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Models Who Also Act


For those who aren’t just into modeling but acting as well, you have many more options available to you since you are not limited to the modeling industry. My best piece of advice for you “well-rounded” entertainer types is to sign with a talent agency instead of a modeling agency.

You’ll find that it is much easier to kill two birds with one stone. Imagine the run around and time commitment you’d need if you had not only a modeling agency representing you but a talent agency as well!

Many talent agencies also have modeling divisions and a lot have the name “Model & Talent” within their names so it’s fairly easy to tell which ones represent both. There are loads of talent agencies that work with the same types of clients that the top modeling agencies do so don’t think that you’re sacrificing the credibility of work by going to a talent agency over a modeling agency.

Having the ability to act and perform on-camera in addition to modeling skills can make you a very valuable asset to a talent agency because this greatly increases the types of gigs they can submit you to. The more castings, auditions, and go-sees you attend, the greater your chances are of booking jobs. This means your agency makes their commission and you get your piece of the pie more often, assuming you’ve got what it takes to snag the job each time of course.

The advantage to having one agent for both acting and modeling also helps to simplify the process overall. You’d only have to deal with one contract, one office, and one group of agency people.

If you are a model who has the desire to act but wants to sign with a modeling agency and then cross over into acting, this approach can be more difficult for you as well as time-consuming. Being with a talent agency doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get submitted to more acting gigs than modeling gigs. That all depends on the season and what type of work is available in those areas—some months out of the year are ideal for acting gigs while other months are best for modeling.

It also depends on which area of the entertainment industry your agent thinks you’ve got the most potential in. But don’t feel bad if you sign with a talent agency and you don’t get to do as much modeling as you’d like or vice-versa. If your talent agent is any good, they will be able to work with you to book the gigs you want to do. Be sure to express those interests when meeting with them and negotiating the contract.

Have a clear idea of where you see your career heading and what type of work you are hoping for your agent to find for you and see what happens. Don’t limit yourself if you’ve got skills that go beyond modeling. In this case, have your cake and eat it, too!

Comments

Amber said…
Hi Dania - great post. This really opened up my eyes, and led me to attend several acting auditions yesterday for some films at Columbia College in Chicago. I'll keep you updated on if I get into any!!
Anonymous said…
Hey Dania!
I just want to start off by saying how much your blog has helped me. I'm going to be a supermodel, and I need all the help I can get. I have a question about my career. I want to model, record music, and act. What do you think would be the best way to go about that. My original plan was to break into the modeling industry first, and then cross over to music and acting after that. What's your opinion on what I shoud do? Thanks!
Dania Denise said…
Hi, Lindsey! You'll find the answer to your questions in its own post, titled "Answering a Reader Question #641," which can be found on my new blog: "Modeling 101 - Answering Readers Questions."

Please visit this link: http://amodelsdiary-readerquestions.blogspot.com/ and you can view your post there. Thanks for reading!

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