Teen Model Agency

[SarahOver]

Hi

My daughter has been offered a place with Elisabeth Smith and Scallywags. She is 13. I am well aware of the pitfalls of the industry but believe she is robust enough to give this a go. Just wondered if anyone had any experience with either agency? They are both sole rep and I wanted some help with deciding which one to consider.

Thank you!

Are they asking for an upfront fee?

Join this FB group. Invaluable advice from other parents and gives a comprehensive list of genuine and scam agencies

To be the bearer of bad (but potentially money and disappointment saving news) a quick scan doesn't recommend either of those agencies you mention. They are both listed as charging exorbitant and unnecessary fees.

Have a good read of the list of reputable agencies on the FB group and apply that way.

Do you have any direct experience or are you just giving your opinion? Neither charge ‘exorbitant’ fees so I am slightly confused about that? I don’t have a FB account so can’t read that page but would prefer unbiased advice that comes from a place of experience if anyone can offer it? Don’t mean to offend but everyone has an ‘opinion’ but that only seeks to confuse further!

Only a very small one that tallies with the industry advice and covers the maintenance of my daughter’s website page. No trips to random photography studios that will plaster her in make up and charge me a fortune!

I don't understand why you think the FB group won't give you unbiased advice from a place of experience? It's literally a group for parents of children who model.

My daughter is with an acting agency so similar but not the exact same. We've never paid anything upfront to an agency. Costs are a) fees for her headshots direct to photographer and b) an annual cost for Spotlight which is the database of actors that casting teams can use to search for. I wouldn't join any agency that asked for us to pay any money to them at all before they had secured her work.

The dynamics may be different for modelling but thought this may be useful - apologies for not.

I've definitely heard of Scallywags but not sure if that really means anything. What's their social media like? Do they post lots of jobs that children have got? And is it the same few children every time?

Thank you! Very useful

Sorry i didn’t mean the FB page. I was asking the person who posted if they had relevant experience. Otherwise the advice is out of context. Thank you

If I were you, I'd join Facebook and read the page as that's exactly what it's for. The page.

You don't have to use your photo or add your work friends or watch videos of cats but you will get access to an invaluable resource.

Not offended but actually I do have many years experience as the parent of a child in the industry.

This FB group has 1000s of similar parents, both experienced and newbies. Questions like yours are posted multiple times per day and answered promptly with honesty and insight.
Also loads of useful info which I only wish had known about when my DC first started out.

I don't really use FB but IMO it's worth it for this invaluable forum.

Thank you. I really didn’t intend to offend. I have just been inundated with opinions from friends..who have no experience. And I was just looking for some help. Which you have provided! So thank you x

They have both been around for many years.

My DD was a model as a child. DD was accepted by a few agents including Scallywags. We chose another agent, Bruce and Brown, who were amazing.

DD was a busy model, over the years we came across one child from ES and I don’t think we ever met a child on a job from Scallywags. They obviously do get jobs as they are still going.
I personally found that a small minority of children get the majority of the jobs so we ran into the same small group of children over and over.

DS was scouted by a major men's agency (didn't go anywhere as scouting is just step 1 and they then turned him down, nicely, after photos).

The one thing they impressed on him though was not to go anywhere near an agency that wants you to pay a fee for anything. The model should not be paying a penny. There are costs associated with taking someone new on- these are paid by the agency who accordingly only take models on if they are sure about them. Not paid by the model, not paid by the agency but treated as a loan which the model has to repay, but paid by the agency out of their own pocket.

This was for young men's modelling (DS was 16 and would have been in their development programme doing little bits of work until 18). I believe that teen girls is the same though.

@PoachedEd an adult agent should never charge but some children’s agents do and that’s standard.
DD didn’t pay her agent up front but they took a fee from the first job each year, as well as commission from each job. They also had the opportunity to have headshots done at the agency annually but they weren’t expensive or compulsory.

I can give you my opinion as a parent of a child model with knowledge of the agents in the industry

1. Elisabeth Smith used to be one of the top agencies around 15 years ago . Not anymore. I wouldn’t advise anyone to sign with them
2. scallywags, not a scam agency but during the pandemic they completely went off the radar , ignoring parents emails , ignoring phone calls , not paying parents , not replying to clients a few parents ended up getting lawyers involved to get the money that they were owed back. They came back on the scene a year and a half later with a rebrand , new Facebook page etc but the damage was already done to their business. If you look at their old fb and possible their current insta you’ll see the complaints .