The Booker: Model Manager And Big Brother

What do modelagents actually do for their models? Model managers take over the administration and the organization, or all arrangements, between clients and models. Customers, that is, customers, are constantly looking for new faces for their photoshootings and videos. In both areas, there are a lot of applications and examples of jobs where you can work well as a model. The process is usually the same: Customers usually submit a request, which is then processed by the model agent. Usually very fast, so that the agency gets the supplement. He or she will ask the customer the right questions about booking. This is not just about simple things like working hours, but also about complex travel plans or the negotiation of usage rights. As a model agent you do not have to be communicative and like to work with people, you also need a good business sense. Especially when it comes to negotiating fees, contracts or the just mentioned rights of use. The most important tasks of a model manager at a glance:

1. Management of inquiries
2. Preparation of booking requests
3. Conditions and contracts
4. Briefings for Models
5. Travel arrangements
6. Billing and processing
7. Model Jobs! From casting to the customer

As described above, there are a variety of work opportunities for models! Customers make a lot of inquiries in agencies: events and events, photoshootings, as well as video conversions for advertising or social media marketing campaigns. The questions differ greatly in the challenges on the set and the prerequisites of the models in advance. In addition, the budgets and specifications of the customer. While some customers, eg. Provide additional travel budget, other customers only give the salary.

Each model agent and agent must therefore also be well acquainted with the places of residence as well as the current staging places of the models. Some are in the home, other travels or are from distant countries. Add to this the characteristics of the models. Agents must also always be familiar with the personalities of the models. If the customer, for example, Has a special request for Paris, one should directly know models from Paris. Of course, the same applies to many other cities, whether Hamburg, Berlin or London. As a model agent, you have to keep all the information (for customers, team members, production teams, models, etc.) and, in the ideal case, most of them even answer the question. Often, discussions are made directly in meetings or during meetings, the tablet or your own smartphone is therefore never far from the model agent. This allows you to react flexibly and quickly to the wishes of the customer.

Office work and business management: everyday for model managers

Beaches? New York City? Most of the time, you spend as a modeling agent in the office! So pretty 80 or even 90% of the job happen in the office. Since you are constantly looking for information, the e-mail program is of course the best friend of the bookers. With the flood of information, you need a place where you can manage all the inquiries and the ongoing bookings.

Communication is the A & O. That is why agents in model agencies usually sit together closely. Especially in larger agencies, a booker no longer manages all models, but only a part of the agency’s entire portfolio. In order for communication to be fast and simple and not to take place by many means or via telephone calls, most model agencies choose a very communicative office environment and open spaces. That is, the tables are relatively close together, the rooms are relatively large, so many people have their place. Efficiency is very important in management.

How do you become a model agent?

Modelagent is one of the few professions that you can not do with a classic vocational training. There is also no course of study dealing explicitly with the subject of model management. That’s why all ModelManagers are somewhere else. Most were previously in the field of media or in sales. A few had also dealt with other subjects and industries, Modedesign, Sportsmanagement or Art Management.

Being a modelagent is also not easy, in Germany there are only 30, 40 good model agencies. Of these, half is international and the other half is more limited to the German-speaking market. Even in the largest German model agency, there are just over 100 employees. In smaller agencies, there are often only one or two employees, partly the booker even works all by himself. His or her job then consists less in the concrete mediation to jobs, than in the mediation of models in larger foreign agencies. There they are then for a few weeks or months to work. New York, Hong Kong, Milan, all the goals of aspiring and experienced models. Afterwards it goes to the next city or to the next country! On average, each agency has only about 8 to 15 employees. There are perhaps only 150 to 200 model agents in Berlin or Hamburg. These are not many, so the entry is also relatively difficult!

What conditions do you have to bring as model agent?

As an intermediary and an agent you have to do with people every day, all day. Whether it is in meetings or in meetings, by phone calls or even in the e-mails. A large part of the profession is always about communicating with people. These include not only models and customers, but also project managers from other companies, their own team members, photographers, make-up artists, stylists and event agencies. With all these conversation partners you have to always be friendly, as the fashion industry is special and it is not “just about screws”, but about providing for spectators / people at events, in photoshootings or in video productions beautiful moments.

As a booker you need decision-making power! Advertising and advertising shots also always sell a piece of dreams and a feeling of life, many of which dream in their daily lives. Therefore, it is important for model agents to always be able to make asap a good selection:

1. Who brings the emotions to the customer perfectly at the moment of the shoot?
2. Whose measures have the optimal width for clothing?
3. Whose smile enchants seconds?
4. Whose teeth are so perfect that they could also be used for toothpaste advertising?
5. Which feet are nice to have a high-quality high heel?
6. …

The questions are becoming increasingly complex, the longer you think about them. So it is also as a model agent! You have to make the decision about all the questions asked by models, by customers or by other team members. You are the person who is responsible for everything in the end. As a model agent, you do more than just make phone calls or answer e-mails. You’re the ultimate link for advertising campaigns to help make fashion shows perfect, or film twists the perfect performers. So whether it’s advertising or photoshootings, you’re a 24/7 contact for your customers and models.

Model agencies are looking for managers, not self-actors

If you want to become an agent in a model agency to get to know your own models, you are absolutely out of place! As a model agent, one bears a high responsibility, especially for his youngest models. Absolute trust, seriousness and efficient management, are the absolute foundation for every agent who wants to bring it to something. Anyone who just wants to party will not have a lasting success. Perhaps it works for a week or two, on the long term, but the industry is very small and it is fast talking around when someone does not do a serious job. So you can not increase yourself and your agency will not benefit from you. That’s why all the agencies are already in the run-up, who can work for you and who is not. Trust and seriousness is an absolute avenue for every model agency and should be a booker in a model agent.

Away from the office? Showrooms, fashion week and events

If you have made it through professional work to make a name for yourself in your model agency, you will sooner or later ask your agency to take on more responsibility. You will accompany photoshootings from the customer or take over the organization at the Fashion Weeks. Then you’ll be quite seldom in the office for a few days or even weeks, and will do a lot outside. This is not just about individual shows. In the run-up to any event or advertising production, many meetings take place, in which all parties concerned discuss conditions, conditions of use, travel expenses and also location visits. Especially for larger productions like events or shootings, the expertise of an absolute specialist for the customer and for the agency is goldworth. That is why, as a model agent, you are more than an intermediary!

Project management, art management and event management

As just described, as a model agent, you are not only a simple intermediary and “only” the link between the customers and the models. The longer you work in the profession and the more you trust your agency, the more tasks you can take. So you come from the art management to the more comprehensive project management. Here, there are countless ways to work from fashion shopping to customers via fashion week to blogger and influencer events that are becoming increasingly popular. Nowadays you are always a little social media manager. Due to the high reach of the models, especially by Instagram or YouTube, more and more customer models are booking for product placements and product promotion. Why are models also popular as influencers? As a model you stand for a healthy lifestyle, a lot of sport and for many trips. For many companies, models are therefore very interesting as brand ambassadors as they stand for this positive.

As in any profession, responsibility increases with one’s own experience. So you can also see much of the world and learn a lot of new things. The world of fashion and advertising is very interesting, here one can make daily exciting experiences. As a booker in one of the big agencies, you also get to know interesting new people. That is on events, showrooms or even on the often mentioned fashion weeks, which within the industry do not bring so much sales but new contacts and a little leisure, with like-minded.

Sounds exciting? It is! As all these criteria are met, it can go very far. We wish you much success with your next application and say toi toi toi!