Brand deal contract checklist

Most first brand contracts arrive as the brand's own template, and brands write templates to protect themselves. You can ask for changes, and you should. The clauses below decide how much work you owe, when you get paid, and what the brand can do with your content after the post goes live.

This page is general information, not legal advice. For a deal worth more than a few thousand dollars, or any contract that asks you to give up ownership of your content, pay a lawyer to read it before you sign.

What does a brand deal contract need to cover?

A brand deal contract needs about a dozen clauses, and each one either sets your workload or limits what the brand can do with your content. Use this table as a checklist. If a clause is missing from the brand's draft, add it.

Clause	What to ask for
Deliverables	Exact formats, counts, lengths, and platforms
Approval rounds	Two rounds of revisions, with extra rounds billed
Posting dates	A window both sides must agree to move
Payment terms	A fixed amount, a due date, and a late fee
Kill fee	Payment for work done if the brand cancels
Usage rights	Organic reposting only, for a set number of months
Paid usage	A separate fee and end date for ads using your content
Exclusivity	Named competitors, a short period, and its own fee
Morality clause	Mutual, with a defined trigger
Ownership	A license, never a transfer of copyright
FTC compliance	Disclosure wording agreed in advance
Termination	Written notice and payment for work already done

Marketplaces such as Collabstr, Insense, and TikTok One have their own terms of service, and those terms apply to every deal you take there. Read them with this same checklist before you accept an order.

How should the contract describe deliverables?

The deliverables clause should name every piece of content you owe, down to the platform, format, length, and number of Story frames or links. Vague wording such as "social content across Creator's channels" lets a brand ask for more after you sign. Spell it out.

Creator will deliver one Instagram Reel of 30 to 60 seconds and three Instagram Story frames with a link sticker, posted to @yourhandle. Any additional content requires a written change order and an additional fee.

Check whether the brand also wants raw footage. Raw clips let the brand cut new ads from your face and voice, so treat them as a separate deliverable with its own price. Our rate guide and rate calculator cover how to price add-ons like this.

How many approval rounds should you agree to?

Two rounds of revisions is a fair cap for a single post, and the contract should say what happens after that. Without a cap, a brand can keep asking for edits until your posting date slips. Give the brand a response deadline too, so a silent inbox does not stall the deal.

Brand may request up to two rounds of revisions. Brand will send feedback within three business days of receiving each draft. If Brand does not respond in that time, the draft is approved. Further revision rounds are billed at $[amount] per round.

Approval rights also affect how you label the post. The UK's Advertising Standards Authority says in its influencers' guide that a brand's right to approve content or ask for changes can count as editorial control, which can make the post an ad under the CAP Code. Our disclosure guide covers the labels.

When should posting dates and payment be due?

Posting dates should be a window that neither side can move alone, and payment should have a fixed due date that does not depend on the brand's internal approvals. A window of a few days gives you room for a reshoot. A fixed payment date stops the brand's finance team from pushing your money into next quarter.

Creator will publish the Deliverables between [date] and [date]. Either party may move this window only with the other party's written agreement.

Payment terms decide how long you wait for your money. Net 30 means the brand pays within 30 days of your invoice, and net 60 or net 90 means two or three months. Ask for part of the fee upfront, the rest on posting, and a late fee.

Brand will pay 50% of the Fee on signing and 50% within 15 days after the final Deliverable goes live. Unpaid invoices accrue a late fee of [rate]% per month after 30 days.

Our invoicing guide covers what to put on the invoice and how to chase a late payment.

What kill fee should you ask for?

A kill fee is the money a brand pays you if it cancels after you have started work. Without one, what a brand owes after cancelling depends on the rest of the contract and the law where you work, and you may have to fight for payment on scripting, filming, and editing already done. A kill fee puts the amount in writing. Tie it to how far along the work is.

If Brand cancels this Agreement for any reason other than Creator's breach, Brand will pay 50% of the Fee if it cancels after approving the brief, and 100% of the Fee if it cancels after Creator delivers the first draft.

How should usage rights and paid usage be limited?

Usage rights decide where and for how long a brand can reuse your content, and every grant should have an end date and a list of channels. Some templates grant use "in perpetuity, worldwide, in all media now known or hereafter devised." Cross that out.

Split usage into two kinds. Organic usage means the brand reposts or shares your content on its own accounts. Paid usage means the brand spends money to run your content as an ad, which is worth far more to the brand and should cost far more.

Creator grants Brand a non-exclusive license to repost the Deliverables on Brand's own social media accounts for six months from the first posting date. Any paid advertising use, including partnership ads, Spark Ads, or Brand's own ads, requires a separate written agreement and fee.

Whitelisting goes one step further, because the ad runs from your account under your name. Meta's partnership ad permissions page says a brand with account-level permission can create ads from your handle without any existing post, and can target or exclude your custom audiences. TikTok's Spark Ads article says a creator picks an authorization period of 7, 30, 60, or 365 days. Write the term and the ad types into the contract.

Creator will grant Brand content-level ad access to the Deliverables for 60 days for a fee of $[amount]. Brand may not create ads from Creator's handle using content Creator did not post. Extensions require written agreement and an additional fee.

Our usage rights and whitelisting guide explains how each permission works and how to price it.

Should the brand own your content or license it?

A license is almost always the better deal for a creator, because you keep the copyright and the brand gets only the uses the contract lists. Under 17 U.S.C. 204, a transfer of copyright ownership is not valid unless it is in writing and signed by the owner. That means the danger is in what you sign.

Watch for "work made for hire." The Copyright Office's Circular 30 says a commissioned work can be made for hire if it is part of an audiovisual work and both parties sign a written agreement saying so. The brand then counts as the author and the copyright owner, and you have nothing left to license.

Look for the words "assign," "work made for hire," and "all right, title, and interest." Any of them means you are selling the content outright. If the brand insists, charge a buyout price several times your base fee, and keep the right to show the work in your media kit.

Creator keeps all copyright in the Deliverables. Brand receives only the license described in Section [X]. Creator may display the Deliverables in Creator's portfolio and media kit.

How narrow should exclusivity be?

Exclusivity should name specific competitors, last a short time, and carry its own fee, because it stops you from taking other paid work. A clause like "no competing brands in the beauty category for 12 months" can block most of your income for the price of one post. Narrow both the scope and the length.

For 30 days after the first posting date, Creator will not publish sponsored content for [Competitor A], [Competitor B], or [Competitor C]. This does not apply to content published before the Effective Date or to unpaid content.

If a brand wants a longer or broader restriction, price it as the deals you would have to turn down during that period.

What should morality, FTC, and termination clauses say?

Morality, FTC compliance, and termination clauses decide who can end the deal early and on what grounds. Read them together, because a vague morality clause is a termination clause in disguise.

Morality clause

A morality clause lets the brand end the deal if you do something that damages its reputation. The risk is wording so broad that the brand can cancel over any post it dislikes. Ask for a defined trigger, and make it mutual so you can leave if the brand lands in a scandal.

Either party may terminate this Agreement if the other party is charged with a crime or engages in widely reported conduct that brings that party into public disrepute. Termination under this section does not affect payment for Deliverables already published.

FTC compliance clause

An FTC compliance clause sets the disclosure each post must carry, and it protects you as much as the brand. The FTC's Endorsement Guides say advertisers are liable for misleading endorsements and should guide and monitor their endorsers. The FTC's FAQ says it may act against an individual influencer who fails to disclose after warnings.

Creator will disclose the material connection with Brand at the start of each Deliverable, using the platform's paid partnership tool and the word "ad" in the caption and on screen. Brand will not ask Creator to remove or obscure any disclosure.

Termination

A termination clause says how either side ends the deal and what you are owed when it ends. Ask for written notice, payment for completed work, and an end date for any ads already running.

Either party may terminate this Agreement with 14 days' written notice. On termination, Brand will pay for all Deliverables completed or delivered, and Brand will stop running paid ads that use Creator's content within five business days.

How do you ask for changes to a brand contract?

You ask for changes by marking up the brand's draft and sending a short email that lists each edit and the reason for it. Keep the tone plain and businesslike. A brand that refuses every edit is telling you how the rest of the deal will go.

1. Read the whole contract and highlight every number, every date, and the words "perpetual," "exclusive," "assign," and "all media."
2. Compare each clause with the checklist table at the top of this page.
3. Send your edits as tracked changes, with one sentence explaining each.
4. Get the final version signed by both sides before you film anything.
5. Save the signed contract with the brief, so your invoice can reference both.

Be wary of any "brand" that wants you to skip the contract, sign within the hour, or deposit a check before you have done any work. Those are signs of a fake brand deal. If you are still looking for your first real one, start with how to get brand deals and how to pitch brands.