Here is the quiet reason so many crew get stiffed on pay and left off the credits: they never signed anything. On Indian sets, below the lead actor and the heads of department, the deal is almost always verbal. A call, a WhatsApp, a “we’ll sort it.” It works until it does not, and when it does not, you have no record of what was agreed, which means no leverage to enforce it. The fix is unglamorous and takes five minutes: a deal memo. This is what goes in it, why it holds up, and how to use it without making the job awkward.
What a deal memo actually is
A deal memo is a short written confirmation of the terms of your engagement. It is not a fifteen-page legal contract, and it does not need a lawyer. It can be a one-page document, an email, or a WhatsApp message, as long as it records the essentials clearly. Its job is to convert a verbal understanding into a dated, checkable record, so that “what we agreed” is a fact rather than two people’s competing memories. That single shift, from memory to paper, is what changes the power balance when payment or credit is in dispute.
Why it holds up in India
You do not need a notarised document for this to matter. Under Indian contract law, a clear agreement on terms, even one confirmed over WhatsApp or email, can function as a binding contract. A message that states your role, your rate, the dates and the payment terms, and that the other side acknowledges, is evidence of an agreement. This is exactly why some producers prefer to keep everything verbal: the absence of a record is the absence of your leverage. Putting it in writing is not you being difficult; it is you declining to be the only party with no proof. When a producer goes quiet, this paper is the foundation of every step in our guide to recovering unpaid film dues.
What to put in the memo
Keep it short, but do not skip these. Each one closes a hole that crew routinely fall through.
- Role and scope. Your exact role and what you are responsible for. This stops the job quietly expanding into three jobs for one fee.
- Fee and unit. The number, and whether it is per day, per shift, or per project, plus what counts as a shift. Long days stacked onto a single-shift rate are a classic squeeze.
- Dates. The shoot days and any prep or recce days, and whether those are paid.
- Payment terms. When you get paid and how, the advance amount, and the date or milestone for the balance. “Net-30 from wrap” beats “we’ll settle later” every time.
- Credit. Exactly how you will be credited, in what section, with what billing. More on this below, because it is the part people forget and regret.
- Kit, if any. If you bring equipment, note the rental separately from your labour, so it is not silently absorbed into your day rate.
That is it. Six lines in a WhatsApp message covers most of it. The goal is not to lawyer the production; it is to make the deal legible to both sides before anyone is on set.
Lock the credit, not just the pay
Crew obsess over pay and forget credit, then spend years unable to prove what they worked on. Stolen, downgraded and missing credits are common precisely because billing is almost never agreed in writing up front. Name it in the memo: that you will be credited, in which department, and with what billing. A credit is not vanity; it is the asset that gets you your next job and lets you charge more, which is why we wrote a whole guide on proving your credits when IMDb will not list you. Agreeing it before the shoot is far easier than fighting for it after the film is locked.
Take an advance, every time
The memo and the advance work together. A written term that says “X% advance on signing” does two jobs: it puts money in your hand before you start, and it tests whether the client is real. A producer who agrees to terms but will not release a modest advance is showing you the future. As we cover in the red flags a client will not pay, refusing any advance is the single biggest predictor of non-payment. Bake the advance into the memo so it is a term, not a favour you have to ask for later.
Make it easy, not adversarial
The fear is that asking for a deal memo makes you look difficult or distrustful on a job you want. Frame it as professionalism, not suspicion. A short, friendly “just confirming the details so we’re aligned” message that restates the role, rate, dates, payment and credit, and asks them to confirm, reads as organised, not hostile. Most legitimate producers will reply “yes, confirmed,” and now you have your memo. The ones who bristle at writing down what they already agreed verbally are telling you something useful for free.
Back it with registration
One more layer turns the memo from proof into a weapon. If you freelance regularly, register as a micro enterprise on Udyam. It is free and takes minutes, and it lets you use the MSME late-payment law, under which a buyer who pays beyond the agreed window owes steep statutory interest, claimable cheaply through the MSME Samadhaan portal. The memo proves the deal; Udyam gives you the enforcement. We walk through both in escrow for freelancers in India.
From handshake to record
The whole point is to stop being the only person on the shoot with nothing in writing. A deal memo is the cheapest, fastest protection you have, and it costs you a five-minute message. TUAP is free for crew and built on the same principle: turning handshakes into records. Claim your page, keep a verifiable history of your work and credits, and check Fair Pay before you fill in the fee line, so the number in your deal memo is one you can defend.