A summer of E-Comms

One of the biggest struggles a model faces at the start of their career, is consistency of work. I've always said about the modelling (and acting) industry, once spotted there are two ways your career will go. Someone big in the game sees you, loves you, and launches you in at the deep end, leaving you to either sink or swim. Alternatively, you are recognised as a talent, but you have to pay your dues. This route involves taking a hundred castings and getting booked twice. It means countless test shoots, improving your book. It means getting a part time job, to keep your dream alive. It means dealing with rejection, more often than not with no explanation as to why. It means making sacrifices, and turning your back on other areas of your life. This is no easy route. But just because it isn't easy, doesn't mean it isn't possible. For four years, I've travelled down that second path. I still am. I have literally given myself to my dream. Everything I do, every decision I make, I do so, because I believe in myself. Since I began this journey, I have had zero doubts about continuing it. Ive mentioned before that it is all about setting goals, achieving them, and then setting some more. Well, I set some goals when I came back from Barcelona to London. A lot of them were to do with acting, and I continue to work tirelessly to achieve them. On the modelling front, the goals were more simple. Achieve the level of work I was doing in Barcelona, over here. Obviously, London is one of the biggest and greatest cities in the world. I like to think of it is as the city of opportunity, but with a price tag. Living in Barcelona and Cape Town, I would wake up and decide whether to go to the beach, climb a mountain, incredible experiences just by stepping outside. In London, I step outside and already money is being taken off my oyster! Herein lies the reasoning behind one of my goals, money-earning. Now I'll say straight off the bat, I am not a person who is dictated by money. Both my parents have worked tirelessly throughout my life to provide an incredible upbringing for my sisters and I. Looking back the fact that we went on holiday as a family of six every year is an incredible feat. I have grown up without wanting but never being spoilt, and I feel that is how I am now. I have no desire for an over the top lavish lifestyle, I simply wish to be able to provide a good life for my family and loved ones. However, as I said living in a city like London, you have to think about your earnings and if I want to maintain the lifestyle of my friends, all of whom have fantastic jobs,in all manor of industries, I have to be hitting a certain level of jobs in my industry. The fact is, I will never have a monthly wage. Its one of the few things I am actually jealous of people for. So it is important to find jobs in the modelling world which come with a level of consistency, 'the bread and butter' as my Dad likes to say. Thankfully, thats exactly what I did. 

One of the most profitable and consistent jobs for a model, is e-comms work. This means the photos you see on online stores advertising the clothes. It involves going into a studio and putting on clothes, posing, taking off clothes. Not the most challenging work, but one which happens every day, all year round. Upon getting home from Cape Town, I was casted by boohoo.com for a trial day. They are based up in Manchester, which is cool for me as I get to see my fam who live up there. The trial went really well and after a nervous couple of weeks of waiting to see if they would use the photos of me, I clicked on to the site to see myself staring back at me! Pretty surreal. Im up there again on wednesday next week, Its been fun getting to know the whole crew who create a lovely environment to work in. 

Next, came a message out of the blue. My agency in Barcelona have expanded, opening a brand new office in Madrid. I got a call one day saying that El Corte Ingles, the biggest department store in Spain with over 500 retailers, wanted to use me for their website. Obviously, I said yes. I flew to Madrid and spent a week there, working Mon-Fri. I have to be honest, by the fourth and fifth day of posing I genuinely felt like I needed some sort of challenge, thankfully, no one in the studio spoke English so I was constantly being tested on my knowledge of Spanish. Little update - I am still only 'ok'. Im hoping to be taken back out to Spain soon for another weeks work. 

Finally, and something that has only happened this week. Ironically, 2 weeks after I told a friend I was done trying to work for them, as I had boohoo and El corte, ASOS asked me in for a casting, my fourth casting. This is why I had previously been bitter to a friend. I had cast with ASOS three different times with three different casting agents. This, my fourth, went really well. I got on immediately with the casting agent and had some quick photos and measurements taken. They liked what they saw and called me in on tuesday afternoon to shoot, putting my photos up on the site the next day. Now, ASOS, is obviously one of, if not, the biggest online store. When I think about the amount of people who may stumble across a photo of me, now that, that is surreal!! 

Im hoping to bring you an update on the acting front soon. Even more hopefully Ill be able to show you some footage as well!

One Love

Yes I x

An Actors first steps

Next Thursday, the 22nd May, I will watch what is effectively my film debut as a lead role. Admittedly it is a short film, and a student project, but I have always known I will have to start this journey from the bottom and work my way up. The film is called Playing Around. It is the final year project of director Chris Goodson, a student at University of West London. It was written by his friend Javed Sohrabi, a tale about a couple and essentially how distrust and secrets can ruin a relationship. Running 10minutes long, it is the sort of project I am trying to get involved in as much as possible right now. 

The filming process was incredibly fun, once again I felt at home on set. Chris, Javed and I got on immediately, to the point that Chris rang me hours after I had finished my audition informing me I had the role despite him still having guys to see, that was how confident he was in me being able to bring his character to life, in the way he wanted. The whole team was full of like-minded people, and as such time on set was extremely harmonious. The film was set around my girlfriend and I spending a long weekend in the countryside; Chris had found a picture perfect white-picket fence cottage tucked behind a block of flats in north London. Literally you would never guess it was there, I was amazed when we turned through these rather ugly flats to reveal this quaint little cottage. It was perfect. Katie, the actress playing opposite me, and I had had numerous rehearsal days where we had gone over the script with Javed and Chris. These were vital to Chris who was keen for the two of us to really get into the script, and in fact change it where we saw fit; where we felt the speech didn't quite roll of the tongue, he was happy, if anything insistent(!) on us working alongside him to develop it. I feel this led, to us being as comfortable as possible on set. Speaking of which, on set, as I said, was where I felt my best! I just enjoy it so much! I love the focus that has to be present, from everyone involved. When you know a script, and you have confidence in yourself and your performance, there is nothing better than finally having the opportunity to give it. I genuinely live for those moments right now. 

So yeah, next thursday, I will have my first real indication of whether the acting world is for me! I have seen myself on screen before, I did a 45min film at school and a short film at university. But I really see this as my first step on the acting ladder. This is a film I sourced myself, auditioned to strangers, and shot with an overwhelming feeling of a job well done. Im going to sit in the cinema next week with as much judgement as possible. I really hope I walk out with the smile I carried throughout the whole experience still firmly sat across my face.

Despite spending the last six weeks in Cape Town (more on that to come), I have managed to arrive back in London and have two more short films on my plate. Next week I shoot another student project titled Torpor, a horror short, and in June I'll be shooting an independently funded project, again revolving around the issues of relationships. This is all work I am finding myself, either through casting sites StarNow and CastingCallPro, or simply word of mouth. My plan at the moment, is to obtain as much experience and time in front of a camera, similar to, initially, the music videos and commercials I was shooting and now the short films I am becoming involved in, with the intention of making a showreel with which I can hopefully find an acting agent with! Its as simple as that!! To be honest right now that plan seems logical and achievable, and once it is done, I will set out the next plan, make some more goals, and that is how I shall continue for as long as I can. 

Peace x

Commercial: SHOPCADE.COM

I was contacted around the start of the year by Anda Teglas from This is Insomnia production house asking over my interest and availability to star in a commercial for a new up and coming retail site/app, called Shopcade.com. Its a clever site that essentially incorporates big online stores into one place, under clearly categorised groups, whilst allowing each individual user to showcase their own styles and tastes. 




As always I throughly enjoyed my time on set. You know, the more work I do, the more time I spend in this environment...its like a vindication of why I chase this dream. I literally feel alive on set; I feed of the energy and enthusiasm of others. once again I was surrounded by a great team of hard working individuals. Im always impressed by the roles that everyone plays on set, and the eagerness of how they attack those roles. As an actor on these projects, I obviously have a large impact on the final product and the quality of it, but as I do more jobs I am beginning to understand just how important everyones role is, from the director all the way down to the runners. Without everyone being on their A-game, and with a precise and well organised plan prior to shooting, things would simply fall apart. One of the themes of my jobs, and I feel very lucky for it, has been the quality of the teams I have been a part of. 

The months keep on rolling and the work keeps on coming :)
step by step, I will achieve my dreams
Wease x

MUSIC VIDEO - 'Don't Click' by 'THE TIGER ROSE'

Another day, another video.

The second shoot I did in January was for 'The Tiger Rose's' first music video for her track 'Don't click'. This was another job I had found and applied for myself through the casting site StarNow. The brief that was posted on the casting captured me immediately. The director that Rose had found to create her video had come up with a film noir style concept, seen clearly in the video below. I was excited by the idea of effectively creating a mini film. Again, I was blessed to be working with a fantastic cast and crew.



I hope you like what you see

Thanks for watching

Wease x

Music Video - #illjustsayit (I Love You) by MOSA

January was a good month. Over christmas and new year, I had literally been chomping at the bits to get back into work, to find projects, to get roles and generally just smash it :) 

The first of such projects was this video for up and coming R'n'B singer MOSA. It is one of the first projects I have worked having applied through the casting site StarNow. 

The day went extremely smoothly, continuing my luck at working with a fantastic crew. I found Mosa to be a creative, thoughtful artist. He had a great idea of what he wanted to create and had organised the team around him to make it happen. 

Call me biased but I think the track is awesome...it certainly stuck around in my head for a long time!

I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I did making it
x

Photoshoot - Aiden Jordan

Just before Christmas, I was contacted by a photographer, Aiden Jordan, on twitter (first time twitter has been of any real use to me!). He had found my profile page on the casting site StarNow and wondered if I was interested in doing a photoshoot with him. I was only just returning to England at the time and so was very eager to get some fresh images upon my arrival. The shoot was held in Guildford, which I kind of knew had some nice spots about it, but had no idea just how beautiful some areas were. I was Aiden's first model shoot, he had previously worked taking photos for magazines and papers, but now wanted to branch out into the world of fashion photography. I have to say, if he hadn't have told me, I would never have guessed. He provided the clothes which fitted pretty much perfectly, and when it came to the locations for each photo, he had written down various different spots seemingly having already taken the photo in his mind, and only needing to now place me in it. I was very impressed with his professionalism and of course his creativity. The shots you are going to see are all one time shots. Aiden worked with film not digital, so we weren't taking thousands of photos (that number isn't an exaggeration for a photoshoot) and checking them all as we go. Aiden got me where he wanted me, trusted me to do my thing and well, that was that :) 

It's something a little different to my usual photos

I hope you like the results, I certainly do.

The link below will take you to Aiden's page where you can see the full shoot

Aiden Jordan Photography

London calling

A new year, a new city. Or rather, and old city. In december I returned home to London. it was quite a change from sunny relaxing Barcelona. London is so fast-paced. There is so much going on, and so much you can do. Opportunities are literally around every corner. At least thats how I feel. 

So I mentioned previously that I have signed to a new agency in London, that would be Bookings Models. Similar to when I was in Hamburg, I went around to every agency in London, and similar to Hamburg, my height got be turned down from all of them. When I started modelling in London, I was signed to Oxygen models back in April 2011, a boutique agency based on Kings Road. I signed with them because of one reason, Mark Rowley, the mens booker at the time. He was the one agent who actually saw me as a person rather than a marketable product. I like to think he saw my potential from the start. It was an exhilarating experience to have someone really pushing you and who seemingly believed in you almost as much as I believed in myself. Well, Mark left Oxygen in September, I followed suit a few weeks after. He moved on to bigger and better things, revamping the mens board at Bookings making it clear to me that I always had a spot with him; we have undoubtedly developed a friendship that goes beyond simply model and agent. I was honest with him about checking out the other agencies, he knew it was something that I felt I had to do. I wanted to see where I stood in terms of the London modelling scene. I wanted to see if I had progressed from the boy who walked into every agency back in 2011. Despite the knock-backs I suffered (please someone give me 2 inches on my height!) I was very happy to sign with Mark again, and Im looking forward to get back in the London modelling scene, testing myself in this far more competitive market.

More than just modelling though, London has provided me with the opportunity to get in the acting game. So far in my posts Ive shown you guys various photoshoots, video shoots, campaigns, commercials...all sorts from the world of modelling. These are all jobs I have got as a consequence of being signed to Trend Models, and them touting me and sending me out on castings. However, its a totally different ball game Im playing now. 

Acting is something I have done from a young age, always enjoying being on stage. This feeling has only been reciprocated through the various jobs I have done since embarking on this modelling journey. Maybe it sounds funny to you, but I feel my most exhilarated when I am on set, when I have a camera or two on me, a script to play with or even just an idea. I literally feel alive! In Barcelona, I was limited in what I could do to try and push this dream forward. I found an English Drama School out there, and attended classes every week to maintain my skills, and of course hopefully learn a thing or two more, but that was it. Since I have come back to London, I have found there is actually a lot I can do without an acting agent, or even a very good idea on where to begin. I have signed up with a couple of casting sites: StarNow, Casting Call Pro, and have been applying and getting auditions for all sorts of different roles, in different types of productions. In the six weeks since I have been home I have found myself and been casted in a short film, made by ex and current students from the University of Westminster, as well as two self-funded music videos. All footage that I look forward to sharing with you guys. Im thoroughly enjoying the new challenges that are presenting themselves to me. When it comes to casting for model jobs these days, I have to say, I don't feel nervous in the slightest. I know what my strengths are and essentially with these jobs, it boils down to the way I look and simply if I match the image that the client has in their mind for the position. With the acting auditions, like I said, different ball game. I certainly feel the nerves, excitement too, but nerves definitely. That being said, I do feel at home when Im casting. I know that there isn't a thing on this planet that I would rather be doing. Its quite a special feeling to think that everything you do, everything that I have already done, is leading me to a place that is literally something out of my dreams. Yes this is hard and challenging and highly competitive, but I know myself very well, and this lifestyle I have chosen, and it is a lifestyle not just a career, is one I believe I can achieve great success in. It doesn't come without its price though. 

From my childhood days, I have a very close group of brothers. I say brothers and not friends because I think thats really how we are. Thinking about it, there are quiet a few of us who don't actually have brothers, myself included, so its no surprise we are as close as we are. The point I was getting at is that obviously being at home, I am immersed into their lives again, I am witness to their everyday routines. It makes me aware of just how different my lifestyle is from theirs, but not only that, its when I look forward at the uncertainty in my future, and the stability they find in theirs, well, it can be daunting at times. I was imagining the other day what it would be like to have a salary...it was a nice thought! I guess all I'm trying to say is that there are pros and cons to every walk of life. Im proud to say I have an amazing group of friends, who constantly impress me with their achievements in such a variety of fields. When you work in a world that often gets swept up in itself, I think its incredibly important to constantly remind yourself of everything else going on outside that world. 


Thanks for reading,
Weasel out x