Booking software for photo and video studios

Hourly, half-day and full-day prices in one room

Shoots come in very different lengths: a two-hour product shoot, a half-day portrait session, a full day for a commercial. Give the room an hourly price and add block prices for a half day and a full day. A booking always pays the cheaper option, and the rest of a longer booking is charged at the hourly rate.

Weekend or evening hours can have their own hourly rate. The price is shown while the booking is made, and the invoice lists each part separately.

Lights, backdrops and an assistant as extras

Offer what you rent out with the space as extras, per hour or once per booking: a lighting kit, a colour backdrop, a haze machine, a teleprompter, an assistant for the day. If you have one set of strobes for two studios, limit the extra to one booking at a time across all rooms; when it is taken, it is greyed out for that time.

With staff accounts the assistant is assigned to the booking automatically, the first one free at that time, and gets an e-mail with the details. Their own outside calendar can count too, so nobody is booked when they are working elsewhere.

Know the shoot before the crew arrives

Ask booking questions in every room or only in some: what kind of shoot it is, how many people are coming, whether there will be food or animals on set. Questions can be text, a number, a choice or yes/no, and you decide which are required. A question about the number of people is capped by the room's capacity.

Each room shows its capacity and equipment on the booking page, so people know what is there before they book. The answers appear in the booking details, the bookings list and every e-mail about the booking.

Bookings you look at first

Some shoots you want to approve before they happen. An extra can need your approval always or on chosen weekdays, for example a set build or the use of a second room. A booking with it keeps the time reserved and waits for you; you approve or decline it, with a note if you like.

The client either pays first and gets everything back if you decline, or pays after you approve, through a payment link sent by e-mail. A buffer before and after each booking leaves time to repaint the cyclorama or reset the set.

A website that works as your portfolio

Every studio gets its own website with its rooms, prices, equipment and a booking calendar on the page. Pick a template, or build the pages yourself from blocks, and use your own domain. If you already have a site, add the booking widget to it instead.

The projects showcase gives each shoot or client project its own page with a picture, a description and a link, so visitors see what can be made in your space.

Agencies on account, everyone else by card

Agencies and production companies that book often can have a company account. The people you link to it book on the company's account without paying by card, and the company gets one invoice a month with a due date and a reference number. A booking made by card gets its invoice right away, and a refund its credit note.

If your studio is also rented out elsewhere, add that calendar's iCal address to the room: clients can't book the times that are taken there.

Questions