I have a model-mom friend (shout out!) who is great at
helping me with blog topics. A few days
ago, she asked, “What is a ‘big booker’?”
I thought for a few minutes, and told her something like this.
Some of the biggest bookers I know can book 2-3 times a
week, let’s say, 35 weeks of the year.
New York’s busy season is basically between late February / early March
(late February castings for early March shoots) until mid-October. Those are the shooting times for major
back-to-school and holiday ad campaigns.
Some companies shoot year ‘round in NYC, so there is regular work to be found all year…and of course the stores that
advertise weekly (like Target and Macy’s) are always shooting. The only absolutely dead time is around
December 20 until January 15 or so.
So back to the kid who works 60-75 times a year. That’s a major booker, and they are few and
far between. You will hear from their
parents that they are crazy busy when they are “in size” (fitting into common
sample sizes) and that some clients will fiddle with the clothes to fit the
model. These are kids we might call “the
face of” some brand. For example, I have
two friends whose daughters shot for Hanna Andersson for many seasons…and you would
know their faces. I know a couple of
boys, too, who have had regular gigs with Hanna and J. Crew. They also shoot for tons of other brands on a
regular basis, so these are like the child supermodels.
I would say the next category of kid books on average once a
week. These are also faces you’d
recognize, and very successful models. I
would still call them big bookers. Then
there are regular bookers – who probably book 3-4 times a month. When my daughter was a size 3, she fit into
that category. She had steady enough work
to keep us hopping, for sure…and I think for our life (and distance from NYC)
that was a pretty good balance for us.
For the past ten months or so, as a size 4, my daughter
booked more like 1.5 times a month (but a lot of that was clumped together in
the summer, so it seemed busy then) which was still enough for us to feel like she
was “in the business” while she was also busy with lots of activities (this
year we ended up with Girl Scouts, karate twice a week, ballet, AND she’s
performing in the Nutcracker…so that’s two rehearsals a week and all of the
tech work is coming up soon). It seems
to me that most moms outside of those “big booker” categories would be happy to
be in the 2-3 times a month category – just busy enough.
At some point, I should tackle the whole “pulling from
school” issue we face. But that's a topic for a different day!
Booking alone isn’t what makes models busy. There are go-sees, which can be 1-3 or 4
times a week during busy seasons, depending on size (as always, sample sizes go
out a lot more). During the school year,
they tend to be between 3:00 and 5:00, which can make for long days.
And I cannot forget about holds. Even models who don’t book all that often
have many holds. Holds are a client’s
way of saying “we might want to book this kid, so don’t book him/her for
anything else.” I think that even kids
who get regular holds are “busy” models – they are on the radar at their
agencies, and are very much in demand.
Some moms feel like they get a lot of holds and often there is a similar
kid who books instead, but there is no scientific explanation for holds. And if you’re a mom getting a lot of holds,
your life feels as though you’re booked until 6:00 the night before – because that’s
when you usually consider yourself officially released and you’ve probably already
scrambled to clear next day and get babysitters for the other kids
already. That’s when you need to pour
yourself a stiff drink, curse the client who didn’t book your kid – and hope
they will next time.
What do you think?
Are my estimations off or on?
Give me some feedback here, on my Facebook page (The Bizzy Mama) or via
email at thebizzymama@gmail.com. You can also check out my Instagram TheBizzyMama
for some booking photos (and maybe a pet shot or two). As always, thanks for reading!
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