Child Photo Magazine Issue 01, Fall 2016 | Page 70

offices , and you may have a better relationship with this person you went to college with . So it ’ s just networking and it ’ s building our network . It ’ s building the team of people that are going to be helping pitch them . As well as a parent will send me “ make your photo choices ” and I have probably 15 emails right now where I ’ m supposed to narrow down the photos . It ’ s like , when can I sit down and go through hundreds of photos . So if you have a manager , the manager ’ s going to do that quicker and help you out . Help you with your resume . Help you with coaching for going into an audition . So the answer is when do you need that ? You need that when you ’ re doing roles that are bigger than co-star roles , when you ’ re ready for that level – meaning you ’ ve already booked smaller roles or you ’ re in continuous class and your instructor has let me know that you ’ re ready for guest-star roles and above .
The industry has kind of at times a bad rap where parents get taken advantage of , they get signed by an agent – I ’ m not going to mention any names , but I know you ’ re going to know who I ’ m talking about – and they charge these exorbitant amounts and they ’ re not really even an agent and they give the kids maybe acting lessons and they have to go to a certain photographer and they do all this stuff and they ’ re paying literally a few thousand dollars to get even a four year old started .
So , as far as legitimate agencies and the type of agency I ’ m talking about where the parents are paying money – can you explain the difference between the two and what you should watch out for and what is a red flag ?
Those agencies that you ’ re talking about that aren ’ t really agencies , they ’ re really schools . That ’ s how they ’ ve gotten by with legally being able to do it without it being a scam . Because it really is , according to everybody on our end , it ’ s a waste of money for parents . And it ’ s horrible for me to see my families waste thousands and thousands of dollars . Especially when these classes are giving classes to six year olds . Six year olds don ’ t need classes . They become these over animated “ oh my gosh ! I ’ m so scared !” That is not the way for a six year old to act .

There should be no upfront fees . Anybody who tells you there should be , there shouldn ’ t be . You shouldn ’ t have to pay anything .

The only thing you should pay for , is you should pay for your photography , because you should get your own pictures done . And you should pay for your classes that your agent recommends . And these are classes that we recommend based on people that have
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