Sourcing & PAYING Crew

U.S. Procedure

Depending on the piece, you may have a specific crew you have in mind that you want to budget for. If you have crew in mind already, reach out to Sergio Noriega so he can check to see if they have current paperwork on file for the rate you want to pay them.
If you're starting from scratch, reach out to Sergio Noriega for crew references.
- NOTE: All drone operators must hold a remote pilot airman certificate issued by the FAA.

Pro Tips

As early as possible and at least 24 hours in advance, connect all crew members via email. Attach all necessary shoot information including the Beat Sheet, Shooting Style Guide, and Call Sheet. Include crew titles, full names, and cell phone numbers in the body of the email, as well as first call time and first location address. If this is unknown when you send the original email, follow up with these details on the same chain once they are locked in.
In order to avoid kill fees as much as possible, do not fully confirm and book any crew until you have approval of your project in writing and a Project ID.
- Kill fees will always depend on your shoot and the circumstances, so it’s difficult to set a hard rule. Keep crew on a hold until you’re 100% sure the shoot will be approved, and do not confirm until you have approval of the project in writing and a Project ID. These are the instances when it’s good practice to offer a kill fee:
  - When a shoot is canceled less than 24 hours before shoot date and it’s a one to two day shoot: offer 50% of the one day rate, no kit fee
  - When a shoot is canceled less than 24 hours before shoot date and it’s 3+ days of shooting: offer one full day rate, no kit fee

Kill fees are billed against the Project ID and will hit your budget.

All crew members/ freelancers need to sign a DEAL MEMO and fill out START PAPERWORK before any project-related work can begin. Once you've chosen your crew members, send their full names, crew positions, start/end dates, and rates to Sergio so a Deal Memo and paperwork can be prepared. Be sure to include your Project ID in this email as well.

Once work has been completed on a project, each freelancer should submit a timecard to you, the Producer, which you would then forward to Production Management. Please make sure the Project ID and the crew member's rate is on the timecard. Producer and AP teams are responsible for submitting timecards for their crew and verifying days and hours worked. Timecards will be paid out the following Friday once it's correctly submitted. Payment is made by direct deposit or a physical check (allow time for mail delivery).

timecard_DIGITALNY.pdf

If you're crew is international, they will submit an invoice and a W8ben after they've completed their work and will get paid through Accounts Payable, instead of Payroll, net 30 days from date of invoice.
Make sure invoices contain the following info:

blank_fw8ben.pdf

UPDATED 3/17

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