Booking

A booking is the binding booking of a performer for a specific shooting day. Unlike an inquiry or a reservation, it sets the date, location, format, scope, and fee and obliges both parties: the production to pay and you to show up. It is confirmed in writing, usually through the agency.

From inquiry to booking

It usually starts with an inquiry: a production asks through the agency whether you are available on a certain date. The date is often initially reserved as an option. Only once the production has finalized its cast does the option become a booking. This can take days or weeks.

The difference is crucial for you. An option still leaves both sides some flexibility; a booking does not. Once you are booked, you plan the day definitively, arrange travel and time off from your main job, and turn down other inquiries for that date.

The booking also makes the preparations concrete: travel, arrangements concerning wardrobe and makeup, and the test. Depending on the production’s requirements, the STI panel must not be more than 14 to 30 days old on the shooting day; the production covers the costs. Only once the date is fixed do you know when the test is due.

What the booking confirmation must contain

• Date and time frame: shooting day, arrival time, expected end time.
• Location: the studio’s or location’s complete address.
• Format and role: photo or video, type of production, and your role in it.
• Content: the planned scenes, compared with your yes-no-maybe list.
• Fee and additional costs: the day rate, expenses, travel costs, and, where applicable, a buyout.
• Usage: where and for how long the material may be used.

The confirmation does not replace the model contract; it refers to it. You should be able to read the contract carefully before the shooting day, not only once you are on set.

Money, payment, and cancellations

The fee depends on the type of production: 250 to 600 euros per shooting day for a photo production, and 400 to 1,200 euros for a video production. Payment is made by bank transfer within 14 days, not in cash. The production pays the agency. Nothing for the placement may be deducted from your fee unless this was agreed in advance.

If the production cancels a confirmed booking at short notice, you have kept the time free and may have turned down other inquiries. Whether and in what amount a cancellation fee will then be paid should be regulated in writing in advance. Conversely, if you cancel yourself, speak to the agency as early as possible. Health reasons or an invalid test are not a breach of duty but grounds for rescheduling.

Check before you confirm

Do not confirm a booking until all the points above have been provided in writing. If the location or content is missing, ask about it. A production that wants to “schedule you definitively” without providing specific details is demanding a commitment that it is not making itself.