INDEPENDENT MODELING

Changing the business of modeling

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MODELS WANTED FOR MAJOR DEPARTMENT STORE FASHION SHOWS!

.... Or are they? Are fashion models needed now? Is there really a need for models to be booked into all these fashion shows that are supposedly being produced by so-called major department stores; stores who remain unnamed and which cannot be found? No experience necessary? These major department stores are going to book new models who don't have experience in their fashion shows? So, models are needed for a major department store fashion show? Models are needed for an upcoming calendar? Are there really that many modeling jobs with such a high volume that modeling agencies have to pay to advertise them? Are the businesses advertising these fashion show jobs real agencies, and, if not, how do they make their money if it is against the law to make money by referring models into the jobs that they are paying to advertise? What's the real deal here? Click the link to find out! Beware of modeling job scams! You will never have to pay for anything to be considered for a legitimate modeling job. To be eligible for a modeling job, you must be an experienced, professional model who already has a modeling portfolio, composite cards, and other modeling career tools. If you are an aspiring model who does not have the tools, you have no business trying to book a modeling job of any type. New models must invest in the proper modeling tools before they attempt to book any modeling job. If you do not have a modeling portfolio, check out our modeling career services. Please note that you are not obligated to pay for any services offered on this site in order to use our modeling job board or the Independent Modeling web site. Thank you.

INDEPENDENT MODELING UPDATE 09/23/10 - We have completed the layout and design work of the new Independent Modeling site; you just can’t see it, yet - well, maybe a small peek at the cover banner graphic (see above). We’re just waiting for the new thumbnail array from the new Venus 3 Venus Class Aurora PhotoArts sites at this point (although we will use their thumbnails, our site design will be an entirely different design class, a new Dominion Class, or upgraded Athena Class site), and will put together the new site in a few days (we are going to try to put it together this weekend, so that we can start contacting companies and pushing the modeling job board - take THAT, agency bookers - on Monday the 27th, although we could just take or sweet time, finalize details, and roll everything out in October. The latter sounds better, as anything rushed would have flaws, and no one wants that. We should be ready to go on Monday the 27th, but we’ll take out time and build, build, build, and then do a strong reboot in October!). Once Independent Modeling is back up to speed, we will be using our format for a reboot of Independent Acting, which will have an audition board formatted like our modeling job board.
Today, we added an open call section to the modeling job board, which will be for companies which are open to receiving submission from independent models in consideration of future modeling jobs as they come up. With the Model Dominion, implementation of the Risk Analysis System, integration with the latest modeling scam fighting tools, and now a new section, expect the final format of our modeling job section to be unveiled with the launch of the new site (there will be changes; perhaps some big ones). Also, keep in mind that the formats of the modeling job boards of Tampa Bay Modeling, Florida Modeling Career, and Advanced Model will have to be compatible with our final format (and Florida Modeling Career needs to be finished. Likewise, Advanced Model needs to launch soon).
Regarding submissions for Featured Models - We have been looking at the information and pictures being submitted to us, as there have been a lot of submissions, and all models are being considered. We will start adding featured models this fall.
We’ve also been going over the old modeling mail bags, first published here on Independent Modeling eight years ago and then published on Tampa Bay Modeling a few years ago. Funny stuff, and good information (especially the one addressing chicken wing waitresses pretending to be models, published in October 2006: See Tampa Bay Modeling Mailbag October 2006). The monthly model mailbags will be returning on Advanced Model when the site launches, and this time, the format is finalized, with long answers shortened and linking to relevant articles, tutorials, and tools here on Independent Modeling (which will also have links back to the relevant mail bag on Advanced Model). The new mail bag will be called model letters, and expect it to debut this fall with the launch of Advanced Model (Advanced Model will be a lot like the popular, and successful, Frontier Pop site which launched in July 2010, but published monthly instead of weekly). The mail bag archives will be maintained on both Tampa Bay Modeling and on Independent Modeling (we’ll have to work on linking up all the mailbags/ letters on all three sites, as we are not sure at the moment if the Independent Modeling mailbags have been ported over to Tampa Bay Modeling. If they have, we’ll have to move them back).
Tampa Bay professional model Monica Stevens, who is a pseudonym for a professional in the modeling industry, and who has helmed all of the mail bags in their various incarnations on the different sites, will be back, too, a little older, and a little wiser, but still in the prime of her modeling career!

UPDATE 09/16/10 - Modeling Resource Site Updates. The new Independent Modeling web site should be up and running up to speed next week. We will be using the thumbnail image graphics which the new Aurora PhotoArts Venus 3 Venus Class sites are using, and that’s what we are waiting on, although the design of our new site will be different. Although an earlier post reported that we will utilize the new Dominion Class site design, we are still finalizing some details, as the new Dominion Class site may end up combining select features from the Pioneer (Frontier Pop, Advanced Model), Athena (older Independent Modeling site), Raptor (Tampa Bay Modeling), and Venus (Aurora PhotoArts) class designs.
If all goes as planned, by next week, regular updates will return to Independent Modeling, and features such as our modeling job board will be updated daily. Our geographical modeling resource sites, such as Tampa Bay Modeling and Florida Modeling Career, will be updated with market-specific optimized tools which are derived from the tools and resources added to Independent Modeling (Some advanced tools, such as the long-delayed interactive tutorials, may debut on Tampa Bay Modeling). When Advanced Model launches this fall, the monthly online magazine will help drive content to Independent Modeling; much like Frontier Pop drives content addition to other sites, and treats that content as part of its own issue, the same will happen with Advanced Model (A good indication of what Advanced Model will be like can be previewed by checking out its sister site, Frontier Pop, as both sites will be pretty much the same, but with different publishing schedules, target markets, and content. Advanced Model will not be as tied into social media, however, and some of its media thumbnails will be for the other modeling sites). Not to be forgotten, Florida Modeling Career, which is currently the most advanced modeling resource site in our arsenal, will finally be finished, and updated.
Regarding portfolio networking features, Independent Modeling is working on adding the most advanced, and comprehensive, professional networking features in the future. Independent Modeling will have everything from user portfolio profiles to message boards in the future, and these features will be balanced with our tools.
We know that Independent Modeling has been dormant for the past five years, and most of our work was diverted to Tampa Bay Modeling, but this will change. Independent Modeling will return to power later this year, and will far exceed its original ambitions by our 10th anniversary next September.
We also know that many models are awaiting the return of our printable forms and agreements. This fall, we will be deploying two different types of modeling pay vouchers, updated Anti Scam Agreements, an assortment of specialized model releases, flyers, and other tools. New site features include a brand new modeling scam analysis database (which will tie into other features of the site, such as our modeling job board), new modeling scam-fighting tools, tutorials, an array of Risk Analysis System (RAS) tools, and many other effective features for models, photographers, and the businesses which book them.

UPDATE 09/12/10 - New generation of modeling tools are on the way.
Of course, this includes a new Independent Modeling site, which has been confirmed as a new Dominion Class site (the second of this brand new modeling resource design class, with the prototype being deployed for our Model Dominion site. The Model Dominion, founded just last month, is our professional model association based in Tampa, Florida; The Model Dominion will be our “army” of models, needed for what is to come, and will have hundreds of highly trained, professional, progressional models working for a new industry within two years. The Model Dominion begins operations this month, and should be up to speed this fall). The new Independent Modeling Dominion Class site will incorporate new concepts, and new concepts, designed to counter modeling scams of all types, as well as enable models to fight back in a full scale revolution in the modeling industry (note that all activities will be legal and ethical, regardless of the colorful metaphors utilized describing them).
The Raptor Class sites, as used by Tampa Bay Modeling, Tampa Bay Acting, and Tampa Bay Talent (All advanced Raptor 3's. The Tampa Bay Film sites also use a version of the Raptor Class, the Super Raptor, which is elusive to the Tampa Bay Film network of sites), are sites which were built from the ground up to change markets and combat scams. The new Dominion Class will be the next-generation effort in anti-scam technology. It is five to ten years ahead of what Tampa Bay Modeling and Independent Modeling is using now; Independent Modeling will become the base for the most advanced modeling career tools and modeling scam fighting technology in the world.
Modeling scams, unethical parties in the modeling industry, and the old modeling industry will fail to adapt to what we will be introducing. This is the beginning of our checkmate. First, we will take the local market in Tampa Bay, and then, we will go after the modeling industry as a whole, crippling the hold of modeling agencies over the industry, and empowering models. Putting modeling and talent agencies in their proper place will also severely cripple modeling scams, most of which use modeling agencies as their main pitch/ bait /enticement.
The new technology will be built from what was developed for the new Risk Analysis System, or RAS. It will also help models recognize, avoid, counter, and address unethical and unprofessional behavior, as well as modeling scams.
The modeling job board here on Independent Modeling will become a critical component of the new site, and will be fully integrated into the new tools. A word of warning to anyone offering a modeling job, but who has the intention of taking advantage of independent models who book without going through an agency: We have enhanced countermeasures which will keep such efforts in check. It’s all about balance, and all measures have other measures which keep them in check. In the past, our concept of modeling job scams was limited to the typical bait and switch, where an unethical company commits acts of fraud by baiting models with modeling jobs, and then switch over to selling them services, usually overpriced, for them to be “considered” for the modeling job. Our research has revealed that the scope of “modeling job scams” far exceeds our original definition. Modeling job scams include jobs such as teen modeling web sites, web cam “modeling”, lingerie modeling, model wrestling, and work that exploits the model, undermines their marketability, and limits their career, trapping them. Just because it pays does not make it good for a modeling career, and frankly, we are sick and tired of criminals and con artists misclassify the term “modeling” to describe businesses which are clearly not modeling. They tempt models with pay, and some of those models compromise, ending their professional modeling career, or any hope of having one. There is another angle, too, where modeling jobs may try to underpay their models, making such modeling jobs poor returns on the work that it takes to book such jobs (although underpaying models and devaluing the market rates of models would further undermine agencies, it would also not be in the best interests of the independent model; we must prevent that, as being an independent model is not being a “cheap” model who can be taken advantage of. Additionally, it is not our agenda to take agencies out of the equation, but to merely put them in their proper place. Agencies are a legitimate part of the modeling industry, but will no longer be the primary part of the modeling industry).
It gets more interesting, too.
We have a mountain of evidence that some of the information, and concepts, on our modeling resource sites have been stolen and used to enhance modeling scams. Thus, a cycle of measure / counter measure has been going on for years; as an example, a modeling agency placement / management company has been trying to use our information to bait models with, which has mostly backfired (and it will prove to be their undoing, as everyone will know that we are the source of the best information, that access to that information is free, and anyone who tries to steal, and plagiarize, our content will find that it will destroy their credibility). Our new tools will have technology which will make such theft entirely too risky. That’s not the only thing that’s stolen, too. Modeling job leads are also stolen, and we will be deploying tools that will counter those attempts. The modeling scams study our sites, and try to adapt, but we are always way ahead of them. As a result, we have crippled the majority of modeling scams.
You haven’t seen anything yet. What is coming, along with efforts from our Model Dominion organization, will change the modeling industry forever, starting here in the Tampa Bay modeling market. We are only just getting started.
Expect some major changes starting in October. Our enhancements will be added to our other modeling resource sites, also, with the tools optimized for the target market of those sites; the sites include Tampa Bay Modeling (which has been our main test bed for the past five years), Florida Modeling Career (our most advanced modeling resource site, but still far from complete), and Advanced Model (which will be one of our most advanced sites when it launches).
Once the modeling resource sites are up to speed, expect a reboot of Independent Acting, and those enhancements adapted for both Tampa Bay Acting and Tampa Bay Talent. Another talent resource site is in the works, too.

UPDATE 08/18/10 - Something big is coming, and we started it on Wednesday, August 18, 2010. Independent Modeling, Tampa Bay Modeling, Advanced Model, and Florida Modeling Career will be working on a project, only identified at this time as Project MD, which will launch in 2011, and change the face of the Tampa modeling industry within two years. After that market is addressed, we will go after the modeling industry as a whole.
Tampa Bay is ground zero for a revolution in the modeling industry.
We will also be declaring war on ignorant agency models, a perfectly legal, and ethical, action which may, or may, not be related to this project (sorry, we cannot, and will not, clarify this at this time). What will they do when the jobs go away? Do they deserve to work? We don’t think that ignorance and dependence should be rewarded. Do you? We won’t shed a tear when agency-managed models aren’t able to book modeling jobs.
Several years ago, a Tampa modeling agency booker was whining to a photographer in Los Angeles that we were doing something that we were not (the same booker who loves to slander us). Of course, there would not have been a single thing wrong with doing that thing, but at the time, we weren’t doing this; it would have been cool, however, if we had been doing it. According to our sources, this is the ultimate nightmare of the Tampa modeling and talent agencies. It’s our aspiration to make dreams come true, and in this case, it’s a nightmare, enhanced with all of the brilliant goodness and cleverness that we infuse into everything that we do.
The really cool thing about it is that it will be highly effective, it is perfectly legal, and it is perfectly ethical. It is also the professional thing to do, and it is taking professional responsibility.
So, what are we working on? Wouldn’t you like to know. There isn’t a thing that the modeling industry can do to stop this, either. There is no way that they will be able to adapt, and a hobbling dinosaur will lose its teeth. It will be survival of the fittest, and certain industry elements are about to have a tough time staying in business.
Everything will be made clear in a few months. Until then, it’s a secret, and we have three new web sites to build. That’s right..... Another three new web sites, web site which will be completely different from our popular modeling resource sites. Whatever could they be?
To the old, aging modeling industry: We love you. Really, we do. This is our gift, to you!

NOTE TO OUR READERS: As of August 18, 2010, we are working on a new, finalized Independent Modeling site. This site will be a reboot of the Athena Class site, and will be a combination of a Pioneer Class (Frontier Pop, Advanced Model) and Venus Class (Aurora PhotoArts) site. It will be similar to the current site, except the layout will be upgraded.
This upgraded site should be online in September 2010, and Independent Modeling will then begin regular updates. Also, at that time, Independent Acting will be rebooted.
Thank you for your patience.

UPDATING - RISK ANALYSIS SYSTEM (RAS): PROFESSIONAL CREDIBILITY ASSESSMENT FOR MODELING JOBS SEEKING MODELS

PENDING - MODELING PAY VOUCHERS AND OTHER NEW TOOLS

PENDING - MODELING LETTERS (MAIL BAG) ON ADVANCED MODEL

PENDING - SECOND GENERATION MODELING SCAM ANALYSIS DATABASE WITH NEW SCAM-FIGHTING TOOLS AND A SCENARIO-BASED FRONT-END FOR ACTIVITY PATTERN ASSESSMENT.

New Model Question
Hi. I’m a new model who needs a portfolio. A modeling book said that I should only send a snapshot to local modeling agencies to see if they want me. It also said that models should go through the agency to get their portfolios, and to allow the agency to manage their career.
Is this right?

Independent Modeling Opinion
PUBLISHED 08/09/2010 / UPDATED 08/09/2010 - The “You can only model if you go through an agency” myth is one which is spread by the old modeling industry. Modeling books with this misguided advice are from modeling industry people who want to control models and make money at their expense, as well as by models who will post this advice because they don’t want to rock the industry boat which pays their bills.
DO NOT allow, and enable, these people to overstep their bounds, and to manipulate your career. They work for you, and it’s not the other way around!
Anyone who puts that the agency way is the only way either does not know what they are talking about, or they are a part of a system of scamming, controlling, and manipulating models. Sometimes, it’s both!
Most dangerous of all, the reason that modeling scams are so common in the modeling industry is because of the agency myth. It conditions people to allow others to guide and control them, and enables modeling scams!
Do you honestly think that these people believe their own advice?
We do not agree with the myth that models allow themselves to be managed by an agency, and the agency should not be the source of any modeling portfolio. An agency works for the model, not the other way around; it would be like an employee telling and employer what to do. Additionally, when an agency manages a model, it can be a working conflict of interest because the agency works for the competition of the model, who are other models which the agency represents.
Models should also obtain representation from several agencies. Make them compete against each other to obtain work for you. Put them in their place!
A model should always build a portfolio before going to any agency. This is the only way that a model can guarantee that the agency is supposed to make money by finding work for the model, instead of making money by selling them portfolios, or by splitting fees with unethical photographers. A good agent can work with any professional portfolio that a model has; a professional portfolio meaning one done by a professional photographer.
Evaluate risk. A professional invests in their career, with a real web site (including a domain name), a portfolio of professional work, and references. Do not bother with anyone working from a freebie social or portfolio networking web site. The more on an investment into the career which is demonstrated, the lower the risk.
Models today find and book modeling jobs on their own, as well as obtain them through more than one modeling agency. When models book the modeling jobs on their own, they not only save agency fees (and save the job fees), but often scoop the job before the agencies can refer other models to it. A smart independent model can get the jobs before other models, and the modeling agencies can. This gives them an advantage.
Ignorant models allow themselves to be sold on “the agency way is the only way” myth, and allow themselves to be blindly led by an agency which also works for their competition. As a result, an agency-only model limits themselves, and cannot compete with independent models. Independent models have the advantage. Independent models also cover all of their bases, and use agency leads as a backup; if they miss a modeling job lead, they can get it from an agency, too.
Will agencies blacklist independent models? Not if they make money the way that they are supposed to, by finding and referring models into jobs. Thin about it: If an independent model books work with or without an agency, don’t you think that they agency wants to make money on work that the model would already book without them? The model is already a proven money maker, and the agency will work that much harder to find the modeling job, and refer them to it, before the model does so themselves. As a result, the independent model will obtain more job leads than the agency-only models who are not on the bookers radar as much!

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Will there be a revolution in the modeling industry in 2010?

PUBLISHED 12/30/2009 / UPDATED 05/20/10 - Well, it's no secret. Since Independent Modeling launched in 2001 as Tampa Bay Independent Model, we’ve been working on the foundation for the next modeling industry, trying out new ideas, and refining the ones that worked. Some ideas, such as the Professional Modeling Industry Reference Bureau Database (PMB), did not work very well, since it was a centralized database of opinions and references. Others, such as our new Risk Analysis System (RAS), have been proven to work, don’t rely upon a database, and are highly effective. The RAS will prove to be highly effective against anyone who does not invest in their career, too, and should cripple TFP used by new models and photographers to build their portfolios, free online services, social networking profiles used as business web sites, and portfolio networking sites (If you want to build professional credibility, and want to book work, you are going to have to invest in your career. If you don’t, you will not be able to compete against professionals who have invested in their careers, and we are going to make sure of it. If you don’t invest in your career and use freebies, then free work is all that you’ll be able to get; knock yourself out.). In its first two years, Independent Modeling made a lot of progress, and grew. In 2003, the name of the site became Independent Modeling, reflecting the domain name branding, and this site had a lot of activity and updates until 2005.
In late 2004, our sister site, Tampa Bay Modeling, launched, and 2005 saw a transition of Independent Modeling work moved to Tampa Bay Modeling, which became our testing grounds. From 2005 until 2009, very little work was done on Independent Modeling, which became dormant until it was needed. In reality, however, the work never stopped. It was published, and added, to Tampa Bay Modeling, which became a superpower modeling resource site by 2007.
In 2009, Independent Modeling saw a massive overhaul, and some updates. The real work, however, will be in 2010. Tampa Bay Modeling, Advanced Model, and Florida Modeling Career will utilize Independent Modeling as their core resource site, with referenced articles, tutorials, modeling job leads, modeling career tools, and lots of other things located here on this site. This means that, inevitably, Independent Modeling will become our most updated modeling resource from now on. Independent Modeling, as the core site, will be the one most heavily updated, with the other sites referencing those updates. Advanced Model will see monthly updates, as it is an online modeling magazine (One main feature, the return of the modeling mail bag by Tampa model Monica Stevens, will see shorter replies than in the past versions. For responses that require a tutorial, a new tool, or an article, the content will be created, published, and indexed on Independent Modeling, and there will be a link referencing it within the response on the Advanced Model mail bag. In the past, a lot of time was wasted on the mail bags because they were too big, and the information could not be referenced easily. As a result, the mail bags were not cost-effective to do, and that’s why they ended, both here, and on Tampa Bay Modeling. We finally sorted out the issues, and have made a mail bag format worth maintaining. Additionally, the new mail bag will be called “Modeling Letters”, or something like that- the name will be finalized in the next few days as the Advanced Model site is assembled and finished). Tampa Bay Modeling will be the third most updated site, as the Tampa modeling market is critical for what we will be doing, and Florida Modeling Career will follow for the Florida modeling industry.
So, will there be a modeling industry revolution in 2010?
The answer is yes. We’ve spent over six years working on all the pieces of the overall puzzle, and we are now ready to begin. It’s time to awaken Independent Modeling, taking it far beyond its original potential, and begin aggressively working our agenda. The Tampa modeling market will be ground zero for the independent modeling movement, and after we take this market, and then expand to the Florida modeling market, the next modeling industry will displace the current modeling industry.
Free portfolio networking sites, social networking sites used as free business marketing, modeling and talent agencies which try to manage the model who they work for, model managers, and misguided models, agents, photographers, and others are about to be put in their place. Their flawed tactics are going to backfire, and they will ultimately be accountable for what they do. Modeling scams will also be put in their place, and most of them will be rendered weak and ineffective. Both Tampa Bay Modeling and Independent Modeling crippled Tampa modeling job scams in 2009, and in 2010, those modeling job scams will be undermined on an entirely new level.
We are finalizing the final touches now, and we begin our renewed agenda in January 2010. For professional models, the next modeling industry, where you call the shots, is finally here. For the old modeling industry, the nightmare which you have been fearing since 2001 is about to begin. The modeling and talent agencies will no longer be the primary way to have a career as a professional model. Agencies will become one of many tools that the independent model uses in their career, and that’s it, as that is their proper place. For those of you who haven’t been reading Tampa Bay Modeling, allow us to clue you in on the dirty little secret of the modeling industry: A modeling and talent agency is a working conflict of interest. How is that so, when so many tout the modeling agency way as the only way to have a modeling career? Well, in our opinion, they are either lying to you in an attempt to control you, or don’t know what they are talking about, merely repeating what everyone else has said for decades. They are wrong, and we can prove it. A model is an independent contractor, and is a self-contained business. A modeling agency, when they represent a model, works for them, and it’s not the other way around. Too many agencies cross the line and act as the employer of a model, when it is the other way around. They try to get models to sign exclusive deals with them. They try to tell the model what to do, which is inappropriate. What really is a conflict of interest, however, is when the agency, who works for the model, also works for the competition of the model. Who is the competition who they work for? Other models who they also represent! Can you really be sure that they have your best interests in mind when they tell you what to do, and manage your career, while they also work for your competition? This is why professional models should never allow a modeling agency to exclusively represent them, or to manage their careers. Professional models should only utilize modeling and talent agencies as one of many sources of modeling job leads, and that is it. Additionally, it is unethical, and a conflict of interest, for a modeling agency to sell models any products or services, or to make money by referring models to products and services. Because you can never be sure if an agency is making money by referring you, instead of making money the way that they are supposed to, by referring you to modeling jobs, models should never use any photographer or service that an agency refers them to.
Independent Modeling. Changing the business of modeling. Watch it work.

ATTENTION ALL MODELS! Modeling job scams are on the rise, and they are dangerous! You have to have experience to book any modeling job. Anyone who advertises modeling jobs and claims that no experience is necessary either does not know what they are doing, or they are operating a modeling job scam. Either way, stay away!

Never, ever buy anything from anyone advertising a modeling job. You should be considered for the modeling job that they are advertising without an obligation, or pressure, to buy any service. Don't be scammed!

If you are not a professional model and have not invested in a modeling portfolio or composite cards, you have no business trying to book any modeling job. Do research and get your portfolio and comps from a professional photographer who is in the business of modeling portfolio photography, and who does not bait models into buying services with the promise of modeling jobs! Also, to avoid the possibility of a modeling scam, never work with a photographer who is referred to you by a modeling agency! Photographers are not modeling agencies (or agents), they cannot make money booking models into jobs, and no professional is going to work booking models into modeling jobs for free. Make sure that the photographer is honest about what they are selling, check their references, and make sure that you can trust them!

Modeling agency placement? Please! You can do this yourself, for free, as easily as opening up a phone book and contacting agencies (just get your modeling portfolio and composite cards, first, from a professional photographer who does not advertise, or offer, modeling jobs). A modeling agency is a modeling career middleman; do you want to add another middleman like the links in a chain, or go straight to the source of modeling jobs? Don't buy any service from any business advertising that they will refer you to modeling agencies. Modeling agencies are perceived as being a source of modeling jobs, so this is pretty much like a modeling job scam baiting in models with the promise of modeling jobs, and then selling them a service. Only deal with businesses who are honest about the services that they are actually selling!

INDEPENDENT MODELS HAVE THE ADVANTAGE IN MODELING

By Independent Modeling Director C. A. Passinault

Independent modeling is not Internet modeling. Agency models are limited.

The modeling agency way is no longer the only way in modeling.

The truth about modeling will set you free. The independent model has an advantage over models who choose to be limited and blindly led by modeling and talent agencies.

Published 04/16/09 - Revised 04/25/09

What exactly is an "Independent model"? What is modeling?

Those are good questions. We will start out by stating what Independent modeling is not. Independent modeling is NOT Internet modeling, and don't get confused about that. There is a big difference. Independent models are professional models who think for themselves, manage their own careers, and have a massive career advantage over the typical old-modeling industry model who allows themselves to be blindly led by a modeling and talent agency. Independent models are smarter, and highly respected, because they educate themselves on how the modeling industry used to work, and how it works today. Independent models are not dependent upon modeling agencies, or on the Internet, to book modeling jobs. Independent models know more on how to find modeling job leads than most modeling agency bookers, which isn't saying much because anyone can do what a booker does.

There is no difference between land-based (i.e. agency represented) and online models in the realm of the independent model. The Internet, much like modeling agencies, is but one of many sources of modeling job leads and modeling marketing available to the independent model. The independent model is not dependent on the Internet or modeling agencies to obtain modeling job leads and to book work, and can work their modeling careers without either one, if necessary. Independent models can manage their own careers, find modeling job leads, and book modeling jobs on their own even if there was not an Internet. The Internet, however, is a tool in their professional arsenal which makes their modeling career easier, but that modeling career is, by no means, dependent upon the Internet. Independent models could have managed their own modeling careers back in the 1960's if they had realized that they could, and a few did. Most models, unfortunately, were purposely kept ignorant by the modeling agencies and the old modeling industry, and as a result, they were dependent upon it and controlled by the people who were supposed to be working for them.

NO MORE! The back of the old modeling industry has been broken! Models have woken up, have declared their independence, and are no longer limited by modeling agencies and the old modeling industry.

Is Independent Modeling against modeling and talent agencies? Are independent models against modeling and talent agencies? Not at all. A professional modeling and talent agency is a legitimate part of the modeling industry, as long as they know their proper place and do not overstep their bounds. A modeling and talent agency only makes money by referring models into jobs. They work for the models, and not the other way around. A modeling and talent agency should never attempt to manage the careers of the model who they represent, and have no right to tell models what to do, as this is a working conflict of interest. How so? Modeling and talent agencies represent more than one model. They work for more than one model. Those models compete against each other for the same modeling jobs. It is a conflict of interest for a modeling agency to manage the careers of models who compete against each other, as it opens the door to manipulative practices and shady politics. How would you feel if you has a salesperson selling you, as well as your competition? Unacceptable? Of course it isn't acceptable! Yet, it was accepted for decades because models were brainwashed into thinking that going through a modeling agency was the only legitimate way to have a modeling career. We're too smart to accept that today, and so are you.

Modeling and talent agencies work for the model who they represent, wether they are models who choose to be dependent upon an agency, or the smarter independent models. They should only be used as a source of modeling jobs, and nothing more. Independent models are smart enough to obtain representation from multiple modeling agencies, too, and do not allow themselves to be limited by exclusive representation agreements. Independent models are also wise enough to avoid modeling agency scams, photo mills, and other potential conflicts of interest by shopping around for the tools that their modeling careers require. They do not depend upon agency referals for photographers and composite cards. Why? Because they cannot be sure if the agency is making money by referring models to these services, and if that proves to be the case, the agency may be more motivated to sell services to models instead of finding them legitimate modeling job leads. So, the modeling and talent agency states that they have all the contacts and that models don't know what they are doing? Are you going to accept being insulted? A modeling and talent agency is merely a glorified temp agency. In the business world, temp agencies are looked down on, and are not the primary way of landing a job lead or obtaining a good job. Could you imagine the nerve of a temp agency if they told business professionals that they did not know what they were doing, that the only legitimate way to land a job was to go through them, and that they would have to be referred to a resume service in order to get their resumes done? Yes, it is a ridiculous scenario, but this is exactly how the modeling industry has been operating for the past eighty years! The modeling industry has been backwards in many ways for a long time because of manipulative practices and people on power trips. The monopoly of the modeling agency is one of the main reasons for the existence, and the effectiveness, of modeling scams. For most modeling scams, the linchpin of their operation, and the ultimate bait for them to lure aspiring models in with, is the promise of referring them to modeling and talent agencies. With the independent modeling movement in full force, and with many models waking up and opening their eyes to managing their own modeling careers, balance is finally being introduced to the modeling industry. Modeling and talent agencies are being put in their proper place, as models no longer allow them to manipulate them and to limit their modeling careers. Modeling scams are finding it hard to lure in aspiring models, as more and more people educate themselves before getting started in the modeling industry. So, you'll refer models to modeling and talent agencies after you take all their money and give them useless modeling portfolios and composite cards? Big deal. We can find reputable modeling and talent agencies on our own, thank you very much, after we shop around and find professionals who can really give us the modeling portfolios and the composite cards that we will need. Additionally, since modeling and talent agencies are no longer the only way to work a modeling career, and they are only one of many sources of modeling job leads, do you have anything useful to pitch us that we already don't know?
Anyone ever go into a modeling and talent agency and get the gut feeling that you cannot completely trust them? Trust your instincts. You call the shots. They work for you, and it is not the other way around, and make sure that they know that. Don't let a modeling and talent agency take advantage of you and enable them to be insubordinate, much like an employee telling their employer what to do. Think that the employee (the agency) will remain employed for very long with an attitude like that? You get the deal.
Independent models have an advantage over models who choose to only get their modeling job leads from the modeling agencies who represent them because the independent models does not allow themselves to be limited by the motives of others. They make the modeling agencies work for them, because the agencies realize that the model may be getting the modeling job leads that their bookers are trying to get by themselves, or from competiting agencies. By default, the model has leverage, and the modeling agency is kept in their proper place. The independent model, as a result of managing their own careers and not allowing others to limit them, book more work than models who are solely agency-represented. The independent model has a serious professional advantage over agency represented models.

A Warning About Modeling Job Scams

Check out the modeling adventure series Born Beautiful

Our modeling job board is now online. We still have lots to do, but are making a lot of progress. We are currently editing content, adding updated content, and are re mapping support files. Our modeling job board is very important to us, because it will help combat modeling job scams and undermine the leverage of modeling and talent agencies as the primary source of modeling job leads (although independent professional models are good at finding their own modeling job leads, and should never rely entirely upon a modeling job board or a modeling and talent agency for their job leads). We now have new checks and balances, concerning the modeling job leads on our modeling job board, to discourage our modeling job board from being misused by unethical modeling industry people, modeling and talent agencies, modeling and talent agency bookers, and modeling job scams. We have also begun contacting businesses who offer modeling jobs to have them post their modeling job leads on our modeling job board. These contact procedures submit additional information to modeling jobs so that they can help us combat, and undermine, modeling job scams. They will be checking the source of their modeling job posts in consideration of any model leads which their modeling job posts generate.

Our modeling job board is updated daily, and contains modeling job leads for models free of charge. There is no charge to utilize our modeling job board and modeling job resources, and it is provided with no obligation to buy any services or products. Because we do not manage models, we are not a modeling agency, and we cannot get paid for referring models to modeling jobs, all modeling job offers are presented as-is, with no guarantees. Models and parties offering modeling jobs assume all risks and potential liabilities, and waive Independent Modeling and our affiliates from all liability and claims of liability. Although Independent Modeling reserves the right to refuse posting any modeling job offer without reason, and we will not post any modeling job offers which are obvious modeling job scams, we will not assume any responsibility for any modeling job post lead published on our modeling job board. We have extensive articles, tutorials, and information for models on Independent Modeling. It is up to models to evaluate modeling jobs and to make sure that they are legitimate before responding to them. Independent Modeling reserves the right to post modeling job ads which are not actual modeling job offers (fake modeling job offers), and are used for helping models recognize and avoid modeling job scams (we will make sure that you know that the modeling job offer is a fake as soon as you read the description, which is accessed by clicking on the modeling job offer from the modeling job board). Independent Modeling will be posting made-up modeling job posts from time to time to help models avoid modeling job scams and to point out modeling job scams; in this capacity, our modeling job board will be an extension to our modeling scam analysis database, and will reference our modeling scam fighting resources.

On a lighter note, we are trying to get our modeling job board to a format exactly like the one described in C. A. Passinault's modeling series Born Beautiful, which was published under a pseudonym a few years ago on Independent Modeling. The new design on Independent Modeling supports that general format. We do not want to do a modeling version of Craigslist where anyone and everyone can spam a job board with shady job offers, or, just as bad, serve as a resource for modeling job scams which steal modeling job leads and then bait models into a modeling scam with the information. Our goal is to provide a modeling job board which is actually useful. At the present time, our modeling job resources already have top search engine performance, and our modeling web sites are easy to find, so we are now ready to get started.

Established September 4, 2001. Published and produced in Tampa, Florida. Modeling resource site director is modeling expert C. A. Passinault.

Independent Modeling - For models, photographers, and the businesses who book them. Affiliated with Independent Modeling.

Independent Acting - For actors. Covering theater and indie film. Affiliated with Independent Modeling.

Tampa Bay Modeling - The world's best modeling resource site! Addressing the Tampa Bay region of Florida, this site specializes in making model portfolio photographers professionally accountable for what they do, helping models determine fair rates in the industry and finding the right deals, and fighting model scams. Affiliated with Independent Modeling.

Florida Modeling Career - Florida regional modeling resource web site. Affiliated with Independent Modeling.

All of our sites comprise the Independent Sites, and together we form the most comprehensive entertainment industry and talent site ever assembled; assisting the independent talent movement and production professionals. Use the TABS at the upper right to toggle between sites. The Independent Sites, with the exception of Frontier Society, are hosted under the IndependentModeling.Com domain name.

PUBLISHED 12/30/09

UPDATED 10/08/10

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Photography by Aurora PhotoArts. Athena Class Web Site by Aurora PhotoArts. Events by Frontier Event Planning.

The agency way is no longer the only way of having a professional career as a model. There is no arguing against common-sense and proven business practices. Modern professional models think for themselves, network, and book work both as independent models and by using agencies as one of many sources of jobs. This is the future of the modeling industry.

This is an Athena Class modeling resource web site by Aurora PhotoArts, a Passinault.Com company. Athena Class 0001, commissioned 011213.1000 hrs.

Site layout, design, and web updates by webmaster C. A. Passinault and our team of professional independent models and industry contributors. This web site resource is dedicated to bringing balance and integrity to the modeling industry, and our mission is to help professional models, photographers, and the businesses who book them.

Web Site Design by Tampa Bay web design company Aurora PhotoArts. Webmaster and the new Athena Class web site design by C. A. Passinault. Main Tampa photography by Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Bay Photography and Design.

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