Baby modelling... What’s it really like?
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Forum Name: General Chat
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URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5930
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Topic: Baby modelling... What’s it really like?
Posted By: Katherine
Subject: Baby modelling... What’s it really like?
Date Posted: 01 March 2007 at 7:37am
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My SIL has just registered her one-year-old with a modelling agency, and is hopeful that he'll get a big break and make lots of money. I know a lot of mums have said that people tell them their child should be a model, so I wondered, who here has actually done it? What's it really like? Does it pay? Is there lots of work? Is it fun? Are there heaps of "stage mothers"? |
Replies:
Posted By: SMoody
Date Posted: 01 March 2007 at 8:15am
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I actually had modelling agencies and advert exceccutives come up to me offering contracts and adverts for McKayla to play in. And we are talking quite a bit of money. When I asked for more information it meant a lot of time away from home. It will be like me having a job. McKayla wont be in her own routine ect. And some of this stuff is a lot of work.
I am not totally against it if the money gets invested for them but at the same time it shouldnt be a job for them as such. We decided against. If something comes up like just sending a photo in ect and winning money will do that but not really big projects as such. Unless off course she gets older and wants to do it. Even then I will limit it. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Bombshell
Date Posted: 01 March 2007 at 8:50am
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I di it when younger and got paid ok for it...mum wasnt a stage mum - we had people ask us to do stuff...or she would enter me in baby shows and i would win and we would get a contract from there (i posted the lux photos i did a while back in another thread).
She put her foot down when i got a role in a show that meant four - six months off school (i think i was 8?) so def not a stage mum. I dont think there is really enough work in NZ to do that...OZ is a different story! Have friends whose bubs are PP models and Huggies babies and pay is decent, not too much effort but if you do more than one thing then yes as Shirena says it is like having another job at times.... Im not opposed to it at all...but then i grew up doing it...DH isnt fond of the idea except maybe getting her money for looking cute....and heres hoping she is!!! 
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Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 01 March 2007 at 9:11am
| we did it in Japan. It was okay, but there were many auditions that we were invited to, but no guarantee of a job. Jake was offered a catalogue job which Lewis took him to. They were more interested in babies that wouldn't cry, and could cope with long hours. Lewis had taken lots of snacks - they had said they would provide things, but didn't have anything suitable. They also said that the would work around nap times, but of course with several children there, that was never going to happen. Lewis said that for a lot of the mums there, their husbands were working, and due to visa purposes they couldn't - so being a stage mom WAS their job, and boy, did some of them take it seriously. Jake ended up being offered three more jobs, but all were around the time we had visitors so we were going to be away. He got paid...well, can't remember how much, but it paid for his ticket to Thailand. (he really needed to go to the beach!). It can be good money, BUT it is a lot of ferrying around, and no guarantee that the child will get work. What they seem to look for, less than looks, is a child who will smile on cue and is confident in front of the camera. Well, in Japan it was more like - foreign - the onl;y criteria. |
Posted By: daikini
Date Posted: 01 March 2007 at 9:13am
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Jake did some modelling in Japan... Maybe if you PM Liz (lizzle), she'd be able to tell you a bit about it. ------------- Becca, mum of 2 girls & 3 boys |
Posted By: Katherine
Date Posted: 01 March 2007 at 9:23am
| Thanks for sharing your experiences, ladies -- I'm just interested to know what it's really like since SIL is SO confident it's going to be an amazing opportunity that will catapult my nephew to fame and fortune. Anybody else have experiences? Maybe we have some famous OHbabies in here! |
Posted By: Roksana
Date Posted: 01 March 2007 at 9:53am
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I use to work for PP and I remember one photo Shoot....it took the whole day, as they were shooting with babies and toddlers and there were loads of crying tired babies...and in turn loads of tired and grumpy mums!!
I dont know If I would like to do it....but it would be fun to put Zaara some where for the experience. However I am not to keen to make money of my baby...I some how think its just not right...she is a baby and should have a babies life...they shouldnt have to work!! But that is just my opinion.  ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: meow
Date Posted: 01 March 2007 at 2:06pm
I've been told that I should get Ella into modelling, even by a professional photographer who took our portrait photos.. but this is the kid who doesn't stay still for very long  I didn't like the idea of interupting her routine either, as she wasn't really a great sleeper anyway. Plus most of the jobs are in Akld and we're in Wgtn.------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: .Mel
Date Posted: 01 March 2007 at 4:25pm
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My son was "discovered" in St Lukes when he was about 6 months old. He did a few jobs mainly for Farmers and the old "Deka" in their catalogues, he never had to audition we were just called and told where we had to go. I remember there being a lot of waiting around; but there was always something for the kids to play with.
The money was good back then (11 years ago). I do remember having to get an IRD number for him which seemed wierd considering he was only a baby.... I haven't pursued the same avenues with my daughter though... not sure I would now. ------------- Mr Mellow (16) Miss Attitude (8) Destructa Kid (3) 
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Posted By: Myamy
Date Posted: 01 March 2007 at 8:19pm
| My twin and i used to do a little of it when we were little, but once day we decided thats it no more and refused to co-operate but if it works for you and your little one then i dont see why not. |
Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 02 March 2007 at 3:03pm
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Maya was offered a Patch catalogue a while back (she has the 'pacific' look they are into for their summer stuff apparently) and I guess she probably would have been OK with it given what a little actress she is, but to be honest it's not really my thing. God help me if she grows up and wants to become an actress and blames me for saying no to her 'big break' but I just don't have it in me to be a 'stage mum'.
PS. Katherine, let me guess - is it "the" SIL that you are talking about by any chance -------------  Maya Grace (28/02/03)
 (02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 02 March 2007 at 4:00pm
| I believe that often it is less how the child looks and more their behaviour that will land modelling contract - will they smile and laugh in front of strangers, or will they be shy, will they cope with missed naptimes or be a mess? will they take instructions or just run around like crazy! Jake was okay because he was at the stage before crawling so would sit still for longer periods of time, and at the time was a very social child, grinning at anyone who looked twice at him (remember we were in a small area and a foreign baby - a virtual celebrity!) |
Posted By: Bombshell
Date Posted: 02 March 2007 at 4:36pm
funny that - our friends grandson is part tongan etc and he has been a PP model for the same reason...similar age to Maya - they would have looked cute together... |
Maya wrote:Posted By: Katherine
Date Posted: 04 March 2007 at 2:52pm
| LOL yes, Emma, it is "the" SIL I'm referring to... the awful one. I'm information-gathering so that I can hold my own when she starts going ON and ON about this latest little "project" of hers! |
Posted By: lizzle
Date Posted: 04 March 2007 at 7:29pm
if you wanna be b*tchy, find some information about jon benet ramsey and make vague referneces to it....or just invent statistics and say you read them in "the listener"...I'm being a bit mean to my SIl myself at present - she shouldn't have been so nasty at xmas - me: "Oh, you're buying your wedding dress now? Do you think you will have lost all the baby weight by then?"
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Posted By: Bombshell
Date Posted: 04 March 2007 at 8:40pm
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oh Lizzle...MEOW!!!! but that was a great one....
Katherine - do u know which agency she has signed up with as there are some real dodgy ones around that wont get any work...eg did she pay them to join etc??? |
Posted By: lou
Date Posted: 05 March 2007 at 1:39pm
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Sophie has been enrolled in an agency since she was one and we have had nothing- We all think our kids are cute, but that doesnt mean they will be what people are looking for ------------- Mother to two beautiful children - Sophie age 6 and Ephraim age 4 |
Posted By: Katherine
Date Posted: 05 March 2007 at 8:29pm
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Hey Bombshell, I have no idea what agency she signed up with (when she starts on this topic, like many others, I try not to ask too many questions because it encourages her) but she said she paid $60 to sign up, and that was supposed to be for the portfolio photo shoot. I haven't seen the photos from this photo shoot, though, or even heard if they had one. With my SIL, things tend to be very vague and somewhat exaggerated -- so the phrase, "My son is going to be a baby model" could actually be interpreted as, "Someone in the supermarket said my son is cute, so I've decided that's all the evidence I need that he's cute enough to model, so therefore I've called a baby modelling agency and gotten info on what I need to do to get him into the industry." I don't want to be too b*tchy, because she is oblivious to it anyway -- when she first mentioned the baby modelling thing, I said, "Wow, that'll sure give you something to talk about for the next few months," and the remark went right over her head. I think she lives in an alternate universe! |
Posted By: Bombshell
Date Posted: 05 March 2007 at 10:15pm
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well that would be one cheap shoot!!! At that age they usually only use your own photos until the kid gets some photo shoots etc under their belt and then they use those...OOOH OOOH ask her where the photos are...meow....and why she paid to have them done!!!
Im looking forward to the next instalment of the SIL / baby model showdown...Im sure there will be one....
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Posted By: BaAsKa
Date Posted: 06 March 2007 at 9:54am
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oh hehe soooo funny bout the SIL thing!! LMAO!! sounds like mine - example - MIL says to SIL about eldest daughter who is a handful! "Maybe she'll be a bit easier to manage when shes 5 or something" this is what SIL heard (with her "ears") "I want T**** to come and live with me when she turns 5" how the hec she got that i dont know but its halerious hearing about your similar stories! lol
Like on 'BONES' last night they depicted what seemed to me to be really over the top child modeling but after reading so much about Jon Benet Ramsey a few years ago that may be how it is over there (and here i dunno). Im not sure if anyone else watched it but it was sick! that this murdered girls mother made her wear a corset to bed that deformed her ribs etc, veneered her teeth, bleeched her brown hair blonde! and starved her so she didnt put on weight! and she was only 9!! etc etc! very sad!!! |
Posted By: Bombshell
Date Posted: 06 March 2007 at 10:10am
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the sad thing is that the pageant circuit in OZ is very similar to that also...but remember pageants are different to modelling....I stayed with friends of friends in oz whose boy and girl did pageants and had heaps of trophies but they seriously were like little dolls and had a heap of makeup and outfits and took it soooo seriously!!! DH would kill me if i entered bubs into something like that...
I did win a baby show when younger...but only ever did one pageant tyoe thing..and got free coke etc...thats about all i remember of it...I didnt win!!! LOL |
Posted By: Katherine
Date Posted: 06 March 2007 at 10:22am
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I watched that Bones last night -- thank God it was fiction, but I'm sure there are parents/kids out there. I had half a mind to ring up SIL and ask if she was watching it too (since she feels free to ring me when Dr Phil has screaming misbehaving kids on his show, telling me it might help me to get some advice on how to deal with Emma's tantrums). But I resisted. I don't want to take the lid any further off this particular can of worms! Well, not until she provokes me too............
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