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7 Reasons You Weren’t Hired for the Model Casting.

Why wasn’t I picked for the casting? We all know how disappointing it is to not get picked for a job you were hoping to book! Rest assured, “it’s not you.” Or it probably wasn’t you.

7 reasons you weren’t hired for the model casting.

  1.  You just don’t have the right look. It’s simply that. The client has a veryy specific look they are hiring for, and you didn’t fit. Even if you’re blonde and they’re looking for blondes… Are you really the closest model to the vision they had in mind? Maybe. Probably not. This is the case more often than not.
  2. Your hair is just an inch too short. If you’re at a hair casting: first of all, they are very hard to book unless you are open to complete transformations. I’m a professional hair model, among other things. I almost booked a really great hair job once, but my hair was slightly too short. I had the right look, but they needed very specific hair.
  3. They found their model before you even came to the casting. I know this is especially common with hair castings. They found the perfect model already, but the client is still pretty much obligated to execute the rest of the casting. This is why it’s usually a great idea to come at the start of a casting, rather than the middle or at the end, if you can help it.
  4. They SOUNDED like they wanted to hire you, why didn’t you get the callback? I know this is disappointing, and it could be any number of reasons. Most commonly, they just found another model that for better. Maybe it was budget, maybe it was personality. Regardless, you can’t stress yourself over it. Nothing is ever a “YES” until you are actually ON SET.
  5. Your agency. Yes, sometimes your agency really doesn’t have your best interests in mind. They have models to take care of other than you! I’ve had screw-ups with jobs in fashion week before, where I’ve booked one job and was put on hold for another and ended up not doing either one because of something that happened on the back end of things.
  6. Personality. Sometimes you might not have booked a job, because it was you. Maybe you were tired and didn’t have energy and they were looking for bubbly personalities. Either way, just be you and this probably won’t be a problem. Unless “you” means being unprofessional and rubbing off on people wrong.
  7. Not wearing the right clothes, or looking too “fresh” to the industry. If are, or you look, inexperienced, it may be a turn off to the client. The only way to not look new is to get out there, build your portfolio, build your wardrobe, and gain experience.

There are a million reasons why you weren’t picked for a job. The only thing that matters is: you weren’t picked. That’s it. No need to overthink it. It rarely has anything to do with something you did or didn’t do.

As a rule, I personally say: expect the worst, but always hope for the best. It takes a lot of tries to get hired for a modeling job. Just keep at it, and the right one(s) will come along!

Be Fierce!!

Briauna Mariah (:

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A Model’s Unfiltered Thoughts on Agencies

Photo by Annika Forslund

I’ve been quarreling with myself on this topic for months now. I have provided you with plenty of info on modeling agencies in the past. However, I feel there is a missing element. Bias. Today I will impart my bias in regards to the topic of agencies. Today I will open up.

While I have not had a horrendous experience with agencies, like some, it has not been particularly pleasant either. Often, agencies have felt very intimidating, even bully-like.

A model is hardly ever allowed to be herself. She is scrutinized in detail. She is never good enough, always expected to fill in this role of the unattainable. As a society, our beauty standards are warped. They are unrealistic. Yet, young girls are expected to conform. This is what it feels like to be a model. Moldable.

At age 15, I was told I had too much baby fat. My legs have been called doughy. Some people have told me I can’t “make it” due to my size. That I have to conform. I have been pressured and harassed about my skin, urged to see a dermatologist I couldn’t afford, for a problem that was occurring because of my genes, and because I was unhealthy. Being with an agency has always been a stressful experience for me. I was always pressured one way or another, bullied strategically, bossed around, and strung along waiting for my paychecks.

This is my bias. And the experience is not too different from those girls around me.

Girls. We are women, young women. Yet, why do I keep calling all models girls? It is because even I feel diminished as a model sometimes. We are girls. Young. To be manipulated. Some never grow up. Some never learn. Some girls grow up learning from this industry and are left wondering what is wrong.

Agencies not paying their models has become a norm. Clients paying months after a job. Sexual harassment on jobs, and bullying. How can they get away with this?

For one, the industry remains wildly unregulated. On the other hand: we let them. A year ago, I decided I no longer wanted to be taken advantage of by a shady company with only their own interests in mind.

Unfortunately, a model can’t advance her career much without an agency.

To be fair, I have had a lot of exciting moments with my agencies. I have been in Mercedes-Benz fashion week. I have booked huge, lucrative photo shoots. I have been given the chance to book career-changing campaigns. I have been in Anna Wintour’s office building. There are always the plus sides. I often found myself in exciting jobs and opportunities I wouldn’t have gotten without an agency.

Without having been with the agencies I have been with, I wouldn’t be where I am as a model today. My portfolio is strong. My experience is strong. From the platform of being signed with an agency, I have been given the opportunity to expand and grow, not only as a model, but as a woman.

Here’s the thing. We can change this. Together. The fashion industry doesn’t have to be a harsh reality, but a positive environment.

My experiences in the fashion industry have pushed me to create a revolution. I want to promote positive change and health. Poor, low quality living is generally secretly applauded by many industry peers. Young girls loosing too much weight is celebrated! This helps perpetuate and encourage eating disorders among young girls across the globe.

So I need your help. Soon, I will be launching a crowd-funding campaign for We Speak, the agency of the future. I’m creating a healthy branding system for retail and fashion brands to use to encourage healthy living, and healthy women.

If you help fund and promote this mission, you are contributing your piece of a huge undertaking and fashion revolution. The industry has made small movements to a more positive industry, yet the experiences detailed above are still very much alive. Are you ready to roar?

www.facebook.com/wespeakny

Be Fierce!!

Briauna Mariah (:
Founder of We Speak
(917) 274-7324

P.S. We are on the lookout for experienced, healthy models in NYC! Email briaunamariah@gmail.com for submissions (our email system and site is currently undergoing construction!)

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First Fashion Shoot Raw Film

When you’re a new model and you’ve been shown–for some reason or another–the whole film of a first shoot for the first time, don’t freak out!

Yeah, you’ll have some decent shots in your first shoot, but chances are, you’re not exactly going to look like Coco Rocha in every frame. Photographers don’t generally show the model the whole film. In fact this happens very rarely; the photographers will usually choose and edit which photos to send. There are always bad photos to filter through. Maybe you’ve blinked in one photo, or you have your hands at an awkward angle that looks unattractive. A photographer will shoot until s/he has “the shot” (one amazing shot, or a selection of shots) for each main look. Continue reading “First Fashion Shoot Raw Film”