In short: A crew deal memo records who is engaged, for what role and dates, the day rate, hours, kit, expenses, payment terms and credit, and it is signed before the first day. Whether someone is employed or self-employed depends on how the work is done, not on the label in the memo. Settle that question before you fill in the rest.
A deal memo is the short document that turns a verbal booking into terms both sides can point to. It does not replace advice on employment status, tax or insurance, and it is not a finished contract for your production.
What the memo does
It sets out what the person is engaged to do, on which dates, for what pay and on which terms, and it is signed before the first day. Without it, the first hour on set can turn into a conversation about money and credit.
Get the template
The preview is free to look at and print. For the clean file, without the watermark, put your email in and we will send a download link straight away. You also join From the Barn, our monthly studio email, which you can leave whenever you like.
Open the watermarked preview (PDF)
Done. The download link is on its way to your inbox and works for 7 days. If it has not arrived in a few minutes, check your spam folder.
Employment status comes first
Decide what each person is before you fill in the memo, because the memo's wording does not settle it. The gov.uk guidance on worker status looks at how the work happens. It asks whether the person does the work personally, whether they are paid, whether the business must offer work and they must accept it, whether they work through their own company, and whether a manager controls how the work is done. The guidance lists substitution, the right to send someone else, as a factor too. The guidance treats contract wording, including words such as "freelance", as one factor among several.
If the answer is unclear, take advice before you book. Pact, the UK screen production trade body, publishes crew agreement templates for its members, which make a useful comparison. Bectu, the union for the sector, covers many crew, and the crew rates page explains how to read a Bectu rate card.
What the memo covers
- Parties and role. The person's name and contact details, the production, and the role they are engaged for.
- Dates and call times. Each day of work, the call time and the expected length of the day.
- Rate. The day rate or hourly rate, and what it includes.
- Overtime and breaks. How extra hours are paid, when overtime starts, and how breaks are handled.
- Kit and insurance. Whether the person supplies their own equipment, and who insures it while it is on set.
- Expenses. What is reimbursed, and how and when to claim.
- Payment. The payment date, the method, and the invoice route if the person invoices you.
- Credit and rights. The credit the person receives, and who holds the rights to their work. Take advice on the wording.
- Ending. An end date, or the event that ends the engagement. "Until the job is finished" is not a date.
A worked example
A fictional training company is shooting one day in the Podcast Studio at the barn, and it books a sound recordist for a 10-hour day. The memo lines read like this.
- Role: Sound recordist, one shoot day.
- Call: 08:00, and the day is expected to run to ten hours.
- Rate: A day rate of £495 +VAT. Granary's indicative day rate for a sound recordist is £495 +VAT.
- Overtime: The rate and the point at which it starts, as agreed in writing.
- Kit: The recordist supplies their own sound kit, and confirms in writing that it is insured for use on set.
- Expenses: Travel to the barn is claimed with receipts, within an agreed period after the shoot.
- Payment: Within an agreed number of days after the invoice.
- Credit: "Sound" in the end credits.
- Status: Settled before signing, and the reasons noted in the production file.
Common mistakes
- Signing after the first day. The memo's job is to exist before the day.
- Calling everyone freelance by default, without checking how the work is actually done.
- No kit or insurance line, so an expensive piece of kit becomes an argument on the day.
- No end point. A memo without dates is a memo nobody can enforce.
- Copying a broadcaster's paperwork without checking that it fits a small production.
Booking crew with Granary
Granary can book crew for your production, in the studio or on location. Film crew hire covers who is available. Crew day rates are indicative and +VAT. The memo sits in the production file beside the call sheet and the production budget top sheet.
Sources
- GOV.UK, Employment status: worker, read 5 November 2026
- Pact, Contracting off-screen talent and crew, read 5 November 2026
Related guides
Questions we get asked
Do I need a deal memo for a crew member?
Yes, for any crew member you book, put the terms in writing before the first day. Whether they are employed or self-employed is a separate question, and the memo does not settle it on its own.
Is a deal memo a contract?
It records the terms both sides have agreed, so it is a working record of the deal. Take advice on the wording before you rely on it, particularly if the crew member works through their own company.
How do I tell whether a crew member is freelance or employed?
Look at how the work is done: who controls it, whether the person has to do it personally, whether they can send someone else, and whether you must offer work and they must accept it. The label in the memo is one factor among several.
granary.digital · 01243 884993 · studio@granary.digital · The Old Grainstore, Adsdean, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 9DN · Prices exclude VAT unless marked inc VAT