Toys R Us Booking Equals Mega Bucks?

For a little background on child modeling and the casting process, first READ THIS and then THIS.

Now, we can get into tabulating the net profits from the Toys-R-Us booking that came along a couple of castings later. (We will set aside the gas, tolls, train tix, ferris wheel diversion, work time lost going to those castings, and just chalk that up as mostly quality 1:1 mom:kid time.)

Kid worked 1 hour, from 2 to 3 PM (exactly in the middle of nap time, even though the form we filled out at the casting asked for nap time and I wrote 1:30 PM. It is totally not surprising that Kid was booked exactly at nap time; what is surprising is that they even asked about nap time at all). Earned $100. Minus agency fee of $20. $80 left. Parking ticket outside Union City, NJ, studio = $35 (I swore the sign said no parking on Thursday, not Tuesday). $45 left. Gas for trip from CT to NJ and back = $20 (maybe more, since chic Minivan still had bulky bike rack on back and shell on top from recent vacation). $25 left. Tolls = Let’s say $0 since they went on the E-ZPass and I don’t ever see an E-ZPass bill, so it’s like taking a bite of someone else’s cookie—it doesn’t count. Work time lost for 5-hr outing, hmm, depends  (why 5 hours for a 1-hour booking, you ask? Hit rush hour on the way back and accident on West Side Highway, which we were on cuz GPS said to go home via Manhattan, which didn’t seem like a great idea, but I love the Big Apple, so I figured, What the heck, Midtown Tunnel here we come! [Toll for Midtown Tunnel was not an issue, considering aforementioned reasoning about E-ZPass costs]). On a really productive day, work time could equal $500, but on a day like this when I check e-mail, FB, Twitter all morning, eat lunch and read NY Times Book Review, and then blog to avoid doing the assignment I will be paid for, we can figure $20 for the one paragraph of actual work I will complete. So bottom line, Toys R Us booking net = ~$0.

Oh well, T had a blast driving the Jeep in her shot (SHE was the driver, not her morose little date. You go, girl). The kid wrangler (the person who makes morose mini models smile cheek to cheek) was one of the most talented I’ve ever seen.

Nothing to go into the giveback.org fund this time, but I’ll read the parking signs more carefully next time.

The juicy stuff from “About Face: Supermodels Then and Now” later this week: partying, drugs, sexual harassment, plastic surgery…

Sign Up for Monthly Modeling Mentor Blog Highlights