Terms and conditions for a videographer

A videographer needs terms that answer the questions clients ask after the invoice: who owns the film, what they may do with it, how many rounds of edits were included, and what happens when a date moves or a camera dies. I draft customer terms around how you actually shoot and deliver, for a fixed fee of £995 in five working days. If you already have terms, I will review and mark them up for £495.

Who this is for

Wedding and event videographers, corporate and brand film makers, property and social content shooters, and one-person production companies in England and Wales, trading as sole traders or limited companies. Most take work from both consumers, such as couples and families, and businesses, such as agencies, venues and marketing departments. The law treats those two groups differently, so the terms need to handle both.

What matters in a videographer's terms

Licence or assignment, and what the client may do with the film

Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 the copyright in footage you shoot as a freelancer stays with you unless you assign it in writing. Clients routinely assume the opposite. The terms should grant a defined licence instead: which media, which territory, for how long, whether the client may re-edit or cut the film into other content, whether group companies and distributors are covered, and whether you keep the right to use the work in your portfolio and showreel. A couple posting a wedding film and an agency running a brand film as paid advertising need very different wording.

Booking fees, postponement and cancellation charges

You sell dates, and a date given away cannot be resold once it has passed. A booking fee that secures the date, with a defined scale of charges as the date approaches, is the only sensible structure. Against consumers the Consumer Rights Act 2015 matters twice over: the grey list treats disproportionate default charges and keeping prepayments on cancellation without a matching obligation on you as potentially unfair, and unfair terms do not bind the consumer. Deal with postponement separately from cancellation, and say whether a new date must be within a defined period and subject to your availability.

Fourteen-day cancellation rights on consumer bookings

Bookings agreed online, by phone or at the client's home or venue fall within the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, which give a consumer fourteen days to cancel. Where you begin filming or editing in that period at the consumer's express request and they then cancel, they pay a proportionate amount; where there was no express request, they pay nothing at all. If you deliver films as downloads rather than on a physical medium, supply within the period needs the consumer's express consent and their acknowledgement that the cancellation right is lost. Missing cancellation information extends the period by up to twelve months.

Revisions, approval and the final balance

The usual editing dispute is a client who treats 'one more small change' as included indefinitely. The terms should define the deliverables, including running time, formats and any social cut-downs, the number of revision rounds, what counts as a revision rather than a fresh brief, and how long the client has to approve before the edit is treated as accepted. Release of the final files should be tied to payment of the balance. For business clients, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives statutory interest and fixed compensation on overdue invoices, and your own interest term only displaces it if it is a substantial remedy.

Location access, permissions and third-party content

Venues refuse access, registrars restrict filming during ceremonies, building managers demand insurance documents, and aerial work depends on permissions and conditions on the day. The terms should put responsibility on the client for securing venue permission, access at the agreed times, power and parking, and for clearing anything they ask you to include: logos, brand assets, licensed music, stock footage and previously shot material. Where people who are filmed need to consent, say who is obtaining that. If the client supplies a track, the terms should require them to confirm they hold the rights and to stand behind that confirmation.

What you promise if the shoot or the footage fails

Cameras fail, cards corrupt, and operators fall ill on the morning of an event that cannot be staged again. The terms should say what you do about it, such as backup bodies, dual card recording, offsite copies and a substitute operator of comparable experience, and what your financial exposure is if the film cannot be delivered. For business clients, exclusions and limits of liability in your written standard terms are tested for reasonableness under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, which applies to business dealings rather than consumer ones. Against consumers the Consumer Rights Act 2015 prevents limiting liability for a service below the price, and liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence can never be excluded.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

Should the client get the raw footage?

That is a drafting choice worth making deliberately. The terms should state whether unedited rushes form part of the deliverables, in what format, and how long you keep them before they are deleted. Most videographers licence the edited film only and archive rushes for a defined period. Whichever you choose, put it in writing so the request three months after delivery is answered by the contract.

Can I still use the work in my showreel?

That depends on what your terms reserve. Where you licence rather than assign, the terms should expressly keep your right to use stills and clips on your website, portfolio and social channels. Some corporate and private clients have confidentiality or embargo reasons to restrict that, so the terms should allow a restriction to be recorded in writing when the booking is made.

Do I need separate terms for couples and for corporate clients?

One set can serve both, provided it contains a section that applies only where the client is a consumer, covering cancellation rights and the protections they cannot sign away. What fails is a commercial document handed to a couple, because the parts you rely on most, the cancellation charges and the liability cap, are the parts a court will not enforce against them.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Terms and conditions for a mobile hairdresser or beautician
• Terms and conditions for a personal trainer

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.