Do children need professional photos, a portfolio and comp cards in order to compete and work on regular basis? Elaborate portfolios are not necessary for babies and toddlers but if your child is age two and a half to three or older you may want to consider having professional photos done to show on interviews and castings, especially if you are looking to find work in more lucrative markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Orange County, California, Dallas, Fort Worth, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami Dade County, Miami Beach, Broward County, Orlando, Tampa, Florida, etc.
Can I go on castings with just snapshots? You could go on castings with snapshots but you need to consider the hidden costs of doing so as you will not make a good impression, you will waste a lot of time going on fruitless castings and, within a very short time, you will end up spending several times more money on gasoline to go to interviews and castings with than a professional photo shoot would have cost - not to mention the loss of your time and the loss of thousands of dollars worth of bookings.
What about babies and toddlers? Babies grow and change very quickly so if your child is under the age two ans a half there's no need to spend a lot of money on pictures, comp cards or portfolios for modeling or casting purposes. All that is needed for babies are a few good, clear pictures that show the child as how he or she normally looks.
We went to an 'open call' at an agency and the so-called agent we spoke to was very insistent that we shoot with one particular photographer. Is this normal? A REAL agency makes money from booking jobs and taking a commission ONLY so if an agency starts pressuring you to buy a photo shoot or anything else from them, you're in the wrong place. So called agencies that do this are known as portfolio mills, they often shoot 10 to 20 model hopefuls in one day and it is very unlikely that you will get usable / high quality photographs this way. In fact, the photos you get will invariably do you more harm than good. Also, most real agencies will not accept photographs and/or comp cards produced by portfolio mills as legitimate agencies do not want to lend credibility to them.
Need more convincing? New York, Florida and California all have laws that makes it illegal for booking agencies to 'split fees with photographers and/or require you to shoot with one particular photographer and/or to buy classes, training, photography services, comp card printing, etc. through the agency and in all other states this practice falls under the more general category of fraud.
Someone claiming to be a model/talent manager approached us recently but they are not licensed. Do managers need to be licensed too? According to New York, California and Florida state law you are considered to be a talent agent if you, for compensation, engage in the occupation of procuring or attempting to procure bookings for models and/or talent. This means that you must have a talent agency license to legally operate in New York, California and Florida and this requirement applies to to anyone and everyone no matter what title they go by: agent, manager, talent manager, model manager, personal manager, etc.
The only exception to this requirement in Florida would be for someone managing only one person or for someone managing a family member in which case a agency license is not required. Otherwise, operating as a model/talent agent or manager in New York, Florida and California without a Talent Agency (TA) license is a felony, so allowing a person with no Talent Agency License License to book or 'manage' your kids is obviously not a good idea. In addition, the hiring of and use of of an unlicensed agent or manager to procure bookings for you is also illegal and could subject you to prosecution.
Why not wait for 'tear sheets' to put in my kid's portfolio and make comp cards with? Waiting for tear sheets to come out can cost you thousands of dollars in lost bookings as 1.) Without good test shots you probably won't book many jobs, if any. 2.) Magazines, catalogs, etc. usually don't come out until several months after the shoot, sometimes longer, so by the time you get the pictures they will be out of date. 3.) If you have tear sheets from The Gap for example and you show them on an interview for H&M Sweden, H&M will not want to book you because The Gap is direct competition and H&M won't want to use the same models. 4.) Magazines and catalogs can be very hard to locate and you may not be able to find one. 5.) Even if you do find one, you will then have to scan the photos which probably be too small to use and/or when you scan them, they will have a very visible dot pattern to them which will make them look terrible when reprinted. 6.) Images used in advertising are chosen to flatter the product NOT the model - and showing unflattering photos will invariably do you more harm than good.
What is the difference between a casting, a request casting and a direct booking? A casting is when a client or a casting director has a large number of kids come to see them in person to see if they look the part and would be right for the job. A request casting is is when a client or a casting director looks at a number of kids' comp cards in advance, narrows it down to a small handful of kids that look the part and then has them come in for a casting. A direct booking is when a client or a casting director books the kids 'direct' from looking at their photographs and/or comp cards - no in person casting required. (A direct booking does not mean the client calls the parents direct to book the kids, a direct booking is booked through an agency the same as any other type of booking.
Do clients ever direct book child models off of snapshots alone? It's possible, but not likely as most of the time you will not be taken seriously.
Do child models get paid to go on castings? No. They sometimes models get paid to go on fittings but getting paid to go on a casting is very unlikely.
How much do child models get paid? Most print bookings for kids pay anywhere from $100 to $125 per hour, $400 to $500 per half day, $800 to $1000 per full day. Commercials are a different story, however, as pay rates range anywhere from $250 per day to tens of thousands of dollars for a day or two of filming depending on whether or not the commercial pays residuals.
Will the client cover travel expenses? If you need to fly somewhere, plane tickets, hotels, food, etc. are usually covered by the client and if you live more than a two hour drive away by car there is a good chance the client will pay anywhere from $100 to $200 per day on top of your hourly rate to cover travel expenses.
Models and actors with up to date professional photos and comp cards from a trusted source typically get five to ten times as many bookings as those without. See proof positive that Photos by Moda Bambini Kids Photography in your portfolio and on your comp cards will make a world of difference in the quantity and quality of your bookings HERE
Can I go on castings with just snapshots? You could go on castings with snapshots but you need to consider the hidden costs of doing so as you will not make a good impression, you will waste a lot of time going on fruitless castings and, within a very short time, you will end up spending several times more money on gasoline to go to interviews and castings with than a professional photo shoot would have cost - not to mention the loss of your time and the loss of thousands of dollars worth of bookings.
What about babies and toddlers? Babies grow and change very quickly so if your child is under the age two ans a half there's no need to spend a lot of money on pictures, comp cards or portfolios for modeling or casting purposes. All that is needed for babies are a few good, clear pictures that show the child as how he or she normally looks.
We went to an 'open call' at an agency and the so-called agent we spoke to was very insistent that we shoot with one particular photographer. Is this normal? A REAL agency makes money from booking jobs and taking a commission ONLY so if an agency starts pressuring you to buy a photo shoot or anything else from them, you're in the wrong place. So called agencies that do this are known as portfolio mills, they often shoot 10 to 20 model hopefuls in one day and it is very unlikely that you will get usable / high quality photographs this way. In fact, the photos you get will invariably do you more harm than good. Also, most real agencies will not accept photographs and/or comp cards produced by portfolio mills as legitimate agencies do not want to lend credibility to them.
Need more convincing? New York, Florida and California all have laws that makes it illegal for booking agencies to 'split fees with photographers and/or require you to shoot with one particular photographer and/or to buy classes, training, photography services, comp card printing, etc. through the agency and in all other states this practice falls under the more general category of fraud.
Someone claiming to be a model/talent manager approached us recently but they are not licensed. Do managers need to be licensed too? According to New York, California and Florida state law you are considered to be a talent agent if you, for compensation, engage in the occupation of procuring or attempting to procure bookings for models and/or talent. This means that you must have a talent agency license to legally operate in New York, California and Florida and this requirement applies to to anyone and everyone no matter what title they go by: agent, manager, talent manager, model manager, personal manager, etc.
The only exception to this requirement in Florida would be for someone managing only one person or for someone managing a family member in which case a agency license is not required. Otherwise, operating as a model/talent agent or manager in New York, Florida and California without a Talent Agency (TA) license is a felony, so allowing a person with no Talent Agency License License to book or 'manage' your kids is obviously not a good idea. In addition, the hiring of and use of of an unlicensed agent or manager to procure bookings for you is also illegal and could subject you to prosecution.
Why not wait for 'tear sheets' to put in my kid's portfolio and make comp cards with? Waiting for tear sheets to come out can cost you thousands of dollars in lost bookings as 1.) Without good test shots you probably won't book many jobs, if any. 2.) Magazines, catalogs, etc. usually don't come out until several months after the shoot, sometimes longer, so by the time you get the pictures they will be out of date. 3.) If you have tear sheets from The Gap for example and you show them on an interview for H&M Sweden, H&M will not want to book you because The Gap is direct competition and H&M won't want to use the same models. 4.) Magazines and catalogs can be very hard to locate and you may not be able to find one. 5.) Even if you do find one, you will then have to scan the photos which probably be too small to use and/or when you scan them, they will have a very visible dot pattern to them which will make them look terrible when reprinted. 6.) Images used in advertising are chosen to flatter the product NOT the model - and showing unflattering photos will invariably do you more harm than good.
What is the difference between a casting, a request casting and a direct booking? A casting is when a client or a casting director has a large number of kids come to see them in person to see if they look the part and would be right for the job. A request casting is is when a client or a casting director looks at a number of kids' comp cards in advance, narrows it down to a small handful of kids that look the part and then has them come in for a casting. A direct booking is when a client or a casting director books the kids 'direct' from looking at their photographs and/or comp cards - no in person casting required. (A direct booking does not mean the client calls the parents direct to book the kids, a direct booking is booked through an agency the same as any other type of booking.
Do clients ever direct book child models off of snapshots alone? It's possible, but not likely as most of the time you will not be taken seriously.
Do child models get paid to go on castings? No. They sometimes models get paid to go on fittings but getting paid to go on a casting is very unlikely.
How much do child models get paid? Most print bookings for kids pay anywhere from $100 to $125 per hour, $400 to $500 per half day, $800 to $1000 per full day. Commercials are a different story, however, as pay rates range anywhere from $250 per day to tens of thousands of dollars for a day or two of filming depending on whether or not the commercial pays residuals.
Will the client cover travel expenses? If you need to fly somewhere, plane tickets, hotels, food, etc. are usually covered by the client and if you live more than a two hour drive away by car there is a good chance the client will pay anywhere from $100 to $200 per day on top of your hourly rate to cover travel expenses.
Models and actors with up to date professional photos and comp cards from a trusted source typically get five to ten times as many bookings as those without. See proof positive that Photos by Moda Bambini Kids Photography in your portfolio and on your comp cards will make a world of difference in the quantity and quality of your bookings HERE
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