The greater supply of models has prompted a contraction in rates—even for high-end work—to shockingly low levels. The average magazine shoot, for example, pays about $100 a day. For appearing on the cover of Vogue a model gets an additional $300. “Many magazines,” writes Mears, “pay nothing at all, though lunch and snacks are often provided.” (I’m guessing that most models don’t gain real compensation through snacking.)
via Chloë Schama Reviews Ashley Mears’s “Pricing Beauty” | The New Republic.
Here’s a more direct review of this book.
I’ve dealt with my share of wanna-be models, and potential supermodels and, in one case in LA, a true model who was *almost*… Marissa.
Marissa was picked up by LA Models, and we shot and shot… producing a lot of fantastic images. LA Models was one of the top agencies in a top market.
After a few months of pimping her portfolio around, she started doing modeling in the fashion mart as a commercial model. She started making more money than as a fashion model. She was smart (one of the smarter models I worked with in LA) and went to where the odds are better at making a decent living versus going after the glitz and glamor.
What baffles me today, are all the internet models who are simply not willing to shoot or test with photographers. They upload a few “MySpace” type of images and figure to start making 100+ an hour.
I’m always meeting models who don’t even have printed portfolios.
These are the kids who go nowhere as a model.
I”m still looking for the hard working types who have a printed portfolio and are willing to do shoots on a trade basis.