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Original poster

Can I earn money from my son modelling?

141 replies

Littleeggycustard · 14/02/2023 08:35

I have a 14 month old son who has just been signed up to a good modelling agency in London. I have read that they can only pay money into a bank account in the child’s name - does that mean that I can’t access any of it?
My son and I live at my Mum and Dads and I want to save money so that we can move out. I would like to use some of his modelling money for this, but is there any way I can access it?
Thanks :)

OP posts:
SmurfingGoodTime · 14/02/2023 12:13

Your not going to make enough money to move out doing this.

Can you work while your child sleeps and your parents are in the house?

SmurfingGoodTime · 14/02/2023 12:14

*you're ffs

GinUnicorn · 14/02/2023 12:14

I’d check the legalities but if you are accompanying him to castings and travelling etc I believe you could deduct a percentage as a management fee. However I would get proper advice to ensure this is both legal and ethical.

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endoftheworldniteclub · 14/02/2023 12:14

Paperexcelandpens · 14/02/2023 09:55

If you live with your parents can they babysit while you work?
Won't you get help with childcare if you claim UC? UC pays up to 80% of childcare I believe.

There's no reason why you can't work.

Show quote history

This. Get a job.

SlashBeef · 14/02/2023 12:17

Surely you'll need to prove your income to move out? Like you can't just save a couple of grand and then crack on and rent out a house. They won't take you as a tenant without some kind of income that isn't your infants.

endoftheworldniteclub · 14/02/2023 12:18

So you’re saying your child needs to work so that he can one day have his own room. But you’re not going to work.

It’s your job to provide a home for your child, that you chose to have.

MySugarBabyLove · 14/02/2023 12:20

If he wasn’t your child this would child exploitation and would be illegal. Hth

CentrifugalBumblePuppy · 14/02/2023 12:21

Back in the early 2000s, the management would be the Agency, there was no need for a parent to be a separate manager. What have you got to manage?! TV/Film/theatre knowledge only (modelling shoots for productions came into the same category, modelling only may be different), but the Agency would handle auditions & call backs, and all contracts & licences, then the production team (usually the 2nd AD) would manage your day to day production schedule (all movement/travel/scripts etc.) and they’d fix a tutor if you were on set (excluding travel) for more than 2 days if memory serves.

What exactly would you be managing to expect a fee for?! For looking after your child just as you would on a day to day basis if they were at home? Chaperoning will not make you rich, and I did have to take big chunks of my profession out, but I could never justify plundering his earnings!

Pollypocket1001 · 14/02/2023 12:21

Firstly get a job.
Secondly don't be stealing your sons esrnings for yourself.
You are meant to provide for your son, not the other way round.

Carryonmarion · 14/02/2023 12:22

DSS used to do modelling and DH had to agree to the agency paying the money into a trust to be held until he becomes an adult. Whether this is compulsory or not with your agency, there are tax implications if you use your child's money.

Pollypocket1001 · 14/02/2023 12:22

Earnings*

dontputitthere · 14/02/2023 12:26

Urgh just vile

I used to direct and cast child models and actors. Only a minority of parents were like this fortunately.

I'm presuming because all the money grabbing lazy arses soon realised it wasn't the cash cow they thought it'd be and got fed with the early call times.

Poor kid.

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 14/02/2023 12:33

I don't know why you're getting a hammering, OP - a place of your own would benefit your son and ultimately be something he could inherit. From some posts here, one would think you were wanting the money to buy yourself a designer handbag or fund your 20-a-day smoking habit.🙄

liveforsummer · 14/02/2023 12:35

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 14/02/2023 12:33

I don't know why you're getting a hammering, OP - a place of your own would benefit your son and ultimately be something he could inherit. From some posts here, one would think you were wanting the money to buy yourself a designer handbag or fund your 20-a-day smoking habit.🙄

I honestly don't think though that sole income of baby being on a modelling agency and maybe getting the occasional job will see OP being offered a mortgage any time soon

mumto2teenagers · 14/02/2023 12:38

It just feels completely wrong that you would use your child's money that he has earned. It is your responsibility to provide for your son, not his to provide for you.

As others have said you will receive a chaperone fee that you could use towards saving for a home. What will you say to your son when he is older and asks where his modelling wages are.

mybunniesandme · 14/02/2023 12:42

You should be getting a job yourself

Lots of us a single parents who struggle to afford childcare but who also hold down full time jobs

unclebuck · 14/02/2023 12:42

Hard work for the parent? WTF are you on about OP. Read about these actors and how they feel about being exploited as children: www.buzzfeed.com/ajanibazile/child-stars-mistreatment
What you are suggesting is horrendous and good parents do not want to live of their children's earnings, they want to provide for them!

OneFrenchEgg · 14/02/2023 12:43

My kid acted - I took petrol and parking out and he kept the rest.

ElizabethBest · 14/02/2023 12:49

I modelled as a child. I hated it. My mum put the money away for me, and I used it to travel after uni and for a deposit. She didn’t take any except the expenses for travel.

BlueKaftan · 14/02/2023 12:52

Baby working while mum stays home and does fa. That’s a new level of lazy.

Beezknees · 14/02/2023 12:54

You can't take money that your child earns OP. It's really unethical.

Presumably you get Universal Credit, you need to save some of that to move out. I was a single teen mum and that's what I had to do although it was income support back then.

DuplicateUserName · 14/02/2023 12:55

Littleeggycustard · 14/02/2023 09:31

Thanks for all the advice!

I also find some of these comments hilarious! I am a bloody good Mum and adore my son. I’m not “forcing” him to do any thing and don’t intend on “pimping him out”. I don’t have a job because I am a single Mum and can’t afford childcare. If we can earn a couple of grand this year from modelling - which is hard work for the parent by the way, then I would love to use SOME of it on getting us to a place where my son can one day have his own room and not have to share with me anymore. The rest is of course for when he is older.

Unless your son happens to be Brooklyn Beckham, you've been sold a very unrealistic expectation.

I do hope you haven't paid any money so far.

Beezknees · 14/02/2023 12:55

BlueKaftan · 14/02/2023 12:52

Baby working while mum stays home and does fa. That’s a new level of lazy.

Being a SAHM is lazy? Interesting. Do you feel the same way about SAHMs with husbands? Because when it's a married woman, everyone falls all over themselves to say how much harder it is than going out to work.

Beezknees · 14/02/2023 12:57

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 14/02/2023 12:33

I don't know why you're getting a hammering, OP - a place of your own would benefit your son and ultimately be something he could inherit. From some posts here, one would think you were wanting the money to buy yourself a designer handbag or fund your 20-a-day smoking habit.🙄

OP won't earn enough money from this to buy a house, be realistic. She won't get a mortgage without a job, and she won't get hundreds of thousands of pounds to buy outright.

fortheloveofflowers · 14/02/2023 13:03

Lots and lots of single mums work. Unfortunately for a period of time you'll have to shell out some money towards childcare 🙄.