The Model Agency Mega Thread

[fritmayo]

.ok, right for new models like Liu Wen or JuJu Ivanyuk (talking about d'management), BUT..Kate Moss, Eva Riccobono, Lily Cole, Lisa Cant, Naomi, Eva Herzigova, Claudia Schiffer etc are all girls far from the catwalks now..they did their money..so what d'management does in Milan for them (considering they're with big agency in NY & Paris)?

Most of girls in the list are not really managed as "model" anymore, they're more in the celebrity style of management. At the level of Kate of Naomi, they have clearly their personal team around to manage all their stuff, so i think that the agency web site they are is rather irrelevant (even in Paris and NY), they probably have not been near a booking table or talked to a booker for years

 

[AlbertNoir]

Most of girls in the list are not really managed as "model" anymore, they're more in the celebrity style of management. At the level of Kate of Naomi, they have clearly their personal team around to manage all their stuff, so i think that the agency web site they are is rather irrelevant (even in Paris and NY), they probably have not been near a booking table or talked to a booker for years

 

[MikChick]

I think Milan is the place to start out for girls who were not "worth" enough to be located to Paris. I may be wrong, but apparently the truly promising girls are directly flight in to Paris while girls who have been taken by agency networks for stragecy-related reasons with motheragents or who knows why go to Milan and end up doing two bland test shootings and Jil Sander showroom.

Wow, I never knew that!
So actually the best thing to do is, if you're from Europe and you want to become a model... Send pics to Paris agencies, haha

 

[fritmayo]

Wow, I never knew that!
So actually the best thing to do is, if you're from Europe and you want to become a model... Send pics to Paris agencies, haha

or u can also avoid to waste your own time and to go to a mother agency who will directly know which level and which city you can expect to start

 

[MikChick]

Good one

 

[cologne_rocks]

What is the deal with AL Models NY? Do they operate as the motheragents of girls listed on the website? I've been wondering about this for quite some time as many of their girls were discovered by little East European agencies and are still signed to them as well as AL.

 

[bothsidesnow]

I've always been puzzled by mother-agency agreements. What's the story with them? What does the mother-agent get in return when they hand over one of their models to a New York agency?

 

[sleb]

cologne_rocks, there are different things that should be distinguished: local agencies, scouting agencies, mother agencies. Al does the scouting primarily for the networks, sometimes just for big agencies in the major markets. The local agencies are the parts of their scouting network. A scouting agency bills the rest of the agencies for their MA commission and then shares it with the local agencies (as a variant).

 

[sleb]

bothsidesnow, MA commission probably, no?

 

[mainstay]

A mother agent generally gets 10% of the total earnings of a model. For example, if I as a mother agent have a girl with an agency in NY at a negotiated rate of 10% commission, and the model makes $100,000 in the year, I earn $10,000, the agency earns $10,000, the model takes home $80,000 and generally agencies charge an "agency fee" of 10% to clients so they earn more profit on top of the commissions..

 

[sleb]

A mother agent generally gets 10% of the total earnings of a model. For example, if I as a mother agent have a girl with an agency in NY at a negotiated rate of 10% commission, and the model makes $100,000 in the year, I earn $10,000, the agency earns $10,000, the model takes home $80,000 and generally agencies charge an "agency fee" of 10% to clients so they earn more profit on top of the commissions..

Sorry, service charge which the agency receives from the clients is normally equal to 20%.

 

[bothsidesnow]

A mother agent generally gets 10% of the total earnings of a model. For example, if I as a mother agent have a girl with an agency in NY at a negotiated rate of 10% commission, and the model makes $100,000 in the year, I earn $10,000, the agency earns $10,000, the model takes home $80,000..

Thank you. I thought something like that. I guess this means though that models who are signed with M/A commission agreements are placed at a disadvantage compared with similar models who are signed to the agency unencumbered? Surely the NY agency would rather not share their commission!!

 

[fritmayo]

Thank you. I thought something like that. I guess this means though that models who are signed with M/A commission agreements are placed at a disadvantage compared with similar models who are signed to the agency unencumbered? Surely the NY agency would rather not share their commission!!

Not really, the big majority of agencies "accept the system" as they perfectly know it is not by themselve they can go to find 14 years old new faces in small Russian villages or in Brasilian favelas.

Some big agencies even support financlally yearly some MA to have first options on their new faces.

 

[agee]

From nymag.com

Top Model Agent Louie Chaban Reinvents Elite New York

This past summer, modeling agency Elite New York saw a mass exodus of agents, many of whom took their best (and most profitable) faces along with them. Coco Rocha, Alessandra Ambrosio, Caroline Brasch Nielsen, and Kate King, among others, devotedly followed their agents to Wilhelmina, DNA Models, Marilyn Agency, and Ford Models, respectively (with the exception of Brasch Nielsen, who was placed at Marilyn). With many of their notable faces now gone, Elite's board suffered this spring 2012 runway season, with nary a single new face landing on a major catwalk.

But the agency seems poised for a comeback thanks to a new hire, agent Louie Chaban. Arguably one of the best in the model brokering business, Chaban's successes include the rise of Agyness Deyn; he also helped navigate the careers of Karen Elson and top nineties model Christina Kruse. Chaban, who comes to Elite from Women Management, has brought several of his top clients to Elite with him, including Deyn, Elson, Kruse, Cameron Russell, and Jamie Bochert, according to Elite's blog. Guess spokesmodel Alyssa Miller has also joined Elite's board this week, leaving her former agency, Marilyn. Whether Elite will regain their former status remains to be seen, but this certainly is a strong start in the rebuilding of one of modeling's best-recognized brands.

 

[Mariann]

This thread seems to look at commerical agencies as well as those top fashion agencies. I have a question which may bring mixed views but how much work can an average model expect from a top agency such as Marilyn, Women, Premier, IMG, Next, etc?

How much work per week or month can an average model expect signed with just one of those agencies?

 

[cologne_rocks]

^ This question can't be answered because it depends almost 100% on the model and how experienced she is (in terms of skills, book content, career level). There is no "average"... If girl's look is good and talented, of course she will fare better than a not so talented girl that was just taken from the same agency for policy-related reasons.

 

[Mariann]

Thanks for that info.. didn't think it all depended on experience and books of the model, etc.

 

[fritmayo]

Thanks for that info.. didn't think it all depended on experience and books of the model, etc.

i would say it just depends of one thing: Success

the agency is irrelevant, there are girls on IMG or Next web site, who did not book more than 2 jobs in one year, some others are in the few best working girls in the world...


Also number of jobs doesnt mean much about income, considering some jobs can be paid as little as 200 euros, some other 2000, and some other 200.000 and more...

 

[Mariann]

I got a question how does it work when models are signed to agencies and get work, is it that the clients request specific models after viewing the books of the model or book them from the website for example for the specific job or mostly that the agency finds the models work as clients request models, the agency decides to put some models forward to them and the client decides. Do models use websites to find themselves work from featured casting calls? How does it really work?

 

[christian zh]

The video about IMG Models Agency