Ah, July! What a strange and confusing month. For some, the thought of July conjures up visions of people in the heat of summer, glistening under a layer of sunscreen, tanning oil or sweat. Baseball is rushing toward the All-Star Game, theaters are anxiously awaiting summer blockbusters and beaches all over the world are crowded to max capacity with vacationing families, honeymooners and perfectly sculpted women in barely-there bikinis.
But, on soundstages and movie sets in Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver and even Georgia, actors and actresses bundled up in winter overcoats are frolicking around in faux snow and kindling romance, soulful redemption, the coming of age or any number of tropes featured in the coming year’s Hallmark holiday movies.
There is no hard or fast rule that says you have to shoot new content for your calendar, and there is nothing that says you can’t repurpose content from previous shoots.
Yes, they actually film holiday films and TV shows in July. Same goes for holiday music, Christmas TV commercials and a whole slew of other holiday-centric things. This brings us to our main point of interest: your 2023 calendar. And if you think it’s too early to start thinking about a calendar six months before the New Year, think again.
WHAT GOES INTO MAKING A CALENDAR
If you’re planning on shooting new content for your calendar, there are quite a few moving parts and logistics you’ll need to account for:
- Calendars go on sale long before Jan. 1: At worst, you want your calendar to hit the shelves no later than October 15. You need to give your buyers time. You should also consider that international orders can take a while to process.
- Theme, budget, wardrobe and location: In a perfect world, every model planning a calendar would have unlimited resources, but we know that’s just not the case. If you’re planning on shooting all-new photos, nailing down your theme and budget is paramount, and only after you’ve checked off those milestones can you start thinking about your wardrobe and location. That may sound pretty straightforward, but I’ve seen many a calendar go off the rails because these pieces of the proverbial puzzle were not assembled correctly.
- Give your photographer at least two to three weeks for photo editing: There’s a lot more to shooting a calendar than just showing up to a location and getting your photos taken. Photo editing can be, and usually is, a painstaking process requiring a discerning eye and ample time to massage the photos into the best versions of themselves. Two to three weeks is about average for 15 to 20 photos, but I’ve seen it take a lot longer. I would absolutely suggest talking about timelines with your photographer so that neither of you are surprised once the editing process gets started.
- Design, printing and shipping: Once you get your photos back from your photographer, you’re ready to turn them over to the design team to start putting the actual calendar together. A calendar is going to follow a specific format, whether it is 12-by-12, 12-by-18 or even 5-by-7. The photos will primarily all be the same size and each month will be set up the same basic way. In that regard, the design process should only take five to seven days. After the design is approved, the printing process can move along pretty quickly — or pretty slowly, depending on your printer — but I would count on seven to 10 days, and then you can add five to seven days for shipping the finished calendars to your fulfillment center.
BEING REALISTIC ABOUT THE TIMELINE
Now, let’s look at the timeline of those four steps. Assuming it’s July 1, we’ll spend two to three weeks working out the theme, budget and logistics. That takes us to July 22. For calendars that are planning on three different locations, we’ll figure one day per location for a total of three shooting days, and now we’re at July 25. We’ll give the photographer three weeks to get the edits done, bringing us to Aug. 16. Now, account for 10 days of calendar design work and that takes us up to Aug. 26. Printing and shipping are going to take us another 17 days to complete, so now we’re already looking at the middle of September.
Again, if we were living in a perfect world, this timetable would be right on the money, but the world isn’t perfect and the phrase “shit happens” is likely to rear its ugly head and stick you with delays you weren’t anticipating. Odds are it will be Oct. 1 before you get your calendars back from the printer.
I see this scenario all the time and I can tell you from experience that shooting new calendar content takes planning ahead and favorable circumstances all the way to the point of sale.
YOU CAN REPURPOSE OLDER CONTENT
There is no hard or fast rule that says you have to shoot new content for your calendar, and there is nothing that says you can’t repurpose content from previous shoots. I’ve seen models be very successful putting together a calendar, coffee table book or magazine using their favorite or most popular social media photos.
As a matter of fact, your Instagram page is the perfect proving ground to determine which photos work and which ones don’t.
For every photo you’ve posted on Instagram over the past year, you likely have five to 50 additional photos from that same set that you didn’t post that are equally seductive, sultry, sexy, unique, enticing or just plain hot. Don’t be silly: use them! The set has already proven to be well liked and chances are, you need only pay to get them edited or retouched; that’s a far cry from having to shoot a whole new calendar.
No matter what, you’re only talking about needing 15 photos for a premium calendar: front and back cover, centerfold and one photo for each month. Surely you have 15 great photos in your library from this year that you haven’t posted yet.
CALENDAR QUALITY IS MORE THAN JUST GOOD PHOTOS
The photos are ultra important. Nobody wants to buy a calendar full of bad photos, right? But think about the overall look and feel of your calendar. Heavy, 14pt matte cover stock not only feels sturdy, but also looks great, and the matte finish allows for a better, non-smear autograph; a glossy print won’t sign well at all.
If you incorporate the above advice and plan ahead, either taking new photos or repurposing older ones you haven’t posted much, you’ll be sure to rake it in this holiday season with a polished and fiery calendar.
Danny Ferretti has over 25 years in the marketing industry and is the co-founder of GFE Model Services and Fangear.vip, a company that specializes in collectible calendars, branded merchandise and other model-centric printed products. For more information, contact sales@gfemodelservices.com or visit GFEModelServices.com.
