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		OPINION MENU - POST OPINION - PREVIOUS - NEXT Sunday, December 17, 2006 Agencies Still Suck. At this point in my career, I wonder why I still bother dealing with agencies. Their bookers have a hard time finding jobs that I don't already know about (the same jobs that I book without going through them). Most of their bookers and agency people, supposed "experts" in the modeling industry, are undertrained, minimum-wage workers which seem to have just left a career of burger slinging weeks before models put up with them in the agencies. Worst yet, new models have the most problems. The bookers in the new face departments are incompetent and don't seem to have a clue who the professionals and the pretenders are in the industry, and some of the photographers who they refer the models to are con artists and amateurs who overstate their experience. Wow. Some "professional" guidance there, guys. Fortunately, most of the models who are working professionals know who the real deal is, and we often choose to skip the agency recommendations when it comes time to update our portfolios. It's not that the bookers always neglect the interests of the models who they represent, it's that they are too ignorant to know any better, and the fault lies with the agency owners who fail to teach them anything but how to make cold calls and how to b.s. people (I see a remarkable connection here between agency bookers and telemarketers). Regarding b.s., that's what most people in the modeling industry do when they don't know anything. They make things up and outright lie to people. Why should models bother listening to agencies when their bookers don't have a fraction of the modeling industry experience that models have? Aren't agencies supposed to work for the model? That's how it is supposed to work. If I hire someone to work for me and to represent my interests, they sure as hell better know more about the industry than I do, and the fact that they also represent my competition (other models) and work for them is a blatant conflict-of-interest and the one main flaw that will eventually kick the agencies into the backseat of the modeling industry as the proverbial spoiled red-headed stepchild. The fact that few people even acknowledge that agencies are a flawed business model is a testament to just how self-deluded and corrupt the modeling industry is. This is why models need to take back the power and the control of the industry. Agencies have been a poor steward of such responsibilities, and their proper place is that of one of the many tools that a model has to get jobs, and they should never be the one and only source of any modeling career. The only way to fix these agencies is to take away their power, and it is happening now, especially now that models are successfully competing with the bookers and are taking the jobs before the bookers can loop themselves into the deal. Just the other week I pissed off this booker really badly, and I would have to say that they deserved it. They knew about a model job that was coming up, and although I was what the client was looking for, they didn't bother telling me about it so that I could be considered. Politics were the game, and they referred some models who were on their buddy lists (despite my candid complaints on here, I am very tactful and polite with all bookers in person. It's just that I am not a model who kisses their ass, go to their special parties, and who put out "special" incentives to be on their buddy lists). It didn't matter, however, as I already knew about the job. Guess what happened? The agency-referred models didn't book the job. I am the one who did. It seems that because I thought for myself and took the initiative, I had an advantage over them. These agency-only models are sure to be as outdated as the agencies will be in the new modeling industry. I guess you can tell by my tone that more and more of us models are fed-up with the b.s. that the agencies put out. It's all catching up to them, and they no longer hold the power and the career-leverage that they once did. Back to my story, you should have seen the look on the booker's face when they found out that I booked the job and that the client did not have to pay an agency fee and that I did not have to pay one, either (why should they? I booked without the agency!). The booker was not too happy, and grumbled a bit about it, and only when I firmly reminded them that they never bothered to refer me to the job and it was their fault did they get more pissed. The booker made some snide remark about me overstepping my bounds, and that's when I told them that they were not involved in the booking because of their oversight, they would not make a dime from it, and if they didn't accept that then I would consider leaving the agency and would work with their competition. Since I am one of their better models, that ended the confrontation right there, but I am sure that I didn't win any friend with that booker that day. In retrospect, it felt kind of good to apply the same sort of leverage on the booker that bookers used to pull on the models over the years. Talk about your ironic role-reversal. They are now reaping what they sowed, and the agencies are just now being put in their proper place of actually working for models instead of treating models like second-class employees. After all, agencies work for the models. Never let them forget that, and inspire them to work harder for us by taking the initiative and giving the bookers some competition for the same job leads. It's win-win. We get the jobs either way, and if we book without going through some middleman agency, we make more money, too. Oh, yes, one more thing. I may have not made a friend in the booker that day, but I have seemed to earn their respect. The agency bookers have increased my referrals, and I am booking more work through them. I guess that they figured since I was booking the jobs anyway that they should at least try to make some money. Regardless, they have lost some of my respect. Perhaps I should fire this agency and move on to a better one. If the tables were turned, I am sure that they would do it to the models, and this is another chapter of why I think that agencies suck. Then again, maybe going to another agency isn't such a good move. The grass may not be growing better on the other side of the sewer, and it will still stink over there. ~ Danielle Cooper, Editor Tampa Bay Modeling Clearwater Beach, Florida OPINION MENU - POST OPINION - PREVIOUS - NEXT
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