S W I N S K E Y wrote:
what makes you think this is an actual profession??

The easiest way to become a freelance model scout is just declare yourself one, create a free email that sounds important, and start spamming everyone in the world....  Make sure you have a stack of bad money orders to send out to anyone else silly enough to think freelance model scouts are real....

Doug Lester wrote:
It's a three step process. First, have business cards printed, then find someone gulible enough to give you their money. Third step, run away and spend that person's money.

In case you have not yet cought on, there is no such job, it's a scam.

.....+ 1

ArtisticVisions wrote:
I hear Barbizon is hiring freelance scouts, agents ,you must pay a small franchise fee to become one.

http://www.franchiseadvantage.com/Handb … chise.aspx

barbizon...lmao

S W I N S K E Y wrote:
what makes you think this is an actual profession?

you have to ask yourself:

when the biggest and best agencies have fantastic new, aspiring models lining up at their doors every day....

why would they pay someone to find models?????

Doug Lester wrote:
It's a three step process. First, have business cards printed, then find someone gulible enough to give you their money. Third step, run away and spend that person's money.

In case you have not yet cought on, there is no such job, it's a scam.

Alright clearly you guys don't know what you are talking about.. Geeezzz  There is such a thing as a model scout. Its not an easy job and you need to have connections or know a lot of people in the industry (agents etc)

The way you start about it is finding a few new girls/boys that you think would be  a good fit for a few agencies and you groom them get them a few test with some photographers to see how they are in front of the camera and then contact an agency from which ever agency and set up meetings. This isn't an easy job since some agencies might get upset that you took your models somewhere else and not to them so make sure you have enough models that you can show around the ones you are interested in doing business with.

You are most likely want to be kind of like a mother agent you gets I believe about 10% of what the model makes or you can be a scout and get a a fix amount and nothing more.

You start by just finding people

Erlinda wrote:
Alright clearly you guys don't know what you are talking about.. Geeezzz  There is such a thing as a model scout. Its not an easy job and you need to have connections or know a lot of people in the industry (agents etc)

The way you start about it is finding a few new girls/boys that you think would be  a good fit for a few agencies and you groom them get them a few test with some photographers to see how they are in front of the camera and then contact an agency from which ever agency and set up meetings. This isn't an easy job since some agencies might get upset that you took your models somewhere else and not to them so make sure you have enough models that you can show around the ones you are interested in doing business with.

You are most likely want to be kind of like a mother agent you gets I believe about 10% of what the model makes or you can be a scout and get a a fix amount and nothing more.

You start by just finding people

That sounds more like a "sluggo" to me than an independent model scout.

ei Total Productions wrote:

That sounds more like a "sluggo" to me than an independent model scout.

A sluggo? being an independent model scout is a little harder since most agencies already have a scout agent... Meh

Erlinda wrote:
Alright clearly you guys don't know what you are talking about.. Geeezzz  There is such a thing as a model scout. Its not an easy job and you need to have connections or know a lot of people in the industry (agents etc)

You start by just finding people

Yep, get out there and find people hehehehe

Erlinda wrote:
A sluggo? being an independent model scout is a little harder since most agencies already have a scout agent... Meh

if they do here's how they come about.  they have previous experience working at the agency and left for any number of reasons.  they know how to judge what the agency is looking for and can cut through the bs to get a model seen by the right people.  they are compensated by being able to pass the velvet rope through their guest-list affiliation.

or, they can work for a school and earn commissions on sign-ups.

291 wrote:

if they do here's how they come about.  they have previous experience working at the agency and left for any number of reasons.  they know how to judge what the agency is looking for and can cut through the bs to get a model seen by the right people.  they are compensated by being able to pass the velvet rope through their guest-list affiliation.

or, they can work for a school and earn commissions on sign-ups.

I did state Its not an easy job and you need to have connections or know a lot of people in the industry (agents etc)

you just worded it nicer then me.... Meh

Mila Marie wrote:
hey guys :-)

(sorry for my bad english, i´m from germany ;-) )

i wonder how people become freelance model scouts.
(not those who are working in the offices of certain agencies.
those that are working for different agencies from their home, collecting new talents and are paid for every single model that is signed).

do you have any ideas, how people get a job like that
and which agencies used to work with these people?

i am kind of interested in this work (but just as a freelancer, not full-time, because i study ;-) )

LOVE

Mila

I can't speak for Germany, but in North America (NY and Toronto in particular) it is very rare to encounter legitimate freelance modeling scouts that actually know the business.  The ones that are for real are usually people with very strong connections in fashion, and have worked in the fashion industry in some capacity for a long time.

I'm familiar with two legitimate model scouts who work out of Toronto.  They place models with major agencies, both here and in other countries, and are considered the "mother" agency for most of their models (which means they receive a percentage of the agency percentage for models they've discovered).

Modeling agents don't often have time to recruit new faces, and not every top model started out by walking into an agency, so scouts pick up the slack by discovering new faces that would otherwise never get noticed.  There is a demand for this service, but it is very, very small, so you may need to spend many years developing a network of contacts and learning about the fashion industry in Europe before anything happens.

Erlinda wrote:
Alright clearly you guys don't know what you are talking about.. Geeezzz  There is such a thing as a model scout. Its not an easy job and you need to have connections or know a lot of people in the industry (agents etc)

The way you start about it is finding a few new girls/boys that you think would be  a good fit for a few agencies and you groom them get them a few test with some photographers to see how they are in front of the camera and then contact an agency from which ever agency and set up meetings.

One of my young friends who just had her first photo shoot with Pulse Management was then signed to a 3-year contract with Elite.  Shortly thereafter, they asked her mother to work for them as a talent scout. I've yet to have a thorough conversation with her mom as to what exactly she'll be doing, but her daughter was discovered through one of those gatherings at a hotel sort of like the ones for IMTA.  The event was held by what was advertised as a modeling talent "scout".  Maybe she'll hold similar conventions?

Richard Dubois wrote:

I can't speak for Germany, but in North America (NY and Toronto in particular) it is very rare to encounter legitimate freelance modeling scouts that actually know the business.  The ones that are for real are usually people with very strong connections in fashion, and have worked in the fashion industry in some capacity for a long time.

I'm familiar with two legitimate model scouts who work out of Toronto.  They place models with major agencies, both here and in other countries, and are considered the "mother" agency for most of their models (which means they receive a percentage of the agency percentage for models they've discovered).

Modeling agents don't often have time to recruit new faces, and not every top model started out by walking into an agency, so scouts pick up the slack by discovering new faces that would otherwise never get noticed.  There is a demand for this service, but it is very, very small, so you may need to spend many years developing a network of contacts and learning about the fashion industry in Europe before anything happens.

+1000

OmnyRa wrote:
One of my young friends who just had her first photo shoot with Pulse Management was then signed to a 3-year contract with Elite.  Shortly thereafter, they asked her mother to work for them as a talent scout. I've yet to have a thorough conversation with her mom as to what exactly she'll be doing, but her daughter was discovered through one of those gatherings at a hotel sort of like the ones for IMTA.  The event was held by what was advertised as a modeling talent "scout".  Maybe she'll hold similar conventions?

It's important to make a distinction between freelance model scouts who work directly with legitimate agencies, and modeling "conventions."  While a well-connected scout is only interested in new faces that can get signed, some of these conventions are only interested in paying customers:  aspiring models will pay hundreds to meet agents and walk the runway for a day, but only a tiny percentage will get signed.  The rest go home much lighter in the wallet, when all they needed to do was go to open calls for free.

Photomezzo wrote:
I'm not sure how it works at local MM-type agencies, but my experience backstage in NY, Milan and Paris is that it is extremely common for models to be scouted by affiliates (i.e. everything from "freelancers" to former agency owners) of agencies.

To the OP: Intern (or even better work part time) as an assistant to a booker at a reputable agency near you. Learn the business side of agencies. Then contact larger agencies and see if they will compensate you for scouting girls (some will, some won't). Your hook should be that you would come across girls that they wouldn't see.

Skill set: big personality, genuinely interested in the girls careers, 6th sense as to what the next big looks will be.

+1

Doug Lester wrote:
It's a three step process. First, have business cards printed, then find someone gulible enough to give you their money. Third step, run away and spend that person's money.

In case you have not yet cought on, there is no such job, it's a scam.

the final FRAIM wrote:


The easiest way to become a freelance model scout is just declare yourself one, create a free email that sounds important, and start spamming everyone in the world....  Make sure you have a stack of bad money orders to send out to anyone else silly enough to think freelance model scouts are real....

Model scouting is, in fact, a legitimate profession, however rare.  As with all things, there are lots of scammers out there, or people who simply don't know what they're doing, so it is up to models to be diligent and do their homework.

There is already one example of a scam in this thread:

ArtisticVisions wrote:
I hear Barbizon is hiring freelance scouts, agents ,you must pay a small franchise fee to become one.

http://www.franchiseadvantage.com/Handb … chise.aspx

Sungoddess Studios wrote:
why bother this franchise looks much more profitable.

http://www.franchiseadvantage.com/Franc … chise.aspx

I love it that they are on "High Street."

Mila Marie wrote:
hey guys :-)

(sorry for my bad english, i´m from germany ;-) )

i wonder how people become freelance model scouts.
(not those who are working in the offices of certain agencies.
those that are working for different agencies from their home, collecting new talents and are paid for every single model that is signed).

do you have any ideas, how people get a job like that
and which agencies used to work with these people?

i am kind of interested in this work (but just as a freelancer, not full-time, because i study ;-) )

LOVE

Mila

approach all your local agencies and query just how viable offering a scouting service to them would be.. be prepared to be asked how you are going to produce the goods, how much it will cost them and have a good answer that will deflect the questioning about how much scouting experience you have.. on the plus side you do have modeling experience so you could angle your approach there

being payed on results could be a hook and of real interest to agencies as it would be a very low risk option for busy agencies that find all its staff are chained to the desk/telephone by their work load and cant get out to scout themselves

Rebecca Smith wrote:

barbizon...lmao

Don't laugh...  Thee are many profiles here that proudly proclaim they are Barbizon grads, or represented by Barbizon "agency"/

Mila Marie wrote:
hey guys :-)

(sorry for my bad english, i´m from germany ;-) )

i wonder how people become freelance model scouts.
(not those who are working in the offices of certain agencies.
those that are working for different agencies from their home, collecting new talents and are paid for every single model that is signed).

do you have any ideas, how people get a job like that
and which agencies used to work with these people?

i am kind of interested in this work (but just as a freelancer, not full-time, because i study ;-) )

LOVE

Mila

Maybe you have come up with a unique idea.I suggest you write a business plan to help you formulate your thoughts.