Agency Commission

What this is about

In the agency model the agency carries strategy, creative and client management, and part of that work is remunerated through a share of the production spend it directs. Producers meet this from the other side: the budget the brand approved is not the budget arriving at the production company. Knowing whether a quoted figure is gross or net of commission prevents an entire category of misunderstanding, particularly in pitches. Agency contracts increasingly mix fee-based and commission-based models, so ask about the structure instead of assuming last year's arrangement still applies.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

In planning terms, that means:

• The brand's approved budget and the production's available budget are rarely the same number
• Clarify in a pitch whether the stated figure already includes commission before pricing against it
• Fee-based and commission-based agency models coexist, so ask which one applies to this job

With TillyGen

TillyGen builds the calculation from the actual scope, which shows quickly whether a stated budget can carry the film and the commission.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.