What you are really selling, the duration of a licence, and the five lines that avoid every dispute.
What you are really selling
Three distinct things, often merged into a single price.
The shoot: your time, your equipment, your travel.
The usage licence: the right to use the images, for a duration, on a territory and on defined channels.
And any exclusivity: the commitment not to work for a competitor for a period.
One invoicing consequence: those three elements are priced separately on the quote. Merged into a single line, they become impossible to renegotiate when the brand wants to extend.
The variables that set the price
Five variables, in order of impact.
The duration of the licence, from a single month to unlimited.
The territory: local, regional, worldwide.
The channels: organic posts, paid advertising, website, online shop, display.
The right to alter the edit and recut the video.
And exclusivity, almost always requested without being paid for.
The five lines that avoid every dispute
Five sentences to write, whatever the size of the order.
What is delivered: number of videos, duration, formats, languages.
What the brand may do with it: channels, territory, duration, with a start date and an end date.
What it may not do: transfer to a third party, resell, use outside the listed channels.
What happens at the end of the licence: stopping publication, removing content still online, and the deadline for doing so.
And the price of an extension, fixed in the first contract, which avoids negotiating from a position of weakness.
The case of the exchange
Four points to handle when the consideration is a product.
An exchange is still a contract: it is described in writing like a paid order.
The consideration has a value, which has declaration consequences to check with an accountant.
The rights granted must be proportionate: a gifted product does not buy a worldwide, unlimited advertising licence.
And the advertising disclosure remains compulsory, whatever the form of the consideration.
What a three-line agreement covers
| Point | The right wording | What is often missing |
|---|---|---|
| The files delivered | Count, format, resolution | The vertical version forgotten |
| The permitted uses | Channels named one by one | Paid advertising not cited |
| The term and territory | A date and countries | An unlimited term by default |
What protects the person on screen
A written release separate from the commercial contract, valid only for the listed uses, and revocable if the video is misused.
What is settled before the shoot, not after
Payment for extra revisions, the fate of unused rushes, and what happens if the brand cancels. All three are priced in the initial quote.
Places and people
Five permissions to check before filming, in addition to the one dealt with above.
Recognisable people in the image, including in the background.
Minors, for whom the authorisation of the legal guardians is required and kept.
Private properties, hotels and shops, where the right to film is requested from the management.
Works visible in the image: murals, sculptures, patterns, which belong to somebody.
And wild animals, whose approach is regulated on many sites, with distance rules.
One production note: those permissions are gathered in a folder delivered with the files. A serious brand asks for it, and its absence blocks publication more often than an image quality problem.
One last marker: a UGC contract does not need to be long, it needs to be precise on four words: what, where, for how long, and for which use. Every dispute I have seen born in this category came from one of those four words left implicit.
