Awards, holds & availability · Working

First hold

Also called: first position

ELI5

The strongest current reservation on a director’s or supplier’s dates, subject to agreed release rules.

“We have first hold on the director’s dates until the agency makes a decision.”

You may hear this during a commercial brief, treatment, bid, award or pre-production process.

Why it matters: Helps interpret the brief, director treatment, bid, award, production process and campaign deliverables.

This usage is established in practice but is not fully standardised. A domain specialist should review it before release as canon.

Second holdA first hold has priority over the dates; a second hold is subordinate and can challenge under agreed practice.
Challenge a holdA possible commercial availability and hold sequence.
Availability checkA possible commercial availability and hold sequence.

Sources & evidence · 6

Direct term-level sources and supporting source families.