The Politics of Fashion Photography Part 20 Casting Directors

[benjikan]

So your looking at some images in a fashion magazine like V, I-D, Love Magazine, Interview, Numéro and even VOGUE, Harper’s BAZAAR, etc… And you think to yourself, how did they get that top girl for that issue of the magazine? You may have thought that the photographer, the magazine production coordinator or the stylist phoned the model agency and put together a casting for the shoot and that was it.

Wrong! In most cases the difference between a great girl for a shoot and and incredible model for a shoot is the leverage a great Casting Director can offer.

Why? Because, they can negotiate Top Models that may not be willing to shoot for “X” magazine if their agency were contacted directly, by being able to offer the agency THAT next GREAT Ad Campaign they are casting for if they do this shoot for that photographer and magazine.

It is a literal balance of power balancing act. Casting Directors can get paid anything from Zero, if for some very good reason they feel it is worth their while to get involved in a low to no budget production to € 5,000 per production and more.

Casting Directors know who is who and where the next big thing is coming from and when to capitalize on that information. Casting Directors like Photographers, Models, Hair and Make-Up Artists also have their own Star System and the more reputable the Casting Director the more you can be assured that they will be able to pull off that casting to get you your Kate Moss or Giselle or Karlie Kloss or Freja Beha Erichsen or Natasha Poly.

If you don’t know the above names, better go back to the drawing board and do your homework

None the less, if you can afford a casting director and the notoriety of your job depends on using one, you will. But then again if you are already in the position to know this little nugget of information, you don’t really need to be reading this do you?


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