With the neverending fiascos with customs, I thought I'd start a community project to come up with a simple contract template that everyone could use. We could give it away for free and it can be constantly revised over time as we get input from experienced producers. I'm no good at legalese so I'm just putting up my little outline that I've got so far. I'll keep updating this OP for the next few weeks as I mess with the contract. Customers and producers alike: Please chime in with any advice you might have!

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Contract Purpose:
The producer will provide the client with a video file containing customized footage.

Completion Date:

________________________________________

Price:

________________________________________

Payment:
The client agrees to pay a deposit of half the total price before the start of production, and the remaining amount within this number of days after being notified of the completion of production:

________________________________________

Payment Method:
Not Paypal or any service where customs are against the rules:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Verification of Completion:
Before sending final payment, the client may verify the work by way of:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Grace Period:
Length of time allowed after original completion date is missed, and agreed price increase:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Non-delivery:
Automatic consequence for producer not delivering by final deadline:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Non-payment
Consequence for client not paying the final payment by the agreed number of days after completion:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Copyright:
Copyright of the final product, including the right to edit, duplicate, and resell will be owned by:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Communication Method:
The official method of communication before and during the shooting process shall be:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Responsiveness:
The producer and client shall respond to all messages sent via the official method of communication within this many days of receipt:

____________________

Media Format:
The finished, edited file is to be in the ____________________ format, no shorter than ____________________ minutes in length, and no smaller than __________X__________ in height X width dimensions.

Delivery:
The final product will be delivered via the file transfer method / service of ____________________ and made available for ____________________ days after which it will not longer be available for download with no refund possible.

Custodian of Records:
All model release forms and required age verification information will be kept on-file and ready to be made available in the case of a legal challenge. The designated Custodian of Records will be (client or producer's Custodian of Records):

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Legal:
The producer agrees that the content and its creation process will comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. The producer agrees that all featured models are verified to be of legal age. The producer acknowledges that no actions of the client, including posting a negative review or forum post, shall impact this contract. The client and producer acknowledge that this agreement is solely between them, and that any web site or service that facilitates this agreement cannot be held accountable for any outcome.

Detail of desired custom scene (may be attached separately):

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________



________________________________________
Producer name (print)

________________________________________
Producer signature

________________________________________
Producer email

________________________________________
Date

________________________________________
Client name (print)

________________________________________
Client signature

________________________________________
Client email

________________________________________
Date

Hell, might as well put the Model Release on the block too...

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Model Release In consideration of my engagement as a model, upon the terms herewith stated, I hereby give to the producer, their heirs, legal representatives and assigns, those for whom the photographer is acting, and those acting with their authority and permission:

a) the unrestricted right and permission to copyright and use, re-use, publish, and republish photographic portraits, pictures or video of me or in which I may be included intact or in part, composite or distorted in character or form, without restriction as to changes or transformations in conjunction with my own or a fictitious name, or reproduction hereof in color or otherwise, made through any and all media now or hereafter known for illustration, art, promotion, advertising, trade, or any other purpose whatsoever.

b) I also permit the use of any printed material in connection therewith.

c) I hereby relinquish any right that I may have to examine or approve the completed product or products or the advertising copy or printed matter that may be used in conjunction therewith or the use to which it may be applied.

d) I hereby release, discharge and agree to save harmless [photographer], their heirs, legal representatives or assigns, and all persons functioning under their permission or authority, or those for whom he/she is functioning, from any liability by virtue of any blurring, distortion, alteration, optical illusion, or use in composite form whether intentional or otherwise, that may occur or be produced in the taking of said picture or in any subsequent processing thereof, as well as any publication thereof, including without limitation any claims for libel or invasion of privacy.

e) I hereby affirm that I am over the age of majority and have the right to contract in my own name. I have read the above authorization, release and agreement, prior to its execution; I fully understand the contents thereof. This agreement shall be binding upon me and my heirs, legal representatives and assigns.

________________________________________
Producer name (print)

________________________________________
Producer signature

________________________________________
Producer email

________________________________________
Date

________________________________________
Client name (print)

________________________________________
Client signature

________________________________________
Client email

________________________________________
Date

The latest versions of these contracts will always be available for free download on the Add Scene page: https://umd.net/manage_download#contracts I'm working on having signable PDF versions there, too.

Can I suggest replace all instances of "his/her" with "their"? Means it applies to non-binary people as well as male/female and is generally more inclusive, which is always a good thing in legal contracts.

Sure thing.

I have a bit of a legal background. While I cannot offer legal advise, I will post some suggested changes in the next few days.

Hi: here is my run through on the Model Release. Any comments gratefully received. Is there a better way to upload these?

I removed the space for the client to sign as the client was not mentioned elsewhere in the release and I added a spot for the Model to sign. Other than the signing lines, the only items which should, in most cases need to be filled in are the names of the model, and the producer in the top paragraph. It would seem to me that the name of the photographer should be optional.

Cheers!

Good start to this group. Perhaps a couple of other items should be addressed in the contract.

up for discussion:

* reasons for customer to reject final product
* ownership of final product
* method of resolving disagreements
* legal name of all parties

Hmm: I tried to post a WORD doc and a .pdf, but the don't seem to have gone through.

If anyone wants, or if MM wants to post, please email me at jason.pinaster@hotmail.com

It would be good to add a line with the model's AKA/Stage name. Especially useful if models use more than one name, and only want one to be associated with the content you are filming.

Hi, All: my other thing got finished sooner, so here are my thoughts. I've tried to highlight all changes in yellow.

Well, this is a legal document; should be real names, but probably no harm in an AKA

The only reasons for rejection would be failure to confirm to the specifications.

I've put the default ownership with the producer. This will allow the producer to keep his costs lower. Plus it will give the client notice that if he wants ownership, he will have to pay more if he wants the base contract changed.

My favorite way to resolve disagreements would be arbitration on UMD but I'm not sure MM would want to get into that. Typically the arbitrator would have to get paid.

I believe that the legal names of the parties will now have to be included.

As a customer, I do not agree that real names should be used. There are privacy issues.

Wow this thread is helpful

Given recent developments, I now know the importance of listing the specific scenes and production dates on the model release forms. So I've updated our free model release template. Here it is:

https://umd.net/media/model_release.html

Suggestions always welcome

I could probably make a PDF form for these if y'all wanted?

I did it with the older model release that was on the site as I just found it easier to have.

Hopefully it's okay for me to post this; I've converted the model release template (with a few minor changes) from JasonPinaster into a fillable PDF.

https://1drv.ms/b/s!AlNGsHMbwkp5atKm07jjyaJndS8?e=gmtrkV

Of course the usual risk statement applies -- this is a PDF and therefore is a potentially risky document to download, it may contain viruses and execute malicious scripts, yada yada, do so at your own risk.

Ultimately up to MM, but I think being upfront about that should make it fine. People can run scans on docs before downloading.