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R U Reliable - or just a timewaster?

Unfortunately, a lot of models and would-be models are unreliable timewasters.
Timewasters are the people who think that they want to be models but who just aren't serious and they waste everyone's time and get models a bad name.

As an example, a small agency we know used to send out application forms if people emailed asking for them. They sent out thousands, at a very high postage cost, but very few were ever returned. To make it cheaper they changed it to a downloadable application form. Again, thousands were downloaded but hardly any were returned. They finally cracked it - now people have to send them a stamped addressed envelope. They get the same number of forms returned but send out far less!

And then there are the would-be models who make an appointment to see them but don't turn up, or who turn up late. It's also not unknown for models to turn up drunk, or to be in obvious need of cocaine addiction rehab!

And then there are the people who they take on, but when they ring them with a job offer their mobile is switched off. And there are the people who do answer their phone but when when they're offered a job they say "No, I don't want to do modelling no more"!

And then there is the (ex) model who we had booked through a local agency. She rang up the evening before the shoot and said "I can't come tomorrow so I'll come the day after instead". Her agency supplied us with a replacement model, sacked her and sent out the usual email to all other model agencies.

The main issues are reliability and punctuality, but there are other ways that you can lose your customers. For example, we had a girl here once who just wouldn't stop talking about her pay rates. I dropped gentle hints at first and when that didn't work I told her to shut up. That didn't stop her either and so when I got the usual follow-up call from her agency to check that everything had gone O.K. I made the strongest comment that I possibly could - "We got some good shots of her but I won't be booking her again" When they asked why I told them, and they dropped her from their books.

Why did her big mouth cause problems? Well, let's say that she was paid £100 for her work. Her agency charged commission of 25%, which means that they charged us £125. As photographers, we have to make a profit on every aspect of our service, so weI charged her time out at £200 to our clients. Our clients were an advertising agency and they charged our services, including the model, to their clients at double the cost. So the model actually cost the clients £400 - which they were happy about until she told them that she was being paid £100!

And then there are the models who talk about their private lives. This can be a problem too, perhaps because of the generation gap between the model and the clients. Depending on what is said, the client may be shocked and decide that the photographer has recommended a model who they are not happy with. This may not seem to be very important but consider that famous entertainers and sportsmen often lose their very lucrative sponsorship deals for the same type of reason - clients drop them because of the way they live their private lives.

And then there is modelling experience. Everyone has to start somewhere, but the clients expect the model to have some experience.
There was one shoot where the model agency had told me, very honestly, that the model the client was interested in had never actually done any modelling work. I asked them to ask her to ring me, which she did. I told her very clearly that it was a simple job and that she would cope perfectly well without experience but that she must not tell anyone that this was her first modelling job.
Half way through the shoot my client 'had a word' with me - the model had told him that this was her first job. He was furious! We had to send the model home, book another model and postpone the shoot to another day.
All this cost us a lot of money. Needless to say, the model never got another chance!