Videography Contract: What Video Producers Should Put in Writing

Crews, locations, weather, music licensing and raw footage all create room for misunderstanding. A videography contract has to cover the shoot and the edit as two separate phases.

• Shoot: dates, hours, locations, crew, overtime rate.
• Deliverables: final length, number of cuts (e.g. one 2-minute film plus three 30-second social cuts), resolution and formats.
• Revisions: rounds included per cut.
• Raw footage: whether it's delivered, and at what price.
• Music and stock: who pays for licences.
• Rescheduling and cancellation: fees for late changes, weather policy.

Clients often assume they get everything that was filmed. State clearly that the deliverable is the edited film, and offer raw files as a paid add-on if you're willing to.

Start from the videography contract or the video editing retainer. Draft it now with Clinch: describe the job in a sentence, get a clean draft, send one link. Your client signs from their phone without an account, and the deposit is paid in the same step.