In this first‑person video, Aaron Marcus – a veteran actor, commercial model, and career coach – recounts the story of his very first paid print modeling/acting job. He describes receiving a call from a local agent, the thrill of being booked, and his initial lack of knowledge about fees, emphasizing that the love of the work mattered more than money. Aaron narrates the on‑set experience: makeup, wardrobe, direction, and the acting‑like pose required for a sophisticated, slightly grumpy airport‑line scene. After the shoot, he learns the ad will appear in a magazine, purchases a copy, and experiences a surge of excitement seeing himself featured. He reflects on how that early joy fuels his ongoing passion for any size job, from local brochures to international campaigns. The video concludes with a promotion for his upcoming "How to Get Paid Acting and Modeling Jobs" workshop, providing a link, email (aaron@howtomodel.com), and Facebook page for further contact.
Chapters
Hi, my name is Aaron Marcus, America's premier acting and commercial modeling career coach, the author of How to Become a Successful Commercial Model, now in its 5th edition. I'm the founder of howtomodel.com, and I've been making my living as an actor and a commercial model for over 26 years. Uh, as I'm preparing the How to Get Paid Acting and Modeling Jobs workshop, um, it got me thinking about an experience that I had many, many years ago, and the experience was my very first paid job. And I'll never forget, I was in an apartment at the time, and my fiancée Nancy, who's now still my wife, was hanging in there with me. She said, hey, I've got a— you got a phone call from a local agent. And picked up the phone, and the agent said, look, we've got a print booking for you. Are you available, you know, on this day and these times? And got all the information and I hung up the phone and it was like a kid in a candy store. I was just screaming. I was so excited. This is my first print job. And one of the things that I forgot to ask, I had no idea what the fees were. But to tell you the truth, I've kept that same philosophy from the very beginning until now. Of course, I need to know what I'm getting paid. But in many ways, it's completely irrelevant. I mean, how much money I'm making from the job, it doesn't really matter to me. It's the love of doing the work itself. And when I was told that I would be seen in magazines for this particular ad, I was just going crazy, and I thought it was so incredible. And I'll never forget walking onto the set and having The makeup artist sat me down and she was playing with my face, which was great, and putting all kinds of makeup on me. And I was just like sitting there and I just couldn't believe what was happening. It was just this unbelievable feeling of people coming over, telling you what they wanted, looking at my clothes, showing some clothes that they picked up for me. I had people getting clothes for me, which was unbelievable. And I remember we were— there were 3 of us in this particular shot, and I'm standing there. We were supposed to be in line at an airport, and I had this very sophisticated and kind of grumpy look that they were asking for. And as the photographer was telling me what he needed, I just thought, well, wow, this is an acting job. Because I had no idea. And we were shooting, and I'm trying out different things, and when we were done, They were just telling us how much they appreciated our work and how great it was. The neatest feeling in the world. They told me what magazine it was going to be in, where it was going to run, the dates, things like that. I'll never forget going to a store. I actually just bought the magazine. I didn't realize that I could easily just ask to get a copy of it. When I brought it home to show Nancy, it's like I opened this thing up and I said, Oh my God! Hey, look who that is! That's me! And it was really so exciting. So, you know, as I'm getting ready to put the workshop together and present it, it's just such an incredible feeling of getting hired, getting booked for a job, whether it's a small job for a local brochure for a store, whether it's a national or international campaign. They're all very exciting. So anyhow, I hope you join us. You can simply click on the link below to read more about the workshop, and I look forward to talking with you soon. I'm Aaron Marcus, and as always, if you have any questions at all, feel free to email me at aaron@howtomodel.com, or you can also go to my Facebook page, which is Facebook.com/aaronmarcus. And ask me questions there, as well. Looking forward to talking with you soon. Bye.
