BMG Print Modeling Interview

Yesterday I had my first interview with a commercial print agency in Los Angeles. I have to admit that I would never want to work as a receptionist in a modeling agency. A lobby populated with inhumanly beautiful people could very quickly lead to a nasty case of body dysmorphia. What then, you may ask, was I doing interviewing in a print modeling agency? Well, just like commercials, commercial print ads utilize all sorts of people, including the dorky boy next door (see: me). In addition, print modeling is a good back door into securing representation for commercial acting. If you prove yourself to be dependable and book frequently, there's a good chance that the print agent will introduce you to the commercial agent.

In all honesty, I'm not sure how BMG ended up with my headshot and resume, but about a week ago I received an email from the head of their print modeling department. I previously had met with Ilana Turner, one of my classmates from Richard Seyd's class, about print modeling. She recommended a number of agencies (BMG being one of them), and gave me some advice about building up a book. A book is model-speak for "portfolio". You build it up pretty much the same way you do anything else, start by giving your services away for copies of photos and eventually raise your rates once you've established yourself as capable.

Knowing that I needed a book, I spent the better part of the morning printing out photos (mostly from my headshot session 2 yrs ago) and putting them in an artist's portfolio. Being fairly broke, I just took the samples out of my design portfolio and plopped in my modeling prints. All of this work was reduced to 6 seconds power-page-flipping during the interview. BMG seemed to run a very professional and active operation. The only questions that I was really asked were "What's your job? Is it flexible?" Apparently a lot of actors/models flake out on auditions which puts their agents in quite a spot. Especially with regards to print modeling, because for the most part when you have an interview the client really wants to see you and maybe a couple other options.

Once again, I'm really grateful for having such flexible day jobs. I should find out sometime early next week one way or the other.