The Naked Truth: Round One
The Naked Truth, my male model competition, started off with nothing less than drama. I decided to hold the competition at Club Café, New England’s most popular gay venue. The event is also sponsored by EDGE Boston, New England’s biggest online gay publication.
I chose to work with the gay community because they have been supportive of my career. In addition, what other group is better at picking the next top male model in New England than a bunch of gay men?? As expected though, the straight wonnabe models had issues with the venue and sponsor.
There were three in particular, who comes to mind. One was a graduate of a local ‘modeling school’. I put ‘modeling school’ in quotations because I think ‘modeling schools’ are nothing but frauds. I’ll explain that later in a separate entry.
Anyway, this guy, let’s call him F, came to the open call. He was early, which was impressive. When it came time to do his polaroids, he refused to take his shirt off. Aileen, my runway coordinator, explained to him that it was necessary for him to take his shirt off for the polaroid. After all, this is what they do at high fashion castings. After some convincing, he did do it.
His body was impressive. His photos and personal hygiene, were not so impressive. In fact, the judges were on the fence with him. They felt his facial expressions looked the same in all the photos and was, over all, not photogenic. I made the final call and decided to put him in the final 5. To make the long story short, he emailed Aileen telling her how he ‘got a weird vibe’ from the casting. When Aileen forward me the email, I called to leave a message for him to see if he would like to discuss his concerns. I never heard back from him.
I’m not sure to what ‘weird vibe’ he was referring, but I have an idea it had to do with the gay men who were there at the casting, and our asking him to take his shirt off. To this, I’d say - firstly, 90% of the men in this industry are gay. Didn’t they teach him that at ‘modeling school’?? Secondly, if he had a problem taking his shirt off for a polaroid, he has no business being a model. What does he think modeling is? Showing off his intelligence???
The next wonnabe model that I shall discuss; let’s call him R. I must say that I was extremely disappointed in him. I thought he had excellent potential and a wonderful personality. Not to mention a great body. After a couple of unanswered emails in regards to his making the finalist in the competition, I finally called him. He told me he doesn’t ‘think that he would be able to participate in the competition’. I didn’t ask any questions, but I can read between the lines….
Finally, there was G. G called me the next day after having made the final 5. He told me how uncomfortable he was at the gay club. I explained to him that I wasn’t really interested in justifying why we’d held the competition there. I frankly didn’t even see it as an issue and if he did, well, he really shouldn’t be a model, especially at my agency.
G was invited to come to our first photo shoot. He reluctantly agreed. Unfortunately, he was an hour and a half late, citing transportation issues. I sent him home.
I really don’t understand what these guys’ problems are with gay men. Do they think that we all want to sleep with them??? Honestly, this is a business. Until they see it as such, they will never make it in this industry.
Clients and agents need to see guys (and girls) in their underwear because there’s simply no time to waste. We cannot take the chance of a model having unwanted tattoos, scars or flabs. This is the business of beauty. If you cannot be comfortable with your body, then I would suggest becoming an accountant.
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