A comp card (also called composite card, zed card, sed card, often misspelled set card) is a marketing tool for actors and especially models. They serve as their portfolio and business card. The name goes back to Sebastian Sed who invented the comp card to have an easy way of selecting and booking models. Because Sed was spoken as "Zed" in the US, the term zed card is usual in the USA.
A comp card typically contains a minimum of two pictures — cover page with full size portrait and a second page with a selection of representative shots from the portfolio — and the model's basic stats — typically height, weight, three sizes (bust, waist, hips), shoe size, eye and hair color, nationality and contact information — printed on both sides of an 8.5" x 5.5" piece of card stock (12 pt stock) (US) or A5 (Europe, Asia). Comp cards have been around for many years as the essential marketing tool for a model and are likely to retain this standing because they are an inexpensive way to effectively and professionally showcase a model's ability. Composite cards are used on three major levels—they are used by models, agents and the agent's clients. Currently, models have many different options of creating comp cards. They can ask their photographer, create their own on their computer using today's selection of image editing or graphics software. In addition, with technology's increasingly strong influence in the digital market, many printing companies have looked to the internet to facilitate the ordering process.
