As an intern for one of New York's top 10 agencies, any aspiring models that come in through open call, call the office, or submit online go through me first. The other day I went through 250 e-mails from aspiring models, and we weren't interested in ANY of them. If you are wanting to break into the modeling industry and plan on doing so through online submissions or open calls, here are a few tips to get you through the first step and possibly score you a meeting with the agents.
ONLINE SUBMISSIONS:
Step 1: Attach two very clear pictures, a natural headshot, and a full body. Please try to make this files very small, files over 1,000KB's will often crash our computers and if it won't open the first time, chances are I'll delete it and get to the other 17 submissions of the day.
Step 2: In the body of the e-mail, keep it short and sweet. We aren't going to read your life story. However, we are going to read your stats. AND ALWAYS INCLUDE YOUR HEIGHT! That's the first thing I look for, if it's not there, chances are you are going to get deleted.
Step 3: Always include contact information, and a thank you. That's just common sense and common courtesy.
OPEN CALLS:
Step 1: Show up, but only within the parameters of their open call. If you don't know what time these are, check out the agencies website or give them a call. However, I strongly suggest you check the website first, it can be entirely obnoxious to answer that question 23 times a day when it is on the website.
Step 2: Know your height, and don't lie about it. The first question I ask is how tall someone is, and if you don't know then I'll probably tell you that you should know. Also, don't tell me that you are 6'1 when you are 5'11, I can tell the difference.
Step 3: Bring in snapshots or professional photos IF you have them. Unless you are a working model, then don't go spend a lot of money on photos. There is absolutely no reason to do so. If we like your snapshots we will take it from there, and if you don't have snapshots then we will take digitals of you to see how you photograph.*
Step 4: If you get rejected, be kind, move on and deal with it. Don't ask why, don't try to talk to me privately, and don't make a big deal out of it. Sometimes we just know what we want and what we don't. Every agency is different, and you can't always take these things super personally.
So there are my tips on open call and online submissions. Next up, I'll give you the ugly truth about becoming a model, some hints at what high fashion agencies are looking for, to help you determine whether or not you fit the profile.
*One of my favorite models and a personal friend of mine, Nathan, took snapshots of himself in his hostel while on Spring Break in New York from North Dakota and had the pictures developed at a Walgreens. He came into an open call, and was signed before he left the building. He shot Italian Vogue with Steven Meisel last month.
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