Sometimes if you feel that your agency should do things a little differently or if you are concerned about the direction they are taking your career in, then you should let them know. For a while now I’ve been hoping that Ford would start submitting me to different types of castings or find clients that are looking for ethnic models. I also started to wonder what the San Francisco market was looking like now that the weather is getting better so I gave my direct booking agent at Ford, Stephanie, a call. We talked about how the market at this point in time was cyclical and they literally have to take things week by week, since the clients and the range of work varied so much. Luckily, she did assure me that my look was in demand and that they were submitting me to everything they had.
I also used this opportunity to voice my concern over my photos that are currently on Ford’s website (wish I could show it to you all but Ford requires a login name and password so the galleries of talent can’t be viewed by the public—hey, I don’t make the rules!). For a long time I’ve felt that the images chosen weren’t the strongest and I know of other photos from the shoot that would have been great on the site but were never used. My booker definitely listened to my concerns and said that she would go back through my film and find newer pictures to update. The fact that I mentioned my photos on the site actually caused her to realize that they hadn’t updated my images in a few months so there you go—if I hadn’t spoken up, they never would have recognized the need to switch out the images.
During this talk, I also asked what the agency’s standards were for accepting photos from shoots I’ve done on my own. She said they were definitely open to look at images from test shoots I’ve done. Luckily, I have an awesome jewelry shoot booked for May 18th, and she said that once I receive the CD of images, I should come by the agency to take a look at them. I told her that I strongly felt I could do well with cosmetic and beauty gigs and she agreed and is excited to see the photos.
Only by keeping the lines of communication open with your agent can you really compromise on how to market yourself. And now Ford knows that I am really eager to take my career to the next level and hopefully this year will open up new opportunities.
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