Small Town Model Agencies
Male Models should experience no trouble getting paid if they are signed with a top modeling agencies located in big cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Miami.
However, if you are trying to be a male model in a small city, like Ann Arbor, Birmingham, Savannah, etc, it is highly likely you will experience delays in getting paid by a modeling agency in those cities.
How Modeling Agencies Operate
To understand why it is common for guys to run into trouble, you need to understand how smaller modeling agencies operate and the struggle they encounter in generating a profit.
Modeling agencies act as your promoter or "agent" and arrange paying Model Jobs for you. Modeling agencies do not hire you. They try to get others to hire you. They earn 15-20 percent of your earnings. So, if you get a $1000 modeling job, the check you receive from the modeling agency will only be $850.
Therefore, modeling agencies must may for all their overhead costs (phones, postage, furniture, staff) out of the $150 they earn from you and all the other models they get modeling jobs for.
Frugal Modeling Agencies Are Good for You
First, someone like you will likely choose to sign with a flashy modeling agency rather than a low budget operation. You may visit three modeling agencies in your hometown. One has marble floors, nice furniture and a lot of staff. Another might be a two-man operation that works out of someone's home or a small office.
Guys like you want to "hit the big time" and tend to get impressed by flashiness. Ironically, it may be the agency operated by one woman with an index card file that represents 12 guys who can get you the most modeling jobs.
A modeling agency with hundreds of models and flashy decorations and furniture must pay for that shit. Furniture costs money. Decorations cost money. And there simply are not enough modeling jobs available in small cities hundreds of models to each receive a lot of work.
Using Models' Earnings to Pay Overhead
So, this is where flashy agencies get in trouble: When agencies experience a lull in modeling bookings, they must still pay their bills. So, they use one model's $1000 check to pay their bills and don't pay that model until they receive a second check for another model's earnings. Then the second model must wait to get paid until another check comes in.
So, you can see how trouble can brew with even the most ethical, well-meaning modeling agencies. You experience the brunt of their working capital problems.
Sometimes a modeling agency cannot overcome this problem and close - leaving some models unpaid.
Might Lose Jobs If You Pester Agencies for Your Check
It is a universal truism that anyone who owes money pays the person who bugs them the most. If a person owes Mastercard money, and Visa money. Mastercard will get paid before Visa if Mastercard phone the person more often.
However, an agency knows when they are overdue in paying you. So, they avoid you. When they avoid you, they tend not to give you any more modeling jobs! They don't want to call you to go to a modeling job in June if they still owe you for a job you did in November. If an ad agency or video production house phones the agency to request to hire you, the agency may actually lie and tell the caller that you are not available... Because they want to avoid paying you for your overdue debt. They send another model in your place.
Now, if you call your agency and bug them, they will tend to pay you to get you off their back, but may never get any more modeling jobs for you! (Which may be good - because they may be on their way to closing.)
How to Get Paid On Time
So, how do you counter this problem?
Promote yourself with clients. Mail your comp to clients in your area, always reminding them that you are available. If a client wants to hire you, but you have not paid for a modeling job they previously hired you for, say you are available for the job, but still haven't been paid for the last job. The client will call your agent and tell them to pay you. This lights a fire under the ass of a modeling agency.
Never attempt to get greedy and bypass you agency. He transaction must go through your modeling agency, but By continuing to make clients know you are available, you assure that you get paid by your agency, because clients are requesting you.
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