What’s it really like to work with modelling agencies?

Whether you’ve thought about becoming a model in the past or not, you might have been curious about just what it takes to find work through modelling agencies. It all seems so far away from the way you’d usually go about finding work. You might have an initial interview (or an audition, they’re pretty much the same though) just like you would with something a little more conventional, and it’s still a case of proving that you’d be better suited for the job than anyone of the other candidates.

It’s a bit easier to prepare for a normal job interview. You can look back over your application, view the advert you applied for in the first place, and review your CV to remind yourself that you were born to do this job.

With modelling agency jobs it can be a little bit trickier. You won’t necessarily have the experience, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do the job. Many of the people who sign up through Talent Management have never worked as a model before, and they turn out to be naturals! There’s no real requirements other than aesthetic ones, and often these can be anything from female modelling, ‘woman aged 40-50’, to child modelling, ‘3-year old blonde girl’ and more. The descriptions are sometimes vague and sometimes specific, but modelling agencies won’t send you along to auditions which you’re just not suitable for. If you fit the bill, we’ll see if you’re available and want to try out, but if you’re not you don’t have to worry.

So what do our models say?

working with modelling agencies

We recently provided no less than seven models for a video advertising campaign with the world’s largest bookmaker, William Hill. Gwynneth, June, Anne, Shirley, Vivien, Sandra and Helena were all selected to take part at the photo shoot which took place at Kempton Racecourse in Middlesex (not all modelling jobs are in the city!). With a fee of £200 per model, our ladies made a total of £1400 between them for just a few hour’s work.

Vivien’s Story

My video shoot booking with William Hill was my first assignment, so I was very excited and a bit nervous beforehand, however I had such fun with the other models and actors involved!  We were all made up and put in clothes that made us look like old grandmas, and we then had to run a race at Kempton Park Racecourse, named ‘The Gran National’.  The other ladies were all given either walking sticks or Zimmer frames, but I was the only one lucky enough to have an actual mobility car which was such fun to drive!  I have definitely gained confidence in my abilities from acting in this video.

My daughter persuaded me to sign up with modelling agencies, as I used to be a model in my late teens and early twenties. Now that I am semi-retired, I thought it would be fun to get back into modelling again. Having completed one assignment with Talent Management, I can’t wait to be asked to participate again – hopefully very soon!

June’s Story

I had the most amazingly fun day yesterday – meeting some lovely new people and going to Kempton Park Racecourse where I would probably have never gone to if not for Talent Management!  I was a bit nervous beforehand, but all the people there were so lovely that my nerves soon disappeared. When I got to the shoot location, I was made up to look like a proper granny. My makeup made me look like my mother!  The other ladies were all made up in a similar way and after putting on the granny type clothes, off we went on the racecourse to make a spoof video of the Grand National – in this case the ‘Gran National’!

I will definitely be recommending Talent Management to my friends – I had so much fun on my assignment and I also got paid for it.  Not bad!