Sunday, April 11, 2010

Testing with agencies

Okay. TOO MANY people have asked me how I do it. How it works and how to come about testing. So here are the things I must tell you if you are looking forward to testing or planning on doing it.
First things first. You need to live somewhere where there are modeling agencies. So NYC, LA, London, Milan, Paris, etc.
You should have at least 12-15 very strong pieces to show the agent when you contact them. Or an online website with your work or digital portfolio. Keep a printed book too, because some of the agents will ask you to go into the office and meet them.
Step one : call the agency and ask them to speak to the person who is in charge of new faces.
Step two: tell them who you are why you are calling
Step three : they will most likely ask you to email you them your portfolio. So you do that. If they are interested in your work and want you to test with their models then they will email you back.
step four : I CANT STRESS ENOUGH but this is for YOUR BOOK , YOUR OWN PORT , so that it could get better. Don't fuck up. Dont shoot client work with a test shoot. The agency will be pissed off and fucking mail you a bill for the model.
step five : if you do test. If they like what you came up with, keep testing with the agency. If they really like you, they will help you out with hair/makeup/styling and all that fun stuff.

THE MODELS will give reviews on you to their agents. How they liked you, if you were nice, if you were cool to work with. The more good reviews you get, the better it is for you :)

P.S. When I first started out testing with agencies, I called the smaller once first. I got turned down by those and some agents hated the work I produced. Just remember that it can happen. Don't get too bummed about it. Just keep your chin high and keep trying. One best advice I got about this was "never take NO for an answer and fight for what you want to get". I now work with some of the biggest agencies in nyc and only because I never gave up and believed in myself.

3 comments:

  1. this helped so much hannah, thanks!

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  2. Sorry if this seems like a stupid question. I was just wondering what the difference is between client work and a test shoot?

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  3. Client work in the context Hannah is explaining is when you get a model from an agency for free (i.e. for test shoots) and you decide to use her for a job which you've been paid for. It's a big No No.

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