Your expected NET30 date comes and goes, and there's nothing in your account. Before you assume the worst, here's the escalation path that actually works, in order.
1. Check in with your recruiter or contact first
Start with whoever you've been in touch with day-to-day — a recruiter or production coordinator. Most of the time, an unpaid invoice is a process failure, not a refusal: it never got forwarded to the payment department, or it's sitting in someone's queue behind a dozen others. A polite check-in resolves this more often than not, and it's a much better first move than firing off a demand letter over what turns out to be an admin gap.
2. Recognize when it's not an accident
At smaller studios, the owner often handles payment personally. If that's the case and you're still not getting a straight answer after a reasonable check-in, you may be dealing with someone actively choosing not to pay rather than a process gap. The tone of the response is usually the tell: vague deflection with no real timeline is a different situation than "sorry, I'll push this through today."
3. Document everything, in writing
Keep communication on email as much as possible, even if a conversation starts on a call or in chat — you want a paper trail you can point back to if this escalates. Summarize verbal conversations in a follow-up email so there's a written record either way. This step matters most when nothing looks wrong yet — you want the record already built before you need it, not reconstructed after the fact from memory.
4. Follow up with progressive spacing
Send reminders with increasing space between them, giving reasonable time for a genuine internal delay to resolve itself before you escalate further. Keep the tone polite and factual — you're reminding them of an outstanding invoice and asking when you can expect payment, not accusing them of anything yet.
5. If it turns aggressive or goes silent, small claims court is your real next step
When check-ins stop getting responses, or responses turn hostile, small claims court is a legitimate and accessible option — it's inexpensive, you can represent yourself without a lawyer, and it exists specifically for disputes like this. Limits and exact procedures vary by country and region (the US, UK, and EU each have their own thresholds and processes), so confirm the specific limit and process for your jurisdiction before filing.
6. For larger amounts, talk to a lawyer
If the invoice is for more than your jurisdiction's small claims limit, it's worth a consultation with a lawyer rather than trying to self-represent — the process and stakes are different above that threshold.
Throughout all of this, the documentation from step 3 is what makes every later step easier — the earlier you start keeping a clean written record, the stronger your position if it goes all the way to a claim.
Firsthold tracks this for you directly: log each invoice as paid or outstanding, and the Pay Date Estimator calculates exactly when a NET30 invoice is due based on your submission date. That combination is what tells you precisely when step 1 actually starts — you're escalating based on a real missed date sitting in your dashboard, not a rough sense that it's been a while.
And a lot of this friction traces back to what was actually in writing to begin with — worth a look at what your booking contract should specify before your next job, not after a payment goes missing.