I’ve written about modeling scams before, but the questions about dubious modeling services, agencies, and scouts keep coming. As long as there are modeling scams (which there will be for as long as there are aspiring models), I’ll keep issuing warnings!

How to Spot a Modeling Scam

Often you can tell a legit website with photos of successful models from one with sub-par models featured on the home page.

IMG London: A Legit Model Agency Site

That’s one tip that could help this reader, as well as a reminder that alarm bells should go off if a company asks for money up front (in this case, even before meeting the aspiring model).

Her Question:

“I recently put up a pic and applied to a website in London (I am from Ireland); I received a text message saying they saw my application and would like me to ring them on a number he had sent me in the text. I did and he said they would like to see me in three weeks as my pic shows modeling potential. They sent me an email and would like to see me to assess me. They need 50 pounds deposit and I will get it back if I show up.”

My Answer:

Stay tuned for a blog post on model agency open call times, coming next week.

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Wake-up call: that is not at all how it works. First, you have to figure out which agencies are legit and which just want your money for classes or fees (read 5 Warning Signs You Are Being Scammed by a Modeling Agency). Then you have to find out if the agency wants to rep your cutest kid ever, whose photos may arrive along with 100 other submissions of cutest kids ever on any given day. Should you “luck out” and land your tyke with an agent, then the real work begins (which is why I used the quotes; you may soon be wishing cutest kid ever got dumped in the trash rather than signed on).

Few clients book from photos alone. They will want to see your kid live, often along with 250 other kids from a 50-mile radius. Some clients will have callbacks, so you may have to schlep your kid two days in a row to photo studios in remote locales (try Union City, NJ, from CT, for example). Usually all for nothing. The odds just aren’t in your favor, no matter how CUTE, with a capital C, your kid is.

And all these castings cost money. It’s not that clients ask you to pay anything (turn and run if that happens!), but believe me, you pay. Here’s an example:

On Monday, both my 10-year-old son and my 3-year-old daughter had castings (for how we “lucked out” and landed with an agency: read More on Kid Modeling) in New York. We paid $25 for train tickets to New York, $16 for a taxi from Grand Central through midtown traffic to 31st and 11th Ave (we usually take the subway but there is no subway that goes close enough to that locale to not leave us all swimming in sweat on a 94-degree day), $17 for a taxi back, and $50 for a parking ticket (I know, this is a recurring theme; read Toys R Us Booking Equals Mega Bucks?) cuz there was a traffic jam on the way to the train station so I had to park in a 2-hour spot. I figured I could have my sitter move it, until I realized the second set of keys was locked inside it. Oops.

We have heard nothing from those castings, which is usually the drill. Especially when the pre-casting prep for the 3-year-old (“big laugh when they say ‘cheese!’”) did not work. She gave ‘em a half-hearted smile that would be unlikely to sell any Children’s Place clothes, even though she is the cutest kid ever. There are no do-over’s at castings. They shuffle the wee ones through the line like parts on a conveyor belt, shoot a Polaroid (time allotment: 10 seconds per kid), and out you go.

Still think it sounds like fun? OK, you may have what it takes then. Hopefully your kid does too. Keep reading. I promise to write more soon about the rewarding aspects of stagemomhood.

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An aspiring model living in a small town far from any major modeling hub is likely to encounter the modeling school ploy. You go for an agency interview, and the director (or sales person, basically) advises you take classes before embarking on your catwalking career. You can’t really blame them; the fact is that there just isn’t enough modeling work in most small cities (or even in some big but non-fashiony ones) for agencies to survive on bookings revenue alone.

Barbizon Modeling/Acting Centers

This is exactly what happened to me when I had an interview with Barbizon in Rochester, New York, at age 11. They wanted my parents’ 800 bucks before they’d discuss representing me. At the time, that branch of the ubiquitous modeling schools did have a legit agency. There wasn’t much modeling work in Rochester then—there’s probably even less now—but the Barbizon agency got the calls for castings when they happened. Actually, they were the only game in town, and after my eight weeks of pricey classes, I got some bookings.

What I don’t know is what would have happened if we called their bluff, if my parents had said no dice on the $800, just rep her if you think she has potential. If someone looks like a supermodel, this will work. An agency isn’t going to let a star slip out the door and head elsewhere. But sometimes it’s hard to decipher if a school is even associated with an agency. You definitely do not want to plunk down hundreds of dollars, or worse, thousands, at a place that has zero potential to ever get you a modeling job.

So, do your homework. Call around to any companies in your area that might employ models: department stores, any big companies headquartered near you, boutiques that do their own catalogs. Ask if there is an agency/agencies they call when they are looking for models. Check the Better Business Bureau and see if there are complaints about any “agencies” you are considering. Google is a great research tool also.

If you have a complaint, comment about it here. Let’s get a Community Agency Watch going here and on my Facebook page!

As for Model Scouting Conventions, click on the link for a thorough look at the pros and cons of attending one. (Note that Genesis and Model Search America no longer hold scouting conventions, but check out MSA’s database of castings across North America. Also, the First Option Guide is no longer available.) Proscout has been around for decades and has launched some stars.

Remember, you can always submit photos to the big agencies in New York and have your potential assessed at no charge and with no strings attached. Most of them have submission details on their websites. Here are links to a few: Ford, IMG, Wilhelmina, Next.

Just be prepared, competition is fierce at these top agencies. They reject more than 99% of the submissions they receive. But, sometimes they are wrong. They all rejected me at age 17. At 24, after modeling in Europe for several years, I easily found representation in New York.

I don’t have any regrets about that $800 we gave to Barbizon. The skills I learned there weren’t necessarily helpful in the real modeling world, but Barbizon definitely served as a stepping stone to a long and fruitful career.

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