Silver Mirage wrote:
All too often "manager" is just another word for boyfriend or exploitative photographer.

Agreed. But I would change the word "exploitative" to "possessive."

I'm not sure why a young woman aspiring to model feels the need for a manager since there's very little to actually manage.

So, I view it that she thinks she will be perceived as in-demand and professional if she says she has one. Or, it's the deal she had to make with her controlling significant other in order to sell him on the idea of modeling.

Every time I read "contact my manager" from a model who clearly has nothing to manage, I think of a boyfriend who looks a lot like Eric Roberts in the part of Paul Snider in the movie 'Star 80.' (complete with porn-stache).

Eric Harrell wrote:
So many times when I read a models profile it seems as if someone else is speaking for them or using their name as a third person. Gives me an idea that their manager, is talking for them. Right or wrong I don't know just get that feeling from reading it.

My question is How do models feel about having a manager to pretty much do all the work for them except the actual showing up and doing the job? Is a manager a good thing or a bad thing.  Just curious?

I prefer to deal with adults. 

If a model intimates that she has or needs a manager, I assume that she is not adult enough to make her own arrangements, so I look elsewhere, i.e, "manager" = "kiss of death"

John Fisher wrote:

Sarah Bruski, a girl in Wisconsin who met a guy named Joel in Oshkosh, by gosh!

Okay, lets talk about managers and editorial fashion models. I think it is worthy of discussion, in part because fashion models are such a small part of the modeling business that most people are frankly unfamiliar with how they get discovered, placed and work successfully.

Let me preface what I'm going to say by acknowledging that this only applies to fashion models.

It is true that many of the most successful fashion models do have managers, and this should come as no surprise, most successful business people in any line of work have someone who provides a management function for them. I know I tend to be more successful when I have someone other than myself keeping track of all the loose ends in my business life.

What may come as a surprise is that many new or beginning fashion models actually have someone who provides a similar function, and it's even more true of those new models who will go on to really make a career out of modeling. Strangely enough, this is rarely an agent, particularly today given the state of confusion most major agencies in the US find themselves as it regards the development of new faces (an editorial comment.....my opinion). So, how does this happen, and how does it work?

In the US, a potential new face in anywhere USA has a daunting problem facing them. "How do I connect with the industry, how do I give myself the best opportunity to succeed in even getting signed by an agency? Realistically, do I have a chance, who would want me, what is expected of me?" Okay, here they might be told, just mail a few pictures to Ford (or Elite, or Wilhelmina....... the agencies I refer to as "the usual suspects" because they are the only agencies most people have even heard of). Or, just go to the agencies, if they like you, you're in. Like, go to New York, go to Miami, you know, just show up!


Tatiana who was with one of the Usual Suspects, and fortunately for her, is no longer there. (And luck had nothing to do with it!)

It might work, it may have happened, I'm not familiar with it happening, but I'm sure it has. (I should mention that a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I may, or may not, have been the one who drew the short straw on the second Wednesday of the month, and had to go face the assembled herd in the lobby on open call day.) Even if there was someone out there that might be interesting, how do you know whether they understand what is going to be asked of them? That they have to live in New York (or Miami, or Chicago, or LA), that they have to be able to take care of themselves for a substantial period of time while they are in development (if they booked a job the first day, it could be several months before they get paid!). If I had a nickle for every potential model who said, "if you can guarantee me I will work successfully, I'll move!", I'd have..... more than several nickles. I'm sorry, you are going to be out of the plane before you know whether the parachute will open...... or if you even have a parachute!

This is the reality. Okay, how could this work better? If the happy prom queen from Lake Wobegon can find someone at a local agency who can develop them a little bit, and refer them up the food chain to the big city agency, that can work. (More likely they will just tell them they have to pay for "modeling classes" and have a portfolio shot by the charm school's in-house photographer who pays his rent shooting for Sears at the local mall.) Or, if they might find or be found by a real professional "scout" (new word here), who develops them and gets them up the food chain. Or maybe they have someone who refers them to someone in the business, who after evaluating them, develops the model and assists in placing them with an established agency (preferably one not named.... okay, I'm leaving that out).

Ha! So what's that "development" thingie? Okay, that's the time when the potential new model gets evaluated to see if they have the physical and emotional strength to do this, and has the facts of life explained to them. If they still want to move forward, the scout/manager gets some basic tests done, and arranges for the appropriate agencies to see him/her on a favorable basis (no open calls, please.) These scouts/managers get paid for this work, but it is a commission sales job. If the model gets placed with a good fashion agency, and the model actually works, the scout/manager gets a percentage of the model's income paid by..... the agency! (Not the model.) Yeah, not for the faint of  heart, and you'd better have some juice with the agencies if you want to do this. A scout/manager can have a fairly interesting amount of time invested in someone and wind up with bupkis. Don't ask how I might know this.

Okay, that's beginning model management, and not at all unusual in the fashion industry. If the scout/manager is smart, they will probably stay in contact with the model (but not in a way that the agency feels they are competing for the model's attention). Often the model will have further questions about why their agency is doing certain things, and wants to ask someone not connected with the agency (but who knows the business) what their opinion might be. Also, if the original agency turns out not to be a good fit for the model, they might want help being re-situated with a different agency. Or they might want help finding an agency out side of their original market (not at all uncommon for models in Miami), or in finding an agency overseas (if the scout/manager has that kind experience and reach). All of these are management functions, and are often available to even new faces in the business.

These scout/managers might be exclusively scout/managers, I've met a couple, but it is a very tough life. If you hit a home run early (a model that moves quickly up the ladder financially), you can stay with it a little longer. But you have to hit a home run occasionally or it doesn't make financial sense. More often, these scout/managers are someone already in the business successfully doing something else (makeup artists, stylists, and.... oh yes, photographers! Who knew?). Because of their regular work, these people come in contact with people who know someone, or has a friend who knows someone, that thinks they want to model. And on a good day when the moon is in the seventh house, it makes sense to get involved. And then you wake up.

This is really a long complicated subject and I've just touched a small part of it (and you are already bored reading!). But the subject has come up many times (model managers), and it isn't quite so cut and dried as one might think when they see the term "Sluggo" tossed around so blithely.

John
--
John Fisher
900 West Avenue, Suite 633
Miami Beach, Florida 33139
305 534-9322
http://www.johnfisher.com

Thank you John, it is good to see a rational discussion of managers.  We all agree that sluggos are bad.  What many here don't understand is that there are legitimate managers who serve an important purpose in the business.  For a model who is viable, sometimes professional management can be the difference between success and failure.

Of course, the operative words are "professional" and "legitimate."  The problem is that, on MM, few (read that as "virtually zero") people who hold themselves out as managers actually have any viable experience or credentials to do so.

It is just nice, to occasionally see a post where someone recognizes the value of a real manager (as opposed to a sluggo).

TRI Terrence Ricci Inc wrote:
They are Model Pimps. They deny the model'a identity, pretending to be the Model in the most fraudulent manner, intercepting communications on social media, texts, E-mail, Model Sites, and others. They steal the models earnings charging made up expenses with a priority over Model Payment. They prohibit the model from direct contact with all Industry Professional while they brag about the number of Model Hoes that the have in their crew. Their specialty is OPPRESSION. Steer clear of them or they will attempt to insert themselves as Authorities on your artistic projects.

I'm not sure why you woke up a three year old thread, but it sounds like you are describing a "sluggo," not a manager.

There are a lot of guys out there that call themselves "managers" who have no qualifications to do so.  In many cases, what you have described is accurate.

Legitimate talent managers are also an important part of the entertainment industry.  Most here won't end up dealing with a legitimate manager, and those won't know what it is they really do.  While many of the remarks here are legitimate, let's not confuse a legitimate manager with a sluggo.

GPS Studio Services wrote:
I'm not sure why you woke up a three year old thread, but it sounds like you are describing a "sluggo," not a manager.

Hence the Catch-22.

If they do a search & reply to an old thread (oftentimes without realizing it), we the community bitch & whine & ask them why they've revived a zombie thread. If they start a new thread about this same topic, we the community bitch & whine, "Why didn't you do a search?!"

Eric Harrell wrote:
So many times when I read a models profile it seems as if someone else is speaking for them or using their name as a third person. Gives me an idea that their manager, is talking for them. Right or wrong I don't know just get that feeling from reading it.

My question is How do models feel about having a manager to pretty much do all the work for them except the actual showing up and doing the job? Is a manager a good thing or a bad thing.  Just curious?

Manager????? Fock that! No Way! BAD, bad, BAD!

Oh dam I got zombied again! old thread.

Flex Photography wrote:
Good info at   Newmodels.com/Managers

Just bear in mind that he is speaking of "internet" managers and not legitimate, mainstream managers.  We have to always understand that there is a difference.  Sluggos are never good.  A legitimate, mainstream manager may be just fine.

Gina Dee wrote:
If I could afford to split what I make I wouldn't be hustling my butt off on MM.

very astute observation

Gina Dee wrote:
If I could afford to split what I make I wouldn't be hustling my butt off on MM.

I think that's the point of a manager