Story№ 007Fiction
The column called Paid?
Riya's spreadsheet keeps a diary for forty-seven days. Then an invoice that was born ready takes over. Adapted from our film.
I am brand deals.xlsx. I live on Riya’s laptop in Indore, in a folder called Admin, next to a recipe for nankhatai. I have three rows and four columns. The fourth column is called Paid? and it is the reason I exist. This is my diary.
Narrator one The spreadsheet
27 Aug Nila Shoes, ₹18,000, Reel posted on the 24th. Invoice sent. I write Sent in column three. Column four: ??
27 Aug Later. She writes to the brand: “Hi! Just following up on the invoice 🙏”. Seen.
26 Sep “Hi, following up again on the payment.” Seen. I still say ??
30 Sep Month end. Brewbari Tea, ₹25,000: ?? Moda Loom, ₹40,000: chase. Nila Shoes: ?? Three brands, one spreadsheet, and every month the same question. Did it land?
3 Oct “Any update on the invoice?” Seen. She sticks a note on the wall: chase Fri!! The wall is becoming my backup.
Today “Hi! Just following up on the invoice 🙏”. That is the fourth one. I change ?? to 47 days, because at least that is a number.
Column four has never had a tick in it. Not because the brands are crooks. Because nobody agreed when it was due, and nobody can see where it is. So she asks, and asking is now part of the job.
Then, on 13 October at 7:42, a new offer on Handsel.
Narrator two The invoice
I am invoice HS-0142. Unlike the spreadsheet, nobody had to make me. I was born on 22 October at 11:08, the minute the work was approved. Here is how I got here.
13 Oct 7:42. A new offer from Kesar & Clay. The fee is on the first card: ₹40,000, one Reel, two Stories, deadline 24 October. Under it, one line: Paid on time in 14 of 14 handsels. She reads it twice. Fourteen out of fourteen is a reputation, earned on the record, not promised in a DM.
13 Oct 7:43. Review before accepting: the fee, the deliverables, the deadline, and when the money is due. She accepts, and the deal gets its own contract, numbered, with the terms frozen exactly as she accepted them. Nobody attaches a PDF.
14 Oct She makes the Reel. That is the whole job description now.
19 Oct First cut uploaded. Changes requested, one: “Love it. Can the product show in the first three seconds?” One change, asked on the deal, where both of them can see it. Done.
21 Oct Post it. Attach the post from her feed. Mark submitted.
22 Oct 11:08. “Your work is approved 🎉” Under it: “Your invoice for ₹40,000 is ready.” That is me: the fee, the GST and the TDS each on their own line, status Awaiting payment. She did not make me. The deal did.
23 Oct Nothing to chase. There is no sticky note. The wall is just a wall.
31 Oct 9:15. “You just got paid 💸” Under it: “Kesar & Clay sent ₹40,000. Confirm once it lands in your account.” My status reads Brand marked paid. It lands. She confirms, and I read Creator confirmed. Two facts, two people, two dates. Column four, if I had one, would have a tick in it. I do not need one.
On the other side of the same card, Neha, who runs creator campaigns at Kesar & Clay, saw the same fee, the same deadline, the same one change, and her fourteen out of fourteen became fifteen. Nobody on either side wrote “just following up”.
The spreadsheet is still on the laptop. It still has three rows. It is now a list of brands she will send a Handsel offer to next time, so the fourth column can stop being a question.
Adapted from our film “Just got paid”. Riya, Neha, Kesar & Clay, Nila Shoes, Brewbari Tea and Moda Loom are made up, from the cast of our studio's series, and the figures are illustrative. The column isn’t.
A four-panel strip. An offer arrives with the fee and the brand's record on it. The brand asks for one change on the deal. The work is approved and the invoice is ready. The creator drinks chai with nothing to chase.
- 13 Oct, 7:42New offer from Kesar & Clay. ₹40,000. Paid on time in 14 of 14 handsels.
- 19 Oct, on the dealLove it. Product in the first three seconds?
- 22 Oct, 11:08Your work is approved 🎉 Your invoice for ₹40,000 is ready.
- 23 OctNothing to chase.