Career·7 min read · updated Oct 1, 2026
Modeling without an agency.
Plenty of working models have no agency, or have one and still book half their year themselves. Direct work pays faster and keeps the whole rate — and hands you the five jobs an agency normally does. Here is where it comes from and how to run it.
Direct work comes from e-commerce studios, small brands without an agency budget, and photographers who book you after a test. It keeps the whole rate and pays faster, but the contract, the invoice, the reminders, the image rights and the tax become yours. In France it is invoiced under your own status — usually micro-entrepreneur — and it can sit beside an agency as long as the exclusivity clause allows it.
Written by the Odette team · reviewed by Arthur Feingold, Swapp Studio. About Odette
Where the work comes from.
Three sources, in the order they usually appear in a direct career.
E-shops and their studios book directly: 40 to 120 looks a day, regular, paid at 30 days. The backbone of a direct career.
Young labels without an agency budget: lookbooks, social content, a launch campaign. The rights matter more than the rate.
Tests are unpaid and build the book; a photographer who then books you for a client is a direct job. Never pay for a test.
What you take on.
Five things an agency does for its commission. Direct, they are yours — about two hours a job, done by hand.
A one-page agreement: date, rate, usage (media · territory · duration), payment terms, cancellation.
Eight lines, sent the day after the shoot: a continuous number, SIRET, the VAT mention, the due date, the IBAN, the late fees.
At 60, 85 and 91 days — courteous, precise, formal. Odette drafts them on the day; you send them.
Each usage with its end date; the renewal asked before it lapses; a take-down message if the pictures outlive it.
Declare the fees and set aside about 22% for URSSAF as a micro-entrepreneur; the rights are declared as a royalty.
SourceBecoming a micro-entrepreneur — service-public.gouv.fr (in French)
The tax and status guide →Direct and agency, at the same time.
The question is the exclusivity clause. It usually covers a territory and a kind of work — “fashion modeling in France” — and what it does not cover, another city, e-commerce, tests, content, can be direct. Tell your booker. An agency that learns about a direct job from Instagram is the one relationship you cannot repair.
Each job on its own path. A booking that arrives through the agency becomes a statement to reconcile; one that arrives from a client becomes an invoice to draft, reminders to schedule, a set-aside to keep. Same screen, two paths — and a booking that falls inside your agency’s exclusivity is flagged as a conflict, with what you could do about it. See Jobs in the app →
Frequently asked.
Can I have an agency and work direct at the same time?
Usually yes, within the exclusivity clause. Most contracts give the agency exclusivity on fashion work in its territory; direct e-commerce, tests or work in another city may be outside it. Read the clause, and tell your booker — a surprise is what damages the relationship.
Should I ask for a deposit?
With a new direct client, yes: 30% on confirmation is normal and changes everything — a client who has paid part pays the rest. With a returning client who pays on time, you can drop it.
How do I set my rate?
Start from the market — Paris e-commerce is €400–900 a day — adjust for your experience and the volume of looks, then add the usage as a separate line. A rate without a usage is a buyout at a day-rate price. Odette shows you what each client has paid you before.
Read next.
Direct work, next.
