Expert: Kitty Kavey - 5/22/2008

Question
I am a 17-year-old girl who is interested in starting commercial/glamour modelling in the next few months (however I know I can't really go down the glamour route at this age yet). I'd like to get signed to an agency in London where I live, however in the next year or so there's a good chance I'll be moving abroad. Is it realistic, considering I can cover flight costs, to have agency in one country but live in another? How regular would the work of a relatively (but not hugely) successful model be, on average?

Answer
There are a lot of variables to take into consideration for your question, so my answer to it will reflect that.  

Let's say that you sign with a local agency now to represent you for commercial print work.  How much work you get could depend on your look/what the local market wants, and how hard your agent works to get you work opportunities, and what kind of clients the agency has.

But let's say that you do well, have some really nice credits under your belt, and then move abroad.  Where you go next can throw in another variable.  If you move to Norway, no matter how many credits or how much work you have done, it may make less of a difference in that market than if you move to say, New York City.  

On the other hand, if the agency you are currently working with has contacts to another agency in the country where you go to, the transfer could be a successful one - you'd have some credits from London, and a referral from someone the new agency knows.

Commercial print modeling tends to be quite local work, and often doesn't pay enough for you to be able to cover the costs of travel from the new location back to your old one - although I do know commercial print models (in the US) who live in one state, and travel on their own (by train or car) to other states for jobs.

Glamour modeling tends to pay a bit more, and those type of jobs/clients may be more willing to look further afield for models, or travel with models to do shoots outside of a local studio.

There is somewhat more of an opportunity for glamour models to become more well-known, and many make the crossover into television and other areas that further open up their ability to work a larger market.

Certainly you can try signing with a local agency now, and work until you move out of the country.  When you are 18 and wish to pursue glamour modeling, you may even need another agency to represent you for that type of modeling - as some commercial agencies do not handle other areas of modeling.

When you move, you may have to start all over again looking for an agency, you may be able to get a referral to another agency, or you may make contacts on your own that are are able to hook you up with an agency in your new area.

Chances are, particularly with commercial print, it may be best to be represented by an agency where you live, rather than continue to be represented by an out-of-country agency.  There is also a chance that a good London agency may have foreign contacts (or even clients) so certainly asking them for their advice on the subject would be good - particularly once they represent you and you've been able to do some work through them.

Modeling in general, for anyone less than a hugely successful model can be quite irregular.  There may be an on-season or an off-season with more or less work available to all.  You could be located in a market with less work than London, or your look could be something more in demand for that area than most of the competition.  And even the most photogenic, well-represented models may have weeks where nothing is booked, and then work every day straight for the next few.

I would suggest that you do as much as you can where you are now, and then as your situation changes, try to adapt yourself and your resources to it.  There's certainly generalizations one can make - London has more work than Amsterdam, but ultimately you are a unique individual, your representation may be better, or work harder in one place rather than another, and the market/clients are always changing what they look for, who they use, as are many other related aspects of the industry - advertising, fashion, photography, makeup, hairstyles; usually what was in one year, out the next (or back in the following.)

But everything is possible, and there are always exceptions that defy the rule.

Good luck to you, both currently and in your future move.
~Kitty