Modeling Agencies in Miami: Fashion Boards, Local Boutiques and Florida’s Rules

Florida Law: Licenses, Fees and Your Contract

Florida regulates talent agencies through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), and its legal definition of an artist includes models. Under section 468.403, a talent agency needs a DBPR license to operate in the state.

The same law also protects applicants. A talent agency can’t charge a registration fee, and it can’t make you buy photos, a résumé service, classes or workshops as a condition of registering you or finding you work. Then, within 24 hours of signing, you get a copy of the contract with the services and fees, and it has to say that the DBPR regulates the agency.

Section 468.412 adds two more rules. The agency must tell you in writing that you can cancel the contract within the first three business days. Its ads, letterheads and receipts also have to show its licensed name, license number and address.

On the pages we checked, Stellar Talent Agency shows its number, TA#157. For any agency, ask for the license number and look it up in the DBPR license search before you sign.

What Miami Agencies Ask You to Send

Expect a form with your birth date, height and measurements, plus a few unretouched photos. The photo lists differ, though. Elite, for example, asks for six, including a close-up and a close-up profile with your hair pulled back. NEXT, on the other hand, only requires a close-up and leaves optional slots for side, full-length, upper-body and eye shots. Stellar wants two headshots, one smiling and one not, plus a full-body shot.

Two agencies bring up swimwear. The Source suggests swimwear photos so its agents can see your proportions, and Elite asks you to wear a bikini while someone you trust takes your measurements. If you’re an adult, swimwear is your call; for anyone under 18, a parent or guardian decides. Lingerie and nude photos aren’t part of a real application: NEXT says it never requests nude or undergarment photos, and Ford warns you never to share nude or lingerie shots.

Daylight and a plain wall do most of the work, so you don’t need a studio. Our guide on how to take headshots at home also covers framing. For the wider picture, from types of modeling to contracts, read how to become a model.

Open calls are rare in Miami right now. NEXT says its open calls are cancelled until further notice, Elite says it doesn’t hold open calls at its offices, and Select’s open call page doesn’t list Miami. If you hear about one, confirm it on the agency’s own site and check the agency’s page for current open call hours before you go.

Fashion and Editorial Modeling Agencies in Miami

These five are local offices of agencies with a presence in other cities, and all of them take new faces online.

Ford Models Miami

Ford’s Miami office is on Brickell Key, and its Miami boards are labeled women, men, new and direct. Applications start on the Get Scouted page, where you pick Miami as your city. Its tips ask for a clean face, hair pulled back and a form-fitting outfit. Ford also warns that you should never pay to attend a casting.

Wilhelmina Miami

Wilhelmina Miami works from Wynwood House, on NW 26th Street. Its Miami roster shows women on main, development, direct and curve boards, men on main and development boards, and a sports and fitness division. The Become a Model form asks you to choose a city and a division, and minors need a parent’s or legal guardian’s authorization. You can also ask to be considered for the Sports+Fitness division.

NEXT Management Miami

NEXT’s Miami office is on Meridian Avenue in Miami Beach. Its Miami site splits models into women and men, each with mainboard and new face boards, and adds talent (actors, athletes and dancers) and creators. The online application asks for your location, height and at least a close-up. NEXT also says it doesn’t interview over Skype and never asks for money or for nude or undergarment photos.

Elite Models Miami

Elite’s Miami office is on NE 24th Street, near Wynwood, with boards for women, development, direct women, men and curve. You apply through the Become Elite form or by the email on that page. Applicants have to be 18 or have written parental consent, and Elite says it typically scouts female-identified applicants from age 15. Besides the six photos, the form asks for your story and whether you already have representation.

Select Model Management Miami

Select Miami is on Alton Road in Miami Beach, with boards for women, men and non-binary models and a digitals page. To apply, use Select’s central form and choose Miami as the office closest to you. Since Select’s open call page sends Miami applicants online, the form is the way in.

Boutique Modeling Agencies in Miami

Smaller agencies keep shorter rosters, which their sites present as closer, more personal management.

The Source Models

The Source Models describes itself as a collective of agents managing a boutique roster in the Miami market. Its office is on NE 4th Court, and its boards include development, women, men, curve, family and creators.

The Get Discovered form takes four JPG digitals. Its guidelines say new models are usually in their teens through early 20s, with exceptions. They also list heights of 5’7″ to 5’11” for women in sizes 0 to 18, and at least 6’0″ for men. A separate safety page asks represented talent to check with management before any shoot or casting that comes through social media.

Michele Pommier Models

Michele Pommier Models is a boutique agency on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. Its site says Michele Pommier, a former model, opened the agency in 1979, and that it represents a small group of working models and talent. The boards are women and fitness. The Be Discovered form asks for your stats and three images, a headshot, a profile and a full profile, each under 3 MB.

Commercial Modeling Agencies for Families and Kids

These two book ads, catalogs and brand work across a wide range of ages, including children.

BMG Models Miami

BMG’s Miami office is on Biscayne Boulevard, in Edgewater, one of six US offices the agency lists. Its Miami boards include mainboard, direct, men, trans and non-binary, lifestyle, youth, teens, new faces and runway. BMG takes every application through one submission form, which asks for your measurements and at least two photos.

Stellar Talent Agency

Stellar Talent Agency is on West Hallandale Beach Boulevard, in Broward County, and its site shows Florida talent agency license TA#157. It represents adult, teen and child models and actors, plus couples and families. You can apply through the submission page or by email, and the agency also says you don’t need an expensive photo shoot. A parent or legal guardian has to submit for anyone under 18, and Stellar says it won’t accept nude or inappropriate photos.

Kids and Teens: What Florida Requires

A parent or guardian should run every step for a child, from the application to the contract. Among the modeling agencies in this Miami guide, BMG has youth and teen boards, Stellar represents boys, girls and teens, and The Source has a family board. Elite, for instance, typically scouts from 15 with parental consent, and Wilhelmina asks for a parent’s or guardian’s authorization for minors.

Florida’s child labor law lets the entertainment industry hire minors for work such as still photography, TV shows and publicity. The employer or its agent has to apply to the DBPR for a permit to employ minors, according to section 450.132. Before a shoot, ask whether the client has that permit.

The FTC also notes that the market for child models is very small and that real agents ask for casual snapshots. See our guides to auditions for kids and teens and baby acting and modeling as well.

Red Flags and Modeling Scams in Miami

Florida law and the FTC point to the same warning signs. The FTC’s page on modeling scams says you should never pay an agency up front, since real agencies get paid when you get paid. It also says an agency should let you hire your own photographer.

• A registration fee. Florida bans it for talent agencies.
• Required photos, classes or workshops. Florida bars agencies from making them a condition, and the FTC says to avoid agencies that make you use their staff.
• A missing license number. Ask for it, then check it in the DBPR search.
• Requests for nude or lingerie photos, or contact that happens only through direct messages.

If a scout contacts you, call the agency at the number on its official site before you send anything. For a step-by-step check, read how to spot a fake casting call.

More Ways to Find Modeling Work in Miami

Some brands and productions also cast directly, without an agency. Our guide to auditions in Miami covers casting calls in English and Spanish, and you can browse commercial casting calls and calls across the US. If you also act, see acting classes in Miami, how to get a talent agent and acting agencies near you.

To compare cities, start with our guide to modeling agencies near me and our lists for New York, Chicago and Atlanta.