In this YouTube tip video, commercial model Aaron Marcus shares practical steps to take before accepting a go‑see (commercial modeling audition). He explains how to evaluate the product or company to ensure it aligns with personal values, verify both the audition date and the eventual shoot date, and understand the compensation and usage rights—especially the implications of “perpetuity” usage that could limit future work. Marcus also advises on dressing appropriately for the role by asking the agent about the desired look, emphasizing the importance of matching the client’s expectations without over‑ or under‑dressing. He mentions that future videos will cover paperwork, on‑set techniques, and key questions to ask the agent. Throughout, he encourages viewers to subscribe, enable notifications, and support the channel via donations.
Chapters
Hey, I'm Aaron Marcus, and I always love to share information that's up to date, things that I just recently experienced. So that's what I'm going to be doing here. So I just returned from a go-see in New York, and a go-see is the term for an audition for a commercial modeling job. And I'm going to be doing a maybe a two, maybe even a three-part series here because there's so much information I want to share with you about how to prepare before attending a GOC. And and by the way, if you are watching this on YouTube, hey, don't forget you definitely want to subscribe, click the notification button, and that way you will always be notified when I upload a new video. Okay, so very first thing here, you get a text, you get an email from an agent saying you've got a go-see. That's really very exciting. Here are a couple things you absolutely want to do before you agree to it. Number one, find out what is the product or the company. Make sure it's something you are comfortable being associated with and wanting to promote. I know Actors and models who are strict vegetarians. They will not do any fast food restaurant ads because they don't want to promote eating meat. Maybe you don't want to promote cigarettes. Maybe you don't want to promote alcohol. Maybe gambling is against your beliefs. Whatever it is, ask the agent, and that's the time to say yes or no. The other thing that you're going to find is that you will be given a day for the go-see and also a shoot date. Make sure you are available for both of those dates, and if not, let your agent know. Typically, you will be told how much is being paid for this particular job and also what the usage is. So what you need to find out is to make sure that if the usage— when they say usage, basically that means is it running in a newspaper, magazine, brochure, or if it's running in a high-exposure format. Those would be billboards, posters on the sides of a bus. Typically you get a bonus for that. Now, if the agent says they want to use this in perpetuity, that means they can use it forever. And that's something you might want to consider before saying yes, only because it's not uncommon. If you— matter of fact, the negotiation I had yesterday, it was for a pharmaceutical product. Well, I had to list Every pharmaceutical job I've done for the past 3 years, the name of the product, what kind of product it was, how long was it running. They wanted to know, like I said, for the past 3 years, and what role did I play, like what was my character. And so if this is something they want to use in perpetuity, that means that you potentially could be kept out of working for anything in that kind of industry forever. And so for the one that I went to, and I don't want to give out all the details, it was a specific kind of medication. And I have turned down, uh, go-sees where they wanted to use things in perpetuity because it's kind of a generic thing. It's used a lot, and I didn't want to possibly be in a situation where I couldn't do any ads for any other similar products. Forever. So if it is in perpetuity, that's something you might want to consider. Do you want to accept getting paid something now, or possibly turn it down in the hopes that something else will pop up for you in the future? Okay, so all of that stuff is taken care of. I also like to find out what are they looking for. The agents sometimes aren't given a lot of specifics, but if they ask me You're a business guy. I'm going to ask the agent, well, is this guy wearing a suit? Is he wearing slacks and a nice shirt? Is it much more casual? I like to look the part. And everybody has different philosophies. Some people will say, look, they know what a doctor looks like. I don't have to come in with a suit. I don't have to come in with a lab coat. I can wear a t-shirt and flip-flops. And that works for some people. I don't use that philosophy. My philosophy has always been— certainly I don't want to insult a casting director and wear too much, but I do— like to dress the part so that way, even if the photographer could see me as a doctor, if I'm wearing a t-shirt and cutoff shorts and flip-flops, maybe the people from the ad agency could, but maybe the client couldn't. And maybe they're not that creative. So anyhow, I always like to ask the agent. And that's what I wanted to share with you today. There will be a couple of other parts because there's some really important things you need to learn as far as what kind of forms you're going to be filling out, techniques to use, when working in front of the photographer, questions to ask and things like that. I'll save that for another quick tip. Most importantly too, don't forget to subscribe, click the notification button, and also you'll see some information below. As you can imagine, these things take a lot of time to put together. There's an expense involved with this as well. I wanna really keep this channel up and running to share really helpful acting and modeling information with you. So if you do find this information helpful, please click the donation button. It goes straight to PayPal. Whatever you can pay, whether it's $20, $10, $5, whatever you can afford, I'd really appreciate it. And feel free to share this with other people as well. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. Thank you, Aaron.
