Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill to recognize models under the age of 18 to be recognized as child performers. The law, that goes into effect on November 20th, 2013, will provide the same rights and legal protection as other child performers working in New York.
New York photographers and designers will now need to adhere to the legal limits of hours, frequency of work, and how late a minor can be kept at a job. All minors will need a child model worker’s permit and employers may possibly be required to hire chaperones or tutors as well as withhold 15 percent of a child’s gross income to be placed in a trust. This will greatly affect designers for New York’s famed Fashion Week in February, which employs numerous underage models.
To read the entire law, click HERE.
[REWIND: Aging Model Reinvents Herself as Male Model]
Pictured in this article is 13 year old, child model, Isabella
CREDITS : Photographs by Michelle Ford have been used with permission for SLR Lounge. Do not copy, modify or re-post this article or images without express permission from SLR Lounge and the artist.
[via @Huffington Post]
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Great.
If we weren’t losing money already, now these darn kids have /rights/ and we have to hire tutors for them? What is next a union?
Haha, on a serious note, I’m glad that this has happened. Kids need their rights and they are working really hard.
Someone should definitely be there to protect them from getting exploited.
I knew a photographer who used to ONLY take pictures of underage models for his portfolio.
His logic was that he never had to pay as much and most of the time he could get away with it for free, because he’d convince them that he was giving THEM an opportunity.
Somehow that seemed rather unethical to me.
Haha. I thought you were serious at first. I was about to post, “What a jerk!” Haha
But you’re right, kiddos need to be protected and it’s our jobs as adults to do so.
Thanks for commenting :)
This a great thing! when i was younger getting into the indie acting field, I’d work 20 hour days with preparing, setting up lighting and getting food for the cast to painting the set and scenes and buying pitching in to help buy a new lens that was “MANDATORY” for the shot. that was 11 years ago.
Abuse is a heavily frowned upon thing in that industry, yet its extremely excessive! Professionals have it way easier! I became a Photographer after that video was released and every model i take i’ll pay them as much as i’m able too, unless they’re contracting me that is.