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Business

Hey, Dallas: You Ought To Be in Pictures

Entrepreneurial Dallas sisters Brynn Haney Isom and Wesley Laughton start the Get Real Agency, which helps advertising and media clients cast “real people.”
By Sarah Eveans |
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photography courtesy of Get Real Agency

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photography courtesy of Get Real Agency
Brynn Haney Isom and sister Wesley Laughton are on a mission: they want you to be a model. Yes, you. The Dallas natives recently launched a new company called the Get Real Agency, to help advertising and media clients find “real people” (that’s us!) for their ad campaigns and commercials. We sat down with the women to get the details.


How did you get started in this business?
Brynn: With my B.Creative business (a production company specializing in print advertising), I always needed real people for my clients. I could never find them quickly enough. I would walk around the Katy Trail with a camera, asking people if I could take their picture, and it just didn’t feel like the safest or best way to do things. As a producer, Get Real is a solution to satisfy clients. It also helped me from going insane!
Wesley: I lived in Australia for four years, and while I was there, I worked for a word-of-mouth company. I did customer relations and managed the database, and that was full of real people. I found that the people in my database loved to get involved. It was kind of glamorous for them.
Brynn: So we put the two together, starting with people I used for photo shoots in the past. We had about 50 people in our database. Now we have 2,000!


What kind of people are you looking for?
Brynn: We are looking for all kinds of people—all ages, all nationalities. We especially need more Asian people and Hispanic people right now. And men!
Wesley: It’s really great because you just sign up, and we contact you. There is no catch.


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photography courtesy of Get Real Agency
What about animals?
Wesley: Pets are welcome, too!


What kind of work do these “real people” get?
Brynn: It varies, from being an extra in a movie to being in an ad campaign. Sometimes people are needed just to fill a restaurant for an ad or a commercial.


What is the pay like?
Brynn: If a person were hired to fill seats in a restaurant, the pay would be $50. If the client is recognizable, the day rate starts at $250 for a half-day and $500 for a full day. There is no need to be worried if a person doesn’t have acting or modeling experience. The photographers are directors, and they want people to be natural.
Wesley: You know how you can always tell if a person is a model or not, just by looking at the ad? There’s just a real feeling when a person isn’t acting.


Brynn, we know you as a clothing designer, and you also have your production company, B.creative. How do you make it all work?
Brynn: The fashion side is really a hobby for me now. About a year and a half ago I made the decision. I was in 85 stores across the country, and I just called them and said, “This is my last shipment.” The production company was growing, and I just couldn’t handle it all. I will do one-of-a-kinds, and I still have a rolling rack in my office.


Sign up at www.getrealagency.com.

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