Good Day. Photographer, Tom Brooks of Toledo, OH with a very heartfelt message. models take note. This was a really eye awaking thought that is rarely discussed to young men and women as they go to chase their dream. "I've learned there are different tiers of modeling as a career. There is frequently a need for local models for conventions, car shows, local TV ads, and local businesses making a product. then you have a regional level (it seems) that is basically the same as local, just in a larger market...Chicago, Atlanta, Houston/Dallas, etc. Then you have the major markets like NYC, LA, Miami.
One of my models went to IMTA and had 3 major houses interested in him, including Click, but he can't do it. Truth of the matter is...for a major market like NYC he needed to live there. he figured he would need about $12,000 to do that. First is the move, finding a place to live, waiting for an assignment along with 40 or so other guys in the same agency, then waiting 60-90 days for a check from the gig he would shoot in, which would have deducted from the first check the money they paid out for shoots just of him and other expenses incurred...in short, he couldn't afford it.
When the agency here in Toledo signed high schooler Katie Holmes, her parents were well off and could afford to fly her and her mother to LA or NYC for auditions before she was signed to Dawson's Creek. the guy i was shooting is now depressed...he has worked for a year to get to NYC only to be faced with the reality that no matter how good looking he is, it is still a dream blocked by financial resources. i am going to tell this story to any little girl or boy who comes to me wanting to be a model."
Do you think that you can make it today in the modeling world with a hope and a dream? Is it still possible for a street kid, or a country gal to be able to get discovered and make it? what say you?
LD
