Template
A photo and video services agreement, in plain English
10 min read · Reviewed September 2026
Contents
The first three years I shot professionally, I worked off text messages and good faith. It worked until it did not. A contract is not about distrust; it is about both people remembering the same deal in four months. This is the structure I use, written so a client can read it without a lawyer, which is the point. The full version is a download at the bottom, in Word so you can actually fill it in.
This is a starting point, not legal advice. I am a photographer, not an attorney. Laws differ by state and by the kind of work you do. Have a lawyer licensed where you work review this before you use it on a real job, especially the liability, cancellation and copyright sections.
What every agreement has to answer
Before the language, the substance. If your agreement answers these nine questions clearly, the exact wording matters far less than people think.
- Who is hiring whom, with real legal names and addresses.
- Exactly what is being delivered: how many images, how long the film is, what format, by when.
- What it costs, when each part is paid, and what happens if it is not.
- What happens if either side cancels, at various distances from the date.
- Who owns the copyright, and exactly what the client is allowed to do with the files.
- Whether you can show the work in your portfolio.
- What happens if you are ill, in a crash, or your card fails.
- How much you are on the hook for if something goes badly wrong.
- Who else can be there, and what you need from the venue or site.
Two moves in here worth stealing
Coverage window, not date and time. Section 2 of the template says Coverage Window on purpose. It makes your call time unambiguous and stops a nine o'clock doors-open time turning into an argument about when your clock started. I started doing this after a club night where doors and my call time were five hours apart.
The visible discount. Section 4 prints your standard rate, crosses it out, and names the reason for the courtesy price. A silent discount teaches a client your work costs less. A visible one documents the real number, makes the deal read as generosity, and hands you a written anchor for booking two.
Never discount silently. Show the real rate, cross it out, and name the reason.
The section list
| Section | What it settles |
|---|---|
| 1. Parties | Legal names and entities, not the nickname of whoever texted you |
| 2. Event and coverage details | Venue, date, coverage window, arrival, day-of contact |
| 3. Package and deliverables | What arrives, and an explicit list of what does not |
| 4. Rate breakdown and discount | Standard column, charged column, named reason |
| 5. Payment terms | Retainer, balance, methods, late fees, expenses |
| 6. Timeline and delivery | Preview set, full delivery date, how long the gallery lives |
| 7. Revisions | One round included, what a round covers, price of another |
| 8. Optional add-ons | Extra hours, rush, raw files, second shooter |
| 9. Cancellation and rescheduling | Both directions, including what happens if you cannot perform |
| 10. Copyright and usage | Who owns it, what they may do, portfolio rights, opt-out |
| 11. On the day | Access, meals, venue rules, whose job the permit is |
| 12. Limit of responsibility | The four lines that cap your exposure |
| 13. General terms | Whole agreement, changes in writing, governing state |
| 14. Signatures | Both parties, printed and signed, dated |
Where people get burned
- No retainer. If the date is not paid for, it is not booked, and you will find that out in the worst possible week.
- Non-refundable is a word that has to actually be in there, and the retainer has to be genuinely a fee for reserving the date, not a deposit you are holding.
- Unlimited liability. Section 12 is four lines and it is the most important paragraph in the document.
- Vague delivery. Some photos, soon is how a client ends up expecting 900 images in a week.
- No portfolio clause. Then you shoot the best work of your year and cannot show anyone.
- Forgetting the meal clause on long jobs. It sounds petty in writing and it is not petty at hour seven.
Send it as a PDF with an e-signature link, not as an attachment to argue about. Any of the common e-sign tools costs less per month than one unpaid balance.
Use it under your own name. Download the Word version, put your business at the top, delete my footer, and send it as yours. You do not need to credit me or ask permission. The only thing I would ask is that you do not resell it as your own template product.
Take it with you
Word + PDF
Services agreement
Fourteen sections across ten pages. Take the Word file to fill in and the PDF to read first. Yours to change and send under your own name.
Suubi hires second shooters and editors from time to time.
Templates here are starting points, not legal advice. Have a lawyer licensed in your state review anything you plan to sign.