Megan Taylor

5 Top Tips to getting started in the modelling world

I am asked this by a lot of friends and friends of friends that want to get started in the modelling world. Many people I know have been duped by rogue agencies promising people modelling work. The AMA only really lists those agencies that are very high fashion and are incredibly selective with who they take on. Do not be disheartened but these agencies requirements, I believe there is a modelling niche for every person on this planet. You just need to find yours…Maybe I will get in to this in another post one day.

1. NO REPUTABLE AGENCY IS DESPERATE FOR MORE MODELS

Do not trust an agencies web page that says, “sign up here”, “we have loads of work for models, join now” or “we are looking for new models”.

2. DO NOT PAY UP FRONT FOR PHOTOS

If you need photos to build up a modelling portfolio a good agency will either book you a TFP (Time/Trade For Print) or allow you to pay the test shoot off with your first job.

3. DO NOT PAY TO JOIN AN AGENCY

You do not need to pay to join an agency. Your agent will take somewhere between 15%-30% agency fee for each job you book.

4. WORD OF MOUTH

For piece of mind I would recommend applying only to agencies that you have been recommend to. This will give you piece of mind.

5. GO SEES

Agencies receive hundreds of photos from aspiring photos every day. It is unlikely they will take any notice to photos that you email through.
Go in and see them! No, seriously if you want to be seen then you have to go in and see them. They will give you more time and will realise that you are serious about a career in modelling.

One for luck…

6. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. I don’t mean to end on a negative note but if an agent promises you work then they are likely to be dodgy. No agency can guarantee you work but they can tell if you are right for their job briefs that they receive each day.

Speedy chips

Being freelance I don’t have much stability in my schedule, yet most Thursday’s Liam and I have a tradition of having a special dinner together. We always have homemade chips, veggie burgers and a cocktail or three alongside Thursday night comedy on E4. The Big Bang Theory is our favourite, what’s yours?
When I spotted this Von Shef chipper whilst browsing Amazon I knew my Thursday night prep time was about to reduce drastically.

It is far more hardy than the Spiralizers we have all bought into. It can even create chips out of sweet potatoes which are always an impossible task for my weedy arm muscles.

You simply put your food in, push down the leaver and out pops your identical chips…much easier for cooking times.
The device also comes with an extra blade with smaller holes to make french fries.

After a couple of minutes of par boiling the chips I pop them in the oven with a little oil for about 50minutes.
You then have yourself some scrummy guilt free chips.

You can buy it here.
Being an avid lover of Amazon Prime I was sad to see it wasn’t applicable for free next day delivery but mine arrived within two days.

Why stop at chips, you can even make quick crudités.
The only negative I have is that you can’t fit in a large potato but this is only a minor qualm of this fab product.

Ritz Crackers Campaign

On a very chilly Friday morning I made my way to Clapton…miles away from Surrey…to shoot a campaign for Ritz Crackers. Until this day I had never eaten a Ritz Cracker before. This Friday saw me bite handfuls of them and they are scrumptious! I was really pleased to have booked this job. The casting just involved me posing in front of the camera smiling lots. These commercial modelling castings are often known as the money making jobs because the brand has to “buy you out” for a set amount of time as well as the day rate. I get booked for more of these jobs than fashion shoots because I am rather smiley 🙂 I actually got told on a recent casting that I smile too much…it certainly put an end to my smile in that casting…super scary casting director!
The job was so much fun. There were five models all twenty-something’s there to smile, laugh, eat and drink…”such fun”!
The campaign will be about for the month of June starting today in the Metro (picture below). You will also spot it in glossy magazines and around the shops and at bus stops. Let me know where you spot it 🙂

Wedding hair

I recently shot a few videos for You and Your Wedding magazine. They are hair how to videos for brides taught by Ollie Blackaby who is an incredibly talented senior art director at Headmasters.
Check out one of the videos by clicking here.

Filming on a Sunday

I hope everyone had a great sunny weekend. I had a lovely Saturday off in the sun and my first BBQ and Pimms of the year.

I worked on Sunday, filming a commercial for Korea. My call time was a leisurely 11am! I have never had such a late start on set. They booked a car to pick me up at 9:30am in case we got caught in marathon traffic but there wasn’t any and we were at base, in Holborn, by 10!!!!
My audition and re-call for this job was on my roller blades! I have roller bladed all my life, not professionally, but with friends skating everywhere and anywhere so I am used to rough terrain which was lucky considering the casting suites were uneven wooden flooring panels! I have roller bladed a marathon at Goodwood before but never been one for grinding tricks and jumps so was thrilled when I actually managed to book this acting job.
I was dressed like a roller skating Lara Croft with fake boobie cups to give me a more “womanly look” :p

There “hero” of the advert was a famous Korean footballer. I am in the opening scene and will put up a link to the advert if I ever find it. It is only airing in Korea so will search YouTube in a couple of months time 🙂

Raspberry Almond Cake RECIPE

The smell of a fresh homemade cake filling your house over the weekend is one of my favourites. This recipe is amazing and the cake is likely to be gobbled up soon after it is pulled out of the oven. I found the recipe on the BBC Good Food Website. It doesn’t take too long to make either.

INGREDIENTS
140g ground almonds
140g butter , softened
140g golden caster sugar
140g self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g raspberries
2 tbsp flaked almonds
Icing sugar , to serve

METHOD
1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and base-line and grease a deep 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Blitz the ground almonds, butter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla extract in a food processor until well combined.

2. Spread half the mix over the cake tin and smooth over the top. Scatter the raspberries over, then dollop the remaining cake mixture on top and roughly spread – you might find this easier to do with your fingers. Scatter with flaked almonds and bake for 50 mins until golden.

3. Cool, remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar to serve.

I found that by putting the berries fairly close to the edge meant that they burnt quicker than the cake took to cook. I would suggest that when placing the berries on the cake that you create a little margin around the edge so they do not burn. Sprinkle the cake with icing sugar at the end for a pretty finished look. Get munching. I can guarantee it won’t be on the cake plate for long.

Chocolate dipped, orange zest shortbread biscuits

My mum found this scrumptious butter biscuits recipe last week in the Saturday Mail. There were a whole list of recipes for baking aimed at baking beginners. Ever the competitive spirit I took the simple shortbread recipe a step further adding orange zest and chocolate. I personally believe, chocolate makes everything better.

INGREDIENTS
150g unsalted butted, softened and diced
225g plain flour, sifted (plus extra for dusting)
100g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1tsp vanilla extract
Zest of 1 orange
50g of dark chocooate
(You will need a cookie cutter or glass to cut them and a rolling pin)
(Makes approximately 30 cookies)

STEP 1
Preheat the oven to 180°.
Using your finger tips, rub together the butter, flour and sugar until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

STEP 2
Using a wooden spoon, mix in the egg yolk, vanilla extract and the zest of one orange.

STEP 3
Form the dough into a ball, then turn it onto a lightly floured surface kneading the dough for a few seconds.

STEP 4
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 5mm using a rolling pin.

STEP 5
Using a cookie cutter, cut out 30 cookies and place on baking sheets. You do not need to grease the sheets. Bake for 10 minutes.

STEP 6
When turning golden at the edges, leave them to cool then decorate your biscuits with chocolate however you wish. I went for the dipped effect.