Commercial Print Model Marketing

The bare minimum needed to market you is a headshot similar to those used by theatrical performers. If all you have is one really great picture, that may be what you use at the beginning of your career. (Note: new fashion models sometimes start with no more than simple Polaroids taken by their agency. But they need to change that as rapidly as possible. The fashion clients are heavily influenced by pictures.

If you are going to be a model looking for fashion or commercial print work, you should have a printed composite card that can be sent to potential clients. Typically “comps” are 5 ½ x 8 ½ inches, printed on card stock, and double sided. They normally contain a good head shot on one side, three or four other pictures on the reverse, and your stats and agency contact data. Most agencies prefer pictures to be mostly color, but will accept good-quality B&W comps. The agency will probably need at least 50 copies of your comp card in their files. Normally comp cards are updated as you get better pictures or tear sheets that can be included on them, so it often isn’t necessary to print more than 100-150.

If you already have an acceptable comp card it will help greatly for a commercial agency to immediately market you. Fashion agencies and most small market agencies will require you to have a card produced under their guidance. If you do not have a card, but have good quality pictures of the right style, the agency can assist you in finding printers who can produce quality comps at reasonable prices in only a few days.

A “portfolio” or “book” is vital for a fashion model, although less necessary for commercial models. In the larger markets pictures should be 9”x12” or tearsheets from published work. In smaller markets 8x10 may be acceptable, but you should check with local agencies to be sure. Some agencies have adopted other sizes for "walkaround" books, while keeping the "main book(s) at 9x12. For commercial models it is helpful if your comp (or portfolio) contains shots of you portraying some of the “types” that get commercial castings, and that are appropriate to your look. If you can look like a doctor, executive, “young mom”, “active retiree”, “character”, or any other frequently requested “type” you should ensure that you have pictures showing you in clothes and a setting, and with the “look” or attitude appropriate to that type. Also if you are planning on being a “body” or parts model your comp should contain a picture of your specialty as well. Some models with an especially strong specialty may choose to have a second comp card printed which focuses on that specialty.

Your agency should advise you on the contents of your comp and portfolio, but a large market commercial agency will often simply accept one (if it is well done) from new models.

ONLINE solutions also exist. ModelVanity.com offers this service free of charge. Anyone interested can look at your portfolio any time.

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What is a Commercial Model?

Most agency models are "commercial" models - meaning that they appear on local or national print ads or television shows, in catalogs, work in local fashion shows and trade shows and similar kinds of work. They don't get huge fees (although pay can be very good indeed), national recognition or lucrative national ad contracts, but they are the backbone of the modeling industry.

Fashion models also work as commercial models, although the reverse is rarely true. In smaller market cities in the US, most agencies concentrate on "fashion print" or "commercial fashion" models, who tend to be tall, slim and beautiful in a more mainstream way. This is "commercial fashion", a subset of commercial modeling.

Very, very few commercial models make a living at it. It is not a career, it is something they do on an occasional basis while they do something else "full time". Outside of the major markets (New York, Chicago, maybe Miami and Los Angeles) it is doubtful that there is any city in America in which more than a dozen people make a good living at modeling, but in virtually all cities and substantial towns there are many, usually hundreds, who are in the modeling market, and who occasionally find work.

The requirements for being a commercial model are very different from being a fashion model. It certainly helps if you look a lot like a fashion model, but there is work available in most markets for many other types. Models can be older, shorter, heavier and need not be pretty or beautiful - "interesting" often will get work, and “generic good looks” is the most common look required. Commercial models are asked to play roles in pictures: “young mom”, “active retiree”, “Doctor”, “executive”, and they look like idealized versions of these roles. In most of the markets we have surveyed the hardest demand for an agent to fill is for middle-aged men!

Things that help a commercial model are acting ability, an outgoing personality, easy availability for jobs, and good self-presentation skills.

The great majority of commercial jobs are booked through agencies, except for those that are given to friends or members of the client's family.

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