"Hi! We love your videos. We would like 3 videos of our new serum, 250 euros total, delivered by the 20th. Can you do it?"
That is the message. Nine deals out of ten in Portugal arrive looking almost exactly like this, on WhatsApp or in a two line email, from a founder who is not being clever and has simply never had to think about any of it.
Read it once for what it settles: a number of videos, a product, a price, a date. Now read it for what it does not settle. That list is longer, and it contains everything that will still matter in a year.
The licence has four dimensions and the price names one
You are not selling videos. You are selling permission to use them, and permission has edges. When nobody draws the edges, the client draws them later from memory, and memory is generous towards whoever is paying.
What exactly they receive
A finished edit is one thing. The raw files are another, because raw files can be recut forever into content you never shot and never approved. Most founders asking for "the videos" mean the edits and would not think to ask for more. Some mean everything on your card. The word "videos" does not tell you which, and it costs one sentence to find out.
Where it runs
The distance between an organic post on the brand's own account and a paid ad running in three countries is enormous, and the message above does not mention it once.
Organic posting, paid social, the product page, marketplace listings, in-store screens, a newsletter, a billboard: these are not degrees of the same thing. Paid media is the one that changes the arithmetic, because a video that performs gets money poured behind it and runs for as long as it keeps working. That is excellent news for the brand and it is the exact moment a creator finds out they sold a national campaign for the price of an afternoon.
For how long
Permission without an end date is permission forever. Nobody in that WhatsApp thread intends forever. The client is thinking about the launch in three weeks, and you are thinking about the invoice, and neither of you is thinking about the video still running in a paid ad account two summers from now.
Whether you can shoot for a competitor
Exclusivity is the one that costs you money you cannot see. If you agree not to work with other skincare brands, you have just closed a category, and a closed category in a market the size of Portugal is a meaningful part of your year. It is a perfectly reasonable thing to sell. It is never a reasonable thing to give away in silence.
What silence gives away
| The dimension | What the client assumes if you say nothing | What one line changes |
|---|---|---|
| What they receive | Everything you shot, including the raw files | They get the delivered edits, and rushes are quoted separately |
| Where it runs | Wherever it might be useful, including paid ads | Organic is included, paid media is agreed before it starts |
| For how long | Indefinitely, because nobody said otherwise | A period both of you can point to, and a renewal conversation instead of a dispute |
| Competitors | Nothing, so they will be surprised when you appear elsewhere | Either you are free, or exclusivity is priced and dated |
Notice that none of the middle column is bad faith. A founder who has never bought content assumes the generous reading because no one told them there was another one. That is why this is your job rather than theirs.
Three lines in the message you were already sending
You do not need a contract in PDF form to fix this. A message both parties can scroll back to is written evidence, and in a market where deals close on WhatsApp, that is the record you will actually have.
When you accept, accept with the terms attached:
"Perfect, I can do that. Included: 3 edited videos, delivered on the 20th, for use on your own channels for 6 months. Paid ads and other brands in skincare, happy to discuss, just tell me and I will quote. Raw files are not included but I can add them."
Three sentences. No lawyer, no template, no awkwardness, and it reads as professional rather than defensive because it opens with a yes. The client now knows there is a menu, which is the single most useful thing they can know, because a client who does not know there is a menu cannot order from it.
When they say it is just for social
They usually mean it. "Just for social" is what a founder says when the plan is a post and a story, and it becomes untrue three weeks later when one of the videos performs and someone from growth puts budget behind it.
So take it at face value and write it down. Agree that organic use is included, and that if the video goes into paid, you settle that then. You have not made the deal harder, you have made the good outcome someone remembers to pay you for.
The message a year later is the easiest money you will earn
Once a period exists, it ends. When it ends, someone at the brand has to decide whether the video keeps running, and the answer for anything that is still working is yes.
That message costs you nothing to receive. No shoot, no travel, no editing, no revisions: a renewal for a video that already exists and has already proved itself. Creators who set periods get that message. Creators who sold forever do not, because there is nothing left to renew.
Keep reading
- What to Charge for UGC in Portugal
- UGC Creators in Porto
- Invoicing UGC Work in Portugal: IVA and Withholding
- European or Brazilian Portuguese for Your UGC
- The complete UGC guide for Portugal
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Frequently asked questions
Do I need a real contract, or is a message enough?
For small deals, a clear written exchange is the practical record. Both of you keep it, and it is far better than a signed template nobody read. Ask a lawyer once your deals get big enough that the answer matters.
What if the brand refuses to limit anything?
Then price the unlimited version, and say so plainly: unrestricted use is a different product from a six month organic licence, so it carries a different number. Refusing to limit is not a problem, refusing to pay for not limiting is.
How much more should paid media cost?
There is no universal multiplier, because the right amount depends on the spend behind the ad. Agree the principle before the shoot, which is that media use is priced separately from production, and settle the figure when the client knows their budget.
What happens if they keep using it after the period ends?
Usually nothing dramatic. Send a friendly note pointing at what you agreed and offering a renewal price. Most of the time it is an oversight, and the message that names a period is the same message that makes the renewal easy to ask for.