Um yeah...dont do it, dont do it, dont do it.
We took our DD#2 in 2008 - she was/is super cute - big blue eyes, very round face. She was 2 at the time. We had the whole interview, being asked if i could make commerical shoots, how would i go driving to movie sets, would i be ok with catalogue work - blah, blah, blah. Then they make it all really important, and say they will have to asses application and see if they will accept my DD (she was in the room with us). 2 days later, got a phone call, yes, we'd been accepted....now if we could come in ASAP for the photo shoot, as there are heaps of opporutnites coming up soon and they really wanted to get my DD on the database.
So $500 later, and a photo shoot...(great photos btw....of course, if we wanted any, we had to buy them) we had our DD on the database.....In our 12mth subscription or whatever you wanna call it, we heard nothing ., absolutely nothing..i called a few times...said they hadnt forgotton us.....but then after the 12mths i knew we wouldnt hear from them again...... .
It cost $500 a year...then for each job she had they took a %. Crock if you ask me.....absolute crock.
So yeah, if you have $500ish dollars to throw away, go for it.......
ETA: Bettina was the child modelling agency we threw our money at....
We were with Tinlids...Louis had one job with them which was lots of fun - he did really well - it was a target catalogue and he got 3 pictures on the one page...but that was it. We never renewed as I've had 3 more babies since then! I'd love to sign them up again even just to do one job for the memories but it is VERY expensive so I don't think it will happen!
I had a similar experience to mbear - the agency made a big fuss about how few children they accept so that the ones that they do are almost certain to get work. DD would get two photoshoots a year for the price of one (about $500). The first photos were great, but she only got one casting call and didn't end up getting the job as she wouldn't sit still...
The second photoshoot for the agency was not so good. DD was still in her "wriggly" phase, so wouldn't sit still and got very frustrated. The photographer kept wanting to make her do things that she didn't want to do, so in the end I just told her to stop. We never ended up seeing the photos, even though they said that they would send them to us. DD didn't get any more casting calls.
Needless to say, we didn't renew the subscription the next year.
I think you're right to give it a miss.
Hey Kellie, I just wanted to add that if you do decide to go ahead with joining an agency, check out the vcaa website (Victorian Children's Agents Association). The agents that are registered with them should be reputable. Not all agents charge for photos either so it's worth doing some research.
My little boy was very lucky and was cast in a tv commercial at his first audition, should be coming out really soon!
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