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Templates / Brand & commercial

Commercial photography contract template

Business clients, usage terms that matter, and an invoice with real payment terms.

Commercial licence · usage term45 questions44 clauses6 sections

What you decide

The template asks these questions, in 6 sections. Your answers set the numbers in the document and switch whole clauses on and off.

The shoot

  • Hours of coverage
  • Start time
  • A second shooter is included
  • The client is providing art direction

Rights and use

  • Commercial licence runs for
  • The licence is exclusive to the client's industry
  • Licensed for
  • I may show this work in my portfolio. Website, social media, and submissions. Off means a private shoot.
  • Include a model release. Written permission to use the client's likeness in the ways above.
  • Ask for a credit when the client posts

What the client gets

  • The client receives
  • Guarantee a number of images. Off promises a best-effort gallery with no minimum count.
  • Images delivered
  • Delivered within
  • Online gallery stays live for
  • The client provides a shot list. Turns on a clause about when it is due and what it commits you to.
  • Shot list due
  • Retouching included

Money

  • Total fee. The full amount for the work described here, before any add-ons.
  • Take a deposit to confirm the booking. Applied against the fee. The usual way to lock the date on a commercial job.
  • Deposit is
  • Deposit percentage
  • Deposit amount
  • Deposit due
  • Deposit is refundable. Off is standard — the deposit compensates for the date being held.
  • Balance due
  • Charge a late fee on overdue payments
  • Late fee is
  • Late fee per month
  • Late fee
  • Grace period before it applies

If plans change

  • Charge a cancellation fee. Beyond keeping the deposit. Covers work already done and the date lost.
  • Cancellation fee is
  • Cancellation fee
  • Cancellation fee
  • Applies to cancellations within. Cancel earlier than this and only the deposit is kept.
  • Allow one free reschedule
  • Notice required to reschedule
  • Charge a kill fee if the shoot is cancelled after prep. Covers pre-production once the date is held. Off leaves cancellation as written above.
  • Kill fee

Extras

  • Travel is billed separately
  • Travel fee
  • Offer overtime beyond the booked hours
  • Overtime rate per hour
  • Anything else. Added to the agreement as a final clause, in your words.

What the agreement covers

Every clause this template can produce, in the order it appears. Clauses with a condition only appear when your answers call for them, so no document carries a term that contradicts another.

  • The booking
  • Second shooterAppears when “A second shooter is included” is on.
  • Art directionAppears when “The client is providing art direction” is on.
  • What is deliveredAppears when “Guarantee a number of images” is on.
  • What is deliveredAppears when “Guarantee a number of images” is off.
  • EditingAppears when “Retouching included” is anything other than “no retouching — straight edits only”.
  • RAW filesAppears when “The client receives” is “unedited RAW files”.
  • RAW filesAppears when “The client receives” is “edited digital images and the RAW files”.
  • Gallery availability
  • Shot listAppears when “The client provides a shot list” is on.
  • Creative directionAppears when “The client provides a shot list” is off.
  • Fee
  • DepositAppears when “Take a deposit to confirm the booking” is on and “Deposit is” is “a percentage of the total”.
  • DepositAppears when “Take a deposit to confirm the booking” is on and “Deposit is” is “a fixed amount”.
  • The deposit is non-refundableAppears when “Take a deposit to confirm the booking” is on and “Deposit is refundable” is off.
  • Refund of the depositAppears when “Take a deposit to confirm the booking” is on and “Deposit is refundable” is on.
  • Balance
  • Late paymentAppears when “Charge a late fee on overdue payments” is on and “Late fee is” is “a percentage per month”.
  • Late paymentAppears when “Charge a late fee on overdue payments” is on and “Late fee is” is “a flat amount”.
  • TravelAppears when “Travel is billed separately” is on.
  • OvertimeAppears when “Offer overtime beyond the booked hours” is on.
  • CancellationAppears when “Charge a cancellation fee” is on and “Cancellation fee is” is “a percentage of the total”.
  • CancellationAppears when “Charge a cancellation fee” is on and “Cancellation fee is” is “a fixed amount”.
  • CancellationAppears when “Charge a cancellation fee” is off.
  • ReschedulingAppears when “Allow one free reschedule” is on.
  • Circumstances beyond control
  • WeatherAppears when “outdoor” is on.
  • Kill feeAppears when “Charge a kill fee if the shoot is cancelled after prep” is on.
  • Commercial licence
  • ExclusivityAppears when “The licence is exclusive to the client's industry” is on.
  • Third-party rights
  • Copyright
  • Portfolio and promotionAppears when “I may show this work in my portfolio” is on.
  • Private shootAppears when “I may show this work in my portfolio” is off.
  • Model releaseAppears when “Include a model release” is on and “I may show this work in my portfolio” is on.
  • Consent and likenessAppears when “Include a model release” is on and “I may show this work in my portfolio” is off.
  • CreditAppears when “Ask for a credit when the client posts” is on.
  • Cooperation and access
  • Safety and conduct
  • Files and loss
  • Additional termsAppears when you fill in “Anything else”.
  • The whole agreement
  • Signaturesalways included
  • About this documentalways included

Fill it in. Send the link.

This is not a file to download. You answer the questions inside Cue, your client reads and signs on their phone, and the sealed record keeps the audit trail. Cue is not a law firm; have a lawyer read your terms before you rely on them.

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