Commercials FAQs

Not as such. Equity will be working on producing a template contract for our commercials members in the future. Currently, you can use the Form of Engagement which is recommended in our agreed guidance with the IPA (Advertising body) and APA (Producers’ association) You can edit and amend this to suit, as it is dated. OR, you can ensure the following clause is included in any contract you sign up to:

“The engagement of the artist …. Shall be subject to the provisions of the Document entitled Agreed Document for the Employment of Featured/Walk-On/Supporting Artists between Equity and the IPA, 2011.”

This will ensure that the best practice terms on working, such as overtime, travel, meal breaks etc must be kept to by the engager."

It depends. If there is a valid contract in place, i.e. you have agreed and confirmed in writing the terms, your pay, what you will be doing, where and when, it is likely that you have a valid agreement and therefore if the Producer or Advertiser decides to cancel your contract, they should offer you at least your BSF and monies accrued to that point. You should check any clauses in the contract/agreement about cancellations. There is usually a clause which states on what basis the engager can cancel. It is standard practice to have a clause stating that you will not receive usage fees if your performance is not in the final edit of the commercial.

The principle is that you need to give informed consent to the use of your material being used for AI purposes, for either machine learning to train AI technology or to replicate, use or change your performance/image to produce new material. You and your agent should check your contract or any written agreement carefully for any AI clauses. For maximum protection, it is always best if you can agree a clause with the engager to protect you from any unauthorised AI usage. If there us an AI clause in your contract, you may wish to strike it out or use one of our ‘takedown’ clauses.

On the Equity website, we have a whole suite of clauses you can use to ask the employer to take down an AI clause, insert an anti-AI clause or a clauses to agree your AI work which can be found in our AI toolkit

You will receive a fee for your working time in filming of the commercial, known as BSF (Basic Shoot Fee) or for Voice-overs a session fee. You must be paid for any time you spend working on a commercial, this could include: a wardrobe fee, recall fee, overtime and extra fees for early and late work. All working time should have holiday pay added on top. Current recommended minimum payments between Equity and the IPA can be found on our rates and agreements page

If you are Featured Artist in a commercial, you will also be due Use Fees for the ongoing showing of the commercial and this is because you are recognizable and identifiable with the brand in the commercial, you will need to declare this work and you are likely to be ineligible for commercials for similar brands for up to three years. Get in touch with Caroline on ctobiere@equity.org.uk with questions on calculating usage payments. 

You should be paid usage fees for the showing of your performance if you are a Featured Artist in the commercial. The usage fees are a payment in return for you signing away the rights to your performance for a period of time to be shown and used on certain platforms i.e. TV, websites, social media. Usage is  also paid because, as a Featured Artist, you will be required to declare the commercial on Artist Declaration Forms for other jobs.

No. All fees in commercials are to be negotiated by yourself or your agent and the Producer or Advertiser. Legally, in the UK, all the engager needs to pay you is the minimum wage (National Living Wage). From 2023 this is £10.42 per hour. You must be clear that you have agreed all fees that you want for the job in writing (ideally in the contract) before you undertake the work. Do not assume that you are due any fees that haven’t been explicitly agreed to in writing before you do the work. Also, do not assume that you can negotiate extra fees after you have done the job.

No, generally speaking. You will normally just get your shooting/working time fees and you would normally agree that the commercial can be shown in perpetuity with no usage payments. It should be stated on the contract which media the commercial or image will be shown so you can try to limit the usage in this way. The reason Walk Ons and Background do not get usage payments is because you do not have to declare your work on these commercials so your other work is not limited.

Get in touch with Caroline on ctobiere@equity.org.uk with questions on calculating usage payments. 

Your BSF and any working time should be paid within a maximum of 30 days. If you send an invoice or your agent sends an invoice, it should state the payment terms and timescale on the invoice and include a statement that late fees will be due after 30 days. The engager may need a Purchase Order to be issued before the invoice.

Use Fees should be paid not later than the second month following the transmission or appearance of the commercial i.e. if the commercial appears in January, use fees should be paid no later than the end of March.

Yes. Late fees become payable after 30 days where the invoice is unpaid (unless you have agreed a later deadline). The IPA Equity guidelines state that you should be paid 1 ½% compound of the sum outstanding for each month or part of a month by which payment of fees is delayed.

You can also late payment fees under The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. You should talk to your agent about this and potentially take financial advice or follow the advice here

Legally, fees for work need to be clear and not misleading. If you have been offered work at a specified fee and you or your agent have accepted the job in writing and other conditions have been fulfilled, such as the time, place and nature of the work, then this should be legally binding and you should be due these fees. However, if the incorrect statement of fees is a genuine mistake, you may not be able to keep to the original stated fees. You or your agent should go back to the contractor, raise this issue and at least try to negotiate agreed compensation. You can also contact Equity for advice.

Yes. You are classified as a “worker” in general when you are working on a commercial and therefore you are legally entitled to Statutory Holiday Pay. However, if you are engaging for the work as any kind of company, you generally would not be a worker and therefore be entitled to holiday pay. Holiday pay must be added on top of your working time fees and it should be clear from the earliest stage of advertising the job how much the fee is and how much the holiday pay.

Holiday pay is worked out as 12.07% of all your working time fees (including wardrobe, rehearsal, BSF, overtime etc). So if your total working time fees are: £350 BSF + £200 overtime + £50 wardrobe = £600 working time fees. Your holiday pay would be: £600 X 12.07% = £72.42 holiday pay. Your total income would be: £672.42.

Holiday pay is not eligible for usage fees.

The law says that fees for work should be clear, upfront and not misleading. If the fees for the job were advertised as just fees without any mention of holiday pay from the first point and ongoing until after you were engaged, this would not be within the law, and you/your agent should raise this with the engager. However, the engager can say that holiday pay is included in the fee, as long as this is clear from before you are engaged.

The principle is that you are entitled to be clear what the working time fees are for the job and what the holiday pay is for the job, before you commit and agree to do the job.

Featured Artist

A Featured Artist is someone who is seen or heard (excluding background speech or noise) in a commercial and whose individual role plays an essential part in the telling of the commercial story. Any role in a commercial which prevents an Artist from obtaining further work in any other commercial campaign because of the prominence of the Artist in the original shall be considered to be ‘Featured’.

Walk On Artist

A ‘Walk-on’ is an identifiable non-speaking artist (Background speech or noise is not deemed as speaking in this context) who is required to act individually in medium shot, or more closely, a special function peculiar only to the role, trade or calling that the character is supposed to portray, for example, a shop keeper, and their movements are individually directed and they have a direct relationship with the Featured Artist performing their role.

Supporting artist

The main purpose of a Supporting Artist is to be an individual or member of a group required to enhance or contribute to the overall authenticity and atmosphere of a scene. They would not be required to give an individual characterisation nor speak any word of dialogue. They may be directed by the Director to move and/or react as required on set. Background speech or noise is not considered to be speaking in this context.

Officially, no. It really depends on what was agreed in the contract and that agreement is binding. Therefore, it is vital that you are clear you know exactly what you will be doing in the commercial before you do it. Ask questions, get a detailed description of the role in the script. You need to be sure that if you are more visible and identifiable that you negotiate payment as a Featured Artist before you agree the contract and or do the job.

If you are asked on set to do more in the commercial than you have agreed, you should make sure you are agreeable to this and on what terms. It is fine to speak up in a professional way, check what you’re being asked to do, ensure the producer knows that this is more than you were contracted for and ask if there is any additional payment or usage. Alternatively, you can ask the producer to call your agent. You can say no to doing more than you were engaged for. Whatever you do, get it in writing! Ask for a signed note or an email to you or your agent. This may feel uncomfortable, but it is better than not saying anything, doing the work and claiming fees later – which you have no contractual right to.

No. Being ‘recognisable and identifiable’ in a commercial means that you have a main role in the commercial and therefore you could become identified with the brand you are advertising and could lose other work with similar brands. It does not mean that your friends and family could recognise you.

Not officially. The only roles agreed between Equity and the IPA are Featured, Walk On and Background. However, because the nature of commercials has changed over the years and there may not now be a Hero role, some Producers and Advertisers cast for these roles where the artist is not fully Featured but is more than a Walk On. There would normally be some usage payments offered for these roles. Be very carefully what you are agreeing to with these roles as you may be getting a poor deal for an Enhanced Walk On with lower usage when you are actually Featured and should be getting more usage pay.

Yes, you can and should attend other castings.

A pencil is an informal system to indicate that the Artist is one of a small number of candidates in the running for an engagement. The IPA Equity document states: “ (5.8.2) It is recognized that pencilling-in does not constitute a contractual obligation and does not bind either side. A pencil, therefore, does not prevent a (Featured) Artist from attending another casting session and a Casting Director may not refuse an audition to a (Featured) Artist already pencilled-in by any Advertiser for any product.” However, you or your agent should let the Producer know if you are attending another audition.

There is currently no such arrangement. Equity members have voted on this point and do not wish pencils to be paid and therefore this is Equity’s policy. This is because then there would be a contractual arrangement in place and you could not attend any other auditions. The rate of pay an engager would pay you for a holding day is unlikely to be worth your while refraining from other work. However, there is nothing to stop you entering into an arrangement to be paid for a period on a pencil if you or your agent wish to negotiate this. You would then need to be sure to be ready to be called and you should refrain from other work. If you are contracted and paid for being on pencil and break this, you could be in breach of this contract.

Yes, you or your agent should be told of the first date of airing. This is important because it is the first date of usage and if you have agreed a first period of usage, this will be the start date of the first year of usage and the start of the second year of usage will be 12 months from this date and so on. If you are not told of the airing date and what usage is planned with dates - then you or your agent should ask the producer or advertiser for this information and you should ensure that you are fully informed. You should not rely on the producer to disclose. It is also important that you know when the commercial is airing in order to declare the commercial for other work.

This is likely to be a breach of your contract and potentially your performance rights. However, it is important not to assume that there is intentional breaching of your rights, but you or your agent should take swift action to rectify matters. You should take a screenshot (dated) or other means to evidence what the unpaid for usage is. You or your agent should then contact the producer or whoever agreed the contract with you to raise the issue that the commercial is still or has restarted being aired. You can either refuse your consent and ask for the material to be taken down, or you can negotiate a price to continue the usage. The cost is normally based on the original cost but with a 10% uplift year on year. If the producer repeatedly does not respond or disputes the matter, you can call Equity Commercials for assistance.

If the request is from a genuine engagement/engager abroad for whom you have carried out work, it is almost certain that must provide certain information for taxation purposes, particularly in EU states. This is likely to be related to withholding tax systems. If in doubt, speak to your agent, financial advisor/accountant or you can ask Equity’s advice.

The Production/Advertiser should pay your fare in advance or organize the travel for you. Equity’s advice is not to pay the fare out of your own money in the hope of being recompensed later. If you are asked to do so, this can be a sign of a scam job so be very wary. If in doubt, you can contact us at Equity.

It should be clear why you are being asked to declare any personal information. However, if this question is for the purposes of insuring you on the production, this may well be valid and you should answer honestly. Insurers will be able to charge the production more for insuring an individual over the age of 74. Equity has and does push back on this and we have pushed this back from the age of 70. Questions from insurers such as this would not normally come under Discrimination legislation.

No, you do not. Some engagers or casters will make this a condition of going up for the job. However, any intrusive media searches which require you to give over personal data such as your login details/passwords, usernames or handles, are unlikely to comply with GDPR laws on personal data. Requests for personal data MUST be: “Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed;…” (GDPR, Article 5.c) It is very unlikely that even the requests for such searches would be legally valid. The clause on the Equity Artist Declaration Form 1, which states that you do not know of anything which will bring the brand into disrepute should be sufficient. Clearly, if your settings on social media are open, anyone can look at these, so check that your settings are as you wish.

Generally, no. Again, any personal data requested must be valid under clause 5.c. GDPR, see previous FAQ on social media. It must also be requested in the proper way and state clearly what the purpose of requesting the information is. You may be asked about a disability, for example, in order to state if you require any conditions which enable you to safely attend a casting session but the information must only be used for the stated purpose. However, post engagement, certain medical information may be acceptable for the engager to request, for example, for insurance purposes. Generally, you should not submit information that you feel uncomfortable about submitting. If in doubt, seek advice from Equity.