Models Switching Agencies

[fritmayo]

^I mentioned Julia's aesthetics though.
I was (mostly) thinking of Ford's new vision under Paul Rowland of unconventional yet interesting beauties. Ford must have however realized that they needed a larger market than such..

well...they had just a look at the financial disaster that Supreme has always been to understand that

And what it must cost currently to Ford to build that board...i can bet you that in afew years, Rowland will move again to start to make huge debts at another agency...

 

[woemwoem]

Julia Noblis now at Ford.
Before Supreme, Rowland founded Women and built it into what it is now.And before Louie C took over as head, Women with Rowland as its head repped Moss, Carmen Kass, Carolyn Murphy, Chandra North, Eva H, and Elle MacPherson. So it's not like he doesn't know how to manage the classically beautiful girl. Shana Zadrick reputedly had the highest day rates of any model when Rowland was her agent.

 

[1FashionVictim]

I feel like Ford's board is looking similar to what Supreme's was like back in the early Noughties, before Paul Rowland's made it all pretentious, but more impressive.

 

[*Bianca*]

I wonder if the remaining Priscilla girls will follow (Ruby Jean, Emily Wake, Alice Burdeu, Amanda W, Zippora, Annabella B etc)? Or will it just be girls at Elite+ following Doll?

 

[John Black]

I wonder if the remaining Priscilla girls will follow (Ruby Jean, Emily Wake, Alice Burdeu, Amanda W, Zippora, Annabella B etc)? Or will it just be girls at Elite+ following Doll?

well not sure about all of them but i believe at least ruby jean will go to ford, maybe emily wake...

 

[*Bianca*]

Georgiana Saraev: Elite -> Viva Paris

 

[cologne_rocks]

Well, not worldshaking, but:

Aiste-Regina Kliveckaite: Muse NY (?) -> Wilhelmina NY

 

[marsnoop2]

Interesting tweet from thehisssquad:

"Methinks Mr Habberly is working it for his girls right this min. Is private mgmt for a super-select half dozen girls the future? I ponder."

I'm guessing Richard is just booking his girls jobs directly, this doesn't ever really work out for models, does it?

 

[woemwoem]

I think Aline Souliers or whatever her name is tried to take this approach with Noot Sears a while back and in the end she placed Noot with DNA so it didn't seem to work in that instance. In the end you really need the support of an infrastructure a proper agency gives you. It's no longer like it was when Eileen and Jerry Ford could handle the bookings all by the two of themselves, taking assignments over one telephone and just telling a girl where to go.

 

[agee]

What kind of infrastructure is needed in 2011 beyond a computer with internet access, a (figurative) Rolodex, a phone and a sound reputation?

 

[woemwoem]

^^What about other people? Can one person negotiate contracts, shmooze the movers and shakers of the industry, book assignments, help build and maintain a girl's book, keep track of invoices, handle all the demands of photographers, editors, designers, and the models themselves? Or maintain relationships with other agencies in other markets, keep track of new girls that agencies elsewhere are looking to place in NY?

 

[agee]

^ It depends on the size of the board, it it is 100 models then no, if it is ten or less then yes.

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

^^today in age it isnt possible, which is why boards usually split up models with bookers...or they will split jobs with bookers. If an agent has a better reputation with client A then they will handle models for that particular job

 

[JustABoy]

Clearly you're right about it being difficult to manage all these tasks, but let's wait to see if these girls fail before we completely rule out the possibility of this working. AFAIK there is a very small list of examples that we can use to evaluate this approach, so blanket ruling it out seems precocious, especially when we know that in 6-18 months if it is a completely failure, the movement thus generated will be documented on this forum. Also I'm sure there will be other people supporting this business in a specialized way, as happens in larger agencies ...

 

[fritmayo]

^^today in age it isnt possible, which is why boards usually split up models with bookers...or they will split jobs with bookers. If an agent has a better reputation with client A then they will handle models for that particular job

I 100% agree with you.
People just dont imagine how many things there is to handle, to make it impossible to be done just by one individual.
The most obvious being that a top girl works in different countries, and that a top agent in NY is relatively unknown in other countries, so that anyway, the management of a girl must be shared internationally which automatically limit the possibility of real "close management".

in the recent years, one agency has been near the maximum of 'close management' concept, it is Silent. In Paris, the 2 owners was caring of 90% of the booking of the main girls, and they were moving in NY when needed, like for fashion week. But of course now they grew up a bit in size and had to change that a bit, even if it still clearly the philosophy they follow.

beside that, of course when a top girl arrive in a new agency, or that a very promising new face is launched. the main booker or the boss will use his contact, to organize her a few special meeting with important clients, it is nothing new, it has always been like that, but it is for limited period of time, to boost the beginning.

 

[nothingless]

Interesting tweet from thehisssquad:

"Methinks Mr Habberly is working it for his girls right this min. Is private mgmt for a super-select half dozen girls the future? I ponder."

I'm guessing Richard is just booking his girls jobs directly, this doesn't ever really work out for models, does it?

Which girls was he managing at Elite? Alessandra, Ana Beatriz, Bambi, Dree - does anyone know who else?

 

[agee]

I am not assuming that if a top agent / booker strikes out on his own that that means that he is doing all the scouting, booking, billing, scheduling, book assembling, phone answering, photocopying and coffee making by himself, presumably he will have paid help and I am pretty sure like others in the fashion industry he will have interns and even wannabe models to pitch in. All I am saying is that infrastructure wise, that it is actually less of a barrier these days than in past years. For example, twenty years ago you had to go out and buy the magazines and wait for them the come in the mail, clip the images and then put them in the models books. These days you "clip" the images from an electronic source like zinio or even tFS and create the books that way, in fact I think that there is software that assembles models' portfolios. It is like opening up a restaurant, the odds are that it will fail but that does not mean that it cannot be done by one person and his / her staff.

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

^yeah there is software to assemble it for the online book, but they still go out and buy the magazines to have the actual copy. Agents hate when they dont have the original copy of something because that means they have to order prints (extra money), and if a magazine or campaign is hard to find then they will have one or two copies mailed to them or an email with super hi-res images to order prints for. Models usually have 2 or 3 books and depending on how big they are they will have more, so agents try to have as many of the originals of an image, unless its a test shoot. Model Agencies usually have an account with a nearby magazine store, so that they can just pick up magazines and have them charged to the agency.

 

[theBlueRider]

^yeah there is software to assemble it for the online book, but they still go out and buy the magazines to have the actual copy. Agents hate when they dont have the original copy of something because that means they have to order prints (extra money), and if a magazine or campaign is hard to find then they will have one or two copies mailed to them or an email with super hi-res images to order prints for. Models usually have 2 or 3 books and depending on how big they are they will have more, so agents try to have as many of the originals of an image, unless its a test shoot. Model Agencies usually have an account with a nearby magazine store, so that they can just pick up magazines and have them charged to the agency.

^correct
the power of digital this and that is changing things but more in the exposure of work rather than the infrastructure.
despite the ease of email and booking software, agencies still use messengers and all the top agencies have multiple portfolios for their girls which they cart around for clients...

the whole talk of one booker or two bookers managing a select group of models at different levels (new/fresh and established) and being successful at it does not work. i know of some agencies in ny who operate like that but it just does not work and those are the agencies that are basically a joke (to you, me and everyone else except for the girls on that board...).
in order for one booker to branch out and work on his own with his own girls, he needs a team working beneath him--and that is essentially the basic structure of any top agency just on different sizes. even silent paris had a team beneath them to do the b*tch work and bread and butter work because time=money and time cannot be wasted.

 

[woemwoem]

I also think that as a lone wolf handling a small number of models, it would be extremely difficult to be plugged into the pipeline for new girls. Why would an agency in Russia or Brazil or China or Slovenia deal with a one-person operation when it could deal with an agency with the resources to manage a girl? Just ask yourself: If you're an agency somewhere in Europe and you want to send your brand new girl with star potential to New York, would you send her to this one-person operation, who has a terrific reputation and track record, but is still just one-person? Or would you send her to IMG or Next or Women or Ford who has a whole team of pros to help develop her?
And if you're not plugged into the pipeline of new girls, you cannot survive these days. The business is so driven by new faces now. Unless your little cadre of girls is comprised of Gisele, Kate, Lara, Karen Elson and other A+ girls, there is no guarantee that in one or two seasons, any of your models will be booking any serious work, so you need a continual flow of new girls to keep your clients interested.