T O L M A N M E D I A
Tolman Media
Mexico
What is my quality score and how do I improve it?
Quality scores are our way of keeping track of how you are doing. Quality scores are based on responsiveness, timeliness, professionalism, good/bad reviews from clients, etc. It also helps us determine who needs some more training. For this purpose, we keep the quality scores private and do not share them with contractors. If you want to know how you are doing and what you can do to improve, reach out to your manager.
There are several ways to improve your quality score - improve your communication with brides, go out of your way to make a bride’s experience better, take on extra projects and help your fellow team members, show enthusiasm and kindness to your bride’s, etc.
Everyone starts off at the same quality score. Your score will go up or down depending on how you are doing. For example, if we get a great review from a client that raved about how great you were during their wedding, we will raise your score. This means you will have a higher chance of being assigned to more weddings. On the other hand, if we hear from a bride that you were late and you ended up just eating their food the whole night instead of shooting, your score will be dropped and your chances of being assigned to more weddings will be lowered.
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I can no longer cover a wedding, what do I do?
Sometimes you get sick, or have to work, or have a family obligation come up. Sometimes you have a personal client reach out to you asking you to shoot their session/wedding at your rates on the same day you agreed to shoot for a Tolman Media client. We understand things come up and you have to do what’s best for you. However, if you were assigned to a wedding and agreed to shoot that session/wedding, it is your responsibility to find coverage if you can no longer shoot that session/wedding.
Here are a few things you can try to get someone to cover you:
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Send a message in the GroupMe chat - this is by far the most effective way to find coverage. Most contractors are always looking to pick up jobs so they will respond right away.
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Reach out to a few contractors individually to see if they can cover you. You can find contact information for contractors in your area here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hsGASXYfwMUbD4H0BIHqfHpvoYeqGSdm?usp=sharing
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If you’ve tried #1 and #2 and still have not been able to find coverage, reach out to your manager and they can help you.
Once you have found coverage, add that person to the Honeybook project. Please reach out to the client and let them know that you are no longer able to cover their wedding and introduce them to the new contractor that will be taking over.
*Note - If you are handing the session/wedding over to another contractor because you had a personal client obligation come up, please do NOT tell the Tolman Media client that you are choosing your personal client over them. This makes the Tolman Media client feel unimportant and usually causes problems. You can just say “Unfortunately, something has come up and I am no longer able to shoot your session/wedding.”
Per the new contractor agreement, if you are re-assigning a wedding within 90 days of the wedding, you will be charged a $50 fee. If you are re-assigning a wedding within 30 days of the wedding, you will be charged a $75 fee. If you are re-assigning a wedding within a week of the wedding, you will be charged a $250 fee. This fee will go directly to the bride as an apology for a change in their team so close to their wedding. The fee will either be taken out of your next invoice or we will request payment through Venmo or PayPal.
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How do I add/delete someone on a Honeybook project?
When you are assigned to a wedding on Wedding Smash, you are assigned to that wedding on Honeybook. Honeybook is where we keep track of the bride’s contract, invoices, wedding details, etc. You can communicate with the bride through Honeybook and take notes about their project.
Watch this tutorial on Honeybook: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NcLsPLBgSGTJfVy_ePJimTtEcVCSn0g2/view?usp=sharing
Sometimes, after you are assigned a wedding, you find out you are no longer available. You are responsible for finding coverage to replace you (see previous slide). Once you find coverage, you need to add that person to the Honeybook project. This video shows you how to do that: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ybjfYFSnSj1T0UaxWI8woq8gcZe6cd5D/view?usp=sharing
If you have any problems, you can always reach out to your manager and they can help you add/remove a person from the Honeybook project.
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Will my session/wedding incur travel fees?
Events happening within the main/capital city do not have travel fees. If the event is outside of the main/capital city, there is a travel fee of $0.70 per mile round trip (above the IRS mileage rate of $0.625 per mile). If the event is more than 90 miles outside of the main/capital city, a max hotel fee of $125 per team member will apply for a one night stay. The creative is responsible for finding and booking the hotel and we will reimburse them. View more information about our travel policies here.
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Can I charge hotel fees?
If the event is more than 90 miles outside of the main/capital city, a max hotel fee of $125 per team member will apply for a one night stay. You don’t have to book a hotel if you don’t want to, but you are welcome to if you feel it is needed.
If the event is more than four (4) hours away from the main/capital city, the client is responsible for paying for two nights at a hotel per team member at the rate of $125/night.
You are responsible for finding and booking the hotel. To book a hotel, search hotels in that city and find a room for $125 or under. We don’t want you to stay in a creepy dump but we also can’t afford for you to stay in a 5 star hotel. We want you to be comfortable. If you can find any rooms in that city for $125 or under, reach out to your manager.
Clients will pay Tolman Media for all travel fees and Tolman Media will in turn pay contractors for travel.
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How do brides choose music for their video?
Videos will be highlight footage of your client’s wedding set to music. The client is welcome to choose their own music or they can leave it up to the discretion of you, the videographer, or the editing team. The bride should let you as the videographer and/or the manager know what songs they would like to use in their video before their wedding or shortly after so we can get the edited video to them in a timely manner.
The amount of songs we’ll need depends on the package the client booked. For example, if they booked a 4.5 hour package, the video is going to be 6-8 minutes long so we’ll need 2-3 songs to fill the entire video. It’s best to have brides send us their song choices (and some back-ups just in case) in the order they want them to be in their video.
Copyright laws are very strict regarding using music in wedding videos, so we have paid for five separate subscriptions to music sites that they can choose songs from.
1) artist.io - mainstream songs
2) fyrfly.com/playlists - mainstream songs
3) app.soundstripe.com/playlists - instrumental & indie selection
4) musicbed.com/playlists - cinematic & instrumental
5) storyblocks.com - mainstream songs
If there is a pink ‘P’ next to the song, it means there will be an additional charge for them to generate a license we can use in that video. If the bride chooses to use one of these songs, contact your manager to work out that payment (usually added to the client's invoice on Honeybook). This fee is determined by the artist of the song and the streaming site, it is not determined by Tolman Media.
If the song your client is wanting does not appear on these sites, please reach out to your manager to discuss other options. *Please note, if we do not license a song for their video, social media sites will most likely block it from being posted.
Visit www.tolmanmedia.com/song-selection for more information.
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Do I get paid for down time?
On the day of the event, team members have the right to take a break (maximum 1 hour) during the event. If a break is needed by the team member(s), the break time & duration should be discussed in advance during the planning process with the client. This break is NOT included in the coverage hours. If the client requires extra time (i.e. gap hours) where the team member(s) are not actively photographing or filming, the charge for that downtime will be half the hourly rate ($50 an hour per team member) as listed in section 9 of the client's contract.
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Why don’t we get paid more?
Tolman Media aims to offer a high end experience to not only our clients but to our contractors as well. Our pricing is set in a way that mutually benefits contractors and clients.
Tolman Media values our contractors. We could not do what we do without you! Your career with Tolman can be exactly what you want it to be, whether it is a stepping stone to becoming a self employed photographer/videographer or a way to stay behind the camera without running your own business. We hire photographers/videographers that are passionate about their craft, and are looking to grow within their network and professional career.
One of the many benefits to contracting with Tolman is that we take a lot of heavy lifting out of the picture, all you have to do is reach out to the bride twice, film their session/wedding, dump your footage. We teach you our processes and help you hone your skills. We provide flexibility - you can shoot one wedding a month, or you can shoot several a week. We also have a team of photographers/videographers as backup, in case something comes up and you are unable to shoot a session/wedding. We also let you use any photos/video you take for Tolman Media in your personal portfolio, no copyrights or licensing necessary.
We understand that as you gain experience with your craft, contracting with Tolman Media may not make sense anymore and you might choose to move on from contracting. We want you to gain enough experience and have so much quality content in your portfolio that clients are reaching out to you personally, asking you to cover their wedding. We want you to be able to book weddings on your own and be able to set your own rates for your services. In the meantime, you can work with Tolman Media for however long you want :)