Agent in Charge

By Irene Marquez, Mommy In Los Angeles® Magazine Fashion Contributor

With the abuse of models and actors making headlines since the New York Times published it’s eye-opening Harvey Weinstein report, I was looking for something– a book, a quote, a statement, something that would help ease the awful idea that Hollywood can be so f**cked up.

And yes, I know an alleged pervert is innocent until proven guilty but I’m sorry, I don’t think so many A-listers speaking out, combined with a history of documented settlements with women plus a letter admitting to at least some wrongdoing can be held as fabricated or baseless allegations.

So in thinking about this whole Weinstein situation, I discovered something that seemed appropriate.

A New York model, Alison Pelletier (pictured above) who’s lived her own personal nightmare shoots and audition encounters (while working with other people) felt compelled to do something to help other models avoid these types of experiences.

She teamed up with a partner and launched Agent Inc, a new app that has already signed up over 5,000 models and agents sharing gig experiences with designers and photographers, review the conditions they encounter during photo shoots, and fight back against many forms of misconduct. 

As we’ve heard too many times, in fashion and acting, the talent are often taken advantage of-subjected to late pay, bullying, racism, and unwanted sexual advances or even rape. Models are also often very young and therefore quite susceptible to such abuses.

So if you or your daughter happen to be in the modeling industry, check out Agent, which is available on iOS and iTunes. The app conducts criminal background and sex offender checks on all of its users and it offers 24 hour full support for any issues that may arise for models on shoots, among other features.

Check it out Mamas, let’s break our silence and stop industry executives from taking advantage of our next generation of models, actors and dreamers.