Lesson
Option, hold, booking
If you are “on option”, you have been asked to keep a date available. You have not won the job yet.
FFAM defines an option as dates reserved while the client decides, and notes that options can carry an order of priority. An option is not a confirmed booking.
Hold. Some productions and platforms use hold as an availability or selection status. The practical meaning depends on the workflow. Ask what you are expected to hold, until when, and who will release you if the project does not move forward.
A confirmation should become concrete: date, place, working window, agreed terms, contact and any fitting. Select London’s public terms distinguish provisional arrangements from confirmed bookings. Wording differs between markets. Ask what is actually confirmed instead of inferring it from one status word.
A direct booking takes a different route: the client selects you without an earlier casting. FFAM uses that term explicitly. With no in-person checkpoint, make sure the brief, current measurements, dates and conditions are especially clear.
Sources: FFAM — Professional glossary · Select London — Booking Conditions · Casting Networks — Selection statuses