The part beginners watch is the fee. The part that decides what a job was worth is usually everything printed underneath it: where the images will run, in which countries, for how long, who owns the footage afterwards, who is paying for the train, and when the money actually arrives.
We are not going to quote figures here. Rates vary enormously by country, by client, by category and by year, and any number written into an article is out of date by the time somebody reads it. What does not change is the structure, and understanding the structure is what stops you accepting a poor deal politely.
The fee is the first line. It is rarely the important one.The day rate is only the labour
A day rate, session fee or shoot fee pays for your time on the day. That is all it covers. It does not give the client the right to use the resulting images or footage wherever they like, for as long as they like.
That right is bought separately, and if a contract quietly bundles it in, you have sold something without being paid for it.
Usage is what you are really selling
Usage defines where the work appears — social media, print, out of home, broadcast, in-store — in which territories, and for how long. A photograph used on one brand's regional social account for three months and the same photograph on billboards across a continent for two years are not the same job and should not carry the same fee.
A buyout is a single payment covering broad usage for an agreed period, and it is exactly as good or bad as the terms attached. The phrases to be wary of are in perpetuity, worldwide, all media and in any media now known or hereafter devised sitting on top of a single day's fee. Any of them might be acceptable if the fee reflects it. Often the fee does not.
Everything else that belongs in the conversation
- Travel and accommodation. Who books it, who pays, and whether a travel day is paid at all.
- Overtime. What the standard day is and what happens after it.
- Fittings. Frequently a separate paid half day. Frequently forgotten.
- Cancellation. What you are owed if the job is cancelled at short notice, which happens.
- Exclusivity. Whether accepting this stops you working for a competitor, and for how long.
- Agency commission. A percentage of your fee, taken from money you were paid. Never a fee to join.
- Payment terms. Thirty days, sixty, ninety. Ask before, not after.
Get it in writing before you shoot
Not on the day, and not after. Ask for the deal memo or contract in advance and read the usage clause properly — that is the one clause worth reading twice even if you skim everything else.
If a client will not put the terms in writing before the shoot, that answer is itself the information you needed.
Usage is the difference between one job and ten.Being paid is a job of its own
In most countries this work is self-employed, which makes invoicing, tax and record-keeping your responsibility rather than anybody else's. Keep a simple record of every booking: client, date, fee, agreed usage, invoice date, payment date. Number your invoices. Chase politely and early, because a quiet invoice is an unpaid invoice for longer than a noisy one.
Check what your own country requires for self-employed registration and for tax. That part genuinely does vary, and it is worth ten minutes on an official government page rather than an afternoon on a forum.
Money that should never move towards you
An overpayment you are asked to refund. A cheque to cash and forward. A transfer to pass on to a stylist or a booker. These are standard fraud patterns and the original payment will be reversed once your part is gone. A real client pays you what you are owed, once, and asks for nothing back.
Where we stand
CastHub takes no share of anything you are paid. We are not an agency, we do not represent you, we do not negotiate for you and we do not handle the money — if a company books you, the fee and the terms are agreed directly between the two of you. Companies reaching the professional side of your card have passed identity verification first, which tells you who you are talking to; it does not tell you whether their contract is fair.
That part is still yours to read. These are the questions to ask before you sign:
- What is the fee, and what does it cover?
- What is the usage: which media, which territories, how long?
- Is the fitting paid? Is the travel day paid?
- Who pays for travel and accommodation?
- Is there any exclusivity attached?
- When will the invoice be settled?
Six questions, asked before rather than after. Almost everyone who has been caught out on a job will tell you they knew to ask at least one of them and did not want to seem difficult.
