Answering a Reader Question #701

Anonymous Wrote:

I was wondering if you new if CP Talent Management has a non exclusive or exclusive contract?

Also How do I find out about open calls from brands/stores, etc on my own for my 1yr old son?

Hey there, Anonymous!

In most cases agencies do not publicize outright whether they work with exclusive or non-exclusive contracts. I did take a look at the CP Talent Management website, however, and on the "About Us" section, they do have a sentence that says, "Remember, you can have only one person representing you."

In the context of what the rest of the page says, this leads me to believe that they work with exclusive contracts.

As for the other question you have about finding gigs for your son, that is going to be very difficult to accomplish on your own. Brands/stores that work with models in general, especially baby/child models, solely provide that information about upcoming castings and work opportunities to agencies directly.

Brands/stores don't typically deal with people individually when it comes to hiring models and instead rely on working with modeling agencies simply because it is a more effective and convenient way for them to book reliable models/talent. Parents of baby/child models tend to be known in the industry as being overbearing, hard to work with, etc., which is another reason why these companies would rather give their criteria to the agencies and let them take care of the legwork in terms of finding the right models to use.

The only time I've seen brands/stores promote open calls or castings for their projects is if there's some kind of model search to find a new face or something similar. But as far as the run-of-the-mill castings for baby modeling projects, it's going to be tough for you to find this on your own. But you may want to try looking into local casting agencies/casting websites that may post notices regarding these types of projects.

Casting agencies are not the same as modeling/talent agencies. There is no contract or representation. You essentially set up a profile on their website with photos, stats, applicable work experience, etc. and by being in the casting agency's database, you can then receive email alerts notifying you whenever there is a casting that your son fits the criteria for.

However, not all markets have solid/legit casting agencies/casting websites. So your current location will have a lot to do with whether or not this resource would be one available to you. For the most effective results, you'll want to look at casting agencies that are location specific. By that, I mean avoid casting sites that target nationwide projects (i.e. Explore Talent). The majority of clients/companies looking for models are going to want to deal with someone local or at least within driving distance. Sites like Explore Talent put casting notices out there for stuff that may not even be taking place in your state of residence. 9 times out of 10, this is just a waste of your time to submit to something that is hours away because in all honesty, the casting team is likely going to go with somebody close to them.

But by working with local casting agencies/casting websites, this increases the odds of you finding legitimate work for your son because you'd be dealing with companies that are closer to where you live.