Print work is where the gap between the fee and the value of the job is widest, because the shoot fee is the small number and the usage buyout is the big one. Two bookings quoted at the same day rate can be worth very different money once you read what happens to the images afterwards.
The parts of a print rate
The shoot fee
Your time, on the day, for the agreed hours. It covers being there, being prepared, and working. It does not, on its own, give anybody the right to publish anything, which surprises people the first time they read a contract properly.
The usage licence
This is the permission to use the images, and it has four dimensions that all move the price:
- Media. Where the images run: the client's own website and social channels, in-store point of sale, packaging, print advertising, out of home, paid digital advertising. Owned media is the cheapest end. Paid advertising and packaging are the expensive end because the images are doing direct commercial work.
- Territory. One country, a region, or worldwide. Worldwide is not a rounding error on a national licence.
- Term. Six months, one year, three years, or in perpetuity. Perpetuity should be priced as though the client is buying the images outright, because that is what it is.
- Exclusivity. Whether you agree not to work for competing brands in the same category for a period. Exclusivity restricts your ability to earn elsewhere, so it is charged for separately, and an exclusivity clause with no uplift attached is a red flag rather than a formality.
Everything else
Travel time, fittings, wardrobe calls, overtime, and any expenses you are expected to carry. Each of these is negotiable and each of them defaults to zero if it is not mentioned.
Reading an offer in the right order
- What exactly is being shot, and for whom.
- How long the day is, and what happens after it.
- Which media, which territory, what term, and whether exclusivity is requested.
- Then, and only then, the number.
Quoting before you know items one to three is guessing. The most common way a print booking goes wrong is not a low fee, it is a reasonable fee attached to an unlimited licence, and by the time the images are on packaging in three countries the conversation is over.
Catalogue, editorial and advertising are different products
Catalogue and e-commerce work is volume work: many looks, a long day, tightly limited usage, and a rate that reflects a predictable production. Editorial pays least of the three and buys you the tearsheet, the styling and the relationship, which is a real currency if you are building a portfolio brands can search. Advertising pays most, because the images carry the campaign, and it is where usage terms deserve the most attention.
Practical habits that protect the number
- Put the licence in the quote, in writing, in one paragraph. If the client changes it later, the quote changes with it.
- Never agree to "all rights" as a shorthand. Ask which of the four dimensions they actually need, and quote the extension if they want more.
- Keep a copy of every release you sign, with the date and the shoot it refers to. A release is not a contract about money, and mixing the two up is how people end up with neither.
- Agree the payment term before the shoot day. Thirty days is common. Ninety days is a financing decision you did not agree to make.
Where a directory helps
On Maxgirls the rate range is a published field on your own profile, so a brand knows the neighbourhood before they email you, and the first conversation is about usage rather than about whether you are affordable. Nothing is taken from the booking, and the usage conversation stays where it belongs, between you and the client. See what a profile includes or read the guide to quoting a day rate.
Where this applies on Maxgirls
Your day-rate range, your categories, your city and your availability sit on your own profile, visible to a brand before they contact you, and Maxgirls takes no share of anything you book.