Insider Model Agent: Modeling Conventions (Pt. 5)

6. Conventions = Agent Freebies
And here’s the big secret. Modeling agents go to talent and modeling conventions because they get free trips, all expenses paid, to places like New York and Los Angeles. For many of them, they aren’t interested in making connections with aspiring models.

They’re interested in hanging around with their fellow agents…

Nothing you can do about that.

7. Look for the Badges
Agents will wear special badges that identify them as such. You won’t touch an agent with a ten foot pole during the competition. But here’s a list of places outside of the competition where they’re accessible and available:

• Hallway walking to their private rooms.
• The hotel, bars or restaurants.
• Outside of the hotel at nearby bars or restaurants (yes, this is the real secret).

And here’s a real great place to get close to a modeling agent. Most IMTA and other conventions are held at business hotels in major U.S. cities. These hotels have pharmacies nearby, such as Walgreens, Rite-Aid, Duane Reade, etc.

Haven’t you found yourself picking up a tube of toothpaste you forgot or contact lens solution when you’re out of town? Same thing for agents. Because this is an industry concerned about appearances, no doubt you’ll find an agent picking up something they forgot such as makeup or eyeliner at the nearby drug store.

8. Look for Agents Without Badges

Sometimes you’ll be in a hotel lobby or restaurant, and the agent will be mobbed with other aspiring models. Get close to them?  Forget it.  You’ll never even get close. And if you did, the agent would be so harassed and frustrated, they wouldn’t be in the mood for your pitch.

So what you do – take a note of who they are. And when they’re somewhere else, without their badges on, go up and introduce yourself. Even in the bathroom. Yeah, sounds pretty tacky, but you gotta have guts to make it in this industry.

9. Try Remote Connections

Can’t get close to the real action—the modeling agent?  Get close to the person close to them…

Agents may have colleagues, spouses, or even personal assistants. When you get close to their “entourage,” it’s as good as getting close to them.

10. Always Have Headshots and Contact Info Ready
You never know when you may run into a modeling agent. And if you run into one of them and don’t have something to give them…it’s almost like you don’t exist.

11. Drop the “Yes Sir, No Sir” Schtick
It’s tempting to be polite to an agent. And yeah, politeness is always better than rudeness. Agents don’t like rudeness more than anyone else.

But when a model comes off as passive or subservient…that’s a problem.

What subservient means is a model who doesn’t have an attitude.

A model who doesn’t feel “entitled” to be a top, famous model.

You really have to develop this cocky attitude like you’re going to take the world by storm. But balance it with enough politeness that the agent isn’t going to slug you.  If in doubt, tip on the side of attitude instead of politeness.

I’d have to say that this last rule is the most important one, and the one that aspiring models don’t know about.