What is billing and invoicing?
Billing is the decision about what to charge and when: the deposit on signature, the milestone after the shoot, the balance on delivery. Invoicing is the document that carries that decision to the client: a dated request for a specific sum, referencing the job, the purchase order and the terms. The two words travel together because one is useless without the other. A billing plan with no invoices is a wish, and invoices with no plan behind them are a surprise.
In an agency the process runs through the producer or account lead who knows what was agreed, the finance person who issues and chases, and the client's accounts payable team who actually pay.
Why it matters
Why billing and invoicing matter
Cash is what an agency pays people with, and the gap between finishing work and being paid for it is where studios get into trouble. A film can be delivered, loved and still unpaid ninety days later because the invoice was late, went to the wrong person or did not match the purchase order. Clean billing shortens that gap. It also protects the relationship: a client who knows exactly what they will be charged and when has one less reason to be nervous about the work.
In practice
How billing and invoicing work in practice
- 01
The billing plan is set with the proposal. A typical production job bills a deposit on approval, a milestone when the shoot wraps and the balance on delivery; a retainer bills on the same day each month. Each invoice carries the job name, the purchase order number, a short description of what it covers, the amount, the due date and the payment details, and goes to the person the client has named for invoices, not to whoever you talk to most.
- 02
Then the invoice is tracked. A reminder goes out a few days before the due date, a polite chase goes out the day after it, and anything past thirty days gets a phone call. Payments are matched to invoices as they arrive so the agency always knows what is outstanding.
At RIOT
Billing and invoicing at RIOT
Our billing follows the plan, and the plan comes first. A project is scoped, a plan and a number go to the client within a couple of business days, and the invoices that follow match the milestones in that plan. Nobody should open an invoice from us and see a number they have not already agreed to.
Watch out
What people get wrong about billing and invoicing
Waiting until the end. An agency that invoices everything on delivery is lending the client the cost of the production for months. The second mistake is sloppy invoices: no purchase order number, a description nobody in accounts payable recognizes, a missing due date. Each one is a reason for a large company's system to park the payment. The third is being embarrassed to chase. An invoice is not a favor you are asking.
