Picture Editing Contract Template

[Mark Suszko]

How about this blast from the past?

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/17/865818

[Alex Brueckner]

Hahaha, that is exactly what I am aiming to avoid!

[Richard Herd]

To be real, there is no actual market for short films, meaning the producer/financier will not make any investment back. I do these projects as follows. Number 1: Do I like and trust this person and or the project? If so, then I will work at a discount, but still get paid real money. That’s a negotiation. Number 2: how much footage is there? If there is 1 minute of footage, then it will take 1 minute to just watch it, and I haven’t even made a cut. Number 3: I work like this Assemble Edit, client review, and I get paid, or I don’t move on. Number 4. Rough Cut, client review, I get paid, or I don’t move on. Number 5. Final Cut/Audio/Color: client review, I get paid.

Things can work out well. Won an award for best comedy short doing it this way. No contract but very real conversations and lots of trust, and we used the money for a pretty decent Christmas 🙂

Often times these microbudget projects are deferred compensation, so don’t do that, ever. And when they ask why not say “Editing is not the most important part of the movie. IT IS THE MOVIE! If you want me to finish your movie, then those are my terms.”

Also I just give the footage and project files and drive (the whole thing, “here you go”) back because honestly I don’t want them. I do keep a copy of the finished export though.

Oh yeah: that person also needs to buy a drive that’s fast and needs to dump all the footage onto it, and then also keep a copy of the footage at their house. I also upload my project files to google drive, so if something goes horribly wrong, then I can always grab the latest file and get the footage back. The client needs to understand also that they carry the risk of hard drive failure not you.

Good luck! Have fun!

[Mark Suszko]

Do not give away project files.
Do not give away project files.
Do not give away project files.
Do not give away project files.
Do not give away project files.

That is proprietary “secret sauce”, like giving away your special family recipe. Do that, and they can re-edit as much as they like, without you. The idea, from a business sense, is to have them come back to you for more work, and for any changes. Why would you ever give up or give for free, the very thing that forces them to come back to you? If they insist on having those files too, they’re basically telling you this is a one time only job and they aren’t coming back, so bill extra for giving away the secret sauce. Call it tuition for training the guy or gal they picked to replace you.

[Mads Nybo jørgensen]

[Richard Herd] “To be real, there is no actual market for short films, meaning the producer/financier will not make any investment back.”

So true.

More to the point, why are you having to draw up the contract, and not the production? Should this not be covered by the producer?

Although that there are many templates out there, the best one for a short is to keep it simple.

Remember to indemnify yourself against destroyed footage and missed deadlines.

All the Best
Mads

@madsvid, London, UK
Check out my other hangouts:
Twitter: @madsvid
https://mads-thinkingoutloud.blogspot.co.uk

[Richard Herd]

I know that is a refrain often repeated around here, but the risk/reward scenario is absurd for microbudget short films. Here’s what actually happened/happens: The client knows who did what and how well it turned out, so when they need something they call me back. In other situations, the Avid project file is the deliverable.

Micro budget short film is a one-time thing. Once it’s done, it’s in the Withoutabox.com stuffs, and there is no more editorial.

[Richard Herd]

[Mads Nybo Jørgensen] “keep it simple”

Simple as cash on the barrel head 😉

[Alex Brueckner]

It’s a situation where this is not a professional production, and I sense it will be a handshake type deal. I wouldn’t touch this project unless there was a contract, because it’s the kind of thing that could easily spiral out of control without writing to back it up.

That being said, I think I’m going to pass on this project for the above reasons. I wanted to take on a short since I have the time, but this one doesn’t seem worth the potential hassle and loss of availability.

Thanks to everyone who replied! There is some good advice in here so I’m going to mark it down for the next time.

[Scott Cumbo]

I never got that “don’t give the project file” thing.
If I was a client and someone refused to give me
The project file of something I paid you to cut, I would never work with you again out of general principle.

As an editor though, I would just give it if asked, and if they
Want to go somewhere else for revisions than good luck because obviously they weren’t happy with my work.

Scott Cumbo
Lead Editor
Bellator MMA/Spike TV

[Walter Biscardi]

[Scott Cumbo] “I never got that “don’t give the project file” thing.
If I was a client and someone refused to give me
The project file of something I paid you to cut, I would never work with you again out of general principle. “

No professionals I know give the project files to the client as part of a standard freelance contract unless you are working in their facility on their equipment. That’s your work. The client is paying me for the finished master and all the raw materials. Not the project file.

If the client wants the project files, it’s an extra $1000 or extra $150/hour whichever is more.

It’s not that they can take your work elsewhere for revising because they’re unhappy with your work. They can simply use your work as a template for someone cheaper to come along and replicate what you did with other projects. That’s the main reason we don’t give project files away and never have in 12 years of business.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

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