1. This document contains the terms and conditions of the binding contract (referred to as “this Contract”) between MPG Casting (referred to as “MPG Casting,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), having its registered office at 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ, Company No. XXXXXXXX, and you (referred to as “you” or “your”), in relation to your application to be registered as an artiste with MPG Casting.
2. By submitting your application to be registered as an artiste with MPG Casting, you agree to be bound by this Contract. If there is anything in these terms and conditions or your guide that you do not understand, please contact us.
3. We reserve the right to update the guide from time to time, for example, where the requirements of production companies change, and we encourage you to check it regularly.
4. You can apply to be included in our casting book of artistes (referred to as our “MPG Book”) by submitting the online application form. You must provide complete and accurate responses to all the information requested on this form, including three photographs taken no more than 6 months previously (we refer to this information as “your details”).
By making an application, you agree to the following terms and conditions:
Registration in our MPG Book
6. Your registration with MPG Casting is only considered official once you receive an approval email from us, which is normally sent within 72 hours after your application. However, during busy periods, it may take us longer to review and approve your application.
7. Important: Submitting an application does not automatically guarantee inclusion in our MPG Book. We reserve the right to refuse your application or remove you from our MPG Book for any reason. In case of refusal or removal, this contract will terminate automatically.
8. After receiving your approval email, you must upload a copy of your passport photo page or proof of right to work in the UK (if applicable) via our website. We cannot offer you any bookings or pay you any fees until we receive this.
9. Once approved, you will be included in our MPG Book for a 12-month period starting from the approval date. The contract will expire automatically on that date. We may contact you before that date for renewal purposes.
10. Important: Upon acceptance of your application, you appoint MPG Casting as your agent for finding you bookings as an extra, background artiste, walk-on artist, or other similar work (referred to as “bookings”) with production companies in accordance with this contract. You will not be engaged as an employee or contractor of MPG Casting in any circumstances.
11. Important: We make no guarantee that we will offer you any bookings at any time, even though we endeavor to find bookings for everyone in our MPG Book.
12. It is your responsibility to ensure that all the details you provide to us in your application are accurate and up-to-date. You can contact us at any time to update your details. If we find that any of your details are significantly inaccurate, we reserve the right to remove you from the MPG Book and terminate this contract.
13. It is particularly important that your physical descriptions and measurements are accurate and kept up-to-date, and that your photographs accurately reflect your appearance. Failure to do so may result in you being sent home from a booking without pay.
14. You must also ensure that your bank account details are correct and kept up-to-date, as we pay your fees via BACS to this account. We are not responsible for any payments made to outdated bank account details that you have provided to us.
15. If we do not accept you onto our MPG Book, we will delete your data within one month.
16. As per the Data Protection Act (1998) and GDPR (2018), we are the data controller for all the details we hold about you. We will only use your details for purposes related to this contract, or as agreed by you or permitted by law. This includes contacting you with offers of bookings, providing details of other productions we are casting for, and other services related to your bookings. We will take appropriate measures to keep your details safe and secure. We will not sell, license, or trade your personal information to others. For more information about privacy and data, please read our full privacy statement: MPG Privacy Policy.
17. We will keep an archive of your details for as long as you remain on our MPG Book, plus up to two years after that. You have the right to ask us to remove your details, but we will need to keep some personal details relating to any work you have done for legal reasons.
18. This section will continue to be effective after the expiry or termination of this contract.
19. Upon arranging your first paid filming day booking within your 12-month registration, we will deduct an administration fee of £20.00 (inclusive of VAT) from the amount. Although we reserve the right to deduct this fee from your first paid filming day, we will endeavor to deduct the fee from the second paid filming day within that 12-month registration.
20. The administration fee is based on the book you are registered on (London or the rest of the UK) and covers the costs of our administration and entry into the MPG Book. Please note that this fee is non-refundable.
21. We will also deduct our commission, which is 15% (plus VAT), from all the fees you receive for bookings that we arrange for you.
22. We may contact you from time to time to offer you bookings, but we are not obligated to offer you any bookings at any time.
23. You are not obligated to accept any booking offered to you. If you accept a booking, you must keep yourself available for the whole day. This applies even if the booking is for only part of the day, such as a costume fitting.
24. If for any reason you become unavailable for a booking you have accepted, you must contact the person at MPG Casting who booked you for that job as soon as possible. If you fail to turn up for any booking without good reason, we reserve the right to remove you from our MPG Book.
25. Production companies may cancel any booking without charge up to midday the day before the booking. We will notify you as soon as practicable after we receive notice of the cancellation of your booking. However, cancellation fees may apply depending on the agreement. We will notify you of any fees due at the time of cancellation.
26. You must comply with the instructions set out in the “Being on set” section of the website and have read and understood all the Artiste FAQs.
When you have accepted a booking, you must
confirm your availability to us by email, text, or telephone on the day before the booking, before 6 pm. If you fail to do so, we reserve the right to replace you without further notice to you. This means that the production may not allow you on set, and you will not be paid.
Non-attendance and lateness are very damaging to our professional reputation, so we enforce a strict ‘three strikes and you’re out’ rule. If you do not attend two different bookings within a 12-month period, a written warning will be given. If you fail to attend a third booking in that 12-month period, you will be automatically removed from our books. However, if you have an unavoidable emergency and need to drop out of a job, it is important you tell us as soon as possible.
During office hours: You need to email or call the person who booked you for the job and, if possible, call them on their emergency mobile.
Out of office hours: If at any point you think you cannot attend a booking and it’s out of hours, you MUST call the person who booked you on their emergency mobile number to explain. You will find this in your emailed details.
29. When you accept a booking, you acknowledge that your engagement is subject to a separate contract with the production company. A standard version of the production company agreement is included in the guide, and you agree to be bound by it. However, some production companies may make changes to this agreement, and the applicable version will be sent to you in the email from MPG Casting booking you for each engagement. If you are unable to sign the contract for any reason, MPG Casting may sign it on your behalf as your agent.
30. By attending the production location at the call time given to you, you are deemed to be bound by the production company agreement set out in the email from MPG Casting booking you for that engagement. It is important that you arrive at the production location on time, as failure to do so may result in the production company not allowing you on set, and you may not be paid.
31. While you are on set or in any transportation provided by the production company, it is important that you behave professionally and courteously at all times. You must not make any film or sound recording or take any photographs without prior permission. You must also comply with any rules and regulations set by the production company and follow any instructions given to you.
32. If your behavior on set is deemed unacceptable or inappropriate by MPG Casting or the production company, including your behavior towards any member of MPG Casting or production staff member, or if you misrepresent MPG Casting in any way, you may be required to leave the set, and the production company may not pay you for the booking. In such cases, MPG Casting reserves the right to remove you from the MPG Book.
33. Please note that while you are on set or in any transportation provided by the production company, MPG Casting is not liable for any injury, loss, damage, or theft of your personal possessions, unless it is caused by our negligence. The production company is responsible for taking out personal injury insurance to cover you while you are on set.
34. In some cases, the production company may require you to sign a release
If you have any problems or queries while you are on set, it is important that you contact MPG Casting and not the production company. We will raise any issues with the production company on your behalf if necessary. However, if there is any immediate risk to anyone’s health or safety, you should immediately raise this with the appropriate person on set.
36. It is essential that you maintain strict confidentiality regarding any bookings you work on. Under no circumstances should you disclose any information to anyone, including but not limited to:
The production may require you to sign their own Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), which may be done digitally. Please note that any violation of this clause will result in immediate removal from the MPG Book.
37. By working with MPG Casting, you authorize us to receive all fees from production companies on your behalf and deposit them into our client account. We may use our “Paperless Payments” system and “OKCrowd” for digital signatures, as agreed by the production company.
38. Once we have received your fees (which usually takes around six weeks after completing the booking, but may take longer depending on the production company), we will deduct our commission of 15% (plus VAT) and transfer the remaining balance directly into your bank account by BACS within ten working days. Please note that we only send remittances via email.
39. MPG Casting cannot transfer any payment from a production company until they have paid us. If a production company fails to pay, we will chase them for payment on your behalf. We are authorized to initiate legal proceedings against any production company for unpaid fees. However, MPG Casting will not be held liable for any unpaid fees by the production company.
40. If you receive payment directly from the production company, we are entitled to invoice you for our commission. This invoice will include VAT if applicable.
41. On some TV and film productions, you will be provided with a salary voucher (also known as a chit) at the beginning of each filming day. It is your responsibility to ensure that it is signed at the end of each day by an appropriate member of the production company, and to return it to them. You will receive a copy of the salary voucher, which you must keep as proof that you worked on that day. If the production company does not receive a signed salary voucher, they may refuse to pay you, and we are authorized to invoice you directly for our commission on the fees you would have received.
42. In case the production company does not provide you with a salary voucher, it is your responsibility to keep a record of the times and dates you worked. If you work any overtime, please inform your contact at MPG Casting via email the next day. Failure to do so may result in non-payment. We may use our “Paperless Payments” system and “OKCrowd” for digital signatures, as agreed by the production company.
43. As a self-employed individual, you are responsible for paying your own income tax and completing your own annual tax return. If you require further information regarding taxes, please contact your local tax office.
44. For National Insurance purposes, you will be considered self-employed. MPG Casting will not deduct Class 1 National Insurance from your payment, and you will receive all payments without National Insurance deductions. You will be responsible for paying any Class 2 National Insurance and, if applicable, Class 4 National Insurance, which will be payable along with your self-assessment income tax. Please note that you are not considered an employee of MPG Casting under any circumstances.
46. This contract will automatically expire 12 months from the approval date. Before the expiration date, we may contact you regarding contract renewal.
47. You may terminate this contract at any time by giving us 30 days written notice. Either party may terminate this contract at any time by serving written notice on the other party if the other party is in material or persistent breach of this contract. In both cases, all bookings which were due after termination will be immediately cancelled.
48. Upon termination or expiration of this contract, we will remove you from our MPG Book immediately. We will continue to pay you any fees paid by production companies (after deducting our commission) that we receive after termination for bookings you attended before termination.
49. Expiration or termination of this contract will not affect any rights or remedies that have arisen under this contract before that date.
50. You may not sub-contract, assign, transfer, or dispose of your rights or obligations under this contract.
51. We may update the guide available on our website without specific notice to you. We may also vary this contract on 30 days’ written notice to you.
52. Failure by either party to require performance of any term of this contract or waiver of any breach of this contract shall not prevent enforcement of such term or be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach.
53. If any provision of this contract is declared invalid, the remaining provisions shall remain in force and effect. We may replace the invalid provision with a similar or equivalent provision by written notice to you.
54. This contract does not create a contract of employment, partnership, or joint venture between you and us, nor does it authorize you to act as our agent. You are not authorized to act in our name or on our behalf or bind us in any way.
55. Whenever any sum of money is payable by or recoverable from you and due to us, we may deduct or offset the amount of such sum from any fees we receive on your behalf, and we will notify you of this.
56. This contract confers rights and benefits only on you and us.
57. This contract constitutes the entire agreement and supersedes all previous verbal or written agreements between you and us. Except for the information you provide in your application or as expressly stated in this contract, neither you nor we have relied upon any statement or representation made by the other in entering into this contract.
58. This contract, all matters regarding its interpretation or enforcement, and any disputes arising in connection with it shall be governed by English law. You and we submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts
58. This contract, all matters regarding its interpretation or enforcement, and any disputes arising in connection with it shall be governed by English law. You and we submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
This Contract shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. The parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
This Contract constitutes the entire agreement between you and MPG Casting and supersedes all prior negotiations, representations, and understandings between the parties.