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Releases for minors, client not responding
I’m doing a video for a client who puts on ‘princess parties’ for little girls, and wants a promotional video on her service featuring one of these parties, which she can publish on Youtube. I told her she is going to want to have all the parents sign releases before publishing the video. She isn’t responding on this. I just wondered how much I should press this, if for any reason she doesn’t want to ask the parents to sign a release, doesn’t want to get into it, or whatever the reason she isn’t responding? I’d be grateful for any feedback.
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6 Replies
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My guess is, if you haven’t already started production for her, that she is looking elsewhere for someone who has a better answer for her. Just hope that she hasn’t responded because she is busy. If not, and she refuses to get parental releases, run the other way. Then you can contact her in prison soon after she releases the video and the parents see it. It appears that as videos become more widely spread, the laws governing them are narrowing. The AP has pretty specific best practices (however, they’re a news organization):
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
Thanks a lot Joe, and thanks for the AP guidelines link too. I heard from another source who also said the releases are very important, and another person who suggested I have the client sign a contract indemnifying me from any liability. At this point I feel like requiring the releases, and offering to draft them for her, is the best course. Just let me know if you or anyone else has any more feedback, or know of a good source of boilerplate releases, especially involving minors, and/or where both the videographer and the client are released from liability.
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This shouldn’t have been a problem. All she needed in her contract to do the parties was a permission clause for this, and a sign-in sheet at the door for each kid’s guardian or parent dropping them off, or, it could be included in the invitations. Even if she didn’t do this before, she could easily add this to her next gig, and then you could shoot whatever you need.
If she ignored your caution and went elsewhere, you’re better off, really. It only helps your rep to be known as somebody who “plays by the rules”.
Catered Princess parties are still a thing? I thought that died off 2 years ago. It did around my town, anyhow.
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Neil –
Here’s a link to a boilerplate release for the parent(s) of talent:
https://www.videouniversity.com/rel/relmin.rtf
General procedure when you’re going on a shoot is to have a small stack of releases (standard and parental – actually, my releases have a line item for the parental signature – if it applies).
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
Much appreciated, Mark. It turns out it was just an oversight, and she had actually addressed this issue. She said the releases were part of the agreement with the customer and she has already communicated to her parents that their child could not attend without the signed form. Sorry for the apparently unnecessary questions but your feedback as well as everyone else’s was still a great help!
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Thank you for the great link, Joe!
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