Jed: Vivien's agency, and I believe, some of the other top agencies in Australia held offices in different cities- such as Sydney, Perth, Melbourne. What are the advantages of having many locations to scout for talents?
Christine Fox: Vivien's is Australia's only national modeling agency, with offices based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth. The company is the second longest established modeling agency in the world with over 40 years in the industry. Having offices around Australia gives Vivien's an added advantage of discovering a great pool of talent that we then network in Australia and over seas.
What makes these offices different and distinct from each other? Well, Sydney is our head office and represents the largest amount of models, these models are sourced locally, as well as from our interstate office and also internationally . Sydney is the biggest market in Australia . Melbourne is a lucrative market and is recognized as a very commercial market and model can expect to make a good living. Brisbane and Perth are smaller markets and are primarily to discover talent.
Jed: Tell us more about the Perth office. David Genat told me about the office as one of the most successful in terms of discovering talents. Let us know more about the history of the Perth office.
Christine: I had a wonderful opportunity of being head hunted by Vivien Smith, the Director of Vivien's Model Management 9 years ago. She had been coming to Perth to scout for talent for 15 years prior and found a majority of her top talent here. So she basically thought it a great opportunity to expand Vivien's to the West Coast of Australia.
Jed: Let us know more about the history of the Perth office.
Christine: In this time I personally have discovered and nurtured so many recognized international Perth models
[ Click on any image to view | Gemma Ward selected photoshoots, campaigns ]
I discovered Gemma Ward when she was 14 yrs old sitting in the crowd of about 2 thousand young girls at a model competition, she hadn't entered and I ended up persuading her to do so - she never won but I signed her up the next day and the rest is history. It feels pretty surreal to have actually been the one to initiate her career and will be something I will tell my grandchildren. Not many people can say they discovered a super model. Australian newspaper in Sydney wrote an article and referred to me as someone who has defined and set the trend for the look of models at the moment. That was a huge compliment to me and something I think will remain as one of the highlights of my career to date.
Nicole Trunfio - I discovered whilst she was shopping in a boutique when she was 15yrs old. She went on the Win Ford Search for A Super Model in Australia and was second runner up in the world. She is currently with Women in New York.
Andrew Moore - Ford Models in New York - he walked into my agency wanting to be a model, I signed him on and his career just sky rocketed - hardly modeled in Australia as he went international almost instantly.
[ Click on any image to view | David Genat selected photoshoots, campaigns ]
David Genat - Ford Models New York - he was in the same competition with Nicole Trunfio "Ford Search for a Super Model " he went on to win it - Vivien's were affiliated with the competition with Ford at the time so we got to nurture him in the early stage of his career. David worked the Australian market before jetting off to New York and is recognized as one of Australian's most successful and in demand male models locally and internationally. David is such an amazing guy and so down to earth it is a credit to him that his easy going nature is one of his biggest assets and clients can't get enough of him.
I have met David Cunningham from IMG on a few occasion, he has put Perth on his destinations to scout. He had never been to Australia before until we started discovering girls such as Gemma Ward, since signing her he represents following talent all from Vivien's Perth.Gemma Ward, Hannah Fell, Jessica Gomes, Simone Kerr, Shanay Hall, and Allegra Carpenter. And he has at least another 5 he is waiting to finish school etc... This is the most out of any agency in Australia or by my understanding the world. The best part about it is they are all from Vivien's Perth.
Jed: Who are the people working behind the agency, helping it establish a reputation as one of Australia's best. Tell us more about your staff and the agents?
Christine: Vivien's have an amazing team with over 22 staff nationally.
General Manager Catherine McGill is the daughter of Directors Kevin and Vivien Smith and is now co - owner and now manages the family business that she grew up in. Her back ground is in Law and is based with the Sydney office. We have 5 bookers in Sydney, Some who have been with Vivien's for over 25 years. We have 2 x bookers, Ekke Afffeldt from Germany and Florence Trisssacc from Milan.
The Sydney Manager Susie Deveridge who has been with Vivien's for over 20 years and is the back bone of the agency. Susie would looked after, at some stage, every major model export that we have had, from Gemma Ward, Nicole Trunfio, Kristy Hinze, David Genat, Sarah O'Hare, Matt Ingham. Julie Healy ... to name a few.
The Melbourne office has 4 bookers, Brisbane, 3 bookers and Perth myself as Manager and Angie Stavrianakos as head booker. We also have Vivien's "Creative" in Sydney and Melbourne this is a division that represents some of Australia's top Make Up artists, Photographers and Stylists.
Jed: Tell us some updates about the agency's latest discoveries?
Christine: There are so many more that we in Perth have discovered. Quite a few of them are still very young and have a year or two to go at school or some are just finishing school this year. Most of them will go on to model over seas as most of them have been placed already with agency's such as IMG New York, Ford New York, I Management New York to name a few.
Jed: What makes a successful talent manage/agent? What would you consider as the qualities/features important to an agent?
Christine: Confidence in backing yourself in regards to a model’s potential and how you try to make everyone else see their appeal. Generally that will dictate how successful your agency will be... Many people have different perceptions of what beauty is, be it for a male or a female but it takes a good eye to decipher through all of that.
As an agent you must be up with knowledge of the industry and what it demands so you find talent to supply that demand. I think nurturing your talent is a major factor. As we find them so young the model and their parents put a lot of trust in us to personally look after them and they look to us for guidance in an industry that is both cut-throat and lucrative.
We do the hardest part, we discover them, nurture and train them and keep them focused on the end objective which will be making them ready and business savvy to work bigger markets away from home. Perth is the most isolated city in the world with the sea on one side and three thousand kilometers of desert on the other side. It is very daunting for a young girl or boy to leave but they are itching to work bigger markets so the whole process is very fulfilling for us.
Jed: What type of models, especially male models, is the agency looking for? Tell us what are the specific qualities/features you look in order to invite someone to model for the agency and represent him in the international modeling scene?
Christine: We have to be very clear on what guys we sign on and confident on their potential, as theirs are less work in the industry as a whole and the competition is fierce. Basically the big picture is that all models would love to travel and work overseas and have the opportunity to make some great earnings and to experience the top-end of the fashion industry, but not all models have the opportunity to go that far, which is ok.
But for us to try to find talent for the high-end market we work on the influences of what we see in fashion magazines, ad campaigns etc. and then we go about looking for that; hopefully making our own discoveries which can set the trend.
We don't have a mirror ball where we can predict the future of a model, but we follow our guts and our instinct. We look for a guy that stands out, he must have the correct height, close to 6 '2 as possible, the right body proportions- waist no bigger than 32", and that unknown X-factor that provides an edge, which is always good. To have commercial features are a bonus too.
I always think a great smile, great eyes, a geometric face, a great toned body, a charismatic personality and to be down to earth and not too obsessed with the industry makes for a hot guy. I think Mr David Genat would be the ideal example of that, wouldn't you agree?
[ Agency Website ]
