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AUGUST 2006

LETTER OF THE MONTH

The French Fry Talks About The Tampa Bay Modeling Market.

hi monica,

If you have some questions for me,please feel free to come to inteview us in the studio.
I can shoot you with your new bikini in the same time.
Anyway,I cannot speak too much because we are a kind of concurence somewhere, no?.

tip of the day:
"beleive in yourself"
its not enought in this business,

80% of the models in these agencies NYC ,Paris,Milan are from East Europe,why?
because they are nice looking,survivors,ready and open to do everythings.
this is to be a model.
the girl Annabelle from you mailbag she will see the reality show "live", we will have fun.

Photographers in this area:
they do what they have to do like everywhere else,
you have the serious one like your Greg and couple more and me of course, and those who want only see the crotches for free! and wishes to date some babe.

I agree with you about this TFP things, its an horror for us but what we can do?

If I am in the top ten (photographers in the Tampa Bay market)?
we are doing our job , we don't try to do art B.S ybor city style.
its not our purpose.

ex Casting director:
he was a nice guy but the style to see the camel toes if you know what I mean.
Anyway,we have a nice acting teacher now. He is gay, like that we are quite a bit!

Internet stuff:
I like you why not (I kiss ass) but the others like one model place etc...are just to collect the models who cannot be models and be contacted by sticky photographers and parties guys who are behind.

that's it for now
kiss of the dragon
(I hope you are not a boy like I tought you was in the begenning)
By the way , couple years ago one guy from I. modeling call me and ask me to sleep with my wife. you don't hear about it?
- French Fry, a photographer from Clearwater Beach, Florida

Hi French Fry! I am back! Aren’t you happy for me?
I found myself thinking of you during a bikini modeling shoot last week in some really blue water off of a Carribean island. I couldn’t help but think of you photographing those swimsuit models in that modeling training video of yours that I saw with the bad music (did your DJ son do the music? Sorry. I didn’t like it). The island that the designer flew me to blew Fort Desoto away, though. Maybe I will send you some of my pictures when I get them back. The irony is that I got booked into that job just days after that New York fashion model Annabelle wrote us and rubbed her modeling career in our faces. I know that my gig was the better deal.
Regarding interviewing you in you studio- Well, Don’t you think that our readers want to see what you have to say? I think so, too. With the suggested bikini shoot, though, I’d have to send you my rates, but knowing that it would not be fair to you paying me out of your pocket just to add to your portfolio, wouldn’t you rather just let me know about the next catalog print job that you book and consider me so that we both make money? There are demanding little amateur models in the Tampa Bay market that have been praising the work of photographers and then proceed to cram their modeling rates down their throats when the photographer responds, and I hardly think that this practice is professional or fair. I don’t think that a photographer should pay a model unless the photographer is making money, too, as there are no models in Florida worth paying just for the sake of building a portfolio, especially if the model is way shorter than 5'7'’. Anyway, let me know when you book your next print job or runway show, and if I am interested I will send you a composite card and my resume so you can consider me.
Hee hee. Why did you think that I was a boy? Because I am aggressive? Before I hit puberty, a lot of people thought that I was a boy, too. Actually, I was a bit of a tomboy who liked to kick ass. If you look at me now, though, I’ve shaped up very nicely. I support a bikini like they were made for me, and I grew bored of bikini jams after I kept winning them. Sometimes, though, I wish that I could go back to looking like a boy, like the time when that evil sex offender photographer Mario was pestering me in the Ybor nightclub and he kept staring at my cleavage while he told me that he could make me a model and I kept telling him that I already was a model and to leave me the hell alone. That guy gave me the creeps, and I am glad that the bouncers kicked his ass. I am also glad that I got to throw a drink in his face, too. He really deserved it.
God, I love that story. It makes me smile every time that I tell it. Women can be aggressive, you know, but then again you already knew that.
Ok, regarding the TFP issue, let’s just say that it is being taken care of. When we get through with the Tampa Bay market, let’s just say that most models will stay away from TFP simply because they will be terrified of the potential for unethical motives. This will happen within the next year, too, which brings us to certain model and talent agencies in this market. Some agencies are not doing their jobs and we now believe that they are putting models in jeopardy, with a special investigation beginning on that “agency with many models” that you were complaining about. Let’s just say that it is in the best interest of Tampa Bay model and talent agencies to be professional and ethical right now. Check who you are associated with. Agencies that are doing unethical or illegal things will have to answer to the models who they represent. Do I trust these agencies and bookers? After some of the evidence that we just obtained, let’s just say that my confidence in the integrity of some agencies has been shaken. I am tired of being misled and lied to, and so are many other models. Maybe the Tampa Bay modeling industry would be better-off if some of these agencies simply closed.
Hmmmm..... TFP photographers and model agencies in the same boat? This is going to get good sooner rather than later. Here’s to widespread distrust of unethical professionals and unprofessionals and blatant suspicion regarding their motives. Here is to agencies complaining about the fear-mongering Tampa Bay Modeling web site and the models who will make them accountable for compromising the professional integrity of the models who they represent. Those who are doing wrong and think that they are getting away with it are in for a big surprise.
Maybe it is time that models put these agencies in their place. Are agencies really that important to models anymore? Maybe if you’re stupid, clueless, and want everything handed to you. Let’s just say that more and more models are booking work on their own, and this last print job that I just returned from was one that I booked on my own. It’s already started. The modeling industry has already started to change, and it is finally growing up as the limitations that other try to impose on modeling careers fade away.
Oh, mighty model agency, guide my career and save me from the misfortunes that can befall me! Please. Why not just ask the wolf to guard your sheep? Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither. The future of the modeling industry belongs to the models who wake up and realize that they can manage and promote their own career better than any agency can, especially when a lot of agencies are staffed with minimum wage, unqualified bookers with a few days of training at the most when they are telling the models who they represent how to conduct their careers and what photographers to shoot with. Do these bookers model? Have the ever done professional photography? Are they really qualified to do anymore than pick up a God-damn phone and cold-call businesses all day? Most bookers can barely do that, and the sooner that model realize that modeling agencies are only useful as a source of go-see leads and not much more, the sooner that agencies lose the ability to manipulate and mislead models for their own gain at the expense of those models. You really have to consider the source when it comes to opinions or advice, and some glorified secretary working as a Tampa Bay agency booker has no business telling me how to conduct my modeling career when it is obvious that they have no clue what they are talking about and I am far more qualified to manage my career and make professional decisions than they are. In my opinion, the only booker in Tampa Bay who knows what they are doing is Matt over at Alexa, and he is the only one who has my respect. Well, him and Susan. Susan knows her stuff, too.
Ok. I’m done with my anti-agency rant. So, French Fry, you’re in the top ten photographers in the Tampa Bay market? We’ll see. Oh, and who called you about wanting to sleep with your wife? Is I. Modeling supposed to be Independent Modeling? If that is the case, I am sure that no one from there called you, as I was on their staff from 2001 until 2006, and even today I am a contributing writer and know everyone there. There has never been a single person at Independent Modeling who would do something like that. Independent Modeling is completely professional and no one would do that; the only thing that Independent Modeling did do was send large teams of models to the streets of downtown Clearwater in 03 to counter activity that they were monitoring and they occupied Ybor City in 04 to address a threat. Anyway, what exactly happened? That’s a bit weird for someone to call you and say that they wanted to sleep with your wife. On second thought, don’t most guys want to sleep with models? Maybe you should be flattered. Guys always try to hook up with me, but I have too much respect for myself to fall for that B.S. and put them in their place (like the big-name professional photographer that I just worked with. He knew his stuff, but kept hitting on me. I think that he got with the other two models, but he didn’t get anywhere with me and I left with him respecting me as a professional). Just because you’re a model or are perceived as being attractive does not mean that you are easy to access. There is much more to any person than how they look......... Hmmmmmm, here’s a thought: Have any models called to ask you to sleep with them? I’m just wondering if photographers have to put up with the same crap as models do.
While you’re bring up your wife, another question comes to me. Does your wife ever check out our site? If so, what does she think, and does she like it? The woman knows her runway!
Until the September mail bag, my friend.
~ Model Monica Stevens,
Tampa Bay Modeling Mail Bag Editor

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August 2006 Mail Bag

E-Mail us and let us know what YOU think! If you wish to add to one of Monica's answers or disagree with her and want to post an answer of your own, please let us know what letter and month you are replying to and if we see that it is relevant we may add it to that month's archive. Starting in August, we will let you know if new content such as letters have been added to mail bag archives!

C/O Monica Stevens, Mail Bag Editor

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BEWARE OF THESE TOP TAMPA BAY MODEL SCAMS: Tampa Model Search, Tampa Bay model search, Florida model searches, Tampa Bay model placement, Tampa Bay model consultant, Florida modeling consultants, Tampa Bay TFP photographer, Tampa Bay model portfolio photography scams, Tampa Talent Scams and Tampa Bay model job scams. Be aware of what they are, and be careful!

As of February 24, 2007, Tampa Bay Modeling and our industry allies are at war with unethical and unprofessional elements in the Tampa Bay and Florida modeling industry. Our primary targets are Tampa Bay model consultation and agency placement scams, Tampa Bay model searches, Tampa Bay model job scams, Tampa Bay TFP photographers, and Tampa Bay model photography scams. We expect the fight to last years, and we already know that we have been tremendously effective in helping to change the modeling industry so far, as we have the dominate voice in the Tampa Bay modeling industry. Models, your help has arrived, and it is right here.

Regarding Tampa Bay model and talent agencies, we are now convinced that the licensed ones (and all of the ones who are SAG franchised) are on the level and are not doing anything wrong. This said, they have no business managing the career of any professional model, due to the fact that they are working conflicts on interest, as they also represent other models who are in competition for the same jobs that they refer them to. Tampa Bay model and talent agencies also have no business referring aspiring models to any photographers, and we strongly recommend that models find photographers on their own and obtain their modeling portfolios before talking to any modeling agencies. Model and talent agencies should be used only as a source of model jobs and nothing more. By all means, utilize model and talent agencies as one of your many sources of potential jobs, but never let them tell you what to do and always scrutinize their advice. The agency way is no longer the only way, and there are professional alternatives to Tampa Bay model and talent agencies! Also, please note that model and talent agency scams are still around, too.

The Tampa Bay Talent Sites

ADDED MARCH 29, 2007. UPDATED OCTOBER 01, 2007

TAMPA BAY MODELING - TAMPA BAY ACTING - TAMPA BAY FILM

There are now a total of three Tampa Bay Talent web sites. These sites are Tampa Bay Modeling, which you are now on, Tampa Bay Acting, which has launched but had a rough launch and isn't as up to speed as we would like, and, of course, Tampa Bay Film, which has surprised us with its popularity; it is now the fastest growing web site in our group and its size is now equal to our own, with no end in sight. Tampa Bay Film may become much larger than the rest of us by this summer, and this will be an important property. Here at Tampa Bay Modeling we are used to conflict, as we have been fighting a modeling industry war for several years now, and our experience will surely give the Tampa Bay Film staff and their allies a major advantage as they fight for change and professional growth. All of the Tampa Bay Talent sites, of course, are Raptor Class sites which are optimized for scam-fighting operations, so we are set up for fighting.

Where are our sister regional modeling sites? These region-optimized mirror web sites, tentatively known as Miami Beach Modeling, Orlando Modeling, and Florida Modeling (don't bother looking up domain names on these, as some are already taken by others and the titles / domain names have not been finalized yet) are presently on hold until we can add new features to Tampa Bay Modeling and update some of our older content. We have teams of models and modeling industry professionals already assembled to work on these sites after they launch, although we are now finalizing site production protocols so our web master is not overwhelmed with work. For now these sites are on hold. Our regional modeling resource site editors, to assume their responsibilities once these modeling sites go active and launch, are as follows:

Orlando Modeling - Orlando model Patricia Olson is the Editor of the Orlando Modeling site. She is a top fashion runway model from New York with a B.A. in Mass Communications.

Miami Beach Modeling - Miami Beach model Maritza Gonzalez, an old friend of Danielle Cooper's, will be the Editor of the Miami Modeling web site. Maritza is a fashion model from Miami Beach, Florida, and she has worked with many modeling agencies in her career as an employee as well as a model. She is a professional booker and has headed agency divisions, such as the new faces division at a large agency.

Florida Modeling - Tampa model Heidi Duran will helm the Florida Modeling web site. Heidi is a commercial print and fashion runway model with professional experience in New York, Miami, and Europe. She has worked with the top modeling agencies in the world, including Elite and Ford.

As you can see, we have a lot going on here, and we are growing constantly. This spring and summer, we will be adding more features and a ton of modeling career tools and resources. We are even bringing back our Tampa Bay modeling mail bag, with Tampa Bay professional model Monica Stevens, this spring (with an improved, streamlined format so we can keep up with that and our web master can also work on mail bags for Tampa Bay Acting and Tampa Bay Film)! We look forward to the difference that we will make in the Tampa Bay modeling industry, and we're sure that all models are very excited by the potential, the possibilities, and the results of our hard work. These are truly exciting times for Tampa Bay Modeling and the Tampa Bay modeling industry!

Sincerely,

The 2007 Tampa Bay Modeling Staff

Fashion / Commercial Model Danielle Cooper
Tampa Bay Modeling Editor and Senior Writer

Fashion / Commercial Model Monica Stevens
Tampa Bay Modeling Mail Bag Editor, Staff Writer, and Content Editor

Model Nancy Slater
Ambassador and Tampa Bay Modeling Founding Model

Model Laura Perez
Tampa Bay Modeling Staff Writer

Model Talesha Larsen
Tampa Bay Modeling Staff Artist and Designer

Swimsuit / Bikini Model Jessica Moore
Tampa Bay Modeling Staff Writer and Public Relations

Fashion Model Sidney Thornton
Tampa Bay Modeling Staff Writer and Legal Secretary

Model / Actor Chris Capri
Tampa Bay Modeling Staff Writer, Contributing Model Photographer, and Security

Orlando Modeling - Orlando model Patricia Olson

Miami Beach Modeling - Miami Beach model Maritza Gonzalez

Florida Modeling - Tampa model Heidi Duran

SPECIAL THANKS

Tampa Bay model Jillian Nicols - Independent Modeling

The Staff of Independent Modeling, Independent Acting, Independent Performer, TALON Talent Online reference contact database, Advanced Model, and Frontier Society

California / Florida Model Kitty Kavey - Florida Models

Tampa Bay Entertainment Producer / Professional Polymath C. A. Passinault

Passinault.Com - The Passinault Entertainment Group and Passinault Industries LLC

Tampa Bay Advertising Agency EOS MediaArts, a Passinault Industries LLC company

Tampa Bay photography and design services company Aurora PhotoArts, a Passinault Industries LLC company

Tampa Bay Event Planning and Stage Production company Eventi Events and Stage, a Passinault Entertainment Group company

Tampa Bay indie film, video game developer, and music label production company Dream Nine Studios, a Passinault Entertainment Group company

Tampa Bay Model And Talent Agencies

Tampa Bay Advertising Agencies

Tampa Bay Art Directors

Chris Woods - Icon Film Studios

The following models, actors, talent, production professionals, and supporters: Lauren Moss, Danielle Cooper, Brian Steel, Monica Stevens, Jillian Nicols, Sidney Thornton, C. A. Passinault, Chris Woods, Joe Davison, Nolan Canova, Harmony Oswald, Kitania Kavey, Sarah Bray, Ann Poonkasem, Shane Kelley, Kasey Kelley, Somali Rose Kletch, Simon Lynx, Craig Kovach, Brent Cameron, Marlon Brown, Rachel Eaglin, Michael Christian, Steve Benz, Matt Angelo, Don Asbough, Jack Amos, Alyssa Bakun, Brenna Barry, Tiffany Tenn, Craig Huey, Andy Meng, Spellbound Soul, Keljean Connolly, Amanda Craft, Susan Jeffers, Stephanie Duncan, Leticia Godwin, Kinsley Goldburg, Jinelsa Rosado, Shilah Goodwin, Charlotte Mansfield, Charlotte Durnell, Kevin Hentkowski, Joy Nash, Roxanne Kowalska, Laura Lowie Narvaez, Jane Park, Erin Whitehead, Monica May, Jason Lugauskas, Jennifer Curry-Deleo, Robin Kay, The late Sophie Blackburn, Damien Kincannon, Josh Kincannon, Paul Guzzo, Pete Guzzo, Sofia Kolesnikova, Serena Lorien, Lisa Marie Lowrey, Kristen Ludwig, Woody Luke, Denise Marks, Tara Moore, Rob Mussell, Nazia, Kristin Renta, Kristen Serena Willyard, Mark Robinson, Angela Simons, Lynn Slawsky, Laura Jean Angelone, Angelique Angel Haywood, Christina Spake, Alissa Young, Rosemary Riquel, Kerri Hall, Michelle Marin, Krista Washington, Shirley Cuscaden, Catherine Croak, Danielle Dolan, Rick Danford, Porl Delinco, Terry Hogan, Gus Perez, Ann Marie Spizuoco, Melissa Webb, Rachael Lee, Rod L. Griffin, Marcus Kotch, Alissa Ali Young, Terence Nuzum is God, Lisa Ciurro, Shelby Mcintyre, Amanda Beck, and Melissa Maxim.

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