Budget the shoot. Keep the usage in sight.
ACTUALS is the production budget for photographers and photo producers. Bid the job with your creative fee, usage, crew, studio and retouching on clear lines, share it with your producer and client, and track what is really spent.
- Creative fee
- $9,000
- Usage
- $12,500
- Crew
- $8,240
- Studio
- $4,600
- Styling
- $1,850
- Retouching
- $3,600
A stills bid, usage on its own line
Bid against actuals
Receipts post to the line they belong to, so you know where the job landed before you invoice.
Your producer, rep and client
Shared with
A PDF the client can read
Made for the people who bid stills.
Photographers
Send a clean, itemised bid on every job, with your creative fee and usage set out the way clients expect to read them.
Photo producers
Run the numbers for the photographers you produce for, keep receipts against the bid and wrap the job knowing where it landed.
Reps and agents
See every bid your photographers send, or build it with them, from one shared budget instead of a chain of spreadsheets.
Studios and in-house teams
Budget catalogue, e-commerce and campaign shoots on the same layout every time, with your own rates saved.
The bid
What goes in a photo bid
Every section a stills job needs, with the lines you can rename, add or hide. More detail is in the photo shoot budget template guide.
Creative fees
Shoot days, prep and travel days, weather and hold days.
Usage and licensing
Its own line, so the client sees the licence apart from the day rate: media, territory and term.
Crew
Producer, assistants, digital tech, lighting, hair and make-up, stylists, production assistants.
Studio and location
Studio days, pre-light, location fees, permits and scouting.
Equipment
Camera and lighting rental, capture station, grip and expendables.
Talent
Models and cast, agency fees, fittings and talent usage.
Styling and props
Purchases, rentals, returns, loss and damage.
Post
Selects, retouching per image, file prep and delivery.
Hybrid shoots
Motion on the same day: add a camera crew, sound and editorial without starting a second budget.
From the first bid to the wrap.
- 01
Start the bid
From the built-in photo shoot template, a blank budget or a layout you have saved. Hide the lines a job does not use.
- 02
Price it
Days and rates for crew, a usage line for the licence, a quantity of images for retouching. Fringes, markup and totals are worked out for you.
- 03
Share it
Invite your producer to edit and your rep or the client to view. They never pay, and they see only the budget you share.
- 04
Lock the bid
When the client approves, lock it. The approved numbers are kept as a snapshot, and you keep working against them.
- 05
Track the job
Post receipts, petty cash and purchase orders to their lines as the shoot happens, and see what is over and under.
- 06
Wrap and export
Send the client PDF on your letterhead, or export to Excel or CSV for your accountant.
Less spreadsheet, more shooting.
Pricing
Its own plan, at the same price.
- ●First three photo budgets free, no card
- ●Every feature included
- ●Your staff and the clients you invite are free
- ●Billed apart from the production app
- ●Cancel any time
Questions
Photographers ask
It is its own app, built on the same budget: the photo app starts from a stills layout, keeps its own budgets and has its own subscription. One login opens both, so if you also produce motion you can switch between them from the account menu.