Contracts

[Ty Maier]

My wife and I just landed our first large coroporate project and we are pretty excited! I figured this would be a good time in our journey to add more legitimate contracts. We have a basic document that we have clients sign but I am not sure how much it holds up by any legal standard.

Would anyone be able to point me to any resources on developing a contract for work of this nature? I am not 100% sure of what we should be including (or not) in a contract for this type of work. Any information would be of help!

Thanks,
Ty Maier

 

[Adolfo CV]

Hi Ty,

Anytime you are working with contracts you should get a business lawyer involved. Each state has its quirks so talk with a lawyer that has worked a while in your state.

I'd say the basic items you should have in your contract should be:

- Agreement between production company (you) and client.
- Estimate fee agreement and what happens when they change the original agreement (answer: they pay more).
- Payment. When they have to pay, when a payment is late and what happens.
- Copyright. Who gets it.
- Additional usages. Related to copyright.
- Cancelations and postponements. What happens if.
- Client representation. At the shoot, like an art director.
- Indemnification. Cover your liabilities here.
- Credit. Related to Copyright and publication.
- Expiration. Estimate validity.

Start with that, and definitely talk to a lawyer. They're the ones that will tussle with your money if things go south.

 

[Ty Maier]

Adolfo,

Thanks for the info! Good advice about the lawyer. I hadn't thought of some of these points yet, especially Copyright related.

Ty Maier

 

[Adolfo CV]

Happy to help, good luck with the project.

 

[Marc Wielage]

Some good sources for film-related contracts here:

http://www.filmcontracts.net/

https://www.filmsourcing.com/

http://www.sonnyboo.com/downloads/downloads.htm

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/producers-toolbox/