Expert: Peter Messaline - 8/27/2007

Question
hi I just want to know some information about barbizon school of modelling and Ipac??? I've heard a lot of bad things about these names and I just want to know what's real about them since I'm very interested in pursuing modelling.

Answer
The best thing I can do is to suggest you Google "Barbizon scam" and see the conclusions other people have reached.
I can't see anything about Ipac, I'm afraid.

The rule of thumb about modeling is that you start locally. Your small town agency won't have much work, but your costs will be low and you'll get a feeling for the job.

Once you've got your feet wet, you'll have to be close to a large city to take the next step, which is going to a major agency's Open Call days. There you will be told frankly whether you have what it takes to be a model. This is nothing to do with beauty, and it's all about sizes and what's the look this year.

There are so many people wanting to be models that the good agencies spend most of their free time pushing people away. They have more than enough new models from their open calls and some scouting.

Look at "The Glam Scam" by Erik Joseph. It is a serious book filled with detail about how the scammers work. Scary stuff