Take a look at http://www.usefee.tv it explains about BSFs, Buyouts and has a calculator for working out what you should be being paid.
£250 BSF is fairly average. Whether the £2K buyout is okay or awful depends on how much it is being show and where. The company should tell you that information.
Lastly, also note that should the advert be repeated after the buyout has expired, the amount of money you get is based on the BSF.
All of the above advice is sensible and correct, but just to make absolutely clear: the BSF (Basic Studio Fee) is the one off payments that will be made to you at the time you shoot (or soon thereafter) i.e. if you shoot one day's worth of work you will earn that fee, two days you will earn double and so on. The buyout will be the lump sum given over to you at the point at which the material airs. There may be additional clauses in the contract which will waive your right to this money if, for some reason, the material is not shown: you have to be savvy to these. It is a 'buyout' because there are no residuals owing to you every time the material is shown: you are paid the lump amount and then the obligation of the production company to pay you is considered to be ended.
I am not quite certain (because the wording is a little ambiguous) as to what the suggestion that agents' fees are inclusive means, but the obvious import is that there is *not* a percentile amount set aside separately to pay your agent with, but that the fee is all-inclusive and the agent will have to subtract the percentage from what you have earnt. This may apply to the BSK or maybe just to the buyout depending on your agent's discretion. Whatever else this may mean, it should indicate to you that you are unlikely to make as much as £250 in the first instance, or £2000 in the longer run, because your agency will have to remove their percentage from that amount.
Although the BSF is being levelled at a totally standard rate, it might be held that the buyout is actually on the low side if agency percentage is also included in it, and that anything that is paying less than about £5000 minimum buyout on these terms is undercutting you quite seriously. It is also worth knowing if the company are intending to allow claims to be made for e.g. costume fitting days and so on (though this may not be clear until contracts are actually offered to you and on the table). If you are working with your agency on this, however, I would hope that they can also enlighten you as to how they feel about the terms, though it's wise for you to be thinking about them yourself.
Hi there the BSF is your basic studio fee for the day ie how much you are paid on day of shoot. Your agent can try and negotiate this up. Usual BSF for commercials is between £250-£350. You may then get repeats when commercial airs based on a percentage of your studio fee.
Hope that's all tickety boo and understandable
Bye
BSF is Basic Studio Fee per day...if it includes agency fee (say 20%), then the actor gets £200 (£50 to agency)...buyout is a one-off lump sum to cover all specified uses of the production in specified territories...hope this helps? Best Geoff Cotton
I think we're all saying the same thing, but the last two replies were nice and clear. Geoff's point is that the agency percentage *is* included in the fees (which, he's right, must be what they intended to indicate); it means that the agency will level whatever commission they have contracted with you on that fee, and you will be left with the remainder (as he says, £250 at 20% gives £50 commission to the agent). This *does* mean that what I've said is valid: you will not come away with the complete sum originally quoted. Sometimes the agenct is given a distinct percentile cut separate from the fee, though it's rarer, and they may still take commission from your earnings. Naturally, the agent will not make vast money on the BSF; they will aim to make more substantive money from the buyout payment.
You *can* get more money for repeats (though it's very rare today to be offered a deal on residuals in perpetuity) if the original contract has offered you the option of being paid e.g. a further percentage of the original lump sum on the basis that, say, a campaign/series runs for longer than a single year, but this is by no means a given, and, if the advert doesn't state that the option is available to be taken, they aren't likely to offer it.
All replies are accurate. BSF is your daily acting rate and agent inclusive means your agent takes a cut off that (usually 20%). If an additional 20% for agency fee is available it's shocking if an agent still takes a cut of what's left but there you go...
Buyout is always vague and often comes with the proviso that you only get it if featured in the final cut. Now featured can mean recognisable but normally (in the words of a casting director) means you are featured to the point that the scene would not take place without you. The fees for each role, based on a production plan and storyboard, are normally made clear before casting takes place and so negotiation, although possible, will be rare. It depends on how important your role will be and if you are a 'name', how much negotiation will be available.
Then you get options. Options include whether they extend the campaign in months or to different countries or anything else imaginable.
If you have an agent you don't need to worry about any of this but if applying when representing yourself this thread will be helpful.
'Repeats' are old school talk but you do see a few and can calculate these fees with the link above.
Everything these days seems to be worked out as a percentage of the BSF, including travel days, buyouts, print, you name it. Hope that makes sense anyway!
In addition to the information provided above by my peers, it should be noted that the buy-out isn't necessarily a one off payment!
A good agent will ensure any buy-out offered is medium, time and territory limited and not in perpetuity; e.g. Covering all terrestial and satellite broadcast media for UK & Ireland for a period of 12 calendar months from first airing! If the campaign is extended to additional media, e.g. Cinema, Print, Internet, etc., additional countries or for additional time then the buy-out should be renegotiated and further payments should be made!!
Well, further to Forbe's furthering, some companies will state that the buyout is re-negotiable in the initial breakdown, and some will imply that it *is* a one off payment. As he says though, a good agent should probably already be wary of any offer that implies it isn't open to a later re-negotiation because it is not in their interests to pursue it financially. With *that* said, many things are commissioned with an eye on *not* having to continue the campaign beyond a limited time period, so unless it has proved massively successful for the company involved, this still means that re-negotiations over reshowings of the campaign beyond the alloted time are rarer than we would like them to be!
Something else you need to be aware of is that if the buyout stipulates that it is for 6 months, those 6 months do not need to run consecutively. In other words the commercial can be shown for 3 months and then without any further payment the company has the right to air it for a further 3 months at a time that suits them with no further payment!
Following this thread bc I'm applying for a job that's asking me for my BSF and buyout and they;re being really vague on the terms......
5 years ago
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