I am an experienced and professional freelance model of 6 years. I've gotten 99% of my work so far on my own from websites like Model Mayhem and One Model Place. I live an hour north of Miami and it's taken a while to get into the agency circuit down there. But I've gotten with a handful of agencies this year (Stellar, Sports Book, Krush, Boca Talent) and they've all been sending me on the big commercial castings.
I've never even heard of Avenue Models, nor have I seen any other models sign in under Ave Models when I go to a casting. Their website is corny but looks like they're legit, and when I went to their open casting at a hotel, they have random commercial castings posted on a board (not sure why-they shouldn't need to do that if they were legit)
I had an 'interview' and then was shocked when she told me that to have my images on their website it would be $199/year. None of the other agencies I'm with would ever say that because if they think you've got potential then they will want to have you up on their board for their clients to see! They take 20% but that's only if you book a gig.
And legit agencies will put you in touch with a photographers, sometimes they can even find you ones that do it for free as a 'trade'. You only need new pics every few months or when you change your look, not every few weeks! I could see if you're not experienced you might have to pay for images but they will at least give you a variety of people to chose from and you can talk to them individually about pricing.
But no matter what, you shouldn't have to pay to be promoted on a website.
That's why these people are totally illegitimate. And it looks like they don't even send people on castings. That's just horrible.
I'd stay far away from this no-name agency.
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