Deposits: an Essential, Yet Intimidating Part of the Creative Process.
We cannot commit to you, if you do not commit to us.
It is not as simple as that, but if I had to sum it up with as few words as possible, those are the ones I would choose. Continue reading for the complexities.
Canceled bookings cost us money. When we take a day off of our calendar for you, that means it becomes unavailable to anyone else, no matter how much they are offering to pay. That is the commitment we make to you when we take your deposit. We will be there. We need that same commitment from you and we cannot afford to turn away people who are willing to make that commitment, in exchange for a promise from others.
The work starts well before the day of your shoot. We do not just show up on the day ready to go. We have to commit time, energy and money to preparation. That includes traveling to meetings and shooting locations for scouting, as well as renting gear or hiring subcontractors. It could also mean staying up late, or scheduling time to clean and/or prep gear. in short, your production has overhead and it is not in our best interest to take it on out of pocket. Your deposit ensures that these costs are covered and allows us the freedom to do our job with peace of mind. Which takes me to 3.
Forecasting is an essential piece of finance that people who do not run a business have the luxury of not having to do. We do not have guaranteed monies coming in on a trackable schedule. So planning bill pay, vacations, and other common expenditures becomes an unsolvable math equation. We have to look at many different pieces of information and make an educated guess as to how much income we will have coming in during any given month. Some of the key pieces of information are:
How much we made this same time last year while accounting for new clients, repeat clients and lost clients.
Averaging the amount we have made in the previous 6 months.
Deposits. The only sure thing on this list.
We need to be able to make an educated and accurate guess as to how much money we will have, so that we know how much money we can spend and where. Deposits play in invaluable role in doing that.
We at Francois Visuals understand that for some entities, the issuance of a deposit is not a straight forward process. The request must go through several hands before a deposit is remitted. In those cases, we merely ask for transparency throughout the process and an eventual conversation about how we can work together to expedite such processes for future bookings.
For those wondering, yes, there are clients for which we do not ask a deposit. These are people and entities with whom we have established a great deal of trust and confidence, either through past personal or professional connections. A Status we aspire to reach with all of our clients.
For those who we have yet to establish such a relationship with, we have to assume and account for the worst in order to remain viable as a business and to protect our peace. To us, that simply means that if you decline to pay a deposit, then you were never serious about booking us. Despite us being wrong about that some of the time, we are content due to the many pitfalls that our deposit policies inevitably protect us from.
Thank you kindly for your attention and consideration regarding this matter. We truly hope that our portfolio, reputation and prowess are sufficient enough for you to make a financial commitment to us which in turn allows us to make a commensurate commitment to you.
Sincerely,
Ferns Francois