John Paul Pfeiffer-Interview with the Model
The Reading Cafe recently featured Jim Butcher’s THE DRESDEN FILES series of novels and we would like to introduce you to the cover model: JOHN PAUL PFEIFFER
TRC: Hi John Paul and welcome to The Reading Café. We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?
John Paul: HI Sandy. My pleasure to be here… Im originally from Upstate New York. I lived half my pre 20 life in the Adirondacks in a place called Brantingham and the other half in Rotterdam New York which is a suburb of Schenectady.
I went to a year of Prep School at Trinity Pawling Prep and then went to St Lawrence university to study Biology where I had was on a football Scholarship. I also Wrestled and during the summer played Semi Pro Baseball as well as Raced BMX Bikes. Just before my senior year of college I broke my leg racing bikes and I was out of sports the rest of the year. This gave me time to focus on other things which led me to begin a modeling career in Toronto since my school was about 2 hours away from there. After Graduating I moved to NY and modeled internationally for the next 10 years. I then started Commence Quest and ModelsApartments.com. Commence Quest is a model management company and ModelsApartments.com is a company where we house a large number of models for all the agencies in New York.
TRC: Your bio states that you are a champion BMX competitor. How did you become interested in BMX racing? Are you still active in the racing community?
John Paul: When I was 10 years old my neighbor and best friend Bob Iovinella was racing BMX bikes. He was like my big Brother. Everything he did I wanted to do.. He influenced me to begin to race as well. From there the love of racing just never left me. I stopped racing after breaking my leg and during the time I was pursuing modeling for the 10 years. I then started back up in 2004 and have no plans to stop again anytime soon.
In BMX there are two bicycle classes. Cruiser and 20”. Cruiser is a larger mountain bike size bike with 24” wheels. 20” is the standard BMX bike with 20” wheels. Before 2012 there were also two different US sanctions. NBL and ABA. In 2012 there is not only one called USABMX. You can check out the site at www.usabmx.com
In 2007 and 2008 I was 2 time NBL national champion on Cruiser. 2007 I was UCI world #6 on Cruiser in Victoria Canada. In 2011 I was #1 in the NBL standings on Cruiser going into the National Championships and I broke my collar bone 3 week before the race. 2 months later I was able to recover and race the ABA National Championships and take National #4 on Cruiser and #5 on 20”. In May 2012 I took UCI world # 6 on Cruiser in Birmingham England and in one week from now I leave to Tulsa OK for the USABMX National Championships. Right now I go into the race ranked 3rd on 20” and 2nd on Cruiser. Very attainable with a good race to have two national titles. Ive been busy training the past several months for this race.
TRC: We were first introduced to you through your various cover images especially with Jim Butcher’s DRESDEN FILES series of novels. Do you know how many covers of the DRESDEN FILES your image appears?
John Paul: I Believe its 15 of them… Here you can see the link to them… Im not sure if this is all of them…Its possible I may have done a couple more…
http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden
TRC: Would you please tell us how you got started in the modeling industry?
John Paul: My time was almost always consumed with athletics up until I broke my leg… During this time It forced me to find something else to focus on. I had been approached previously about modeling by scouts but never thought anything of it till this time. I had not had any strong direction for what I wanted to do after graduating so modeling sounded to me like a great alternative to actually having to go get a job. Lol.. At this time it was the period of the supermodel still so it was a job where you heard about all the money and great things that were associated with becoming a model. Seemed to good to not at least try… So after Graduating I moved to NY and jumped into the business head first.
TRC: There is a stigma in the cover model industry especially as it pertains to romance covers. The romance novel industry has dramatically increased in popularity over the past few years. Do you think the cover illustrations and ‘hero depictions’ have pushed the industry in such a way, that the reader’s imaginations can be fueled by the representation on the cover?
John Paul: From the perspective of most fashion models I feel that the romance novel covers have had a negative connotation to them as well. First reason being that they are on the opposite end of fashion for the most part. The business is 100% image based so once the “image” of a model is put out there it can then harm the future potential of their work if seen by the decision makers. For a Fashion model its typically not beneficial to have very commercial Image. So for that reason most fashion models usually shy away from doing the covers. With the economy changing for the worst as well as the popularity and amt of work available in doing covers I think this opened up a lot more models to do them whom normally may not have done them before.
To answer your question I do feel that the images on the covers do fuel the imagination of the reader. One example to back that up would be… An ex girlfriend once told me before we were dating that she read a book that I was on the cover of and she imagined me as the character. Shortly later we were an item… It must have been a good book..…
TRC: 😉
TRC: Would you please tell us about COMMENCE QUEST?
Click HERE to access COMMENCE QUEST
John Paul: Commence Quest is a Model Management company. Not to be confused with an Agency. As a Management company we scout, develop and place models with Agencies. We try to find models with top potential and try to help them utilize that potential to their full extent by making a plan for their career and guiding them in the right direction. Most of the time this includes traveling so we organize all travel plans, placements and details. An important aspect is also that we make sure the models are treated well, promoted strongly and are getting work by their agencies. We also help with making sure they are paid on time and problem solving any issues that may arise. The best part of the job is that it cost our models nothing for our service. We are paid a % of the agencies commission as their mother agent.
TRC: What was behind your decision to start COMMENCE QUEST?
John Paul: I had been helping all my friends with getting agencies at the last few years of my career. I had also met a photographer whom was also a Top NY scout. We collaborated briefly to form COMMENCE QUEST. It seemed like a natural progression for me and It also felt very wasteful to not utilize the past 10 years experience after I discontinued modeling myself. So I put my connections and experience to good use in deciding to form Commence Quest.
TRC: At present how many models do you represent or promote in the industry?
John Paul: The past year we have really tried to keep a higher standard of our models. So the number of models has gone down a lot and I feel its better to have higher quality models and focus on them than have a lot of models whom may not be as strong or doing as well.
Right now we have 19 girls and 9 guys.
TRC: Would you please tell us about your favorite experience in the modeling industry?
John Paul: One of the best jobs I feel that I had was while I was in Tokyo. I was booked for a Kool Cigarette campaign and they wanted a strong swimmer. I grew up in the water so I was fortunately booked for it after doing a casting in a swimming pool. We flew to Tinian and Saipan where I spend 4 days basically jumping into the crystal clear waters all day. In between breaks I would snorkel and check out the amazing coral reefs and aquatic life. In School I was a Bio major and my intentions were to get into Marine Biology. My love of Marine life was the main influence so this job was amazing to me.
TRC: What have been some of the challenges and difficulties you have faced in the modeling industry?
John Paul: Some of the most challenging aspects of modeling is trying to get jobs and not let failure affect you. It’s a very competitive business which is now oversaturated with models and less work than ever. Trying to find a way to make yourself right for as many clients as possible is always a challenge. There really is no set “if you do this then you will get that” like you can find in most jobs. If you go to School for something and study and do well you can get this or that job. There can be a set process of preparation for most jobs.
In modeling no matter how prepared or right you think you are for a client they may not like your hair, the pants you were wearing that day, your personality, or that you have blue eyes. They were looking for someone taller than you, shorter than you, your too skinny, your too big, your too edgy, your too commercial. Its just the decision makers opinion and sometimes they can be even be in a bad mood when you see them. It can be frustrating when you spend 2 hours and money to go see a client and they just flip thru your book without even looking at you. There’s really no rhyme or reason sometimes and luck can at time play a big part. The only thing you can do is to try and stay positive and not let criticism or failure affect you and keep moving onward. Perseverance I find is one of the most necessary qualities needed to be a successful model.
TRC: Nudity in the modeling industry can be very controversial. Photographs can range from sensual and sexual to bordering on pornographic. What advice would you give to young and up and coming models in the industry about nude photography?
John Paul: My constant advise to all my models is not to do nudity. Very very rarely is it beneficial for their career I find. There are certain exceptions where if its for a big photographer or Major Campaign and it could be good for their image or career. Examples would be Calvin Klein, etc.. Most of these times its done tastefully. If this is the case I always make sure that the model knows that they should feel comfortable at all times and if that’s not the case then they should not do it. There are of course some photographers that we don’t let our models shoot with. Part of our job as agents is to make sure our models are protected and safe.
TRC: On what are you currently working?
John Paul: Right now my time is focused between Commence Quest, Models Apartment and Racing. This is usually what 95% of my day consists of.
Im scouting a great new model today from France who should be arriving in NY early December. We are working on acquiring more apartments in Manahattan for the Models Apartments and im training daily for racing.
LIGHTNING ROUND
Favorite Food – Sushi
Favorite Dessert – Tiramisu
Favorite TV Show – When not watching MMA – Tosh.O or Daily Show,
Favorite Movie – Zoolander of course..
TRC: Are you able to ‘turn left’? 😉
Last Movie You Saw – Heartbreaker ( French film)
Dark or Milk Chocolate – Milk
Favorite model of car – Porsche Panamera Turbo
Last vacation destination – Montauk
Describe you ideal date – keeping it simple… More about the company than where we are….
TRC: Thank you John Paul for taking the time to answer our questions. You have some amazing cover images. Congratulation on all of your success. We wish you all the best with Commence Quest.
