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Tuesday,
February 27, 2007
Professional Alternatives.
Corrupt model and talent agencies, shady model searches, and model consultation scams will lose their leverage as more models learn and apply professional alternatives to their modeling careers.
We’ve
received many E-mails from models and other readers who are under the
impression that we are against modeling agencies. This is not entirely
true. We recognize that modeling agencies are a legitimate part of the
modeling industry, and they have been since it began, but at the same
time we really want models and other modeling industry professionals to
realize that model and talent agencies are no longer the only way to have
a career as a professional model. They are now an option, and are one
of many sources for modeling jobs. Any model who solely depends upon modeling
agencies to book work is selling their career short, and any model too
ignorant to think for themselves and who allow modeling agencies to manage
their career is not in control of their profession and all too often have
to put up with conflicts of interest and questionable ethics.
Conflicts of interest? Well, actually, there are. Think of agency bookers
as salespeople. A model, being a subcontracted worker, is like a small
business. As a business, having salespeople selling you is a great thing,
but what if those salespeople are also selling your competition? Wouldn’t
that be a professional conflict of interest, and should any professional
compromise and accept such an unbalanced business relationship? Should
you trust these salespeople? Do agencies only represent (and sell) one
model? Of course they don’t. Modeling agencies represent many models,
and that is a conflict, and when they also try to give models career advice
and try to manage them, the model really needs to question their motivation
and the credibility of the guidance given. Model and talent agencies are
working conflicts of interest and operate on flawed business models. They
have stayed in business and operate successfully in spite of themselves
simply because they were the only game in town. The past tense, of course,
is our way of pointing out that they are no longer the only game in town
and that there are now professional alternatives that all models are obligated
to explore. To ignore these professional alternatives is professionally
irresponsible, and those who are content to blindly do the agency thing
in their careers find that their opportunities, and modeling careers,
are limited. Your competition are no longer accepting those limitations,
and they have an advantage over anyone who is professionally complacent.
Those models who choose to remain ignorant and who lazily depend upon
agencies will find that the smarter models who have more initiative will
book more work than they will, and those models will have modeling careers
that are truly successful.
Should you trust model and talent agencies? Well, have they earned your
trust through what they do and say? With agencies operating under the
assumption that they are the only “legitimate” and professional
way for models to have a modeling career, it sets up a monopolistic mindset.
In their attempts to manage the competing models who they represent, an
environment of manipulation and exploitation is maintained without any
concrete threat of penalty. With these people assuming that they have
power and leverage over the careers of models, do you think that they
have any incentive to play fair and to be honest with models? Of course
they don’t! With more and more models learning about professional
alternatives, however, and applying them to their careers, many modeling
agencies are waking up and are being forced to be more ethical and professional
due to the fact that they now of more competition and are no longer the
only thing going on in the modeling industry.
Regarding model and talent agencies in the Tampa Bay area, there are very
few which we trust. Why should we trust them when they are not honest
with us? We have evidence of questionable activity at many of these modeling
agencies, and the professionalism and ethics which they utilize are often
shady. As an example, we’ve heard about agency bookers in Tampa
slandering people because they are afraid of them and want to discredit
them in the eyes of models. It always backfires when the model learns
the truth and discovers the motivation of the booker and the agency’s
opinion. Have you heard of the so-called “professional” agency
booker in Tampa who is telling people that a popular photographer is having
problems with the law because he supposedly “beat up” (assaulted)
a model? Not only does this booker not have any proof to back up their
allegation, but anyone can do a simple check to find out that the booker
is lying and is spreading malicious rumors because this photographer is
going out of his way to help models and the integrity of the modeling
industry and the agencies don’t like it. Any agency which knowingly
employs bookers who lie to people and slander true professionals is not
professional or ethical, and although they may not realize it, they are
setting themselves up for serious liability in the future. Could you imagine
what would happen to the credibility of an agency which was sued for slander
and had a judgement against them? Rumor has it that legal action may be
taken against some agencies in the future, and we are looking forward
to the time when these shady agencies will be held accountable for their
sins against models and the modeling industry.
We have other issues with modeling agencies, too. The top model scams
for the Tampa Bay modeling industry in 2007, which we are presently hard
at work to fight against, are model searches and model consultation scams.
All of these model scams use the lure of being referred to agencies and
potential modeling agency representation as their main draw. As more and
more models and aspiring models realize that there are professional alternatives
to model and talent agencies and that they have more possibilities open
to them, these scams will become less effective.
The professional alternatives are presented throughout the Tampa Bay Modeling
web site and on ally modeling resource sites such as Independent Modeling
free of charge, and all that you need to do is check it out, learn, and
apply it to your career. It’s up to you.
~ Danielle Cooper, Editor
Tampa Bay Modeling
Clearwater Beach, Florida
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