Think your baby should be on a magazine cover?

Think your baby should be on a magazine cover? We get so many questions about modeling that we thought you might find this information helpful. Boston Globe reporter Scott LaPierre interviewed an expert who explains how she selects her littlest posers.

It’s standing room only for some of the moms, dads, and tots who crowd into Dynasty Models on a recent Wednesday at a casting call for baby models. Over the crying and cooing, 39 adults listen intently as Dynasty owner Joe Freeman gives his 20-minute spiel about the baby modeling business. Freeman mentions the clients his models work for. A Baby Gap ad featuring Dynasty model Angelo hangs on the wall.

After the presentation, parents meet with Freeman and his daughter Kimberly Yapp, manager of the baby division, for a quick assessment. Among the hopefuls is 15-month-old Kendrick Perkins Jr., son of Celtics center Kendrick Perkins. The tyke sports a formidable Afro and a calm demeanor.

None of the parents – no matter how cherubic or precious their spawn – will hear if their child makes the cut today. Yapp always waits two days, till Friday, no later than 5 p.m., to relay the good news. And if the news isn’t good, she doesn’t call at all. “I don’t intend to have one single little heart be broken today,” Freeman says, “or one big heart be broken, either.”

Of course, there’s another, more pragmatic reason for the delay, he says: “the safety and health of the agent.” Translation: He doesn’t want any parents freaking out if their child doesn’t get signed.

The baby modeling scene in Boston may not be as active as it is in New York or Los Angeles, but it’s steady and competitive enough to support divisions at agencies such as Dynasty Models on Newbury Street and Model Club in the South End. Local companies like L.L. Bean, Hasbro, Summer Infant, Safety 1st, and Tufts Health Plan provide a regular stream of work. Regular casting sessions draw parents eager to see their kids in ads (and to fund their 529 college saving plans), but they have to be thick-skinned enough to tolerate industry euphemisms about their bundle of joy being “not right” for the job.

“Some months we might have several castings or jobs the babies are going on,” says Tim Ayers, agency director at Model Club Inc. in Back Bay, which represents about 75 babies. “On other months, there might not be anything. Usually we tell the parent that this isn’t something that they’re going to find overwhelming or take too much of their time. It’s something they can do on the side.”

Baby divisions cover kids up to age 2 1/2 or 3 and the baby size 3T. Pay ranges from about $75 to $95 per hour, but shoots might only last a couple of hours. Dynasty also charges parents a one time marketing cost of $160 that covers the cost of duplicating photos (parents must update every three months), sending the photos out to clients and postage. The money isn’t enough to sustain a family, Ayers says, but parents often say they invest the baby’s earnings in 529 plans. Continued…