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A Direct Message On Social Media- Good day "Jane Doe" agency my name is Vanessa Akor and I am based in Lagos I am reaching out concerning the models scouting post made on your official website, i am new to modeling and would like to send in my polaroids to your agency, i have been familiarising myself with the brand image of the "Janedoe" modeling agency and it seems a lot like one I would want to be a part of, attached below are my photos and thanks as I anticipating your response.
This was a template message I sent to several model agencies, in the early days of my modeling carrier, in the hope of a reply to get signed and officially start my modeling carrier also at this point I am considering the best agency for me, putting into consideration the popularity, number of models represented by the agencies, distance to the main office, brand image to fit my personal goal and interest. These are some of the things i dim necessary before making a decision.
Reply from one of the agencies I applied to:- Hello, could you send in a walking video?
I send in a video of a catwalk prerecorded in preparation for potentially signing with an agency. amidst this, i am also getting some negative replies or no reply at all from the other agencies I had applied to, which I understood to be part of what comes with the industry from what I had been educated.
This agency is new and a lot small, with fewer models and track records and even though i had gotten a reply just one from an agency, which i should be excited about (at least i got a reply i mean) i am still contemplating if i want to proceed, considering all the things i want in an agent,
A back-and-forth conversation with the agency had happened with the majority of the replies i got a lot rude or authoritative, this conversation majorly involved my asking for details concerning scheduling an appointment as i have finally decided to proceed, and a date scheduled for a call-in appointment would be the first step. With skepticism in my mind because of the feeling that i was being ordered, i still go ahead to attend the appointment, being that it was the only option i had.
I called for an Uber on the day of the appointment and headed to the location on the agencies location, on getting to the location of office which was stated on the website, i had discovered there was no office with the agencies name,i had asked around with the information stated on the website but no one knew the place, i decided to call the agency for information, and i got the rudest phone call i have ever gotten replies
The agency- Did you ask for an address, we have moved, and you should have asked for an address, by the way, what time were you given an appointment? what says the time?
In my mind- I had gotten to the location which was stated on the website at exactly 3 o'clock which was the time the meeting was scheduled for,
i had proceeded to ask for the present location of the office and headed to the location. on getting there, my call was now being ignored severally, i had paraded the location asking people if they knew this modeling agency as there was no sign board in sight, the agency later picked up my call directing me to a building that looked like resident and i had confirmed my suspicion that they were not professionals and lacked standard which isn't something i wanted to associate myself with, i had expected an official office, and everything to be done officially and all this was giving the red flags that that it was not. then and there i decided to leave, I felt so bad and knew i wasn't returning to this place with such a bad experience on heading out to the bus stop to call for my vehicle i spotted a dark skin girl who i thought had looked like some who could be a model, I was doubtful but walked up to her to ask if she knew this agency, she immediately replied that that was her agency and she had visited the residence which i alter discovered was a one-man business running from his home. I was so surprised at the thought i could have gone home had i prevented myself from stopping her, till today we are friends and she gave me details on what the agency was like and advised me against joining the agency, adding she was also about to leave when her contract was over because she has also had a bad experience working with the so-called modeling agency which.
What later happened was that i was requested to pay a huge amount of money to build my model's portfolio as a first-time model, which contradicted the advice A model should never be asked to pay money for. In this case, the agency takes care of those expenses, and even if I was to pay any amount of money for building my portfolio as a first-time model the amount requested was horrendous and confirmed my thoughts of this agency being sketchy and scammy.
Today I am happy i got to meet my friend whom I am still friends with today because she guided me against getting myself into something I would have regretted just because I was desperate.
I enjoyed reading your story of how you pursued your career intuitions through desperation.
Everything happens for a reason dear @vanessakor good thing you didn’t pay the money.
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