Seeking Moms Who Have Experience with the World of Baby/toddler Modeling

Hi A.! I have experience with baby/toddler modeling and it is a lot of work for the parent mostly. You have to take your child to what they call "go sees" or more like an audition. The company hiring models takes pictures of your child sometimes dressed in their outfits and then they call you or your agent to book (if you are lucky). It's like a brief job interview for your child. There are plenty of websites that are legit that will help you find agencies who specializes in child modeling. It is best to have an agent to represent you since that is their main focus. It can pay very well. My son (who is now 12) was in Mervyns and Macys print ads that paid him $150 an hour for each photo shoot he did when he was 2 years old. The average time at a photo shoot is about an hour, but sometimes it can run long. It can be rewarding, but like I said, it is a lot of work, driving around town, taking pictures of your child and sending them to agencies that would accept him/her as their client. I wasn't working at the time so it was fun. I eventually went back to my career and it ended my son's modeling career. I hope this helps. Good luck!

I don't have experience but I have a friend who wrote an article on modeling, and she took her son out for a spell to try it. In her brief experience it seemed not quite worth it. It takes a lot of time, it is like a job for you as a parent, and the payoff is rather elusive. It's hard to get jobs that pay very much (her one job paid like $100). Yes, it would be amazing if you land a national job, or TV, but much of the work out there is smaller scale. So you spend a lot of time shlepping, waiting, seeing, waiting, hoping. It might be great work if the kid loves it, but if she finds all that tiring or annoying then it will suck for you both.
The one piece of advice is don't pay for anything. You could find lots of modeling agencies in the city I'm sure, but reputable ones won't charge you sitting fees or anything.

My daughter is currently in the business. I got her started in June and she's been to at least a dozen go see's and done 3 shoots. There are ups and downs, but mostly good experiences. It's exciting to see your child in print, or on a website (mine is currently on the Pottery Barn Kids website).

One major thing to consider is your child's personality. My niece is absolutely beautiful, but super shy so she wouldn't be good for the industry. Also, if you work it can be difficult to manage the go see's unless you have someone who can take your daughter when you can't. You also have to be available sometimes for an entire week, just in case they want you – you’re put on ‘hold’.

You shouldn't have to pay anything to an agency to get started. The only upfront costs we had were headshots and a sign-up cost to be on a website called SkyBolt that clients use to choose models. I submitted 5 photos of my daughter to the agency, they met with her briefly to see how she would react to them, I then attended a meeting with the agency to go over guidelines and turn in a signed contract.

There have been good and bad days. Mostly my daughter has had fun at the go see’s and shoots because she can play with other children. I think she’s had the most fun at the ones that are ‘cattle calls’ where about 100 kids are running around playing while waiting to be seen, lucky for me we’ve only had a couple of these. About half the time I’ve been notified a few days in advance for a go see and the other half I find out between 4:30 and 5:30 one evening to be in SF the following morning around 9 – I’m an hour outside the city so it takes some planning.

Please email me with any questions. I’d be happy to help.
S.

I talked to my friend about it about my daughter, she went thru it with hers... basically, age wise, you want to make sure she is good around other people. Around age 2 they get a little picky in that area so if you havent started it before then, you may need to wait til they are about 4, or, just over the shy stage.

My niece did some modeling when she was around 4. I took her to some of her appointments. It is a lot of work. You have to find an agent. Pay for photos. Those always have to be updated-especially if you change her look at all. You have to set up special checking accounts. Take her to auditions. The photos shoots I took her too were for Disney. She was in their catalog a couple of times. She did enjoy those photo shoots. They were good ones. It can be time consuming, but if you have the time and can be there and you really want to invest in this. It is going to require quite a bit of money on your part. My sister decided not to continue it. My niece is now 12, but she only did it for a year. My sister was working full time.

My son did fit modeling for a while. Its different in that they don't take pictures of your child. They just try on the clothes and see if they fit properly. He worked for Janie and Jack and went about once a week. We got called with as short notice as one day but I was not working at the time so it was fine. Fit modeling is more based on your child size than looks but it paid pretty well. He made anywhere from $80-150 an hour. My daughter went to probably half dozen go sees but was never the right size. My daughter also went to numerous other auditions with print and acting and was an extra in a marine world commercial. She was older and there was always a lot of other kids there when she went.It took a lot of money and time and was h*** o* her self esteem. Both kids would like to have continued but I had to go back to work and was unable to continue going into the city on short notice. We have a friend that has a college student take her daughter to go sees and jobs. Good luck in your decision.

Hi A.,
I am a mom of a child in the industry. We have had a positive experience so far. My son has booked both modeling and acting. It can be a bit time consuming though. You don't have to pay lots of money to get started either so be careful. Should you and your family decide to pursue the modeling business remember that you are the parent and you have to keep your childs best interest at all times. If your child gets booked a lot they can get burned out and that's not what you want. My advice is to let your child have fun with it once it becomes work to them or they become disinterested let them move onto another hobby.

Hi A.,

My son has done one print ad for Macy's and we've been signed up with our Agency for over a year. We have been to probably 5 or 6 go-sees, which are definitely a pain. We live in the East bay and the casting calls are all in the city. We drive for 30 minutes, park (which as you know is not free!) run upstairs, wait our turn for the call, get a few photos taken, leave. All in all it usually takes us at least 2 hours for the casting calls and he's only been to one photo shoot. That was actually a good experience. Under an hour and everyone (Macy's) was really great. If you decide to do it you have to be prepared to head out to a call with a day's notice (usually a few more than that, but not much) and you have to remember to update work permits, photos, sizes, etc. every few months. You also have to remember to "book out" if you are sick, leaving town, unavailable... It's sort of a pain but really exciting when they do get that call for the print shoot!

One other thing, the way our agency works is you can choose if you will do SF (print) or LA (which can lead to TV ads, etc.) If you do LA you have to be prepared to head down there with little notice.

I'm happy to give you our agency's name if you decide you want to go ahead with this. We did pay $100 initially for a introductory type meeting but haven't paid anything else (aside from time, gas, parking!) You shouldn't have to pay anything to get started (other than maybe something like we paid).We were referred to this agency through friends of my aunt's who have used them for years (their triplets are in a bunch of Macy's and Mervyn's ads).

Good luck!

A.,
Follow your instincts. The folks who would 'help' you get your child into modeling stand to make a profit. The up-front costs are very high and babies are remarkably unable to pose or be reliable in their moods. The pressure on both you and your child would be enormous. Enjoy your toddler, take lots of pictures of her for fun, and forget about the modeling.

You'd better really want it, 'cause "schlepping" is a good word for it. Haven't done it personally, but I've heard a lot about how it basically consumes your life. And unless you live in a major urban center you will have to do a lot of traveling to go to go-sees.

do you have a job? if so, that could be a problem. you have to be ready to run to an audition at any time, and they don't care whether your baby has slept or not. there often are lots of babies in front of you, and you may wait a while. there is no guarantee of work. it has turned out to be a pain for us, i'm really skeptical of the industry to begin with and my partner conveniently forgot it was mistly his idea and now asks, "isn't our contract over YET?". we can't wait be to be done with it. that said, our daughter did book a $300 job and made $240 out of it (the agent takes a cut). good luck withyour decision!

Hi A.,

I was in some modeling several years ago.

When my son was little I had people stop me all the time and tell me I should have him on television. One of my clients was in modeling also and I spoke to her and she advised me to check out a children's modeling workshop to see if my son was interested instead of running around to agencies and waste my time to find out he was not.

I put him in a workshop in San Francisco for 8 weeks to find out he was scared and did not like to be in front of the camera and all the people. That was a great start to see if he was interested or not.

If your child likes it then you get some head shots done and check out agencies. Make sure you are prepared before you go out there and get discouraged.

The different agencies are all looking for certain looks.

I can not say it enough make sure you are prepared before going to an agencies because they will remember you if you are not.

It is a lot of running around to shoots and agencies and you have to be available when they call, as if you are not they will take you off the list.

If an agency wants your child they will pay for any training if they ask for you to pay it is because they are supporting a modeling school.

If I can help you with anything more questions feel free to ask.

Good luck.

Happy New Year.

N. Marie

I don't think it is uncommon for people to suggest your child is model material. It happens to us with our daughter and all of our friends. Yes, they are all cute but I think people recommend "modeling" as a compliment and should not be taken too seriously all the time. We pursued it ligthly after Pottery Barn approached us and we had phone calls from them and invites out to the city, but at her age (12 months at the time) it didn't seem like the best thing, at least for her. There were better things to do with her rather than dragging her into the City, messing up her schedule. If she really is model material she still will be that at an age where she can decide if this is somehting she really wants to try out.
Good Luck,
A