The Truth about Children’s Modeling and Acting all the way to Seniors!

I have enjoyed working in the talent industry booking models, actors and extras for over 27 years. I have usually worked in market sizes fewer tha
2 million people.

I have also worked with many other agents across the U.S. that also work in these size markets and have discovered some interesting facts that I would like to relay to parents of young talent.

First off, yes there is plenty of legitimate work available for anyone from babies, kids, teens, young adults, adults and even seniors! With that said there is also a certain percentage of work that goes out to each of these age groups and also a certain percentage of people that are applying for these age groups. This can sometimes make it harder and sometimes easier for each person depending on their age, markets and experience level.

The best thing about starting kids out when they are young is as they get older and more experience the odds get much better. You just have to have very realistic expectations for toddlers and young kids.
I have broken it into different age categories. Please remember these are educated guesses and can vary slightly depending on the ability of your agency, the market location and size, also some years are busier than others.
Babies and ages 1- 3 years old- In most markets 2 million and less this age group receives only betwee
3-5% of all the work that we book. Of all the applicants we receive though to be promoted, 10-15% are parents who want their little ones to model. We do occasionally book jobs but the percentages of getting booked are not as good as all of the other age categories. It is really frustrating when we have parents who could actually book many jobs themselves with our assistance and are in an age categories 25-50 years old that that have a lot of opportunities. When their child does book jobs the parent needs to go to the auditions with their kids and be there on the shoots if the child is booked.

The other drawback is from babies to 3 years; their look changes by far the most, so a great photo that can be used to book the child becomes obsolete often after 6 months. Usually the type of work available is an occasional print ad, family commercials, modeling shoots or Film, TV or commercial using that age range. For Film and TV they often request identical twins. Pay is $100-$900 per day. For the big children’s companies’ ads, (Gerber, Pampers, Babies r us etc.) You would need to actually live in the markets that shoot those ads (NY, LA Chicago etc) they usually will not fly babies to do the shoots. Sometimes the big companies will come into smaller markets and use this age group but it is fairly rare.

Let’s talk about each of the other groups.
Kids 4 to 12 years old- At times this can be very busy and other times very slow. There are opportunities for lifestyle photos, kids for clothing and toy ads, family commercial type shots, and lifestyle photos. There are also occasional acting opportunities but the kids need to be very good actors and speak and read very well. In our market size, this is not an area that you can have consistent work, but if it is treated as a part-time hobby that you can make some nice money for the future…this is perfect. There are a lot of applicants so there is an amazing amount of competition for this group. It seems every parent wants their young kids to model or have been told their kid would be a great model. This category receives 10- 15% of the work available but we get new faces that want to apply at a rate of about 20-25% of all the applications we receive.
Teenagers age 13 to 17 years old -This age group can be very busy and sometimes a little slower depending on if the production is using a lot of teens or there is an ad campaign in town using teenagers. The Disney films and TV series along with family features will use a ton of teens, but companies marketing their product and most commercial print studios do not use a lot of teenagers. In high-fashion markets (New York, Miami, LA, Overseas etc.) this is a good age for models to start their career. In our markets this age group is very competitive since we receive 25-30% of all of our new faces who apply that want to belong to the agency. Approximately 15 to 20% of the work we receive available for this age group.
Young adults 18-30 years old -This is usually the busiest age category for fashion modeling, pretty busy for commercial and lifestyle modeling and usually busy for film and TV acting. It is fairly busy for corporate business modeling and acting. Many productions ask us for people 18 and over, especially in Union (SAG/AFTRA) made Films, TV and Commercials who look younger because they do not have to deal with as much legality. Once someone is 18 they are no longer a minor. This age range is fairly competitive though, we receive approximately 25-30% of all of our applicants for new faces and we book approximately 20-30% of the jobs in this age category.
Adults 30 -40 years old- This age is very good for many types of print work, especially commercial and lifestyle. It is also good for website spokesperson jobs and business spokesperson jobs. Many roles are available for Film and TV. Talent in this age category generally make some of the higher rates for local markets. Approximately 20- 25% of the people apply as new talent to this group and it generally books 20-25% of all the work available.

Adults 40-60 years old- This can be a busy category especially for film, corporate work, commercial and lifestyle photography. This can also be a good category for pay. We receive approximately only 10-12% of all the people apply to be talent with our agency in this age group and they get 15-22% of the jobs booked, a great ratio. The person with a good business look does very well in this category especially if they can also act.

Seniors people 60 years old and up- The work ranges from lifestyle modeling ads, to film, TV and commercial work to stock photography. Pay ranges from $100-$150 per day for extra work to $200-$1000 per day for most other jobs. There is not as much competition as some of the other categories. We receive about 6-10% of all our new applicants who are in this age range and surprisingly this category gets about 10-15% of all the work. Many people are either winding down their careers or are retirees looking for some extra part time income.

As you can see there are many variables in our industry. Of course the more experienced and qualified you are will help determine your odds on booking jobs. There are no guarantees but usually the talent that gives it time and an honest attempt will book jobs eventually!
If you have any questions or would like to apply to go to http://www.crazeagency.com/application.php or email us at craze@crazeagency.com

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