Question:
Hi, I’m seeking advice on how to get my children into modeling. I’m often in awe over the children that I see in tv commercials and print ads. My children are only 2 1/2 I’m not interested in acting or speaking parts. But I would love to see my boys in a print ad for Little Tykes or Gap Kids. Does anyone out there know how I can go about finding out how to get my kids involved in something like this? Thanks
Response:
>Hi, I’m seeking advice on how to get my children into modeling…
One of the parenting magazines had an excellent article on the subject a few months ago. Check your library, or perhaps someone can give a better cite. The rest is from my memory of that article. The majority of what is offered to parents as "opportunities" in modeling are scams. Should you wish to advertise your child with a modeling agency of any sort, you should not pay them a single cent for any reason, including the taking of "professional photographs." If they come to you, it is almost certainly to make money charging garbage "fees" for listing–the real agencies are flooded with far more children than they can use. Agencies can be found in the yellow pages, and I believe some were listed in the article. To have a realistic chance of getting child modeling jobs, you must live in a city with a large advertising industry–there are only a very few such cities in the US. Even then, the typical opportunity for child models draws a crowd of dozens of candidate children, from whom one or two are selected for shots. Compensation for that lucky child for anything less than a national TV campaign is typically on the order of a few hundred dollars–it’s a "buyer’s" market. The child should be small for his age and extremely well behaved, but does not have to be a "ten" in appearance. If it would be a great deal of fun for you and the child, and you live in one of the major cities, it can make a good hobby. Actually making money is a very long shot. Learn the child labor laws in your state, as production crews frequently violate them (see recent press accounts of whistleblowing in California).
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