Expert: Michelle Renee Krehl - 2/6/2009

Question
how much money do models get paid? and How many is the percentage of each day that people get to work as models?

Answer
Cynthia,

The answers to these questions can vary greatly depending on location, the type of work the model is doing, whether she/he is represented by an agency, and so forth, but I will try to give you an idea.

A model gets paid in many ways. It can be by an hourly rate, or a half-day or day rate. It can be a flat rate for an assignment. Agents negotiate the rates for models that are represented. Some models work freelance, meaning they book their own jobs. Often freelance models make less money than represented ones, but not always.

Most represented models make anywhere from $100 an hour to thousands an hour (most probably make in the hundreds per hour though, there are not that many "supermodels".) Different kinds of modeling pay differently as well. There is print, runway, fit/showroom, commercial, etc. and the rates can vary greatly depending on the client and the market. Models on the coasts (New York and L.A. are often paid higher rates than models in the Midwest for example, again, note this is often, but not always.)

Models that work freelance sometimes do jobs for "trade". Meaning they model in exchange for photos (new models often do this), or merchandise (meaning they keep the clothing they model, or sometimes get a giftcard or a discount, etc.), or sometimes they work for exposure.

Most models choose to be represented if they are able to get signed as it will generally give them the opportunity to go to castings for higher profile and higher paying jobs. But only a small fraction of aspiring models will ever gain representation and an even smaller amount will get paying work.

I am not sure I completely understand your second question. Do you mean how many days to people work as models?? What is the percentage of the day that they work, or is this regarding the percentage of money taken from pay? Please re-ask that part of the question more clearly for an answer. Thank you.


All the best,

Michelle