Guide

What each choice in your production means, what the agreements do, and the questions filmmakers ask us most.

Not legal advice. These are standardized agreements, not legal advice. Cinematography for Actors Institute does not represent you and does not review your production. Everything below is general information to help you fill in your own production's details. Where it matters, it says which law it comes from so you can read the source yourself. We re-check every source on the first of each month; last checked 2026-10-01.

The choices you make at intake

Production title

Production title, as it appears as the Project in the agreements.

Use the title you are actually shooting under, even if it is a working title. It identifies the project in every agreement, so keep it identical across all of them. If the title changes later, edit the production and the affected documents are prepared again.

Who is contracting

LLC, corporation, individual, or CFA-sponsored project.

Who is contracting: a company you formed, or you personally. If you formed an LLC for the film, choose LLC. The company signs, not you, and that separation is most of the reason to have formed it. If you have not formed anything, choose individual; you are then personally the party to every agreement. A fiscally sponsored project still contracts under its own entity or the filmmaker's own name. CFA is never a party to your agreements.

Producing entity

Legal name of the producing entity, as a party to the agreement.

The exact registered name, including the LLC or Inc. Not the trading name, not an abbreviation. A mismatch between the name on the agreement and the name on the bank account or the state registration is the kind of detail that gets argued about later.

Entity address

Address of the producing entity, used for notices.

Where formal notices should be sent by post. Use an address that will still reach you after the shoot wraps: a registered office or a home address, not a location office you hold for three weeks.

Who signs the agreements

Person signing for the producing entity.

Whoever has authority to bind the company, usually a producer or a managing member. If you are contracting as an individual, this is you.

The signer's title

That person's title.

Producer, Managing Member, Owner. It records the capacity they sign in, which is what makes the signature bind the company rather than the person.

Email for formal notices

Address for notices to the production.

This is printed in the agreements, so use an address the production will keep reading after wrap. A personal address you actually check beats a project address that stops being monitored.

Governing state

The full name of the state whose law governs your agreements.

The state whose law is used to read the agreement, and whose courts hear a dispute about it. Every governing-law, venue and arbitration clause in the packet follows this one choice. Most productions pick the state they shoot in, because that is where the people, the locations and any dispute will be. See the guide for what actually differs between states.

Effective date

Date the agreement is entered into. Always delivered blank.

Left blank on purpose. An agreement is dated when it is signed, and we cannot know that date. Write it in by hand at signing, and use the date the last person signs. Do not date it earlier than that.

What changes from state to state

See the notes we hold for a state Pick a state to see whether we hold amendments written for it.

Governing law and venue

The governing-law clause decides which state's law is used to read the agreement and, with the venue clause, where a dispute is heard. Courts generally honour the choice, but a state will not apply another state's law to sidestep its own protective employment or wage rules.

Most productions choose the state they are shooting in: that is where the people, the locations and any dispute will be, and it avoids arguing about which law applies before you argue about anything else. Choosing a state with no connection to the production is the choice most likely to be challenged.

Cornell LII, choice of law

Performers under 18

A minor can generally disaffirm a contract, which is exactly the problem for a film that needs a durable release. Some states let a court approve a minor's employment contract so it can no longer be disaffirmed, and some require a share of earnings to be held in a blocked trust account.

If you are filming anyone under 18, the adult performer agreement in this packet is not the right document and a parent's signature alone may not make it stick. Ask a lawyer in your state before the shoot day.

SAG-AFTRA, Coogan Law full text · Law Offices of Adam J. Beshara, which states have Coogan laws

Crew as employees or contractors

Whether a crew member is an employee or an independent contractor is set by state law, not by what the agreement calls them. California's ABC test treats a worker as an employee unless all three conditions are met, and production crew rarely meet them, because the work is squarely within a production company's usual course of business.

Calling someone a contractor in a deal memo does not make them one. In California in particular, assume crew are employees and budget for payroll unless you have taken advice. The crew agreement in this packet is written as an employment deal memo for that reason.

California Labor & Workforce Development Agency, AB5 guidance · Media Services, AB5-style laws and production states

When a written contract is required by law

Two states now require a written contract with a freelancer above a dollar threshold, with penalties for not having one. New York's Freelance Isn't Free Act added Article 44-A to the General Business Law on 28 August 2024. California's Freelance Worker Protection Act covers professional services of $250 or more.

These laws list what a written contract must contain. Check the agreement you use against that list, or ask a lawyer. Keep the signed copies: the obligation is to have the contract, and to be able to show it.

New York State Department of Labor, Freelance Isn't Free Act · Nixon Peabody, New York and California freelance worker protections

Using someone's name, face or voice

The right to control commercial use of a person's name, image and voice is state law and differs sharply. Roughly eighteen states have a statute, including California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, and around eleven recognise it at common law. New York has no common-law right and a narrow statute covering name, portrait, picture and voice. Some states protect it after death: California for 70 years, Indiana for 100.

This is why the personal release and the crowd notice exist. Get a signed release from anyone recognisable whose appearance matters to the film, and post the crowd notice where you are filming the public.

CLIR, Appendix B: state statutes concerning rights of publicity · Right of Publicity, statutes and interactive map

The same in every state

Who owns the work

A film is one of the nine categories of work that can be a "work made for hire" when it is specially ordered or commissioned, but only if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them. Without that signed writing, a contributor who is not an employee keeps their copyright, whatever anyone assumed.

It is the reason the crew, vendor and acquired-materials agreements exist at all. An oral deal and a paid invoice do not transfer copyright in a contribution to a film.

17 U.S.C. § 101, definition of "work made for hire"

Drones

Flying a drone for a production is a commercial operation, so the pilot needs an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate. Standard Part 107 operations are limited to aircraft under 55 lb, below 400 ft above ground level, within visual line of sight, in daylight or civil twilight with anti-collision lighting. The certificate is current for 24 months.

A drone agreement does not make an uncertificated pilot legal, and your production insurance may not cover a flight that broke the rules.

FAA, Part 107 small unmanned aircraft rule

Non-competes

The FTC's nationwide ban on non-competes never took effect. A court stopped its enforcement in August 2024, the Commission abandoned the rule in September 2025, and it was removed from the Code of Federal Regulations in February 2026. Enforceability is back to being a question of state law. California, Minnesota, North Dakota and Oklahoma void most of them; other states limit them in different ways.

Nothing in the Core Packet asks anyone to sign a non-compete. If you are handed one on someone else's paper, whether it binds depends on the state.

FTC, Noncompete Rule · Katz Banks Kumin, noncompete status by state, March 2026

The documents, one at a time

What each agreement in the packet does, clause by clause, when it is the right one, and when to stop and get a lawyer. Written from the documents themselves.

Cast

Non-Union Performer Agreement (adult)

For each adult performer with a role: lines, a named part, a featured performance. It is a full engagement agreement, not a release. It is written for adults and for a non-union shoot; if any performer is SAG-AFTRA, their union agreement governs and this document does not.

Who signs: Company and Artist, optionally through the artist's loan-out company.

What the clauses mean

Conditions precedent: You owe nothing until you have the signed agreement, the tax and identification forms, and proof the person can legally work where you are shooting. Collect these before the first call time.
Services and dates: The start date can move two weeks either way. The performer commits to pre-production (fittings, rehearsals), the production period you fill in, any extra days needed to finish, and post-production such as ADR, subject to their availability and good faith. During principal photography they work exclusively for you.
Location: The shooting location you gave is printed as the place of principal photography, or the line is left blank to write in, and the performer is deemed a local hire, meaning no travel or lodging is owed unless you add it.
Compensation: The stated fixed amount, paid through your normal payroll, only for days they actually work (subject to any paid sick leave law), less anything the law requires; pay already earned is always paid. The template also mentions deducting debts they owe you; state wage law limits that, and in California a debt generally cannot be taken out of wages. Nothing here says day rate or flat fee; you write the number and it means what you write.
Credit: Credit, if any, is entirely at your discretion, and forgetting it is not a breach. If you have promised someone a specific credit, that promise is not in this document; use the credit agreement.
Name and likeness: The company can use the person's name, face, voice, and biography to promote the film, forever, in any medium, without paying more. Trailers, posters, behind the scenes footage, and press kits all fall under this. One limit: you may not use a digital replica of their face or voice to create a new performance they never gave without their separate written consent describing that use.
Ownership: Everything the person creates for the project belongs to the company from the moment it exists, as a work made for hire, and if a court ever says it is not, the clause assigns it anyway. It also waives so-called moral rights and covers technologies and media that do not exist yet. This is the clause that gives you the right to sell the film.
Minors on set: The performer follows your production rules and is never alone with a minor.
Loan-out company: If the performer works through their own company, both sign, the company is paid, and the performer is personally bound anyway.
Non-union: The agreement states it is not subject to any union or guild, SAG-AFTRA by name.
Default, disability, force majeure: Defined terms for the performer failing to show or perform (default), being unable to (disability), and things outside your control such as weather, strikes, permits, or an insurer refusing cover (force majeure). Any of the three lets you pause the agreement and stop the clock.
Termination: You may end it for an uncured default (two hours to cure during the shoot, twenty-four otherwise), for disability lasting three straight or five total days, or for force majeure lasting over four weeks. Every right you were granted survives termination, and pay already earned is still owed. Ending it for disability is subject to any legal duty to accommodate.
Performer's promises and indemnity: Their work (apart from material you gave them, such as the script) is original and infringes nothing, they are free to sign, they are at least 18, and, where the law allows, they cover your losses if that is untrue or if they are grossly negligent or reckless.
No injunction, and a cap: If the company breaks the agreement, the other side can sue for money but cannot stop the film. No court order halting the shoot, the edit, or the release. Almost every agreement in this packet has this, and it is the single clause a distributor or insurer will look for first, because it is what makes the film deliverable. In this document the performer's damages are also capped at the fixed compensation, with no lost profits, except where the law does not allow a cap, such as for wage claims.
Payola: A federal broadcasting rule: no undisclosed payments for getting the part or for plugging a product on screen.
Confidentiality: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. Public or already-known information is excluded from the duty not to disclose, though not from the ban on publicity. It never stops them reporting to a government agency, talking to their own lawyer, discussing pay and working conditions, speaking about harassment or other unlawful conduct, or answering legal process, and it carries the federal trade secret whistleblower notice.
Guests and photography: No guests without written approval; no personal photography on set.
Publicity: They do press for the film when asked, at no extra fee beyond what wage law requires, subject to their other commitments.
Cure for late payment: If you miss a payment, you are not in default until five business days after they demand it in writing.
Behaviour: A drug-free workplace policy, an anti-harassment policy with a reporting route, disclosure of supervisor-subordinate relationships, and a weapons ban. Any of these can be grounds for immediate dismissal. You may also replace a performer who cannot meet the production's requirements or is disruptive.
Morals: If the performer does something, or is credibly alleged to have done something, that brings them or the film into disrepute, you may terminate and remove their credit.
Use of data: A privacy notice: you will hold their personal data, possibly sensitive data, and may share it with payroll, insurers, and authorities.
Assignment: The company can hand this agreement to someone else, such as a distributor or a buyer of the film, without asking. The other side cannot. Here an assignment also releases the company from its obligations, so the performer would look only to the new owner.
No obligation to produce: You do not promise to make, release, or keep releasing the film.
Further documents: They will sign anything reasonably needed to confirm your ownership, and if they do not, the agreement appoints you to sign for them.
Severability: Anything that conflicts with law or a union agreement gives way, and the rest stands.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator under the JAMS employment rules, in your governing state. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees. The clause keeps every legal right and defence a court would allow, and it says plainly that nothing stops the other person going to a government agency such as the EEOC or a labor board. Here the winner recovers legal fees only where the law allows it, the company pays the arbitrator's fees (the performer pays at most a filing fee no higher than a court's), the performer may take a sexual harassment or sexual assault claim to court instead, and the company, the performer, and any loan-out each initial the clause.
Pre-engagement and insurance: The deal depends on the performer passing any pre-engagement steps, including a medical exam if your insurer requires one. If they cannot be insured at normal rates, you may terminate.

Get a lawyer when

The performer is under 18. This document is for adults; a minor needs a different agreement and, in several states, a court's approval and a trust account.
The performer is SAG-AFTRA, or the production may become a union shoot.
You are offering anything beyond a fixed fee: a percentage, deferred pay, a producer credit, or a share of the film.
The role involves nudity, simulated intimacy, stunts, or animals.
The performer has an agent or a manager who is negotiating terms.
The performer is not a US resident or needs a visa to work.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

The Location line names where you are actually shooting, as printed or written in.
The days or weeks box in the production period is ticked.
The company, the performer, and any loan-out have each initialled the arbitration clause.
The fixed compensation is a number and a unit that leaves nothing to argue about.
You have the tax forms and the work eligibility documents before the first day, not after.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

These are templates, not legal advice. You are buying an editable document and a plain-language guide to what it says. CFA is not a law firm and using these templates does not make us your lawyer. They will not fit every situation, and for any deal involving real money, rights or risk, have a lawyer read them first.

Personal Release, with fee

For anyone recognisable whose appearance matters and who is not a cast member with lines: a featured extra, a passer-by you direct, a real person interviewed, anyone the camera lingers on. This version is for someone being paid. For incidental background in a public place, the crowd notice does the job; for a performer with a role, use the performer agreement.

Who signs: The person appearing, who signs as 'I'. Company is named but does not sign.

What the clauses mean

Grant of rights: The person lets you record them and use their name, face, voice, and anything they contribute, in this project and others, forever, everywhere, in any medium, including advertising. They confirm they are at least 18, that they are legally allowed to work in the United States, and that no union agreement applies. The company may not use the recording to make a digital replica of them for a new performance they never gave without their separate written consent.
Payment: They are paid the stated amount through payroll, a week in arrears, only if they actually take part. If you decide not to use them after they have started, you owe only what has accrued. Publicity work is included at no extra charge where the law allows, and work already done is always paid for when the law requires. Nothing else is owed to anyone.
Ownership and editing: Everything the person creates for the project belongs to the company from the moment it exists, as a work made for hire, and if a court ever says it is not, the clause assigns it anyway. It also waives so-called moral rights and covers technologies and media that do not exist yet. This is the clause that gives you the right to sell the film. The person waives any right to approve or object to how they are edited, dubbed, or portrayed.
Sensitive material: The person accepts that what is recorded about them may be private, embarrassing, or unflattering, and consents anyway. The company promises not to disclose their medical information unless they approve or disclose it, another participant discloses it, it is already public, or the law allows it. They can report harassment without retaliation.
Health and safety: They agree to answer health and safety questions truthfully, follow production protocols, and accept the risks of taking part.
Confidentiality: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. Public information and what they already knew are not covered, and nothing in it stops them reporting to a government agency, answering a subpoena, talking to their own lawyer, discussing their pay, or speaking about harassment or assault where the law protects that.
Their promises: What they contribute is original and does not infringe anyone's rights, and any statement of fact they make, other than lines you give them, is true. There is also a federal payola clause: no secret payments for an appearance or a plug.
Release and indemnity: They give up any claim against the company and everyone connected to the film, including for injury, privacy, defamation, or negligence, and unknown claims too, except claims for gross negligence or wilful or intentional wrongdoing by any of them. They also defend and cover the company and everyone connected to the film against those claims, against any breach or alleged breach by them, and against their own unlawful, grossly negligent, reckless, or wilful misconduct. This is a broad waiver, and it is the part of the document most worth reading aloud to someone before they sign.
No stopping the film: If the company breaks the agreement, the other side can sue for money but cannot stop the film. No court order halting the shoot, the edit, or the release. Almost every agreement in this packet has this, and it is the single clause a distributor or insurer will look for first, because it is what makes the film deliverable.
Benefits and tax: They get no employment benefits beyond what the law requires. Tax on what they receive is theirs to pay, apart from what the company must withhold or pay through payroll.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. In this document, the winner's fees are recovered only as far as the law and the JAMS minimum standards allow, and you pay any arbitration costs they require you to pay.
Signing page: Above the signature, the person initials the arbitration clause and confirms, in capitals, that they have read the agreement, including the release and the arbitration clause, and that they are giving up legal rights, including the right to sue for negligence and to a jury trial. There is no parent or guardian section: the form is for adults only. See when to get a lawyer.

Get a lawyer when

The person is under 18. Several states require court approval or a trust account for a minor's contract, and a parent's signature alone may not hold.
The person is a public figure, or is talking about identifiable third parties.
The material is sensitive: medical, sexual, criminal, or about a child.
You are documenting real events rather than fiction.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

The person's date of birth is filled in; it is there to catch minors. They have initialled the arbitration line above the signature.
They have had a chance to read it, not just a pen and a clipboard.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Personal Release, without fee

For anyone recognisable whose appearance matters and who is not a cast member with lines: a featured extra, a passer-by you direct, a real person interviewed, anyone the camera lingers on. This version is for someone appearing without payment. For incidental background in a public place, the crowd notice does the job; for a performer with a role, use the performer agreement.

Who signs: The person appearing, who signs as 'I'. Company is named but does not sign.

What the clauses mean

Grant of rights: The person lets you record them and use their name, face, voice, and anything they contribute, in this project and others, forever, everywhere, in any medium, including advertising. They confirm they are at least 18, that they are legally allowed to work in the United States, and that no union agreement applies. The company may not use the recording to make a digital replica of them for a new performance they never gave without their separate written consent.
No payment: There is no fee. The document recites other consideration instead, so a signed release does not carry a blank dollar figure. The person still confirms nothing further is owed, except that if the law requires their time to be paid, the company pays it.
Ownership and editing: Everything the person creates for the project belongs to the company from the moment it exists, as a work made for hire, and if a court ever says it is not, the clause assigns it anyway. It also waives so-called moral rights and covers technologies and media that do not exist yet. This is the clause that gives you the right to sell the film. The person waives any right to approve or object to how they are edited, dubbed, or portrayed.
Sensitive material: The person accepts that what is recorded about them may be private, embarrassing, or unflattering, and consents anyway. The company promises not to disclose their medical information unless they approve or disclose it, another participant discloses it, it is already public, or the law allows it. They can report harassment without retaliation.
Health and safety: They agree to answer health and safety questions truthfully, follow production protocols, and accept the risks of taking part.
Confidentiality: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. Public information and what they already knew are not covered, and nothing in it stops them reporting to a government agency, answering a subpoena, talking to their own lawyer, discussing their pay, or speaking about harassment or assault where the law protects that.
Their promises: What they contribute is original and does not infringe anyone's rights, and any statement of fact they make, other than lines you give them, is true. There is also a federal payola clause: no secret payments for an appearance or a plug.
Release and indemnity: They give up any claim against the company and everyone connected to the film, including for injury, privacy, defamation, or negligence, and unknown claims too, except claims for gross negligence or wilful or intentional wrongdoing by any of them. They also defend and cover the company and everyone connected to the film against those claims, against any breach or alleged breach by them, and against their own unlawful, grossly negligent, reckless, or wilful misconduct. This is a broad waiver, and it is the part of the document most worth reading aloud to someone before they sign.
No stopping the film: If the company breaks the agreement, the other side can sue for money but cannot stop the film. No court order halting the shoot, the edit, or the release. Almost every agreement in this packet has this, and it is the single clause a distributor or insurer will look for first, because it is what makes the film deliverable.
Not an employee: Unless the law says otherwise, they confirm they are not an employee and get no benefits, and that tax on anything they receive is theirs to pay, apart from anything the company must withhold or pay.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. In this document, the winner's fees are recovered only as far as the law and the JAMS minimum standards allow, and you pay any arbitration costs they require you to pay.
Signing page: Above the signature, the person initials the arbitration clause and confirms, in capitals, that they have read the agreement, including the release and the arbitration clause, and that they are giving up legal rights, including the right to sue for negligence and to a jury trial. There is no parent or guardian section: the form is for adults only. See when to get a lawyer.

Get a lawyer when

The person is under 18. Several states require court approval or a trust account for a minor's contract, and a parent's signature alone may not hold.
The person is a public figure, or is talking about identifiable third parties.
The material is sensitive: medical, sexual, criminal, or about a child.
You are documenting real events rather than fiction.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

The person's date of birth is filled in; it is there to catch minors. They have initialled the arbitration line above the signature.
They have had a chance to read it, not just a pen and a clipboard.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Crowd Notice

One per production, not one per person. It is a sign, in English and Spanish, to post at the entrances to any public area you are filming in. It is not signed by anyone. It covers people who wander through in the background; it does not replace a signed release from anyone who matters to a scene.

Who signs: Nobody signs. It is addressed to whoever enters the area.

What the clauses mean

Notice: Entering the area means you have been told you may be filmed. That is the whole legal theory: the consent is the act of walking in after seeing the sign.
Grant: By entering, a person grants the right to use their name, likeness, mannerisms, and voice in the film and its promotion, without payment or credit, forever, and confirms the footage belongs to the producer.
Waiver: They give up claims for libel, slander, privacy, publicity, false light, or copyright or trademark infringement arising from the footage, to the extent the law allows them to.
The instruction: 'If you do not wish to be photographed or filmed, do not enter this area.' That line is the part that does the work. A sign nobody could have read before entering does nothing.

Get a lawyer when

You are filming in a place where people cannot avoid the area: a workplace, a school, a hospital, a transit hub.
Someone in the background is clearly identifiable and clearly matters to the scene. Get a personal release; the notice is not enough.
You are filming anywhere children will be.
You are filming outside the United States, or in a state with a strong right-of-publicity statute and a recognisable face in frame.

Before anyone signs

Post it at every entrance, before anyone enters, at eye level.
Photograph the posted sign in place with a timestamp. That photo is your evidence.
Keep a copy with the production's paperwork.

Crew

Non-Union Crew Agreement

One per crew member, from the director of photography to the newest runner. It is written as an employment deal memo, not a contractor agreement, on purpose: crew rarely qualify as independent contractors under state tests whatever the paperwork calls them. The first page is the deal; Schedule 1 is the standard terms every crew member signs up to.

Who signs: Company and Employee, optionally through a loan-out company (Lender).

What the clauses mean

The deal memo: Name, position, rate, start date, and contact details, plus car and equipment allowance, emergency contact, and any additional terms. The rate is whatever you write: a day rate, a weekly rate, a flat fee. Write the unit.
Conditions precedent: You owe nothing until you have the signed memo, proof of eligibility to work, tax forms, and, if you ask for one, a background check.
Overtime and sixth days: No sixth day, seventh day, holiday, or overtime may be worked unless the line producer or UPM approved it in advance, but any time actually worked is paid as the law requires. Holiday hiatus is unpaid. Timecards must be signed by the crew member and approved by a department head. State wage law still applies over the top of this.
Box and equipment: The crew member's own kit is their responsibility and, except where the law requires otherwise, the company assumes none.
Not pay-or-play: You may end the engagement at any time for any reason, owing only what has been earned to that date. There is no guaranteed run of the show.
Services and term (Schedule 1): Exclusive services, done conscientiously, following the company's instructions including on creative judgement. Employment is at will. If production stops, the engagement ends with it.
Rate and deductions: Paid per your payroll policies, and pay already earned is always paid. Where the law allows, and with the crew member's written authorization if the law requires it, you may deduct unapproved expenses, unreturned petty cash, and anything the law requires. The workday starts at call time and travel time is unpaid, again only where the law allows. Check that last point against your state's wage rules before relying on it.
Purchases, expenses, vehicles, lodging: Nothing is reimbursed without prior written approval and receipts, except expenses and losses the law requires you to reimburse. Personal vehicles are the crew member's risk (except where the law, including workers' compensation, says otherwise) and must be insured by them; production vehicles must be driven with care and never for personal use; parking tickets are theirs and, where the law allows, can be deducted from pay. If you house them, you pay for the room and taxes only.
Recoverables: Everything bought with company money or belonging to the company comes back at wrap: props, wardrobe, tools, stock, documents.
Guests, photography, insurance: No guests without written approval; no personal photography on set; the company is not liable for loss of the crew member's own equipment or uninsured injury, except where the law, including workers' compensation, says otherwise.
Credit: Entirely at your discretion; forgetting it is not a breach.
Name and likeness: The company can use the person's name, face, voice, and biography to promote the film, forever, in any medium, without paying more. Trailers, posters, behind the scenes footage, and press kits all fall under this. One limit: you may not use a digital replica of their face or voice to create a new performance or appearance they never gave without their separate written consent describing that use.
Non-union, with a twist: The agreement is not subject to any union. But if the crew member's work later becomes subject to one, the union terms take over and anything less favourable here gives way.
Minors, behaviour, morals: Never alone with a minor. A drug-free workplace policy, an anti-harassment policy with a reporting route, disclosure of supervisor-subordinate relationships, a weapons ban, and a warning that creative work may involve explicit conversation. A morals clause lets you terminate for conduct that brings the film into disrepute.
Ownership: Everything the person creates for the project belongs to the company from the moment it exists, as a work made for hire, and if a court ever says it is not, the clause assigns it anyway. It also waives so-called moral rights and covers technologies and media that do not exist yet. This is the clause that gives you the right to sell the film.
Hazardous activities: The crew member accepts that the work may be dangerous, up to and including death, and releases the company from injury claims beyond what workers' compensation provides. This clause leans on workers' compensation existing. Make sure it does.
Fiduciary duties: The crew member must not act against the company's interests or compete with it in matters within their job, and cannot commit the company to anything without a signed authorisation.
Warranties, indemnity, over 18: They are free to sign, their work (apart from material you gave them) is original, and they confirm they are over eighteen. Where the law allows, they cover your losses for breach, gross negligence, or wilful misconduct.
Data, anti-corruption, payola: A privacy notice about the personal data you hold; a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act acknowledgement; and a federal broadcasting rule against undisclosed payments for plugs.
Remedies and force majeure: If the company breaks the agreement, the other side can sue for money but cannot stop the film. No court order halting the shoot, the edit, or the release. Almost every agreement in this packet has this, and it is the single clause a distributor or insurer will look for first, because it is what makes the film deliverable. The crew member also waives class actions, where the law allows that. Force majeure lets you suspend or terminate.
Breach and incapacity: If they do not perform, including by joining a strike, no pay is owed for the time they do not work (pay already earned is still owed, and paid sick leave law still applies when they are unable to work), and you may suspend or terminate.
Confidentiality: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. Public or already-known information is excluded. It never stops them reporting to a government agency, talking to their own lawyer, discussing pay and working conditions, speaking about harassment or other unlawful conduct, or answering legal process (telling you first where the law allows), and it carries the federal trade secret whistleblower notice.
Assignment and the distributor: The company can hand this agreement to someone else, such as a distributor or a buyer of the film, without asking. The other side cannot. The film's eventual distributor can enforce this agreement directly, as if it had signed it.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator under the JAMS employment rules, in your governing state. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees. The clause keeps every legal right and defence a court would allow, and it says plainly that nothing stops the other person going to a government agency such as the EEOC or a labor board. Here the winner recovers legal fees only where the law allows it, the company pays the arbitrator's fees (the crew member pays at most a filing fee no higher than a court's), the crew member may take a sexual harassment or sexual assault claim to court instead, and the company, the crew member, and any loan-out each initial the clause.

Get a lawyer when

You intend to treat crew as independent contractors and pay them without payroll. That is the single most common way a small production ends up with a wage claim.
You do not have workers' compensation insurance. Several clauses here assume you do.
Anyone will be doing stunts, rigging, driving, flying a drone, handling weapons or effects, or working at height.
A crew member is under 18, is not a US resident, or is a union member.
You are shooting in more than one state, or your crew live in a different state from the one you chose to govern the agreement.
Anyone is being paid a percentage, deferred pay, or a producer credit instead of wages.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

Every crew member has their own memo with their own rate and position.
The company, the crew member, and any loan-out have each initialled the arbitration clause.
The rate has a unit: per day, per week, flat.
You are set up to run payroll and withhold tax. This document assumes it.
The tax forms and eligibility documents are collected before day one.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Locations

Location Agreement, fee, with security deposit

For filming on private property where you are paying the owner and leaving a security deposit. Use this, not the shorter release, whenever you are actually inside, staying more than a moment, or building anything. The four versions exist so a no-fee deal never carries a blank dollar amount and a no-deposit deal never promises to return one.

Who signs: Owner (or the owner's authorised agent) and Company.

What the clauses mean

Grant of access: The owner gives your company, its crew and its equipment the exclusive right to come onto the property, stay, and leave, and to build and remove temporary sets. Exclusive means nobody else is shooting there at the same time.
Right to photograph everything: You may film the property inside and out, including furniture, art, signs, and logos, refer to it by its real name or a made-up one, and invent events as having happened there. This is what lets you put a real house in a fictional story. The names, logos, images and trademarks the clause lists are only the ones the owner owns or controls, so clear anyone else's brand separately.
Term: You may take possession on or about the start date, which can move for weather or schedule, and stay until you are finished filming. The end is 'when the company is done', not a fixed date.
Location fee: You pay the stated fee, based on a per-day or per-week rate that you write in. It is due on or before the payment date or on arrival, and only if you actually film there. A day runs from your call time, so a night shoot crossing midnight is one day, not two. If weather or something outside your control costs you time, you get that time back at no extra charge.
Care of the property: You promise reasonable care and to leave the place substantially as you found it, normal wear excepted, and you may remove everything you brought.
Owner's promises: The owner says they own the property or act for the owner, that nobody else's permission or payment is needed, that the place is safe and up to code, and that using the footage will not violate anyone's rights. The owner then releases your company and everyone downstream of it from claims about the footage.
Who owns the footage: You do, entirely and forever. Neither the owner nor any tenant can ever sue over how the property appears, even if the portrayal is unflattering, and they cannot stop the film. Money damages are the owner's only remedy.
Coming back: If you need the property again later for the same project, the owner has to let you, at reasonable dates. You pay a pro-rated share of the fee for the extra time.
Thirty days to cure: Before the owner can act on any breach by you, they must tell you in writing and give you thirty days to fix it.
Injury and damage: Each side covers the other for injury or property damage caused by its own negligence, to the extent insurance covers it. Read that last part twice: it assumes you have production insurance.
Security deposit: You pay the stated deposit by the date written in, the owner holds it in trust for you, and must return it in full within two days of your exit, less only verified, undisputed damage you have not paid for, with an itemised statement on request. If the owner does not object in writing within two days of your leaving, the property is deemed accepted as returned.
Confidentiality and publicity: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. The owner cannot publicise the shoot or use your company's name or the film's title in their own promotion. Information that is public or that the owner already knew, reports to a government agency, answering a subpoena, talking to their own lawyer, and speaking about sexual harassment or assault where federal law protects it are carved out. To stop a breach of this clause or the publicity clause, you may ask a court for an order instead of going to arbitration.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. A claim the law does not allow to be forced into arbitration, such as a sexual harassment or assault dispute if the person bringing it chooses, can go to court in your governing state instead.

Get a lawyer when

The owner is a tenant, a manager, or anyone whose authority to sign you cannot verify.
The property is commercial, historic, or shared, or has a homeowners' association.
You will alter the property in any way that is not obviously temporary.
The location is the film's main set, so losing it would sink the production.
Anyone will be doing stunts, using weapons or effects, or working at height.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

Whoever signs for the owner can actually bind the owner. Ask.
Your insurance certificate is in place and names the owner if they ask.
The permit, if one is needed, is a separate matter with the film office.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Location Agreement, fee, no security deposit

For filming on private property where you are paying the owner. Use this, not the shorter release, whenever you are actually inside, staying more than a moment, or building anything. The four versions exist so a no-fee deal never carries a blank dollar amount and a no-deposit deal never promises to return one.

Who signs: Owner (or the owner's authorised agent) and Company.

What the clauses mean

Grant of access: The owner gives your company, its crew and its equipment the exclusive right to come onto the property, stay, and leave, and to build and remove temporary sets. Exclusive means nobody else is shooting there at the same time.
Right to photograph everything: You may film the property inside and out, including furniture, art, signs, and logos, refer to it by its real name or a made-up one, and invent events as having happened there. This is what lets you put a real house in a fictional story. The names, logos, images and trademarks the clause lists are only the ones the owner owns or controls, so clear anyone else's brand separately.
Term: You may take possession on or about the start date, which can move for weather or schedule, and stay until you are finished filming. The end is 'when the company is done', not a fixed date.
Location fee: You pay the stated fee, based on a per-day or per-week rate that you write in. It is due on or before the payment date or on arrival, and only if you actually film there. A day runs from your call time, so a night shoot crossing midnight is one day, not two. If weather or something outside your control costs you time, you get that time back at no extra charge.
Care of the property: You promise reasonable care and to leave the place substantially as you found it, normal wear excepted, and you may remove everything you brought.
Owner's promises: The owner says they own the property or act for the owner, that nobody else's permission or payment is needed, that the place is safe and up to code, and that using the footage will not violate anyone's rights. The owner then releases your company and everyone downstream of it from claims about the footage.
Who owns the footage: You do, entirely and forever. Neither the owner nor any tenant can ever sue over how the property appears, even if the portrayal is unflattering, and they cannot stop the film. Money damages are the owner's only remedy.
Coming back: If you need the property again later for the same project, the owner has to let you, at reasonable dates. You pay a pro-rated share of the fee for the extra time.
Thirty days to cure: Before the owner can act on any breach by you, they must tell you in writing and give you thirty days to fix it.
Injury and damage: Each side covers the other for injury or property damage caused by its own negligence, to the extent insurance covers it. Read that last part twice: it assumes you have production insurance.
Two-day inspection: If the owner does not object in writing within two days of your leaving, the property is deemed accepted as returned.
Confidentiality and publicity: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. The owner cannot publicise the shoot or use your company's name or the film's title in their own promotion. Information that is public or that the owner already knew, reports to a government agency, answering a subpoena, talking to their own lawyer, and speaking about sexual harassment or assault where federal law protects it are carved out. To stop a breach of this clause or the publicity clause, you may ask a court for an order instead of going to arbitration.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. A claim the law does not allow to be forced into arbitration, such as a sexual harassment or assault dispute if the person bringing it chooses, can go to court in your governing state instead.

Get a lawyer when

The owner is a tenant, a manager, or anyone whose authority to sign you cannot verify.
The property is commercial, historic, or shared, or has a homeowners' association.
You will alter the property in any way that is not obviously temporary.
The location is the film's main set, so losing it would sink the production.
Anyone will be doing stunts, using weapons or effects, or working at height.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

Whoever signs for the owner can actually bind the owner. Ask.
Your insurance certificate is in place and names the owner if they ask.
The permit, if one is needed, is a separate matter with the film office.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Location Agreement, no fee, with security deposit

For filming on private property where the owner is letting you shoot for nothing and leaving a security deposit. Use this, not the shorter release, whenever you are actually inside, staying more than a moment, or building anything. The four versions exist so a no-fee deal never carries a blank dollar amount and a no-deposit deal never promises to return one.

Who signs: Owner (or the owner's authorised agent) and Company.

What the clauses mean

Grant of access: The owner gives your company, its crew and its equipment the exclusive right to come onto the property, stay, and leave, and to build and remove temporary sets. Exclusive means nobody else is shooting there at the same time.
Right to photograph everything: You may film the property inside and out, including furniture, art, signs, and logos, refer to it by its real name or a made-up one, and invent events as having happened there. This is what lets you put a real house in a fictional story. The names, logos, images and trademarks the clause lists are only the ones the owner owns or controls, so clear anyone else's brand separately.
Term: You may take possession on or about the start date, which can move for weather or schedule, and stay until you are finished filming. The end is 'when the company is done', not a fixed date.
No fee, and weather days: The document names your own promises in it and 'other good and valuable consideration' as what the owner gets, instead of a dollar figure, so there is no blank amount sitting in a signed contract. If weather or something outside your control costs you time, you can come back for the time you lost.
Care of the property: You promise reasonable care and to leave the place substantially as you found it, normal wear excepted, and you may remove everything you brought.
Owner's promises: The owner says they own the property or act for the owner, that nobody else's permission or payment is needed, that the place is safe and up to code, and that using the footage will not violate anyone's rights. The owner then releases your company and everyone downstream of it from claims about the footage.
Who owns the footage: You do, entirely and forever. Neither the owner nor any tenant can ever sue over how the property appears, even if the portrayal is unflattering, and they cannot stop the film. Money damages are the owner's only remedy.
Coming back: If you need the property again later for the same project, the owner has to let you, at reasonable dates.
Thirty days to cure: Before the owner can act on any breach by you, they must tell you in writing and give you thirty days to fix it.
Injury and damage: Each side covers the other for injury or property damage caused by its own negligence, to the extent insurance covers it. Read that last part twice: it assumes you have production insurance.
Security deposit: You pay the stated deposit by the date written in, the owner holds it in trust for you, and must return it in full within two days of your exit, less only verified, undisputed damage you have not paid for, with an itemised statement on request. If the owner does not object in writing within two days of your leaving, the property is deemed accepted as returned.
Confidentiality and publicity: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. The owner cannot publicise the shoot or use your company's name or the film's title in their own promotion. Information that is public or that the owner already knew, reports to a government agency, answering a subpoena, talking to their own lawyer, and speaking about sexual harassment or assault where federal law protects it are carved out. To stop a breach of this clause or the publicity clause, you may ask a court for an order instead of going to arbitration.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. A claim the law does not allow to be forced into arbitration, such as a sexual harassment or assault dispute if the person bringing it chooses, can go to court in your governing state instead.

Get a lawyer when

The owner is a tenant, a manager, or anyone whose authority to sign you cannot verify.
The property is commercial, historic, or shared, or has a homeowners' association.
You will alter the property in any way that is not obviously temporary.
The location is the film's main set, so losing it would sink the production.
Anyone will be doing stunts, using weapons or effects, or working at height.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

Whoever signs for the owner can actually bind the owner. Ask.
Your insurance certificate is in place and names the owner if they ask.
The permit, if one is needed, is a separate matter with the film office.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Location Agreement, no fee, no security deposit

For filming on private property where the owner is letting you shoot for nothing. Use this, not the shorter release, whenever you are actually inside, staying more than a moment, or building anything. The four versions exist so a no-fee deal never carries a blank dollar amount and a no-deposit deal never promises to return one.

Who signs: Owner (or the owner's authorised agent) and Company.

What the clauses mean

Grant of access: The owner gives your company, its crew and its equipment the exclusive right to come onto the property, stay, and leave, and to build and remove temporary sets. Exclusive means nobody else is shooting there at the same time.
Right to photograph everything: You may film the property inside and out, including furniture, art, signs, and logos, refer to it by its real name or a made-up one, and invent events as having happened there. This is what lets you put a real house in a fictional story. The names, logos, images and trademarks the clause lists are only the ones the owner owns or controls, so clear anyone else's brand separately.
Term: You may take possession on or about the start date, which can move for weather or schedule, and stay until you are finished filming. The end is 'when the company is done', not a fixed date.
No fee, and weather days: The document names your own promises in it and 'other good and valuable consideration' as what the owner gets, instead of a dollar figure, so there is no blank amount sitting in a signed contract. If weather or something outside your control costs you time, you can come back for the time you lost.
Care of the property: You promise reasonable care and to leave the place substantially as you found it, normal wear excepted, and you may remove everything you brought.
Owner's promises: The owner says they own the property or act for the owner, that nobody else's permission or payment is needed, that the place is safe and up to code, and that using the footage will not violate anyone's rights. The owner then releases your company and everyone downstream of it from claims about the footage.
Who owns the footage: You do, entirely and forever. Neither the owner nor any tenant can ever sue over how the property appears, even if the portrayal is unflattering, and they cannot stop the film. Money damages are the owner's only remedy.
Coming back: If you need the property again later for the same project, the owner has to let you, at reasonable dates.
Thirty days to cure: Before the owner can act on any breach by you, they must tell you in writing and give you thirty days to fix it.
Injury and damage: Each side covers the other for injury or property damage caused by its own negligence, to the extent insurance covers it. Read that last part twice: it assumes you have production insurance.
Two-day inspection: If the owner does not object in writing within two days of your leaving, the property is deemed accepted as returned.
Confidentiality and publicity: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. The owner cannot publicise the shoot or use your company's name or the film's title in their own promotion. Information that is public or that the owner already knew, reports to a government agency, answering a subpoena, talking to their own lawyer, and speaking about sexual harassment or assault where federal law protects it are carved out. To stop a breach of this clause or the publicity clause, you may ask a court for an order instead of going to arbitration.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. A claim the law does not allow to be forced into arbitration, such as a sexual harassment or assault dispute if the person bringing it chooses, can go to court in your governing state instead.

Get a lawyer when

The owner is a tenant, a manager, or anyone whose authority to sign you cannot verify.
The property is commercial, historic, or shared, or has a homeowners' association.
You will alter the property in any way that is not obviously temporary.
The location is the film's main set, so losing it would sink the production.
Anyone will be doing stunts, using weapons or effects, or working at height.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

Whoever signs for the owner can actually bind the owner. Ask.
Your insurance certificate is in place and names the owner if they ask.
The permit, if one is needed, is a separate matter with the film office.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Location Release

Signed after the shoot, not before. It is the owner's confirmation that they inspected the property when you left and that it was restored to their satisfaction, and it releases you from any further claim about it. It refers back to the location agreement by date. Get it signed on the day you wrap the location, while everyone is standing there.

Who signs: Owner and Company, referring to a location agreement already signed.

What the clauses mean

Reference to the location agreement: It names the location agreement by date and the property by address, so it only makes sense if there is a location agreement to refer to.
Inspection and restoration: The owner agrees they inspected the property after you left and that it was satisfactorily restored under the location agreement's terms.
General release: The owner releases you from every claim of any kind connected with the property or the agreement, or anything else, known or unknown, except any location fee you still owe the owner. The document quotes a statute about unknown claims and has the owner waive it. That quoted section is a California provision; see when to get a lawyer.
Binding on successors: It binds the owner and the owner's heirs and successors, and can only be changed in writing signed by the company.
Rights preserved: Nothing here reduces the rights you already have under the location agreement, including to the footage.

Get a lawyer when

The owner is not willing to sign it clean, or wants to note damage. That is a negotiation, not a form.
Your governing state is not California. The waiver of unknown claims is quoted from California law, with a catch-all for similar laws elsewhere; have a lawyer confirm it works in your state.
The property was damaged, or the owner has already raised a complaint.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

The date of the original location agreement is filled in and matches.
The same person who signed the location agreement signs this.
Sign it at the location on the exit day, with photos of the property as left.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Exterior Location Release

For filming the outside of a property, or a property that will be recognisable on screen, without going in and without occupying it. A shop front, a house seen from the street, a landmark you will name. It is a one-page grant of rights, not an access agreement: it gives you no right to enter, block, or use the property, and it says nothing about permits.

Who signs: Owner and Company.

What the clauses mean

Grant: The owner lets you photograph the structures and signs at the address, outside only, including names and logos on the signs; refer to the property by its real or a made-up name; invent events as happening there; and recreate it. Forever, worldwide, in any medium, including promotion.
Owner's promise, waiver, indemnity: The owner says they own the property or have its owner's authority, waives claims about your use, and covers you if that promise is false.
No stopping the film: If the company breaks the agreement, the other side can sue for money but cannot stop the film. No court order halting the shoot, the edit, or the release. Almost every agreement in this packet has this, and it is the single clause a distributor or insurer will look for first, because it is what makes the film deliverable.
Confidentiality: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. The owner may disclose under subpoena after telling you first, unless the law forbids telling you. Information that is public or that the owner already knew, reports to a government agency, talking to their own lawyer, and speaking about sexual harassment or assault where federal law protects it are carved out.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. A claim the law does not allow to be forced into arbitration, such as a sexual harassment or assault dispute if the person bringing it chooses, can go to court in your governing state instead.
Term: Starts on the date signed and has no end.

Get a lawyer when

The building carries a famous brand, a trademarked design, or public art.
You will name the real business and portray something happening in it that its owner might object to.
The 'owner' is a tenant or a franchisee rather than the freeholder.
You need to block the street, park trucks, or run cable. That is a permit and a location agreement, not this.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

The person signing owns the property or has the owner's authority. This document has them promise it, so ask.
The address is precise enough to identify the building.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Vendors and equipment

Vendor Services Agreement

One per company providing a service: catering, post-production, sound mixing, a rental house sending staff, a VFX shop. The agreement is the frame; the scope of work you attach as Schedule 1 is the deal. It assumes the vendor is a real business with its own employees and its own insurance.

Who signs: Company and Vendor, a business entity, with a scope of work attached.

What the clauses mean

Services and the scope of work: The vendor does what the attached scope says, professionally and on time. If the scope and this agreement conflict, the agreement wins. You approve all work and can require changes. Extra costs need your prior written approval. The vendor may not talk to your distributor or tell anyone they are working for you without permission.
Production guidelines: The vendor and its staff follow your safety, security, and confidentiality rules and attend any training you require.
Ownership: Everything the person creates for the project belongs to the company from the moment it exists, as a work made for hire, and if a court ever says it is not, the clause assigns it anyway. It also waives so-called moral rights and covers technologies and media that do not exist yet. This is the clause that gives you the right to sell the film. This version is the broadest in the packet: it reaches software, designs, and inventions, and if the vendor's own pre-existing tools are baked into the work, you get a permanent free licence to them.
The vendor's own people: Any individual the vendor brings in who is not its employee must sign the certificate of authorship attached as Exhibit A, confirming the work is yours; for a company the vendor brings in, you supply the right certificate instead. The vendor must send you every such agreement on the scope's timeline, and failing to is a material breach. This is how you keep chain of title through a subcontractor.
Name and likeness: The company can use the person's name, face, voice, and biography to promote the film, forever, in any medium, without paying more. Trailers, posters, behind the scenes footage, and press kits all fall under this. Here it covers the vendor and every individual it supplies. The vendor must get each of those people to grant it in writing, and no one's voice or likeness may be digitally recreated for a new performance without their separate written consent.
Confidentiality and publicity: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. The vendor must return or destroy your materials at the end and may not announce the work publicly. Information that is public, already known to the vendor, independently developed, or received from someone free to share it is not covered. Where the law requires a time limit, the limit is five years after the term ends. Nothing stops anyone reporting to a government agency, talking to their own lawyer, discussing their pay, or speaking about sexual harassment or assault where the law protects that.
Credit: None is owed. If you give one, its form is your call.
Non-solicit and non-disparagement: For the work and a year after, the vendor may not poach your people or disparage you or your distributor.
Payment: The fee in the scope, paid within sixty days of a proper invoice, or of your receiving funds from your distributor if later. The fee includes all the vendor's costs; overages are theirs. If you terminate for their breach, prepaid fees for unaccepted work come back.
Term, termination, suspension: Runs until you accept the final work. Either side may terminate for a material breach not fixed within thirty days of written notice. You may terminate at any time without cause, paying only for completed, undisputed work. You may suspend for disability, default, or force majeure, with no fees accruing meanwhile.
Vendor's promises: Authority to sign, the skills and licences to do the work, no conflicting commitments, original work that infringes nothing, compliance with law and safety standards, and any needed licences paid for and in force.
Indemnity, both ways: The vendor covers you for its gross negligence, its breaches, injury or damage it causes, and anything arising from it being an employer. You cover the vendor for third-party claims arising from the film itself. That second half is unusual in this packet and worth knowing you have promised.
Insurance: General liability of at least two million dollars per occurrence and in aggregate, workers' compensation, and professional liability, with you named as additional insured and certificates delivered before you owe anything. A caterer or a two-person post house may not carry this. Adjust the number knowingly or do not rely on it.
Anti-corruption: A Foreign Corrupt Practices Act acknowledgement. Boilerplate for a student short; real if you shoot abroad.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator under the JAMS Streamlined rules (claims up to $250,000) or Comprehensive rules (larger claims), in your governing state. You may still go to court for an order stopping a breach, and a sexual harassment or assault claim may go to court if the person bringing it chooses. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees, and nothing stops anyone going to a government agency.
Remedies: You may get a court order to stop a vendor breaching; the vendor's only remedy against you is money, and never stopping the film.
Independent contractor: The vendor is not your employee, uses its own tools and staff, gets no benefits, and handles its own taxes, workers' compensation, and any union obligations. It warrants it has been a real business entity for at least thirty days and that each individual it supplies is its employee or contractor under a written contract that waives the right to stop the film.
No assignment by the vendor: The work is personal to the vendor; no subcontracting without your written consent. You may assign freely.
Exhibit A, certificate of authorship: The one-page form each of the vendor's freelancers signs. It makes their work a work made for hire for the vendor, assigned onward to you, waives moral rights, lets you use their name and likeness to promote and sell the film, confirms they are at least 18, and states they are the vendor's special employee for workers' compensation.

Get a lawyer when

The vendor is one person, not a company. This document assumes an entity with employees; a freelancer is closer to crew.
The vendor will not or cannot carry the insurance stated, and you intend to lower it.
The vendor is supplying something with its own licensing: music, stock footage, software, fonts, a brand.
The vendor is a post house or lab that will hold your only copy of the film.
The scope of work is not written yet. Do not sign the frame without the picture.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

Schedule 1, the scope of work, is attached, specific, priced, and signed by your authorised representative.
The vendor's insurance certificates are in hand, at the stated limits or at limits you have knowingly changed.
You know which of the vendor's people are freelancers, and each has signed Exhibit A.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Equipment Rental Agreement

For renting gear rather than hiring a person: a camera package from an individual, lights from a friend's company, a vehicle, a piece of specialist kit. The equipment is listed in Exhibit A. For a rental house with its own terms, expect to sign theirs instead.

Who signs: Owner (of the equipment) and Company.

What the clauses mean

Equipment and term: What is rented is described in Exhibit A, delivered clean and working to your approved specification, for the stated number of days or months from the start date. If the exhibit and the agreement conflict, the agreement wins.
Fee: One fee for the whole term, including delivery, collection, and usage, payable on invoice after the term ends and the gear is returned. The owner delivers and collects where and when you say. Costs beyond the fee are the owner's unless you approved them in writing first.
Rights: Full use of the equipment during the term, plus the right to film the equipment itself, its logos and branding, and to portray it under a real or made-up name.
Care and inspection: You use reasonable care and return the gear in substantially the same condition, normal wear excepted. If the owner does not object in writing within two business days after the term ends, the condition is deemed accepted.
Confidentiality and publicity: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. The owner may mention the project incidentally, after your first press release, and never negatively. Information that is public, already known to the owner, or received from someone free to share it is not covered, and where the law requires a time limit, the limit is five years after the term ends. Nothing stops the owner reporting to a government agency, talking to their own lawyer, testifying truthfully, or speaking about sexual harassment or assault where the law protects that.
Owner's promises: Authority to rent, no other permissions needed, the gear is maintained, clean, tested, working, fit for purpose, and compliant with law and industry standards. The owner is responsible for repair and maintenance.
No stopping the film: If the company breaks the agreement, the other side can sue for money but cannot stop the film. No court order halting the shoot, the edit, or the release. Almost every agreement in this packet has this, and it is the single clause a distributor or insurer will look for first, because it is what makes the film deliverable.
Indemnity and insurance: The owner covers you for claims arising from their conduct, their breach, your use and storage of the gear, use by others on the production, and any fines. The owner must carry industry-standard insurance for the term. Read that with care: it puts risk of loss during your use on the owner's insurance, which an individual lender may not have. Your production insurance should cover rented equipment regardless.
Assignment and no obligation to produce: You can hand this agreement to someone else, such as a distributor or a buyer of the film, without asking. Nothing in the form stops the owner assigning their side either. You do not promise to make the film or to use the gear.
Termination: You may terminate if the owner fails to deliver, breaks a promise, or for force majeure. For the owner's breach, prepaid fees come back. For any other reason, you reimburse their pre-approved out-of-pocket costs and the rest of any prepaid fee comes back.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. Either side may still take a claim small enough for small claims court to that court, and a sexual harassment or assault claim may go to court if the person bringing it chooses.

Get a lawyer when

The equipment is worth more than your production insurance covers, or you have no production insurance.
The owner is a rental house with its own contract. Theirs will govern.
The rental crosses state lines or leaves the country.
The gear is a vehicle, an aircraft, a drone, a weapon, or anything that needs a licence to operate.
Someone will operate the gear who is not your crew.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

Exhibit A lists every item with serial numbers and stated condition.
The days / months choice is circled and the start date is real.
You have photographed the gear on receipt.
Your insurance covers rented equipment in your care.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Releases

Product Release

For showing an identifiable product, brand, or logo on screen: a beer the character drinks, a laptop with its logo up, a branded van. Needed whenever the item is chosen rather than incidental, whether or not anyone is paying for the placement. It is a permission to depict, not a sponsorship deal.

Who signs: Owner (of the product or brand), who signs, and Company, which is named but does not sign.

What the clauses mean

Grant: The brand owner lets you film the product, its marks and logos, for the film and its promotion, forever, worldwide, in any medium.
Owner's promise, waiver, indemnity: They own the rights in the product, waive claims about your use, and cover you if that is untrue.
Confidentiality: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. Disclosure under subpoena is allowed with notice. Public information and what the owner already knew are not covered, and nothing in it stops the owner reporting to a government agency or talking to their own lawyer.
No intentional defamation: You promise not to intentionally defame the owner or the product. This is the main promise you make in the document, and it matters: a scene where the branded product fails, poisons someone, or is used by the villain is the case this clause is about.
No stopping the film: If the company breaks the agreement, the other side can sue for money but cannot stop the film. No court order halting the shoot, the edit, or the release. Almost every agreement in this packet has this, and it is the single clause a distributor or insurer will look for first, because it is what makes the film deliverable.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. In this document, the winner's fees are recovered only as far as the law and the JAMS minimum standards allow, and you pay any arbitration costs they require you to pay.
Term: Starts on signing and has no end.

Get a lawyer when

The product will be shown negatively, comically, or in a way the brand would not like.
Money, free product, or anything of value is changing hands. Paid placement has disclosure rules of its own.
The brand is large enough to have a legal department. They will send their own paper.
The person signing is a distributor or a retailer, not the brand owner.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

The product is named precisely, and the person signing controls that brand.
You have decided whether the depiction is neutral, and if it is not, you have taken advice.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Acquired Materials Release, with fee

For a photograph, a piece of footage, a recording, artwork, or any other existing material someone else made that you want in the film. This version is for material you are paying to use. It is a licence, not a purchase: the owner keeps their copyright and gives you a permanent, non-exclusive right to use it.

Who signs: Licensor (whoever owns the material) and Licensee (your company).

What the clauses mean

Description and grant: The material is described at the top, with a box to tick for footage, photo, or other. The owner grants a non-exclusive, irrevocable right to use it in the project and in promoting and selling the project, in any medium, forever. Non-exclusive means they can license it to others too. You pay the stated licence fee on the stated terms.
Owner's promises and indemnity: The owner says they have the right to grant this, nobody else's consent is needed, and your use will not infringe anyone's rights, including people who appear in the material. If that turns out to be false, the owner covers your losses. They also agree never to sue over your permitted use.
No stopping the film: If the company breaks the agreement, the other side can sue for money but cannot stop the film. No court order halting the shoot, the edit, or the release. Almost every agreement in this packet has this, and it is the single clause a distributor or insurer will look for first, because it is what makes the film deliverable.
Confidentiality: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. Public information and what the owner already knew are not covered, and nothing in it stops them reporting to a government agency, answering a subpoena, or talking to their own lawyer.
Assignment and changes: The company can hand this agreement to someone else, such as a distributor or a buyer of the film, without asking. Changes must be in writing signed by both. This is the whole deal; earlier conversations do not count.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. In this document, the winner's fees are recovered only as far as the law and the JAMS minimum standards allow, and you pay any arbitration costs they require you to pay.

Get a lawyer when

The material contains music, a recognisable person, a brand, or anyone else's work inside it. A licence from the owner does not clear what is inside the material.
The owner is not the person who made it, or you are not sure who owns it.
The material will be central to the film or its marketing.
The material is a news clip, archive footage, or from a broadcaster.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

The description at the top is specific enough to identify exactly what is licensed. 'Some photos' is not.
You have the actual files, at the quality you need, in hand.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Acquired Materials Release, without fee

For a photograph, a piece of footage, a recording, artwork, or any other existing material someone else made that you want in the film. This version is for material contributed without payment. It is a licence, not a purchase: the owner keeps their copyright and gives you a permanent, non-exclusive right to use it.

Who signs: Licensor (whoever owns the material) and Licensee (your company).

What the clauses mean

Description and grant: The material is described at the top, with a box to tick for footage, photo, or other. The owner grants a non-exclusive, irrevocable right to use it in the project and in promoting and selling the project, in any medium, forever. Non-exclusive means they can license it to others too. No fee is payable; the document recites other consideration.
Owner's promises and indemnity: The owner says they have the right to grant this, nobody else's consent is needed, and your use will not infringe anyone's rights, including people who appear in the material. If that turns out to be false, the owner covers your losses. They also agree never to sue over your permitted use.
No stopping the film: If the company breaks the agreement, the other side can sue for money but cannot stop the film. No court order halting the shoot, the edit, or the release. Almost every agreement in this packet has this, and it is the single clause a distributor or insurer will look for first, because it is what makes the film deliverable.
Confidentiality: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. Public information and what the owner already knew are not covered, and nothing in it stops them reporting to a government agency, answering a subpoena, or talking to their own lawyer.
Assignment and changes: The company can hand this agreement to someone else, such as a distributor or a buyer of the film, without asking. Changes must be in writing signed by both. This is the whole deal; earlier conversations do not count.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. In this document, the winner's fees are recovered only as far as the law and the JAMS minimum standards allow, and you pay any arbitration costs they require you to pay.

Get a lawyer when

The material contains music, a recognisable person, a brand, or anyone else's work inside it. A licence from the owner does not clear what is inside the material.
The owner is not the person who made it, or you are not sure who owns it.
The material will be central to the film or its marketing.
The material is a news clip, archive footage, or from a broadcaster.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

The description at the top is specific enough to identify exactly what is licensed. 'Some photos' is not.
You have the actual files, at the quality you need, in hand.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Confidentiality and credit

Nondisclosure Agreement

For anyone who will see the script, the schedule, the budget, or the cut before release and is not already bound by another agreement in this packet: a script reader, a consultant, a potential investor, a friend doing you a favour. Cast, crew, and vendors already have confidentiality clauses in their own agreements and do not need this as well.

Who signs: Recipient (a person or a company) and Company.

What the clauses mean

Purpose: It exists so you can have confidential conversations with the recipient about the project, and it covers things you told them before they signed.
What is confidential: Almost everything: scripts, ideas, artwork, plans, budgets, names, contracts, and anything a reasonable person would consider confidential whether or not you labelled it. It also covers third parties' secrets you hold. Information that is public, that they already knew, that they developed on their own, or that they got from someone free to share it is not covered.
What the recipient may not do: Use it, disclose it, or share it, except internally to evaluate the project, or to their own lawyer, accountant, or adviser, or as a court or agency requires. Before sharing it with an accountant or adviser, or under a court order, they must tell you first. They must protect it at least as carefully as their own secrets, and report any leak. Nothing stops them reporting to a government agency, testifying truthfully, talking to their own lawyer, discussing their own pay, or speaking about sexual harassment or assault where the law protects that.
No rights, no copies: Nothing here gives them any ownership. They may not copy anything and must return everything on request or when their involvement ends.
Term: For as long as the information stays confidential. Where the law requires a time limit for information that is not a trade secret, the limit is five years after your discussions or their work for you ends, whichever is later. The obligation survives the end of whatever relationship it was signed for.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. Either side may still go to court for an order protecting confidential information, and a sexual harassment or assault claim may go to court if the person bringing it chooses.
Remedies: The recipient agrees that money alone would not fix a leak, so you may get a court order stopping one without proving damages, and they cover your losses and legal fees.
Entire agreement: This is the whole deal on confidentiality; earlier drafts and conversations do not count. Counterparts and fax signatures are fine.

Get a lawyer when

The recipient is an investor, a financier, or anyone whose money you are asking for. Investment paperwork has its own rules.
The recipient is a company that will want the obligations to run both ways.
You are the one receiving confidential material, not giving it.
The recipient is a journalist, a public official, or anyone with a duty to disclose.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

Sign it before the conversation, not after.
The recipient's address and, if they are a company, the company's name and the signer's title are filled in.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Credit Agreement

For the specific promise of a credit: 'Associate Producer', 'Special Thanks', 'Music by'. The performer and crew agreements leave credit entirely to your discretion; this document is the one that actually commits you to a named credit, on screen, and it pairs that promise with an ownership clause so the credited person's contribution is yours. Use it for anyone promised a credit who is not otherwise under contract, or alongside their contract when the credit is a real term of the deal.

Who signs: Company and Artist, optionally through a loan-out company.

What the clauses mean

Conditions precedent: Nothing is owed until the artist has signed.
Credit: The artist gets the credit you write in, on screen, in every copy of the film, provided they are not in breach and subject to the distributor's credit policies. Its size, placement, and form are your call, as is whether it appears in the billing block or in ads. Accidentally missing it is not a breach, and nor is a third party leaving it off. So the promise is real but the remedy is thin: see 'Remedies'.
Results and proceeds: Everything the person creates for the project belongs to the company from the moment it exists, as a work made for hire, and if a court ever says it is not, the clause assigns it anyway. It also waives so-called moral rights and covers technologies and media that do not exist yet. This is the clause that gives you the right to sell the film.
Name and likeness: The company can use the person's name, face, voice, and biography to promote the film, forever, in any medium, without paying more. Trailers, posters, behind the scenes footage, and press kits all fall under this. It does not let you make a digital replica of them for a new performance they never gave without their separate written consent.
Non-union: The services are not subject to any union agreement.
Further documents: They will sign whatever is needed to confirm your ownership, and if they do not, you may sign for them.
Remedies: If the company breaks the agreement, the other side can sue for money but cannot stop the film. No court order halting the shoot, the edit, or the release. Almost every agreement in this packet has this, and it is the single clause a distributor or insurer will look for first, because it is what makes the film deliverable. Applied to a credit, that means a missing credit can be worth money but can never hold up the film.
Loan-out: If they work through their own company, both are bound, and any payment goes to that company.
Confidentiality: The other side agrees not to talk about the project, the company, or anything non-public they learn, and that includes social media. It lasts indefinitely. They also need your permission for interviews or publicity about the project. Public information and what they already knew are not covered, and nothing in it stops them reporting to a government agency, answering a subpoena, talking to their own lawyer, discussing their pay, or speaking about harassment or assault where the law protects that.
Morals: Conduct that brings the artist or the film into disrepute lets you terminate and remove the credit.
Use of data: A privacy notice. The artist also agrees that you may collect and share personal data about them, and about relatives and associates they tell you about, including sensitive data such as health, ethnic origin, criminal history, and union membership. That is far more than a credit deal needs.
Warranties and indemnity: Their contribution is original and infringes nothing, they are free to sign, they are at least 18 if signing as an individual, and they cover your losses if not.
Assignment: The company can hand this agreement to someone else, such as a distributor or a buyer of the film, without asking. The other side cannot.
Governing law and disputes: Any dispute goes to private, binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, in your governing state, under JAMS rules. Not a court, not a jury, and not public. Whoever wins gets their reasonable legal fees paid by the other side. That last part cuts both ways: it discourages weak claims and it makes a real dispute more expensive to lose. A claim of sexual harassment or sexual assault can still go to court if the person bringing it chooses. In this document, the winner's fees are recovered only as far as the law and the JAMS minimum standards allow, and you pay any arbitration costs they require you to pay.

Get a lawyer when

The credit is a producer credit of any kind. Producer credits carry guild rules and expectations about money and control.
The credit is tied to a percentage, deferred pay, or any share of the film.
The person expects the credit in paid advertising, on the poster, or above the title.
You are using this to paper over work that should have had a proper agreement, such as a writer's or composer's.
Anyone under 18 is involved on either side.
The person or company signing has their own lawyer or their own paperwork.
Real money is at stake, on either side, relative to what you can afford to lose.
Anything is being crossed out, added, or changed by hand.

Before anyone signs

The credit text is written exactly as it should appear, punctuation included.
The effective date line reads '____, 20__' and needs the year written in full at signing.
The legal name of your entity is exact, and matches your bank account and state registration.
The governing state is the one you chose at intake and the one you will actually be in.
Every blank line and square bracket has been dealt with: filled in, struck through, or deliberately left for signing.
The date is written in at signing, not before.
You keep a signed copy. Once signed, this is your chain of title.

Questions we get asked

Before you buy

Is this legal advice?

No. These are standardized agreements prepared with your production's details filled in. CFA Institute does not represent you, does not review your production, and cannot tell you whether a particular agreement is right for your situation. We still suggest having legal counsel for your production; these templates do not replace that.

Do I actually need paperwork on a small short?

The two places it bites are ownership and distribution. A contributor who is not an employee keeps copyright in what they made unless they signed a written work-made-for-hire agreement. An invoice and a bank transfer do not do it. And any festival, sales agent or platform that takes the film will ask for signed releases and chain-of-title documents before they take it. Paperwork is cheaper before the shoot than after.

17 U.S.C. § 101, definition of "work made for hire"

How fast do I get the documents?

Documents are created and returned to you with your identifying information within 1-2 business days to your inbox, as one zip with a PDF and an editable Word version of each. The same zip stays available on your production page.

Choosing your options

Which state should I choose as the governing state?

Most productions choose the state they are shooting in. That is where the people, the locations and any dispute will be, and it avoids an argument about which law applies before you get to the argument you actually have. Courts generally honour a governing-law clause, but a state will not apply another state's law to sidestep its own wage and employment protections, so choosing a state with no connection to your production buys less than it looks like it does. If you are shooting in several states, pick the one where the most shooting days are.

Cornell LII, governing law

Should my LLC be the party, or me personally?

If you formed a company for the film, the company should be the party. That separation is most of the reason to have formed it. If you have not formed anything, you are personally the party to every agreement, which means personally on the hook under them. Either is workable for a short. Use the exact registered name either way, including the suffix your formation gave it: LLC, Inc., Corp., LLP and so on, exactly as it appears on your formation papers. A mismatch between the name on the agreement and the name on the bank account is the kind of detail that gets argued about later.

Why is the effective date blank?

Because an agreement is dated when it is signed, and we cannot know that date. Write it in by hand at signing and use the date the last person signs. Do not date it earlier than the day it was actually signed.

What do the square brackets like [day/week] mean?

They are a choice the attorney left for you: strike the one that does not apply before signing, or write the right word in. They appear where a term genuinely depends on your deal: a day rate versus a weekly rate, days versus months of equipment rental.

Cast and crew

Can I just call my crew independent contractors?

Not by writing it in the agreement. Whether someone is an employee or a contractor is set by state law and by what actually happens on set. California applies an ABC test under AB5, and production crew rarely pass it. Camera, grip, electric and production staff are doing work squarely within a production company's usual course of business. That is why the crew agreement in this packet is written as an employment deal memo. If a crew member is misclassified, the production can owe back wages, overtime and penalties under state law, whatever the agreement called them.

Any state named here is an example, not a substitute for your own. State law decides this, so check the rules where you are shooting.

California Labor & Workforce Development Agency, employment status

One of my performers is under 18. Can I use the performer agreement?

No. The performer agreement in this packet is written for adults, and a parent's signature alone may not make a minor's agreement stick, because minors can generally disaffirm contracts. Some states let a court approve a minor's employment contract so it cannot be disaffirmed (California, New York and Florida among them), and several require a share of earnings to go into a blocked trust account (California, New York, Illinois, Louisiana and New Mexico among them). Take advice in your state before the shoot day.

Any state named here is an example, not a substitute for your own. State law decides this, so check the rules where you are shooting.

California Family Code § 6750 (the Coogan Law)

What is the crowd notice for, and where does it go?

It is the sign you post at the edge of a public area you are filming, telling people that being in the area means they may appear in the film. It is not a substitute for a signed personal release from anyone recognisable who actually matters to a scene. Post it where people enter, before they enter. A notice nobody could have read does no work.

Do I need a release from someone who is just walking past?

Usually not for genuinely incidental background, which is what the crowd notice covers. You do want a signed personal release from anyone recognisable whose appearance matters: a featured extra, a passer-by you direct, anyone the camera lingers on. The right to control commercial use of a person's name, image and voice is state law and differs sharply: around eighteen states have a statute and around eleven recognise it at common law, and New York's is narrow and statutory only.

Any state named here is an example, not a substitute for your own. State law decides this, so check the rules where you are shooting.

CLIR, Appendix B: state statutes concerning rights of publicity

Locations and property

Who has to sign the location agreement?

Someone with authority to let you shoot there: the owner, or a manager who can bind the owner. A tenant usually cannot grant it alone, and a signature from someone who did not have the authority may leave the location agreement not binding the owner. If you are not sure, ask who owns the building and get them on the paper.

Which location agreement do I use: fee or no fee, deposit or no deposit?

Match the document to the deal. If you are paying for the location, use a fee version; if the owner is letting you shoot for nothing, use a no-fee version, which recites the consideration differently rather than leaving a blank dollar figure in a signed contract. Use a deposit version only if you are actually leaving a security deposit. Those versions set out when it comes back.

Does a location agreement cover the permit?

No. A location agreement is between you and whoever controls the property. Permits, street closures, parking and police or fire requirements come from the city or county film office and are separate. So is insurance: most location owners will ask for a certificate naming them, and this service does not provide insurance.

Ownership and credit

Does paying someone mean I own what they made?

No. For a contributor who is not your employee, a contribution to a film is a work made for hire only if the parties expressly agree so in a written instrument signed by them. Without that signed writing the contributor keeps their copyright, however much you paid. This is the single most common gap in a first film's paperwork, and it surfaces years later when someone wants to license the film.

17 U.S.C. § 101, definition of "work made for hire"

After delivery

Do you handle signatures?

No. CFA does not route, witness or store signed documents. You download the PDFs and get them signed yourself, however you normally do it.

What if I need to change something after delivery?

Every agreement is delivered as an editable Word file. Add each person's name, role and rate in the Word file yourself; the guide shows where. If a production-level detail is wrong (the entity, the signatory, the title, the dates), write to agreements@cinematographyforactors.com from the address you ordered with, name the production, and say what needs to change.

Still not legal advice. We still suggest having legal counsel for your production; these templates do not replace that.