How magicians and entertainers should invoice a host

The fee is part of the act’s hygiene. A host who never sees a number will treat the night as a favour. A performer who only invoices after the encore will chase money through a hangover. Magicians are not unique here. Musicians, clowns, circus duos, and variety all bleed the same way: a handshake, a maybe, a Saturday, then silence.

This guide is how live entertainers should bill a host without building a public shop. Housecue treats the invoice as a letter from the studio: numbered, on your letterhead, with a private link the host can open. They see that document. They do not see your other clients, your cues, or the crate.

Put the fee on the booking first

An invoice without a date is a poem. Write the fee on the booking when you quote it. Then the deposit, the balance, and the full-fee invoice all have a number to inherit. If the host asks for 45 minutes instead of 20, change the booking, then change the paper.

Quote in the currency you want to be paid in. Housecue stores a studio default — USD, EUR, GBP, and others — so letterhead and totals match. Do not mix a handshake in one currency and an invoice in another unless you enjoy collections.

Hold the date with a deposit

When a booking moves from inquiry to hold or confirm, send fifty percent. The deposit is a kind of invoice, not a vibe: it says this is not the full fee, and the remainder still exists. Put the due date on confirmation, not “whenever.” A deposit due “sometime before the party” will be paid after the party, if at all.

In Housecue, a booking with a fee can draft a 50% deposit in one step. The invoice is numbered, tied to the host, and marked as a deposit. When you later bill the remainder, the booking page already knows what has been invoiced and what is still on the table.

What if they will not pay a deposit?

Then you do not have a hold. You have an inquiry that wants a confirm. You may still take the night — that is your risk appetite — but do not pretend the diary is locked. Corporate and hotels often pay on invoice after. Private hosts often need a deposit to become real. Know which room you are in.

Balance, or one invoice for the full fee

If the deposit is paid, invoice the remainder before or on the night. Bring the private link or a print. If the host wanted one document from the start, send a full-fee invoice and skip the split. Either path is legitimate. Mixing them without a record is how you lose a hundred in the dark.

• Full fee — one invoice, the whole night.
• Deposit — a percentage to hold the date.
• Balance — whatever remains after deposits against that booking.

Tax belongs on the studio profile if you charge it, not as a surprise on the night. Legal name, address, and tax id print from the same profile as the stage name. Change the letterhead once. Every new invoice inherits it.

Send a private link, not your whole book

Email the link. The host opens that invoice. They do not get a login to Housecue. They do not see last month’s wedding. That is the difference between a private studio and a marketplace that treats your clients as network effects.

You can still print. Some rooms want paper. The invoice is built as a sheet: letterhead, lines, tax, notes, status. Mark it sent when it leaves, paid when the money lands, overdue when it does not. The desk should know which of those three is true without opening a banking app during rehearsal.

Collections without theatre

A polite reminder is part of the job. A second copy of the link, a due date restated, a note that the date stays confirmed when paid. If you must cancel for non-payment, cancel on the booking so the calendar tells the truth. Do not perform the night as a hostage situation.

Rehearsal includes three invoices. That is enough to learn the rhythm on real hosts. Studio Pro is for a season of deposits and balances. Create an account and put the next deposit on letterhead before you pencil the night.

How to get paid without a storefront

The invoice should say how: bank transfer, card, cash on the night. Housecue does not process the host’s payment — Lemon Squeezy is for your Housecue subscription, not for their fee. Your invoice is still the legal request. Write the account details in the studio default notes so you do not retype them drunk on a Thursday.

Cash is fine if you write it down. Mark the invoice paid when the envelope is in your hand, not when you “know they will.” Partial payments belong on the record too; a later product can get fancier, but a note on the invoice and an honest status already beat a memory.

Late, overdue, and when to stop being charming

Overdue is a status, not a personality. After the due date, the invoice should look overdue on the desk so you remember to write. One reminder, then a firmer one, then a decision: you wait, you negotiate, or you stop taking holds from that host. Do not add theatre to the second email. Add the link and the date.

If you cancel a night for non-payment, cancel the booking. An invoice without a date on the calendar is how you perform for a ghost and then argue about it.