Modeling or Acting

My friend does modeling for local clothing places. The companies send her the clothes and she takes her own photos. She gets to keep the clothing as payment.

It is very simple and the is no travel unless she decides to do something different for the photo backdrop.

I am drawing a blank on the name of the company, but you probably just search the Internet for local photo modeling.

I will message or post again if I remember the name of the company.

Take your energetic child to the park. Take her to a library story time. Take her to the zoo and to playgroup or a Music Together class. The modeling and acting puts too much pressure on little ones and is usually pretty inappropriate to their natural development. Let your kid be a kid. If it's something you are interested in, find out what to do so YOU can be a model or actor.

Childhood only comes around once. If she's destined to be an actress or model, let her pursue it when she's older-- and if she's interested.

I've posted about this too many times to count.

I had a good friend whose kids were THE MOST beautiful and energetic kids on the planet. So she got them involved in modeling. She drove into the city regularly and sat in hallways, played with toys on the floor, ate out of a lunchbox, and waited and waited for auditions. And then they were mostly rejected. Turns out there are a lot of beautiful energetic kids around. Who knew. (They did make it into some print ads and one very low-budget local commercial.)

While they were doing all this, the rest of us were taking our kids to the park and the zoo and museums, riding bikes with them, hosting playgroups and taking park district classes, etc.

Don't do it. Let her be a kid and decide when she is old enough if she wants to do it.

Omg... She's a 20 month old child and you are already thinking along these lines???

Modeling/acting is WORK

IF an agency is interested, they will let you know.

IF anyone suggests you spend ANY money... RUN don't walk away.

I've modeled most of my life, my daughter models as well.... It is WORK

If you get into it ( we don't, it's only side opportunities) you go to auditions which might not be convenient for you, they are ruthless, so be prepared to hear that your child is not a match and take no offense to it,

If you do manage a rare opportunity... Put all $$ into an account for your child because it it your child working.... Not you

The overall best thing to do is to allow your child to be a child.... Go play, interact with other children and don't focus on potential earnings your child might make for your benefit.

The modeling industry is brutal and if you don't have a thick skin as well as your child.... Then your child's self confidence and esteem will be destroyed.

Bottom line... Don't be so into the fact that your child is the next star so much that your mind gets shaded and in the end scammed. Ruthless people prey on parents who believe they have the next star.

Allow your child to be a child ... They grow up way too fast. Why try to market them?

In all honesty, I think all of us believe our kid could be an actor/model. Every little thing they do delights us, and we think they are so darn cute. Every time we take them someplace strangers comment on how cute and friendly they are, and we often hear, "Aww, he should model!"

REALITY?

A very small percentage of kids whose parents try to make them into models/actors actually get picked for it. The vast majority end up wasting precious time, money, tears, nap hours, etc and nothing ever comes of it.
I know LOTS of families who have tried modeling (my sister's son included), but know of only 1 whose kid has ever been chosen (he models for Target, but that's based in Minnesota, and the M. was approached at Target by a Target manager and asked if she'd be interested in having her toddler model.)

If you do pursue this route, don't give ANYONE a penny. Don't pay photos. If they are a legit modeling agency THEY will cover the costs. Above all, don't alter your daughter's daily routine too much to fit their schedules. She needs homemade food, good naps, time to run around outdoors, downtime, etc, all of which are hard to come by if you are driving around trying to make it to auditions and photo sessions.

I had a nephew who did some print modeling a few years ago. He was approached by a REAL agent (not a school) at a local mall and the work he got was sporadic and unreliable. Sometimes his M. would drive him into San Francisco (which was over an hour away) only to be told they couldn't use him that day after all. He was 6 to 7 years old at the time so that got real old, real fast.
Whatever you do DO NOT PAY FOR ANYTHING. My nephew was represented by a real agent, the agency paid HIM (and not much I might add, and NO compensation for travel time.) Legitimate modeling (or acting) does not require any upfront costs. The classes, workshops, photos/portfolios are ALL a scam. If a real agency likes your child all they need is a head shot, which you can take yourself. There are all kinds of cons out there. My kids and I have been approached at Target by these people TWICE. It really pisses me off because of course my youngest buys into it (they use lines like "we represent your favorite Disney stars, maybe you could try out to be on one of the shows?") Ugh :(
Also, I hate to say it, but most of the work is in LA or New York, so you can check around for local agencies but I wouldn't expect to find much, no matter how darn cute your kid is.
And as far as acting goes? A 20 month old doesn't know how to play a character, or read or memorize lines!!! Wait until she's 8 or so and if she wants to perform enroll her in a theater group/school.

Those are typically the children they reject because they are more difficult to control on set.

Well she is not a twin so you can rule out acting.

Do you really want to rob her of her youth on a lark that will probably not pay off? Say we say go here....then what? You make her sit for a mess of pictures, pay a fortune to create her portfolio, then drag her to auditions when her friends are playing at the park. How long do you think it will be before she is no longer happy and energetic?

Do you really want to put your kid through that? Modeling is a tough business and most of it consists of rejection. Do you really want to tamper with her self esteem at such a young age?

We all think our kids are the most beautiful thing ever with the best personality ever. Doesn't mean they should model or act. Most kids I know like being the center of attention & performing for others, again, this means nothing.

What about a constructive activity that actually teaches her something?

Hi, Full:

Save your money. Help her to learn something constructive
in your neighborhood.
Good luck.
D.

If you want your child to work, you'll need to get head shots taken, find an agent and start taking her on auditions. She can't act at her age, as a singleton. Auditions pretty much consist of being in a room with a hundred or more other moms and babies, and being rejected 99% of the time. It's a full time job for you, if you are serious about it. It takes a lot of time and isn't necessarily fun for a young child. To make the most of her bright and bubbly personality, maybe it's time to think about some kiddie dance or gymastic classes when she turns two?

All I can tell you is I had a friend who did it for 9 months and said never again. Her son did gets jobs but she said it just was not worth the time
and aggravation. Not what she wanted for her son. However, everyone is
different. Wherever you go, just make sure it is a reputable agency.

Go to fordmodels.com and post some pictures for them to reveiw. They are lookin for child and baby models all the time because kids up so fast.

If you go to the website just follow the prompts.

Since you are in Baltimore, try Taylor Royall - google them. We have our kids with an agent in PG County but most of the auditions are in Baltimore so it's a haul for us since we both work. Mine has been doing this since he was 3 and we still haven't gotten professional pics done b/c work is sporadic. Our daughter has gotten work too and again, w/headshot pics we took ourselves. If we could do this full time (going to auditions at the last minute) it would be fine b/c our kids love it. But we both work full-time so we miss opportunities. Also, we haven't spent a lot of money on this either. My kids have made more in just a few jobs than we have put into it. We do ask them first if they want to go and the answer is always yes. Good luck!

So this past week we stumbled into an opportunity to have my 7 year old shoot in a commercial. This is something we had thought about but not persued so we took the opportunity as an easy way to test the waters. There was no audition either so that was nice. when I arrived I immediately thought I could not do this "life." Parents had their kids' portfolio all out. I was like ok I know I haven't done this before but this is not an audition so what is the portfolio for? Moms were obsessively doing their kids' hair. (wasn't there going to be hair on set? Yup there was. and all of them had it done on set) Some of the kids had shot before so they were a little clique-y but the parents were worse. Some parents were really nice others would not talk to you. My daughter had to go "studio school" because she is 7. One M. had all of her daughter's homework to do (darn I wish I had thought of that) but didn't have crayons. My daughter had 1 of the boxes from the studio school and she asked if she could have it. My daughter said really politely that she was using them (she was) but that she would be happy to share and even offered to share her seat. The daughter was hesitant because I guess her M. doesn't let her really interact with other kids on set because they are competetion. (but again, it was not an audition. they already "got" the part) Her M. did end up letting her in the end but it took a minute. So the reason I tell you this is just because it really is a whole different world. In the end my daughter had a great time and would like to do it again. I am open to that but to go through a whole audition process might be a lot so I would definitely need some boundaries set up. And thinking about what we might want out of this we are thinking maybe a few commercials and some modeling. It can't hurt to stash a few bucks in a college fund. I am not super sure how to start with an agency but your daughter will need to get a work permit and a Coogan bank account to get paid. The agency should help you with that but you could start researching banks to see where you want her money to go.

Call the top agencies in NY and get on the train!