Just like every other “gig” job on the planet, part of the rate that you are paid is determined by the total hours that it takes you to do the job. This is called the “Session”, “Session Fee”, “Rate”, or “Day Rate”. The other part is related to how your image will be used (called “usage”), but we’re not discussing that here.
After you book the job, while you are worried about memorizing lines, and making sure that you have the right directions to set, and wardrobe for the shoot, your agent is working to make sure that you are paid properly for the time that you spend doing the job.
There are many many different ways that actors get paid, and it’s your agent’s job to understand, in full, what the process is for each and every job, upfront. The majority of jobs are based on a preset amount of pay (ie. “Rate”), others are based on an hourly rate (often with a minimum), and others being flat rate + hourly for overtime (or some other combination). Every job has some “rough” expected duration, between production and your agent. It may be in writing, or may not, but it’s understood in the process of booking the job. If an actor is kept significantly past the expected duration, it’s industry standard to pay overtime at some level, which may have been discussed in advance, or may need to be negotiated.
The one thing that your agent MUST know, as soon as you finish working, is the total hours that you worked. It is both best-practice, and common sense for you, the actor, to check in with your agent after EVERY job to make sure all bases are covered. Your agent got you the job, and is expected to be billing properly for you, so it’s only reasonable to you need to check in with them after you finish.
When you work on a multiple day shoot, always send a single, complete report for all days worked.
This is the Standard format for a simple and complete hours report:
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SUBJECT LINE: HOURS REPORT for _________ Job
Hi Agent,
Here are my hours for the ________ Job.
(refer to subject line of BOOKING INFO message for exact job name, and please use it. Subject lines are important for organization, with many different actors on many different jobs.)
Step 1:
Day 1 (date): Start Time, End time, Meal Break duration
Day 2 (date): Start Time, End Time, Meal Break duration
Day 3 (date): etc….
Step 2:
Parking or other reimbursement
+ Attach Parking Receipts, with the total amount due to you written in the email.
+ Attach any other receipts. Wardrobe, etc., and explain what they are in the email.
+ Discuss anything else that you paid for, and are hoping to be reimbursed for.
Step 3:
How did it go? Were there any problems? Anything else that should be passed on? Was the food good?, etc.
(Remember, the production crew is now moving on to Post-production, and their “rush” is far from done. They are focused on the next step of the project, and they are NOT spending time discussing the shoot with your agent. It’s YOUR job to give feedback on how things went.)
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By including ALL this information in a single email, it saves your agent a tremendous amount of time, allowing them to invoice quickly, and move on to booking you the next job. Actors often don’t realize that vast numbers of emails that need to be searched through if these items are sent in separate emails, and it’s nearly impossible to find the information without the proper JOB NAME in the subject line.
The History: HOURS REPORTING AFTER A JOB
(text borrowed from my old agency’s info packet)
In the old days, agencies used a system called Vouchers, which acted as your acting “time card”. If you Google search “Talent Agency Voucher”, you’ll still find many references, examples, and directions for filling them out.
A voucher was usually a triplicate form (production / agent / actor) that every actor was required to bring to set, and have production fill out on every job. This verified hours and billing information, and if the talent did not return the physical voucher to the agent within 24 hours, they did not get paid. We do not use this antiquated paper system, but still need the same verification of hours, etc. for every job we send you on.
After every job you must report your hours in an e-mail with-in 24 hours to be paid! Please do not text or call in. These emails are sorted and saved with the project information for many months (100s of jobs) for billing purposes and verification if there are any issues down the road. That does not work with texts or phone calls. We never want to hear “I didn’t think I had to turn in my hours because…”. This is for EVERY job we send you on.
Also, we like to hear how it went. Was it fun? Did you enjoy the production team. Remember, we rarely get to meet these production people ourselves, so our entire knowledge of how they work is based on reports from our talent over the years. If things went good or bad, we need to know. Your hours report may only be one “data point” on the quality of a production team, but over the years, these data point add up to a really solid knowledge of the “who’s who” of good and bad producers in the PWN.