TAMPA BAY MODELING
Born
Beautiful
A
short story series about the adventures of a model By C. A. Passinault
Episode
1: Independence
PAGE
1 - 2
- 3 - 4
- 5 - 6
Go
And See The Go-See
Page
2 of 6
The
walls were barren, with scuffs in the drywall. A lone picture frame was
hanging lopsided from a nail in the wall. Several girls were sitting in
chairs lining the room, and they didn't bother to look up when Cameron
came through the door. She held onto her worn leather portfolio and scanned
the room for an empty chair, or some place to sit. There were none. The
air in the room was warm and stale; a collage of a thousand brands of
cheap perfume. Cameron made her way into the room and eyed the painting
on the wall. She shook her head, crinkled her nose. It lacked composition.
A door on the far side of the room opened and a thin, beautiful lady stood
halfway through it, reading from a clipboard.
"Jamie Miller, you're next. He'll see you now."
A pretty girl in the middle of the room gathered her book and her tiny
purse and got up. She looked at Cameron and flashed a friendly smile.
"Here, take my seat."
"Thank you!"
Cameron moved into the warm chair. The other models didn't seem to notice
her. Jamie entered the door and the woman shut it behind her. Cameron
opened her portfolio and started going through it. She hated the waiting
part with these go-see's.
"That picture rocks!"
Cameron laughed. "Excuse me?"
The girl next to her moved closer. "Wow. Where was that taken?"
"A park in Northdale six months ago."
"Who took it?"
"The photographer was from Aurora PhotoArts."
Cameron thumbed through a few pages. The girl pointed out a swimsuit shot
of her in a Jacuzzi.
"What about that one?"
"Craig Huey in Orlando."
"You have some awesome pictures!"
"Thanks."
The door opened again, and the woman with the clipboard reappeared. Her
eyes were locked on Cameron.
"Hello there. May I have your name, please?"
Cameron looked up.
"Cameron Passi. I'm here for the 5:30."
"Right. We have you down. It will be a few minutes. Make yourself
comfortable."
The woman smiled at Cameron before vanishing into the realm behind the
door again. Cameron glanced around, noticing that this time several girls
were staring at her as if she had just appeared out of thin air. One of
them was staring her down. She smirked.
Cameron returned to her portfolio. There was one of those at every go-see.
The door opened, and the woman let Jamie out. Jamie looked hopeful as
she headed toward the exit. She glanced behind her and left.
Wow. That was fast. The girl was too pretty to have been dismissed so
soon.
"That girl was a Hawaiian Tropics Swimsuit model." The girl
next to Cameron
whispered, "Lot's of bikini pictures in her book."
"Do you look at everyone's book?" Cameron laughed.
"Well, you know, it gets boring!"
"Hi." she extended her hand, "I'm Cameron. My friends call
me Cammy."
"My name is Missy."
Missy's hand was bony and clammy. Cameron noticed that her badly chipped
nails were press-ons. Not a parts model, for sure.
"What kind of modeling have you done?"
Missy shrugged. "I'm kind of new. A lot of TFP and some swimsuit
work. How about you?"
"A lot of catalog, some editorial, swimsuit, a few local covers,
a couple of runway jobs in Miami Beach, and some fashion print. I do mostly
catalog. It pays well."
"How long have you been doing this?"
"Since I was eight. I was born into the business. My mother was a
catalog model back in the eighties. She was one of the best until she
went to college and gave it up."
"You've been a model for eight years?"
"Ten. I'm older than I look."
"What agency are you with?"
"A few. They get me work, but I got this one on my own."
Missy was surprised.
"Can you do that?"
"Why not? I've found that a model who takes the time to educate themselves
and prepare is better than most bookers."
"I just got signed by the Johnson agency in Safety Harbor. It cost
me a lot to get my portfolio pictures, but they are starting to send me
on castings."
"Have you even booked yet?"
"No."
"How much did you pay for the pictures?"
"$1,200.00 . At first, it was $600.00, but the pictures didn't come
out. They had me do another one. You have to spend money to get started
in the business."
"I'm sorry." Cameron said, shaking her head, "Take my advice-
If you don't start booking, go see an attorney. Agencies
are forbidden by Florida state law from making money selling portfolios,
or by referring you to a photographer and making money from the referral.
An agency is only supposed to make money by finding work for you and by
referring you into those jobs. Too many modeling scams make their money
by baiting you with supposed-jobs or the promise of representation, and
then they scam you by switching and selling you something."
Missy didn't seem to care.
"I hope this job is a good one."
Cameron looked around. How many models had been scammed by photo mill
agencies? Most of the models in the room looked like they could book the
job. The psycho model across the room was still burning her with her eyes.
She wasn't blinking- at all. Creepy.
Cameron glanced back at her portfolio and pulled out a print out from
an insert sleeve. "Catalog print for a retail start-up-
who knows. I couldn't find much on the company."
"It pays well, though."
"Perhaps a little too well."
Cameron pulled out a few sheets of paper.
"What's that?"
"The art director gets to sign it. It's just to make sure that this
go-see is the real deal."
"Can I see it?"
"Sure."
Missy looked at the papers. She seemed confused. "I've never seen
anything like this."
"Keep it. I have more." Cameron chimed.
"This is an affidavit?" Missy asked, "Why do we have to
use affidavits? Where did you get it?"
"I printed it off of the Independent
Modeling web site. They are free, too. When you don't
know who you are dealing with exactly and if you don't know if the go
see is legit, you have to do what we call clarify and verify."
"Clarify and verify?"
"Clarify their intentions and verify their references. The ASA agreement
that you have right now is for go-sees. It's just to make sure that this
isn't some bait and switch scam where they try to sell you something."
The door opened again. The woman glanced down at her clipboard. "Melissa
Lines."
"Oh!" Missy jumped up, "That's me! It was nice to meet
you, Cammy!"
"Nice to meet y......."
Missy was gone. She was already through the door. Cameron noticed the
stack of papers that were left on the chair. Missy had taken everything
but what Cameron had given her.
She shrugged. Well, she tried. At least she would make them sign the agreement
when it was her turn. She retrieved the papers, stacked them neatly, and
put a paperclip on them as she slid them beneath her portfolio case. She
thought again about Missy. She missed the chance to check out the portfolio
that she was sure that the photo mill agency had ripped her off with.
She seemed to have modeling potential. Why wasn't she booking?
Two more models were admitted. The minutes crawled by. The model seated
on the other side of Cameron was reading a cheap novel. Cameron looked
down at her portfolio, and sorted through it. The woman came out again,
calling another model. Missy emerged, heading to the exit. She was crying.
Her makeup was running down her face.
Cameron perked up. "Missy? Are you ok?"
Missy made a detour toward Cameron on her way out.
"They said that my pictures weren't good." She whispered.
She left without another word.
The model that was called was the one that had been staring at her. She
paused as she passed by on the way to the woman with the clipboard.
"Passi. You must think that you're hot shit."
Cameron was surprised by the rude comment. "Excuse me? Who are you?"
"I've seen you around. I'm sure that I'll see you around some more.
Good luck, princess!"
The girl chuckled and walked the rest of the way to the door.
"Friend of yours?" The model who had been reading finally spoke.
"I have no idea who that was!"
"She doesn't seem to like you."
"Seems like it. What's up with that?"
The model returned to her novel.
Cameron couldn't wait to get this over with.
Next
Page: The Interrogation
Of Cameron Passi
PAGE
1 - 2
- 3 - 4
- 5 - 6
PUBLISHED 05/13/11
UPDATED 05/13/11
© Copyright
2004 Independent Modeling. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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