As things often go, the beginning part of my modelling career dawdled. Represented by a very small agency who did their best by me – including sending me to Tokyo for 2 months on a contract worth way more than I was, and trying to convince me to go to Milan (maybe they just wanted to get rid of me?) – but just didn't have the industry connections to consistently get the big ticket clients. When Darren, one of the bookers, moved on to the hugely successful Ursula's (run by ex-model Ursula Hufnagl), I was one of the models he convinced to go with him. While I felt very guilty about leaving the cosiness at Team, I knew it would be a better business decision.
And it was.
When Ursula talked, people listened. Almost immediately I was working lots, and for good clients, snaring a couple of covers, lots of fashion, and a good dose of advertising. For the short time I was with her, things were great.
Until it all came to a crashing halt.
I remember being called into the agency that morning in 1990 to be told Ursula's had gone belly up. It was bedlam. Crazy bargaining going on with bookers trying to get models to go with them in their new ventures as agents, and not knowing who to choose. I guess I chose well, going with Priscilla – she's the only one who's agency still stands.
What hadn't crossed my mind that morning, in the helter skelter of business collapse, was that cheque I had just banked.
That cheque paid to me – via my agent – by a client, for work I had done.
That cheque that bounced.
I found it the other day when I was sorting through a few things.
I never got paid for it, though I remember Mum chasing it up repeatedly with the creditors.
It must have been a dreadful time for Ursula, and she's done a great job in resurrecting herself with her agency Chic, but I'm still a bit dirty about the money, in so much as it wasn't that I was employed by her and she'd run out of money to pay me. It felt more 'stolen' than that, as the agency is just a middleman.
I googled Ursula today. Top of the page was this article from the Sydney Morning Herald 2 years ago.
This quote stood out…
This is remarkable, given she was brought to the brink of bankruptcy in 1990 when her original agency was the victim of embezzlement by two staff – more than $8 million worth, according to press reports. Exhausted and let down, she closed shop, including offices in Singapore and Hong Kong. Six hundred models were suddenly looking for new management – a boon to other agencies. Competitors claimed in the press that models were left unpaid. Hufnagl vehemently denies this, saying virtually all her models returned to her when she reopened as Chic.
"Everyone got paid," she says. "I sold my house, my car, I paid my bills, that's it.
"Everyone got paid"??
No, they didn't actually, and I feel certain I can't be the only one who didn't get paid.
So, Dear Ursula, given that you said that, what do you reckon about sending some money my way? Or, perhaps swing me the odd mumsy commercial job??
Hmmmm?
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