Answering a Reader Question #649

Anonymous Wrote:

I am signed with MMG and it is such a waste of time. They told me about their ridiculous photo package but that was after a contract was offered. In fact when I met with them they wanted me to take the contract home and look it over for a few days before signing with them. In retrospect I knew paying $1420 for pictures was outrageous but I was so happy someone took an interest in me and really eager to start working. Before I paid the price I did desperately try to find other quality photographers in the NYC area. I even asked other models who they shot with but they never got back to me. I've been with them for a year and haven't been sent out on anything. It's strange because I get castings and auditions from this website: http://www.theagencyonline.com/home.php. This proves to me that clients clearly like my look if they're calling me in for castings and auditions. I've even gotten some tear sheets on my own, so clearly people in the industry like my ugly face lol. MMG also charges $425 to be on there website is that normal? Also a portion of the $425 includes digital submissions? Is it normal to pay to be submitted? When a model is with a legit agency how much work should they be doing? How much work should the agency be doing to obtain jobs? I feel I am doing too much. At one point I wanted to re test again because my book was looking stale and boring. I emailed my manager back forth for a month to find a photographer we could agree on. We finally settled on one, because I refuse to pay $1425 again especially when they haven't sent me out, and she later tells me she didn't add the pictures to my book because she ended up not liking them after all. This was during a face to face meeting.On the inside I was pissed because it's like why would you agree for me to shoot with someone and then not use the pictures. I am constantly emailing them and I will admit I know I am really annoying, but it's only because I want this so bad. I am not understating the need to be proactive but I feel I shouldn't be finding and submitting myself to 100% of the castings and auditions I am getting. As you know whether they want to book me is a completely different story. How would you classify this "agency"? Are they a portfolio mill I am unsure if they're that because I know ppl with them who get work. It's just I am not getting work with them. This situation is frustrating however I can't and won't let it get me down. My plan of action is to find a quality test photographer with reasonable prices and pursue better agencies in the NYC area. I would love to sign with Bella Models. I am curious as to how you would classify MMG? What do you feel should be my plan of action to get my career back on track? Also I am curious I know years prior you were signed with ford what about that experience was so bad? Did they ever send on castings? Do you know why you didn't book work with them. I'm too knew to the industry to pursue freelancing like you did. Any advice would help.

Hey, Anonymous!

Yikes, I'm sorry that you've had such an unpleasant experience with MMG. From what I read online, you're not the only one, unfortunately.

The $425 fee they charge for you to be on their website and to be submitted digitally is a huge amount and not normally what agencies would charge for that kind of service, far as I'm aware of. New York is a major market so it is common for certain fees to be higher compared to other markets but at most, I've heard of amounts in the $100 range so the rate MMG gave you is crazy high and definitely makes me raise an eyebrow.

Models typically aren't charged anything to be submitted to projects by their agent so I find it strange that they would charge you for something like that. Very fishy to me.

The amount of work a model gets with a legit agency really does vary upon a lot of different factors. No two models' experiences are always the same. With legit agencies you should at least be getting sent out on castings a few times a month, minimum. There are slow seasons where there isn't a lot of work to send models out on but to not be sent out at all after a year is pretty lame.

From what I've heard about MMG they are legit BUT they tend to treat each model differently...some they favor and will go the distance to perform the work required of an agency to get those models assignments but for others they simply have them sitting on the books and won't do much with them. I think it's a matter of favoritism and office politics.

Since you are in the latter category, I strongly support your plan in seeking new representation. Models and agencies aren't always a good fit together so while it sucks about your experience, it isn't an uncommon scenario in the industry.

It's funny that you mentioned how you're too new to the industry to pursue freelancing because the situation you described where you said you got auditions and castings from that one website actually qualifies as freelancing. So you may not be as new as you thought. :-) Definitely keep working with that site since it seems to be getting you some kind of results.

My experience with Ford was out of the ordinary because the office that was set up in San Francisco at the time merged with another agency and acquired its talent. That usually doesn't happen so it was out of the norm. So I was brought onto Ford's books that way. What I didn't care for in working with them was the fact that any castings they did send me out on were "cattle calls," the type where everyone and their Granny showed up, which meant less odds that I would get noticed or chosen. They would also send me to castings where the client clearly wasn't looking for a model who looked like me.

I had the same experience as you: I always checked in with my booker, asked questions about what projects were coming up and even asked if they had any clients who used "ethnic models." Ford ended up favoring all of their runway and fashion girls and as a print model I felt like they didn't really care about finding me work. So I freelanced on the side and got my own gigs because otherwise I wouldn't have done anything! Eventually, when it was time to renew my contract, we both decided not to and that was the end of it.

The Ford in San Francisco has since closed and it was because of terrible mismanagement from what I've heard from insiders. They even had a bunch of their fashion models quit the agency because Ford tried to tell them they needed to redo their books and wanted the models pay to reshoot everything. So whoever was in charge didn't really know what they were doing. The people at Ford were super nice but we just didn't see eye to eye and I felt like I was lost in their huge roster of models to the point where I didn't feel I mattered to them.

Like I said, not all models are a good match with all agencies. It's common. I've found that the bigger agencies don't always mean they're better. Boutique agencies are amazing because they only have a small number of models they work with, which personalizes the working relationship and they also have really great clients they worked with. Just something to consider.

Aside from the new photos you plan on getting through testing with photographers in NYC, also make sure to get quality non professional, digital snapshots that you can leave with agencies when you attend open calls. As nice as professional pictures look, agencies eat up snapshots because they feel it gives them the ability to truly tell a model's potential without all the retouching, makeup, fancy hair and outfits to distract them.

So be prepared on both ends with your photos and you should eventually find an agency that you feel good about who is willing to do what it takes to get you noticed in the industry.