The sample memo is for Curtis Vail, who plays Deputy Pace in SALT FLATS. It's a useful example because Pace only works four days, but he's on the payroll for nine. The memo is where that number gets agreed and written down, and it has to match the day out of days line for line.
Use this template as a starting point and review it with an entertainment attorney before you send it. The term rows are plain-language summaries so the performer, the agent, and the 2nd AD can all follow the deal. The signed version needs proper contract wording that lines up with your union agreement.
Where the dates come from
Pace's row on the DOOD reads SW on Day 4, then H, W, H, H, W, H, H, and WF on Day 12. Copy that into the dates block exactly:
- Work days (SW, W, WF): Day 4 (Sc. 17), Day 6 (Sc. 26), Day 9 (Sc. 31, 32, 33), Day 12 (Sc. 36) = 4
- Hold days (H): Days 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 = 5
- Paid days: 4 + 5 = 9
Hold days are paid because he's engaged from his start date to his finish date. Sunday 10/11 is a company day off and isn't on the list. As a day performer at the $449 Moderate Low Budget minimum, the 9 days would cost 9 x $449 = $4,041. A weekly contract costs less. His first week runs 10/8 to 10/14 and holds 6 paid days, so it's $1,560 for the week plus the sixth day at one-fifth of the weekly rate, $312. The final partial week, 10/15 to 10/17, is 3 more days at $312. That's $1,560 + 4 x $312 = $2,808, with 22% pension and health on top, and it's the figure on the SALT FLATS indie film budget.
Five paid holds for four work days is still expensive. Before the memo goes out, ask the 2nd AD whether a drop and pickup is allowed for any of the gaps under your agreement, or whether the 1st AD can move Scene 26 closer to Day 4. Changing the schedule after the memo is signed doesn't reduce what you owe.
The rate row names the dollar figure and when it took effect. Moderate Low Budget minimums go up 3% each July 1 through 2029, so check the rate sheet in effect on the start date before you copy a figure from an older memo. SALT FLATS is budgeted at $450,000. That's over the Ultra Low Budget Agreement's $300,000 ceiling and under the Moderate Low Budget Agreement's $700,000 limit, so the production signs the Moderate Low Budget Agreement. The SAG-AFTRA low budget agreements post and the glossary entry on the Moderate Low Budget Agreement explain how the tiers are set.
Union status and the production's side
Curtis is a SAG-AFTRA member. Under the union's Global Rule One, members work only for producers who have signed a union agreement, so Dry Creek Pictures has to be a signatory before he can be booked. If a non-member is cast, look up how Taft-Hartley reports work before you write the memo.
Pension and health contributions are paid on top of the rate, 22% under the Moderate Low Budget Agreement. Budget them as fringes on the cast line, not out of the performer's pay.
The term rows, and why each is there
Billing is where agents push hardest. A supporting day player on an indie usually gets end credits, in order of appearance or as the producer decides. Write the actual order rule, because "end credits" alone leads to an email thread in post.
The nudity, intimacy, and stunts row should say "none" when there are none. When there are, the memo should describe them specifically and in advance. Pace doesn't have any, but the memos for Dell and Hollis would describe the Scene 39 fight and its rehearsal on Day 10.
Props and safety might look out of place, but a deputy role means a holster. Put "rubber replica, no firearms on set" in the memo so the performer knows before the fitting, and so the prop master and the performer's agent aren't surprised.
ADR availability is easy to forget. If Pace's lines in the parking lot scene are unusable because of Union Ave traffic, post needs him back, and the memo already says he'll come.
Filling it in for each performer
- Get the agreed terms from the casting director in writing: rate, billing, any perks.
- Pull the performer's row from the current DOOD and copy the codes and dates into the dates block. Note the DOOD version (Blue, 9/29) in the heading.
- Count work and hold days and write the total paid days.
- Fill in the union agreement and confirm the performer's union status.
- Add fitting dates from the costume department and travel details from the coordinator.
- Go through each term row and change anything that doesn't apply. Keep anything the agent asked for unless the producer has turned it down.
- Send to your attorney before the first memos go out.
- Send to the agent, get the performer's signature, then countersign.
- Give copies to payroll and the 2nd AD, and add the performer to the crew contact list cast section.
Mistakes that cost money later
The memo dates come from an old DOOD. The schedule changed on Blue revisions and Pace's start moved a day. Payroll pays from the memo, the Exhibit G shows a different day, and someone has to reconcile it.
Holds aren't counted. The producer budgets 4 days because Pace works 4, and the cast line comes in 5 days over.
The fitting isn't scheduled. The performer shows up on Day 4 in a uniform that doesn't fit, and costumes takes 40 minutes of shooting time to fix it.
Billing wasn't agreed in writing. Title cards get built in post and the agent asks for a change after they're rendered.
Related paperwork
The crew equivalent is the crew deal memo, which handles overtime and kit rental differently. Background and non-contract people on camera sign a talent release form. Once shooting starts, the performer's actual times go on the Exhibit G, which the Exhibit G walkthrough covers.
Cast days in Storiara
Storiara builds a cast Day Out of Days from the schedule, auto-filling SW, W, WF, SWF, H, and I codes, with manual overrides for codes like drop and pickup. The Budget module uses paid days from that chart for cast lines, based on the union and contract chosen for each performer in Cast & Crew. It doesn't generate deal memos, but the DOOD it prints gives you the dates to copy in. See the cast and crew feature page.