Answering a Reader Question #1,004

Tom Wrote:

Hi, I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me, relating to the various different boards that exist within male modelling? I’m mainly looking at UK based agencies where I’ve seen some such as AMCK models list both a new faces and development board. What’s the difference? Many others will also list an image board and direct board in addition to the regular main board and new faces/development board. Who are the image and direct boards aimed at? Also what are the circumstances in which a model ends up assigned to each board?

Many thanks in advance.

Hi there Tom!

Great questions! These different boards are created to help clients better understand the categories an agency has for the models on its roster. It also serves as an organized way for those working at the agency to know who belongs where.

New Faces describes the models who are literally newbies. They have little to no modeling experience and, as a result, don't have a solid body of work put together yet. They're usually in the middle of scheduling test shoots to build their portfolios. This tells clients they are available for work but there isn't much to showcase in the way of professional images at the time of booking so digital snapshots/Polaroids are typically submitted instead.

Development is similar to New Faces but these are the models that have already done the test shoots and are ahead of the curve because they've got some experience under their belt. So they may have portfolio images and comp/zed cards put together but maybe not tearsheets because they haven't been hired yet.

Image and Direct are often used interchangeably but they basically represent the models who are not available to attend castings or go-sees. This might be due to them not living in the area (that's often the case with models who are represented by several agencies internationally). However, they are available to be booked directly (that's where the Direct comes into play). When a model is a direct book, that means the client wants to work with that model even though they haven't met them in person. That's because the body of their work speaks for itself. 

Models who are on Image and Direct boards are the cream of the crop pros who have a huge portfolio to showcase, tons of work experience and tearsheets to boot. Clients know they can deliver and hire them based on the strength of their portfolio and reputation alone. Needless to say, supermodels and "It" models are on these boards.

There is also the Main board, which is just a way of saying to clients that this group of models are actively working, have experience and are available for castings and go-sees.

Once a model is signed, it is up to the agency to determine who goes on which boards based on experience (or lack of), how soon they think they can groom the model to be ready to attend castings and go-sees, etc.

I hope that helps and thanks again for bringing up such a great topic--it inspired me to do a blog post about it to break it down even further for my readers!