STRANGER THINGS

As most models know it is really good for your modelling career to not only have one agent who represents you. In fact the more you have the better. But models are not allowed to be part of more than one agent in one city. So for years models have traveled the world to all different countries and cities to be represented by different agencies. I for one am only represented by an agency in London and Frankfurt, Germany. But it normally works that the model will have to travel to the city or country to get jobs there, of course one will need to attend castings and meet with clients to get the jobs.

Jeff Bergen 2016

I know I haven’t written a new piece in a while and to be honest I think I have been going through a little bit of a transitioning journey. As most who read my blog would know I am currently a model without an agent in my hometown, Cape Town but it has been surprisingly refreshing and eye opening.

I recently went through quite a different experience than the norm and I thought it could be interesting to make a few posts about it. We can call it my very own ‘Stranger Things Series’, just because the happenings in these events were pretty crazy and weird.

Dino Busch 2015

So let’s start at the beginning. As I mentioned above generally models will be represented by more than one agent, as I also mentioned I do have 2 other agents who represent me in 2 different countries. But I am only represented by these agencies within their area. If I wish to work in that area I would have to be there to attend castings and meet clients in those cities. But the story I am about to share goes a little different. Firstly I am currently still in SA, Cape Town and I have never been to London or Germany, not for leisure travels nor for work (Shocking, I know).

The story begins on 3 May 2018 with an email from my agent in London, Nevs Model Management (https://www.nevsmodels.co.uk/models/cele/category/women-main-board). The agent contacted me about a client that was interested to use me in their Campaign. The shoot would be in the South of France and they needed me to send some Polaroid photos and a self tape so the client can see what I look like naturally. (Polaroid photos are natural photos of a model, without much make up and the right clothing for the client to see what the model looks like in real life, without the photoshop and extra lighting. A Self tape is basically the same as the Polaroids but in video) After I sent in all that the client asked for, we waited.

In this space, let me just make something clear. I have never met this client, nor have I worked with this brand before, the only connection I had with them thus far has been through my agent in London, whom I’ve only met once here in Cape Town. It was already a pretty strange situation and I thought the chance of me actually booking this job from SA is next to nothing.

Dino Busch 2015

On Tuesday 8 May at around 3pm I received an email from London. I BOOKED THE JOB! I was excited and in awe of what had just happened but the journey had only begun. Next step was to apply for my Visa and hope and pray I will get it in time, as the client has scheduled me to fly out on the 14^th of May, which gave me about a week to sort everything out. I booked my visa appointment for the next day and started scrambling around to get all the documents. I was feeling confident, I have gone through this process a couple of times before so I was pretty sure I knew what I was doing.

Walking into Capago Visa Center, I thought it would be a quick in and out visit but alas I waited there for about 2 hours before seeing anyone and to top it all off, the first document I was asked to present for my application I didn’t have. Apparently there was a very specific list I was supposed to have and I did not have it. (I had a list but not the right one.) I expressed to the lady that this application is quite urgent and she said I can just come back the next day but be sure to have all the right documents. The next day I went back with a hand full of documents and heart full of hope, the wait wasn’t long at all and soon I had all my finger prints done and I was out the door. This was Thursday morning and my flight was leaving the coming Monday evening.

Jeff Bergen 2016

Monday came; I forced myself to stay calm and positive. I was only flying out at 11pm so they still had the whole day to issue my visa. And praise the Lord, the email came and could pick up my passport and visa the afternoon just before heading to my boyfriend’s house (he was my ride to the airport). Everything was now in order and I was able to be excited to go on this very special journey to France. I got to the airport with a lot of time to spare. I made sure to walk around most of the wait as I was about to board a +/-12 hour flight to Amsterdam. The people with long limbs, aka ‘me’, tend to struggle a bit in those little spaced seats on the plane so I wanted to make sure my body was tired of walking and standing at least enough to last me a few hours. Any way our boarding time came and all passengers eagerly waited in line. We saw something was happening at the boarding gates but whatever it was it didn’t include us (the passengers). So 11pm came and they informed us that the flight has been cancelled and will only be leaving the next day at the same time. At this point I started stressing a bit because not only did I have to wake up my boyfriend to come fetch me from the airport at 11 o’clock at night, I needed to let my agent know and I couldn’t make an international call from my phone, also it was around 10pm in London and the chances of them responding to an email at that time of night wasn’t too good. So I tried sending my agent a message and a mail hoping she will get it first thing in the morning to inform the client because this meant they would have to change the whole schedule for the shoot because I will only get there a whole day later.

I got home that evening trying to fall asleep and trying not to stress about the things I can’t control. I was just hoping and praying my agent would get the message in time and the client would be ok to move the shoot around to accommodate this mishap. Luckily I didn’t know what surprises the rest of the journey held at that time and I was able to fall asleep. What happened next involved a lot of adrenaline and self control… So if you want to know what happened please stay tuned, post 2 of my ‘Stranger Things Series’ coming soon. 😉