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Hello,

We are just about to venture over to LA to do some shooting. I have been in touch with several agencies and asked about their model cancellation policy. I.e the model doesnt turn up.

One i spoke to charges the model $200 for failure to cancel within time. The same is also for the producer if he cancels.

I think this is a fantastic idea and stops all the time wasters and dodgy producers. After todays fiasco with a certain model i am wondering if i get the model to agree this before the shoot where do you stand legally? Can this be inforced in law? or is it not worth the paper its printed on?

Does any producer in the UK already do this? I am looking into this at the moment, as i am tired of all the "I dont feel well phone calls 2 hours before the shoot"

Look forward to hearing some of your opinions on this.

Thanks
Asylum

Not exactly true.

Some companies offer a kill fee, and only then it's only if they cancel 24 hours before the shoot. As for girls paying kill fees; that's not true. Most girls in the valley are represented by an agent, who charges a booking fee. What usually happens is they get the booking fee back off the agent if the girl fails to turn up.

In my experience.

Always a difficult issue cancellations. If a model or producer gives 48 hours notice of a cancellation I have so problem with that because it does gives time for alternative arrangements. Cancelling a few hours before is a big problem because it could be genuine or not.

I'd arranged a shoot, booked studio, booked male model only for the female model not to turn up. However, I found out it was a genuine reason that she'd had a car crash the day before and the last thing on her mind was phoning me as she lay in her hospital bed. So would I want to charge her $200? No! What of something happened to you as a producer like this... would you want to payout $200?

You could verbally have this sort of agreement but then if one party did not turn up how would you claim your $200? Small claims court? You word against theirs! Only if you taped your phone calls but then you would legally have to say phone calls may be recorded for training purposes. If you produced a contact then would both parties agree to sign it, again the only way you would get your money would be via the small claims court.

I agree could be a tricky one. Just been reading alot on this at the moment.

Personally i never really buy the "i dont feel well" routine especially when i speak to them the night before just to confirm alls well. I would have to be seriously ill to let someone down.

I am just wondering if the whole idea of a kill fee would put models (Male and Female) off from booking when they have no intention of showing up.

If you have 24 hours notice at least you can make alternative arrangements or cancel the shoot and reschedule most hotels and venues have a 24 hours cancelation policy. Luckily we have our own studio so dont loose out on this.

We had one today so i am seeing what people in general feel about this.

Yep, a 'kill fee' is an unworkable solution in a situation where most people are freelance and unregulated. Even if it's the case that the majority of last-minute cancellations are bogus, it's unfair to charge that model whose car actually DID break down $200 on top of the auto repair costs and the lost shoot fee.

My personal belief is that the main reason photographers and producers continually fall victim to no-shows and last-minute sickies is their requirement to constantly shoot new faces, which forces them, instead of re-employing the models they know to be reliable, to frequently book unknown quantities.

I did a brief straw poll the other week amongst a few of the full-time models I know personally and they reckon that of the people they've worked for, only about five per cent rehire them. For the people who don't rehire them, they reckon that most of the time the reason is that content producers will systematically pick working with a new model, who might turn out to be shit if she even shows up at all, over working with a model they've already shot and know to be reliable and good at her job.

The moral of this story? Book me, instead. !grin!

How are you doing by the way Emily.

I think you have hit the nail on the head. We try and work with a mix of new girls and people we have worked with before.

We've been lucky with no shows, Only 4 in just under 4 years. I find is more the girl/girl porn that causes the problem the girls that do BDSM porn have been the most reliable in my opinion but thats just my experience.

The company i have been intouch with in LA do charge this fee and it seems to work for them. I guess if they are freelance its different.

May be I'm a big old softie but if I ever had to cancel a shoot at short notice I would pay the model the fee. Just because it's fashionable for a model or photographer to back out of a shoot with some piss poor excuse doesn't mean I have to lower my standards.

Absolutley this goes both ways. If a producer cancels last minute, why should the girls not get paid. I would certainly do this.

I have never cancelled at short notice but i would honour it if for some reason i had to.

Hi ALL

This is indeed a problem & one that costs models & producers alot of money.

As a producer I have had to cancel shoots, I have to say that in the main the reason why I have had to cancel shoots has been to one model in the group shoot cancelling, resulting in us having to cancel/postpone the whole shoot.

It is worth everyone noteing that when two parties (in our case a model & producer) agree a shoot, there is a contract that is legally binding. This means that BOTH parties would be liable for the other parties losses as a result of some cancelling.

The"injured party" would have to prove they suffered a financail loss, for example if the model had paid for her train ticket the producer would be liable for this cost without any doubt. Equally if the models cancells the models would be liable for the producers losses, which incidently are likely to be potentially much greater - location fees, crew fees, profit, loss of production slot.

It is also interesting that if a producer cancels a shoot & rebooks it with the same model then the model will no be able to claim loss of her fee, but would any direct losses eg train ticket, the reason being that the model would still be resieving her fee but on a different date.

The law looks at the situation unbiaisly so will not concider if the reason for cancellation is genuin, this in law is not relevant, however I would say that the injured party can decide if they want to take legal action.

We are just going to start a agreed cancelation fee with models we book, this in short will be that we will agree to pay any models we book a cancelation fee if we cancel within an agreed time. This sounds great, but of couse this means that if a model fails to arive to a shoot, then we would pay the other models the agree fee & the model who failed to arrive would be liable for those & other fees.

So to answer your question about a Kill fee - I think its not required as the law of contract already provides for breaches of contract.

Happy & Sucessful Shooting

CandiceParis