Hellobee

My son was a baby model. There, I said it! It isn’t something I share often, because people tend to have a very strong opinion on letting children act or model, and I don’t want to have to defend my choices. Plus, we only did it for about a month before we decided to call it quits with the modeling and just go back to being a baby!

When Ace was about five months old, we started getting the typical “Wow, your baby should model!” comments that seem to be a dime a dozen when you live in Los Angeles. In my mommy and me class, almost every baby modeled, acted, or at least had an agent (not surprisingly, all of the moms did too). I heard story after story of how fun it was, how much money the kids could earn for college, and how exciting it is to be at the shoots. I wasn’t sold on the idea at all. I am typically shy and reserved in person, and especially around new people. However, my husband is the opposite… and he also happened to be a part-time actor. After a few months of discussing the pros and cons, I decided I could handle it if we were very casual in our approach and just applied with one agency. If nothing happened, we would drop it right then. But, as luck would have it, Ace was accepted. I’m pretty sure it was his bright red hair that really did the trick!

The sheet we had to bring in to casting so the agents would have our contact information! He looks so little here.

As I said above, we only pursued baby modeling for one month. In that month we got head shots taken, set up his Coogan account (by law in California the money he earned, minus agency fees, went directly into this trust, not to be opened until he turns 18), and we were sent on three different casting meetings. The casting were an absolute zoo. Seriously, just complete and total madness. I couldn’t handle the noise, or the pressure, or the stage mom culture. Somehow, I made it through those interviews, and somehow, Ace booked 2/3 of the jobs he went out for. One for a toy company and one for a baby wrap company. He definitely did not book the baby food commercial, possibly due to the fact that he hated food!

The jobs themselves were pretty standard and boring. We went to either a studio or a private home, waited around until Ace’s call time, and then he played with toys or just sat there looking cute until they were done with him. And that’s it! A few weeks later we would get a notice that the check went through his agency and was deposited in his account.

It all sounds simple, and it really wasn’t that much work, but for me the rewards were not worth the drawbacks. Planning around those shoots took out entire days of our time. I was stressed about my six-month-old missing naps. The agency was fairly demanding, and we would have to give them immediate notice for illness, vacations, or days we wanted off. Since Ace was booking jobs, they wanted to put him on a different roster, where he would be sent out on even more casting calls, and we were expected to show up at casting no matter what. Plus, and this is no small thing for me, parking and traffic in Los Angeles is an absolute nightmare, and we lived far from all of the jobs near the studios on the west side of the city.

All of this added up to too much for me. Ace, luckily, was perfectly well behaved and loved going on the shoots. He was the most friendly baby (and continues to be an exceptionally outgoing toddler, the opposite of his mama) and he loved being in crowds of people. I was the one who couldn’t handle it and decided to end our contract. We kept up a friendly relationship with our agency in case we ever wanted to go back, but in the end we moved far away from Los Angeles a few months later, so it wasn’t something I ever had to consider again.

Overall, I don’t regret our experience. It was eye opening for me, and it showed me an entire side of Hollywood that I never really understood before, even though many of my friends and acquaintances, and even my husband, were involved in acting and modeling! Hopefully one day Ace will get a kick out of the fact that he was a baby model for one hot minute.

Are you interested in having your baby model? I have a few tips for you! There are so many scams in the modeling world. Never, ever pay money to an agency. Not for head shots, not to get on their roster, nothing. If they promise you jobs, they are not trustworthy. If they accept every child who is submitted, it is likely a scam. You should not be forced to use an in-house photographer for head shots. The best way to find an agency is word of mouth, not an internet search. If your baby gets an agent and you start going on casting calls, do not pack light! Bring the stroller, pack it with snacks, toys, and changes of clothes for both you and baby. You will likely need to keep everyone occupied for a few hours at a time, and you won’t be in a kid friendly building, so more is better in this situation. Overall, just have fun with it! The pictures, memories, and funny stories that you collect will be priceless!