often do low-level money jobs even when they need the money: the girls are told that they are better than that and that the agency is aiming at something bigger.

There are too many variables: in some cases the mother agencies may prefer to be on the safe side, in some cases they may decide to risk. Or, as you put it, sometimes the mother agencies just don't care which is often the case when there are too many models in the agency.

That's why I have always lots of questions when I hear that a model goes to the best partners of her mother agency. Which doesn't mean of course that it's been a wrong or even not the best decision

 

[fritmayo]

I mean the problem is not about how not to choose the wrong agency, the problem is about choosing the right one. The commercial agencies do always have a tendency to underestimate the models as it's easier to get them busy with catalogues other than to raise them so that they start doing campaigns. The main fashion editorial agencies on the opposite don't let their girls pretty often do low-level money jobs even when they need the money: the girls are told that they are better than that and that the agency is aiming at something bigger.

it is exactly that.

But fact is that "models forum audience" is far more obsessed by high fashion than 90% of the girls.
Obviously this can be different depending of where the girl is from, but in personnaly dealing girls from eastern countries for many years, fact is the main goal is money, and this unfortunately very often include a huge family pressure asking to the girl "to bring money home".
so the choices of agencies include often much more "social" elements that people on forums can ever imagine. To sign a girl in a major high fashion agency expecting money "maybe some day" is a choice that some mother agency can afford but which is just refused by the girl or the familly who are often just interested to know "how much and when" she will earn.

the forums, it is a bit dreamland, unfortunately very very far from the daily reality of new faces management.

 

[sleb]

it is exactly that.

But fact is that "models forum audience" is far more obsessed by high fashion than 90% of the girls.
Obviously this can be different depending of where the girl is from, but in personnaly dealing girls from eastern countries for many years, fact is the main goal is money, and this unfortunately very often include a huge family pressure asking to the girl "to bring money home".
so the choices of agencies include often much more "social" elements that people on forums can ever imagine. To sign a girl in a major high fashion agency expecting money "maybe some day" is a choice that some mother agency can afford but which is just refused by the girl or the familly who are often just interested to know "how much and when" she will earn.

the forums, it is a bit dreamland, unfortunately very very far from the daily reality of new faces management.

I believe it actually depends on the region where the model comes from. In certain places the model-like girls don't need to work at all if everything they want is money... So the ones who come from there to Paris are into fashion and promotion primarily.

 

[dpbenson]

The website, but not the blog, for Major Model Management NYC is offline. I am not sure what this means.

 

[Katie123]

hey guys....i was wondering everyone's opinions about the top agencies in london.
you know how on models.com there's the best agencies in new york, where they describe which one's more commercial, which one is all around support for their models, which one is more business like etc?

that's what i'm trying to find out about the london ones and it seems quite difficult to be honest. i mean, i know which the big, important ones are, but i'm trying to understand the characteristics behind them.

any help would be great, cheers!

 

[penny609]

First names that come to my mind are Premier and Select. Premier has a wide range of beauty types on board, Select is more... select

Storm is also extremely good, access to high editorial market but the size of their boards might turn some of you off.

Elite and IMG for those who are signed with them internationally.

If you're looking for a great boutique then Union.

Models1 and Tess seem good too but I don't really know them so I can't give you a proper opinion.

Then my dark horse would be FM, a lot of potential there and they put a lot of emphasis on the development side. The team is still rather new (yet very experienced, some worked for Storm or Take2 before) since the old team mostly went to Elite when this one opened.

Also watch what Profile is doing, some huge efforts there.

 

[fritmayo]

like etc?

that's what i'm trying to find out about the london ones and it seems quite difficult to be honest. i mean, i know which the big, important ones are, but i'm trying to understand the characteristics behind them.

any help would be great, cheers!

Not really possible to put agencies into clear categories in London, as the city in itself is very different than the other cities about works provided.
Everything is more "mixed"in London, and agencies reflect that as they must really have girls to cover a larger range of work than agencies in Paris for example.

The new team in FM seems to be very appreciated by the girls, at least the 3-4 i dealt with them since for about 1 year all told me it was the coolest agency they ever been, and it is 3-4 girls having experience in Milan, NY Paris too...
Models1 is great too about that, and in typical London way cover really larger categories of work, if u really need to compare they are very much like Select about what they can provide and about size.