The first conversation with the agency: what is asked

The first conversation is the point at which most applications stick — not because it is hard, but because it is unclear what happens in it. So: it is not an audition, not a test and not a situation in which you have to prove something. It is a match of availability, region and limits with what productions enquire for. It takes place by phone or video, lasts twenty to forty minutes, costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Here stands what is asked in a first conversation with a casting agency, what is not, and which questions you should ask yourself.

What the conversation is and what it is not

It is a working conversation. We have ongoing enquiries from productions with concrete requirements on date, place, role and content. In the conversation we settle which of those could fit you and which are excluded. That is the whole function.

A conversation without a result is a result as well. If you afterwards come to the conclusion that this is not for you, no costs and no obligations arise for you. For applicants everything with us is free of charge: application, conversation, casting, booking and the check of the contract.

Not part of the conversation are recordings, test shots, body evaluations or acts of any kind. If it later comes to a casting, that takes place in a studio or a booked location, never in a private flat, with at least three people present and without sexual acts. You may bring a companion, even without prior notice.

The questions that come

They are predictable, and you can think the answers through beforehand. That is exactly why this list stands here.

• Availability. How many days a month do you have free, and do they sit on working days? Shoot days are almost always working days, because crew and location work then.
• Region and willingness to travel. Where do you live, how far do you travel, are overnight stays possible? That decides more often over a booking than anything else.
• Limits. What do you do, what not, what only under conditions. We go through the categories, not the individual cases. If you have filled in the yes-no-maybe list beforehand, this part is done in five minutes.
• Anonymity. How visible do you want to be? With a face, without a face, with restrictions on channels and territories. This detail belongs before the first booking, not on set.
• Experience. Have you already shot, in what framework, with which productions? No experience is a complete answer and not a disadvantage.
• Expectation of the money. What do you imagine, and what do you need it for? We then tell you whether that fits with the real fees.

If you have no answer to one of these questions, that is not a problem. Then we note the point as open and come back to it later. A conversation in which everything has to be answered at once would be a test, and this is not one.

The last point is the one at which most conversations take a turn. The ranges stand openly on our page on earnings, and anyone who has read them beforehand saves themselves a disappointment.

The questions that do not come

Just as important, and rarely written down anywhere. These things we do not ask, and if another provider asks them, that is a signal.

• Sexual preferences in private life. What is relevant is what you do in front of the camera. What you like privately is not working information.
• Relationship status. Whether you live in a relationship does not go into the booking. There is an exception only if you yourself want to shoot as a couple.
• Medical history. Beyond the prescribed STI panel we ask nothing. Diagnoses, medication and treatments are not a subject of the conversation. What is relevant at most is whether you are resilient on a particular date — not why.

What happens to your details: they stay with us. No file for third parties, no passing on to other agencies. On an informal email we delete everything within seven days. We also send no post; contact runs via email.

What you should ask

A conversation in which only one side asks is a bad conversation. These points you should settle, and in this order.

1. Who is my contractual partner on the shoot — the agency or the production?
2. What does the booking cost me, and do you take a commission from my fee?
3. Which fee is realistic for this production type, gross per shoot day?
4. When and how is payment made, and do I receive a statement?
5. When do I see the contract — before the shoot day or on set?
6. Who is present on the shoot day, and who is my contact on a stop?
7. How are tests organised, which deadlines apply, and who pays them?
8. Which usage rights are required: period, territory, channels, passing on to third parties?
9. What happens if on set I draw a limit I had previously agreed to?
10. How can I have my data deleted, and how long does that take?

Our answers to that stand collected on the page with the frequently asked questions: for applicants everything is free of charge, we take no commission from the fee, the contractual partner on the shoot is the production, payment is made within 14 days by bank transfer with a statement, and the test costs the production bears.

How you recognise a dubious provider in the conversation

Four signals that stand out in the conversation itself. First: money is meant to come from you — a joining fee, a file fee, a portfolio with the partner photographer. Anyone who takes money from the person being booked does not earn on the booking.

Second: on the question of the fee no figure comes, but “we will discuss that later”. Ranges anyone can name who actually books. Third: time pressure. “The casting is tomorrow”, “only two places left”. Anyone who really wants to book you waits three days.

Fourth: the subject of limits does not come up, or it is dismissed with “that will arise then”. That is not an oversight. The full list with all features is in the article on dubious offers.

How it continues after the conversation

We tell you at the end whether we take you into the booking and what the next step is. If we say no, we say why. A reply comes in any case within 48 hours.

What you can also require: a written summary of the conversation. Anyone who does not want to confirm promised points by email either did not mean them that way or works sloppily. We send this summary anyway, because later it is the basis for every follow-up question.

After that either a casting follows or directly a concrete enquiry with date, place, content and fee. The complete path from the application to the contract is on our page on the process. And you can leave at every point of this path without giving a reason.