The fee is what stands on the contract. What it is worth in the end is decided beside that: on the journey, the overnight stay, the meals on set and the hours that go beyond the agreed length of the day. Nobody takes these items on automatically. Some productions reimburse them in full, many not at all, and every variant sits in between. Anyone who raises this only on the shoot day is negotiating at the worst moment. This article goes through the items one by one and shows how you record them before the acceptance.
Travel by train or car
Shoot locations rarely sit where you live. On a train journey the amount is clearly documented — buy a ticket, keep the receipt, done. In your own car it is not, which is why you should know beforehand how it will be billed: by actual costs, by a kilometre allowance or not at all.
We do not name concrete amounts here, because they depend on the route, the means of transport and the production. What you can settle beforehand, though, is the system: is it reimbursed? If so, how and against which proof? Does the production book it itself?
The third variant is, incidentally, the most pleasant. If the production books the ticket, you do not pay in advance and carry no risk if the date falls through. Ask for that before you book yourself.
One detail is worth the question: is the reimbursement paid out together with the fee or separately? Together on one statement is clearer, because you see at once whether an item is missing or has been cut.
An overnight stay on a longer journey
If the shoot day starts early and the place is several hours away, arriving the evening before makes sense. Appearing over-tired for a long shoot day is not a saving, but a risk for the whole day.
Who bears the overnight stay is a matter of negotiation. It is common for productions to take it on at a greater distance or to book it directly. It is equally common that they do not offer it as long as nobody asks.
One point on safety: an overnight stay takes place in a hotel or a booked lodging, not privately with people involved in the production. An offer to stay with someone from the crew you decline — just as a casting never takes place in a private flat. Why that is a fixed rule is under safety.
Meals on set
On professional productions catering or at least food during the breaks is a given. On smaller productions it is not always.
That is not a large cost item, but a good indicator. A production that provides nothing to eat and drink for a ten-hour day either has no budget or little experience. Both are information you want before the acceptance.
In practice: ask whether meals are provided, and take something with you independently of that. A shoot day stretches, and waiting times rarely fall where a supermarket is nearby. How a shoot day runs in time is in A shoot day from arrival to wrap.
Waiting time beyond the agreed duration
The item that costs the most money and is most rarely regulated. A shoot day is delayed for countless reasons: technology, light, a person dropping out, repeats, resets. That is normal and nobody’s fault.
It becomes a problem when the agreed length of the day is exceeded and nothing is agreed about that. Then you sit, in case of doubt, three hours longer without anything changing in your fee — and with a train that leaves without you.
This can be regulated beforehand, either as an hourly rate from the point the agreed duration is exceeded or as a lump sum from a certain threshold. The precondition for that is that the agreed length of the day stands in hours in the contract at all. If only “one shoot day” stands there, there is no excess that can be measured. On this and the other negotiable points there is our article on negotiating the fee.
If the date is cancelled at short notice
Shoots fall through. Who bears the costs if the production cancels shortly before the date is a question that belongs settled beforehand — especially if you have already booked ticket and hotel.
Two points belong in the agreement. First: are costs already incurred reimbursed if the production cancels? Second: is there a cancellation fee if the cancellation comes at very short notice and the day was blocked for you?
Both are common, but not a given. If a production declines both, you know who carries the risk on a cancellation. That is not a catastrophe — you can calculate it in and make bookings correspondingly late or flexible. You should only know it beforehand. On a booking through us we go through these points with you, see process.
How you record this in writing
In writing does not mean complicated. An email that summarises the agreement and is confirmed by the production is enough and in a dispute is more robust than any memory.
What makes sense is a short list, always the same: agreed length of the day in hours, rule for exceeding it, reimbursement of travel and in what form, overnight stay and who books it, meals on set, rule if the production cancels.
Phrase it factually as a confirmation, not as a demand: “For certainty I summarise what we have agreed.” That puts nobody in a defensive position and you still have a record. If no answer comes, ask once. If still none comes, that too is an answer — how you recognise dubious offers is in Recognising dubious offers.
For tax purposes these are business expenses
As a self-employed performer you tax your profit, not your income. Costs incurred for the business reduce that profit — that includes journeys to the location, overnight stays for a professional reason and further work-related expenses.
Two rules make the difference. First: without receipts there is no business expense. Collect tickets, invoices and receipts consistently, preferably photographed at once. Second: reimbursed costs are no longer an expense. What the production transfers to you on top of the fee is income, and the matching invoice is the expense — both belong in the bookkeeping, not only one side of it.
How meal allowances, travel costs and mixed-use purchases are treated in detail depends on your situation and changes with the legal position. The outlines are in trade registration and tax for performers; for the concrete application you need tax advice.
Note: This article provides a general overview and is not a substitute for tax or legal advice. For the treatment of your expenses in an individual case, turn to a tax adviser.
Questions about this?
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