How to Find a Good Child Modeling Agency

Every parent thinks that their child is the best in the world. The saying “a face only a mother could love” is entirely true, because parents always see the best in their children. While this is a wonderful thing because it creates a unique bond between parents and children and helps parents support and encourage their offspring, it is not always a good thing when it comes to child talent and modeling. While everyone believes that their child has unique gifts and is truly beautiful, not everyone’s child is cut out for modeling or can be promoted as a model. However, this does not prevent unscrupulous agents from attempting to extract hundreds or even thousands of dollars from confident and loving parents who simply want the best representation and the widest range of opportunities for their kids. If you are considering getting involved with your child in modeling, acting or any other agent-facilitated talent, you must be sure that you have found a good child modeling agency or you will simply be pouring money down the drain regardless of how legitimately appealing your child is in this arena.

This boy looks natural and playful, which are ideal looks for children's headshots.

One of the best ways to get a good response from an agency while also determining if they are a legitimate player and an upfront, professional modeling agency is to get head shots of your child before bringing your little star to their attention. Head shots are images generally taken from the shoulders up, and they may include makeup, professional hair styling or certain attitudes or poses at which your child excels. They may also be simpler, with minimal touchups and styling to give an agent a better idea of what the child looks like. The type of headshots you select will be up to you, but remember that the more evident it is that your child is versatile and attractive in multiple settings, the more likely you are to be able to “sell” their image to an agency. If you encounter an agent or agency – and there are many – who profess to take any child and make them a success regardless of the look of their headshots or even without viewing the headshots before signing a contract, beware. No agency will make any legitimate, contractual promises to you sight-unseen. Any group who does is making these promises because it does not matter if they can keep them.

Along the same line as the issue with headshots, you will need a good cover letter with which to promote your child to an agency. The cover letter will present your child to the agency before the agency actual sees them – or you – in person. To be perfectly blunt, a cover letter is a sales letter. You are “selling” the idea of promoting your child’s career to the modeling agency. As a result, if you do not feel that you can adequately and eloquently promote the idea to the agency, then you should consider contracting the letter out and paying a professional copywriter to write the letter for you. As with headshots, if an agency accepts your child without a cover letter, be wary. While this is not unheard of, it is highly unusual. You should be very, very cautious and investigate the agency thoroughly before you sign any contracts and certainly before paying any money.

One of the best ways to start out investigating any child modeling agency is to check them out in the Ross Reports. This publication contains “all the insider information” that you could ever need about modeling agencies. It not only tells you who to contact within the agency and what type of models and modeling the agency prefers, but this publication also lets you know who of note the agency currently represents and even how active they are in the public modeling scene. If an agency is not listed in Ross Reports, it is probably not a reputable agency and the company may not even exist.

Another great way to find out the identities of reputable agencies is to talk to advertising departments of magazines or stores to find out what agencies they use to supply their models. Most departments do not have a lot of time to evaluate and screen models, so they will rely on one to three agencies to send them models that they can be relatively certain ahead of time will meet their requirements. An agency that is used exclusively or nearly exclusively by an advertising department is a good lead for you because it shows that they are reliable and also that they have a steady source of potential jobs for your child.

Once you have identified a few promising potential agencies, your research will start in earnest. You should send your child’s headshots and cover letter at this time, because the next stage of your investigations will involve your impressions of the company directly. If an agency is interested in a potential client, they will want to meet with you and your child for an interview. Take advantage of this time to conduct your own interview as well. As for references, as well as requesting a list of people who the agency currently represents. Once you have completed your interview, you should evaluate the situation again. Look online and if possible contact people who are represented by the agency. A good agency should have no problem providing real, contactable references. You should find out how they and their children have been treated personally as well as how they feel about their success booking jobs. Also, check out any claims that were made during conversation about money made, clients represented and the number of jobs, on average, that the agency’s clients book. If any of these numbers do not check out, then you should probably proceed with another agency since it indicates that there is some degree of dishonesty somewhere in the agency.

Finally, never pay anything up front. Modeling agencies, and child modeling agencies, make their money off jobs booked for clients. This is the reason that a good agent will work so hard to represent a client well and get them lots of jobs. While you may need to pay for headshots and even a cover letter, this is not money paid to the agency. If an agency requires a deposit or up front fee outside of pictures or modeling “books” for your child (and you should be able to select your own photographer) then you should walk away immediately.