The words that come up on the first working day and that nobody explains: they are used as though you already know them.
What is collected here
The booking vocabulary — how a job travels from “maybe” to being paid: chart, option, confirmation, fitting, rate, usage rights. And the working objects: book, composite card, digitals, contact sheet.
This is the set without which a conversation with an agency happens blind. Half of the expensive beginner mistakes are not somebody being cheated, but somebody nodding at a word whose meaning they did not know.
Where to start
With three entries: “Book (model portfolio)” — what a client is shown; “Composite card” — what is left behind at a casting; “Rate (model rate)” — how the money is counted. Then along the chain of a booking: “Options”, “Confirmation letter”, “Fit to confirm”.
What matters most
The difference between the fee for a shooting day and the payment for the rights to the images. That is where most is lost — the day is paid honestly and the rights leave for free, forever — «Usage Rights, Plainly: Portfolio, Editorial, Commercial».
What to read next
«Reading Your First Agency Contract: Clauses That Matter» — the contract clause by clause, and «Releases and Agreements: The Minimum Paper Kit» — what you need when there is no agency.
How to use this
An unfamiliar word in an exchange with an agency is a reason to open this page before replying, not after. Asking is normal and irritates nobody: bookers explain these terms ten times a week. What causes trouble is agreeing to a condition you did not understand and discovering what it meant on set.
