bizzykidz

[squirmyworm]

anyone done baby modelling and used BizzyKidz? Any idea what they are like?

Have been registered with BK for nearly 3 years now, have 3 kids registered, 1 job for 1 of my kids, the other 2 none,the doctors fees are a joke, BK says that if you want a better chance at being selected by a client then u shud have professional fotos done, now u can only have fotos done with their own photograpers as they claim its better resoulution, and for more publicity u shud opt for being included in their look book- this offcourse does not come cheap, its very well saying there is only 1 setup fee until they reach 17 years old but you shud take into consideration all the other fees that will pop up, i.e; doctors fees, lookbook inclusion, and their studio sittings, when you dont get any jobs, well u wonder if they accept loads of kids on their books for better publication- so that the client has more kids to choose from and they offcourse have nothing to loose but more financially better off and can state that they are the UK's biggest child modelling agency because they probably have a BILLION kids on their books!!
I hope it works out for anyone wishing to sign up, but please be aware of the downfalls, If u get work then ur happy as larry and if u dont well Bk say its all down to the client not them!!! cheeky!! and i myself havnt found them too pleasant on the fone, like they are in a rush and cant spend another second on the fone, i have only ever made 2 fonecalls since being registered as im not one of those pushy mums, yet i did register all 3 of my kids yet am accepting the fact that they most likely will NEVER get any work. I hope this has shed some light to ur questions, I wish i had read some threads b4 joining. Good lUck all.

i totally agree with u.when i took my child to her photo session they said that what puts them apart from other model agencies in their friendlliness and that they are allways welcoming on the phone yet i have phoned them twice and both times they were rude.they were also saying how rude es were when her daughter was a model there yet they are rude themselves and the photographer was quite rude to my child.been on their books a couple of months now and as yet no work

I think its a matter of what clients look for and not up to the agency. My ds and her friend at schools been with them a while and had some lovely jobs. We had photos done at their studios too and had an academy day and they are always really really nice so quite suprised to read your post to be honest, doesnt sound like the agency im with.

My 3 months old son has been accepted by BK and Baby Models UK.
BK sound good in my opinion, from what they've said and from other parents reviews. We are currently arranging to visit their studios in Kent for a photoshoot and to get him set up.
The fact that their initial fee covers the child til 18 seems good. No other agency that I've looked at appears to offer this.

As for Baby Models UK, I've studied their website. There's nothing to suggest how long they've been running and their T&C's are nothing but a long string of contradictions. After getting an offer from them I replied telling them that I didn't think they sounded reputable after doing some research and that I'd appreciate some evidence of their expertise. They responded quite fiercly yet still didn't offer me any real information, just a yarn about why they need an annual fee.
I chose not to respond. Today they've e-mailed me again saying that they'll reduce our fees for the first 2 years.
This seems like a desperate move. Either they want my son on their books really badly or they'll do anything to get some money out of me.
Either way I won't be signing up with them. I've told them to review their T&C's before contacting me again.

Has anyone else had this experience with them? More to the point, has anyone actually signed with them and managed to get their child work?

I'd like to think I signing my son up for the right reasons. I'm not pinning everything on this. If he gets work, excellent! If he doesn't, fair enough! I think all us hopeful parents need to understand that modelling is an extremely tough industry and if your child isn't what the client is looking for, they won't get the job. It's exactly the same for adult models.

i think babymodelsuk are said to be dodgy, would stick with bizzykids out of those 2

my daughter has had two lovely jobs with es in 8 months and one casting with bk after 4 months.bk said they recently sent 300 of their kids out to castings on one day and another day they sent out over 100.how many do they have on their books!!i cant believe out of 300 they couldnt phone my child.es only have 400 altogether on their books

bizzykid is just waste of time the way the send message to parent we have make payment of 160pound to them course for everyone are not proud of our company or staff.message withdrawn

bizzykid is just waste of time the way the send message to parent we have make payment of 160pound to them course for everyone are not proud of our company or staff. message should not be withdrawn

THIS IS FROM BIZZYKID

You will have noticed that despite mid Dec-late Jan being the quietest period for our industry, Bizzy Agencies is busier than it's ever been. This is fantastic news of course for everyone and we could not be more proud of our company, staff and of course our amazing children! Most of you are on our VIP facebook page and keep up to speed with the assignment notices we post throughout the day so will appreciate how busy we are right now.

Unfortunately, a few parents have been using the assignment posts as reasons to email the agency staff with a whole array of ridiculous questions that we really do not have the time to answer eg: what ages was it for, why wasnt i submitted, am i being submitted, what height was it for etc etc

PLEASE REMEMBER:

Firstly
Our agency earns money from children working. Clients will request a particular age, or height, or hair colour, or ability etc. The bookers will input the criteria into their database and ALL those suitable and up to date with height, shots and licencing will appear and are then able to be submitted. It is automatic so EVERY child that is suitable will be submitted. It is not in our interest to not submit anyone that is suitable and likewise it would be unprofessional to submit any that the client was not asking for.

Secondly
When we post any information on Facebook, or when you receive a lightbox, all the information that we have, or are contractually permitted to release we will.

We therefore ask that due to our having to prioritise, which I am sure you will understand, I am now directing all staff to no longer respond to questions which they should, in our opinion, not be receiving in the first place. So please do not email bookers asking if you were submitted for a particular job, if they are being submitted at all, or anything else about a job unless the bookers call you to confirm for audition or shoots.

We would also ask that you please take note of your gp letter date and when it needs to be updated (6-monthly) AND date of your last height and photo updates. It is very time consuming to have to keep looking up children's details to check these things for parents when they should be doing it themselves. We do make things very easy with the self updating facility and the UPDATES form and gp letter downloads on our websites.

If you could please keep your queries to important matters then our staff will be able to help keep this Agency at the top and keep moving further ahead of our competition.

Your co-operation would be most appreciated

thank you

BIZZY AGENCIES LTD

Does anyone know how much this doctors letters is and how often its needed. My daughter is with Scallywags where I need to make a payment for £200.00 one of fee but no mention of a doctors letter, im confused. This was only sopose to be a bit of fun and confidence booster for my child but its all beginning to sound a bit dodgy. Has anyone out there heard of a child modelling agency who doesnt ask for any money and takes it on commisssion when the child actually gets a job?????

Sorry have just seen that its 6 monthly but how much does it cost?

Scallywags is one of the more expensive agencies. If you are near London, then try Kids London, Bruce and Brown, Urban Angels, Bonnie & Betty or Grace and Galor. All have relatively low start up costs. I think of those, the max £60 up front, others take a small charge out of first pay - so all a lot cheaper than Scallywags.

Yes Scallywags does seem like its one of the most expensive ones, its £200.00 yearly. I was going to go with them as I know someones whos child got quite a bit of work but then I know others whos kids havnt had anything. I think its just a case of if you childs face fits at the time then the jobs theirs. Im still investigating other agencies at the moment and Bizzykids is next on the list.

Still would like to know how much these doctors letters cost, does anyone know or have had to pay for them?

Every doctor's rates are different, my doctors initial charge was £59 per child and after I paid that initial fee for all 3 kids they were happy to reduce it to £10 per child as they said it would be rediculous me having to pay over £300 per year for the kids, I didn't realise my doctors fees until I had already paid Bizzykidz upfront once being accepted onto their books, when I told them about the fees they did say that that has nothing to do with them, pretty honest!!! so its worth contacting your doctor before hand and really measuring up whether or not this is going to be cost effective for you in the long run. all the best to all the mums and beautiful kids everywhere!!! xx

Let me re-itterate that - All Kids are BEAUTIFUL!!!! XX

My grandchild got taken on by Bizzykids but hasn't had even an audition in the 3 months with them although has been put up for I think it's 3 auditions and didn't get called for any. We are central London and grandchild is quite good looking and sparky & looks like the average kid on adverts... anyway that is not Bizzykids fault there are no auditions, but makes me wonder how bizzy they really are!

The other thing you should consider when spending money on registering them, is that if you get called for an audition, you have to say you'll be free to take the child on the audition date and also the shoot date. So you fix it (if you can) that you will be free on those days. And then don't get called, so you've wasted the effort in clearing your time for it.

It's not fair to just accept everything and then say you CAN'T do the shoot, though.So it means you really don't need to have not much else to do with your life except schlep your kid around. Again, not Bizzykids fault and it means the successful kids are probably self selected because their carers can devote themselves to this.

I think there are some companies where you can do the bookings directly yourself - don't know if these are any better. I'll find out and post back about it. My suspicion is that generally speaking it's not a good idea to do this unless you don't mind not making any money on it. My daughter got quite a lot of film work when she was little (not with Bizzykids) but she spoke another language fluently as well as English, and I think everything she got was because of this.

Maybe the thing is to get the kids an extra skill, it can only help, like dancing, singing, whatever.

I modelled my son very briefly a few years ago and anyone thinking of doing this needs to be aware that the children are simply a commodity and are subsequently treated so. My son got two jobs. God knows how because the agency insisted I use them for his portfolio shots which I had to pay them for and they were so bad he looked like he had special needs! To try and get him to produce a natural smile, he was told to "think of something funny!" Unsurprisingly, that wasn't very helpful. Anyway, the second job he did was stills work in a disgustingly filthy and cold warehouse! We were there for 3 hours with nothing to sit on and nothing to drink. It was December and freezing. One of the girls was crying it was so cold and for some reason the photographer couldn't understand why all six of the children just wanted to go home. It get's worse. The agency then decided not to pay my son. They were aggressive and verbally abusive even though his payment was months overdue and I had to threaten them with a claim in the small claims court to eventually get them to cough up. Model Child based in Macclesfield. Remember, to them, your child is simply a commodity!

bougie:my daughter was with bizzykidz for 8 months and had one audition which she was too tall for.she has an extra skill of being a very good dancer and in a dance troupe.she also has had previousl modelling experience with another agency who she had quite a bit of work with.put her with b kidz in the hope she would get more commercial work instead of photographic but got nothing with them.they use the same models over again.took her out of bk in the end and back with her old agency

Ime Urban Angels are pretty good - not perfect by any means but amongst the most professional (or least unprofessional maybe)

My eldest daughter was on Bizzy Kidz books for 5 years and got no work from them. You should be wary of any agency asking for fees up front (these ask for £120). Bizzy Kidz try to extract more money throguh their Child Model Academy workshops which my daughter attended. Cost £100 and was rubbish! Also, they insist on using their photographer in Bexley Heath at £75 for your child's profile pictures or if you use your own photographer they charge a fee! They have so many different ways of extracting money from you along the way, probably becasue they aren't making enough from finding their models any work! They do find some of their clients work, but it's they same few models.

I recommend avoiding this company when there are plenty of other more reputable ones out there!

bizzykidz always use the same few models and they make their money from the workshops etc.also the ones that paid extra for showreels etc will always be at an advantage.the staff are so rude especially the director.when my child went back to elisabeth smith she started getting work again and they are so friendly there.bizzykidz have far too many kids on their books and the same kids are put forward for auditions.total waste of money.they just seem money making

Just curious as to why you pay doctors fees if your child models. What are they checking them for?

I have been reading posts on here about Bizzykidz, prices, staff, jobs, etc, and don't understand the hostility? I have found them brilliant....my dd has been with them for 4 months now and had 1 casting and a couple of lightboxes and I am more than happy with that. The prices quoted by a couple of people are totally wrong and really misleading for a new mummy looking for a model agency and looking on here for advice. You are welcome to your opinions but I think it is wrong to state totally incorrect facts. I don't know the company director at all, only met her at a photoshoot we had with the agency and I found her quite pleasant, funny and really professional. Each to their own I guess!!!!

Same as I have read about other agencies (before I decided on going with BK) ....so if you are reading these, and haven't decided yet, please do research with the AGENCIES rather than idle chit chat on a chat forum, wish I didn't , would have been with an agency long before I made my decision otherwise!

One word of advice .....a lot of the legitimate agencies are on either facebook or twitter now, so well worth following/adding as friends as a few seem to add work on there quite often, very helpful to see just how busy they are.

Have a lovely day!

Doctors charge fees for the GP letter that is needed every 6 months if your child is under 16 years old....its called a child licence I think or a modelling licence? Not sure the correct term, but the agency normally apply for it for you. My Doctor charged £15 for my dd's and didn't even check her over! So not justified, but gotta be done! lol.

Another thing on the 'using same kids'....I don't get that as I swear an agency is only there to put children FORWARD for work. Not actually pick who the client should use on their photo shoots or advert filmings or whatever....again....misleading info.

Feel like this website isn't so good for advice on modelling for our kids....I was looking on here again for a possible second agency NOT BECAUSE IM NOT HAPPY WITH BK by the way but because I feel 'why not'?

Any LEGITIMATE ideas on others, or best to stick to just one, which will DEFINATELY be Bizzykidz for me as I find them fabulous.