In Other Words

apprehension

As I sit here writing this I feel the critters of nervousness gnawing at the walls of my stomach. Tonight I have a general casting where my agency invites all their clients and potential clients down to look at all their models and potential models. That, in itself, does not frighten me. I've been to enough of these castings that I know how to handle myself at these types of events and provoke the reaction that I want.

What has me by the balls, so to speak, is that I had a shoot done when I first came here and I still 'owe' the Photographer 160 dollars for that. Let me tell you the whole story (from my perspective anyway).

When I first came to Perth I went to an agency and asked if they were interested in representing me. They were, and this came straight from the lips of the head booker (the person that basically runs the agency.) Then I told them, flat out, that I didn't have any money to let them take the standard roll of film of me. I had come here with very little money in my pocket and did not have the resources to pay for this kind of thing.

That's alright, they said, we will pay for the shoot. We think that you're going to do well and we're willing to forward that money. You'll just pay it back through work. That, I personally thought, was very cool (stop me if you've heard this story already).

So we arranged everything for the shoot and I went down to the agency a few days before the shoot. Then they tried to arrange a hair appointment for me. They wanted me to pay for that and I said 'sorry, I can't. I just simply do not have the money'. They were slightly annoyed, but accepted that as the simple truth. They did not offer to pay for that. Fair enough, I thought.

So the shoot happened, despite me ugly hair and the agency did indeed pay for it. Then I showed up a week later and they showed me the contact sheet. These, they said, are the pictures that we want to enlarge and use for your com card. Cool, I said, you guys know more about this then I do, so go ahead.

Then I came back and they told me I owed the photographer 160 dollars for the prints. I sat there, stunned, mumbled something and then walked out.

that was about a month ago and I still haven't paid him. In fact, I've decided I won't pay them, since I had made clear on numerous occasions that I did not and do not have the money to pay for any of that. Nor did they tell me that I would have to pay for that. I haven't told them this yet and expect that it will probably come to a head tonight.

I will tell them, then, that I will pay the photographer with money I make from working for the agency. That, I have decided, is fair (though I can't believe that a roll of film, a photographer and a stylist can cost around three hundred dollars).

What I'm afraid of is that they won't let me stay for the casting and thereby destroy my chances of doing any modeling work over here. Though I don't like doing it, I do have to admit that it can pay pretty damned well, if you can get the work.

Of course I haven't gotten any because the agency does not seem to have pushed me at all (I've had one casting, so far, and one show that used all the models from the agency, anyway. That does not sound like they are pushing me, does it? I had to go to castings every other day while I was in Singapore.)

So that's the story. Now that I've typed it out I actually don't feel as apprehensive as I did when I started this post, so I guess thats a benefit. Tell me if you think I'm right in doing what I'm doing, yeah?

posted by Symbol @ 5.4.05