'How
to book a concept artist.'
Some
boil down bookings into terms like 'pen? or pencil?'.
Some fly by the seat of their pants and hope for the best.
Some over book and hope to make it up by throwing more
time into the problem.
Either
way, there will be a job that you missed because a client
said they had something for you and through some unfortunate
turn of events the job fell through. There are options.
First,
I suggest artists adopt the 'hold' system for accepting
potential clients. Here is part of a discussion found
at Mograph.net.
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Holds
If requesting my services for specific dates you can request
to have dates set aside or put "On-Hold". Alternatively,
you can simply Book (aka "Firm" or "Buy")
the dates to assure the service/dates are reserved with
no challenge.
First
Holds
A ‘First Hold’ is considered a tentative booking.
A tentative booking will be put on first hold at your
request. When you’ve decided to confirm or release
your date(s) please contact me immediately.
Second
Holds
If there is a first hold and you are interested in those
dates you can place a second hold. If first hold cancels
I’ll contact you and offer you the date(s), which
must be confirmed or released.
Challenge
to the Hold (Buying Out)
If you want to Book/buy date(s) that another Client has
on a First Hold, you can "Challenge" that First
Hold Client upon confirmation that you will Book the date(s)
immediately if the first hold releases the date(s). The
First-Hold Client now has the option to either Book or
Release the First-Hold. I will make every effort to contact
the First-Hold Client regarding the dates challenged by
2nd Client seeking to Buy Time. However, if there is no
response by First-Hold Client after XX hours of my initial
attempt of contact, I can sell any dates they have on
On Hold.
Confirmed
Booking (Bought Time)
Booked Time may not be Re-scheduled without penalty fee.
The fee varies depending on project and should be agreed
to in advance.
Cancellations
(Un-scheduled Down Time, Kill Fee, Pay or Play)
Booked Time that is cancelled is subject to cancel/kill
fee. The cancel fee varies depending on project.
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I
will be adopting these terms for my own bookings. There
are also web tools for the freelancer. Freshbooks
seems to be one that people have used. I cannot vouch
for them, but I would consider a tool like this for my
own company.
