What you get, in writing
Every job runs on the same set of promises. This is all of them in one place, so nothing about working together comes as a surprise halfway through.
Where your quote says something different to this, the quote wins.
Before you book
The quote is free, it is in writing, and it is the spec.
Every enquiry gets a written quote with the day on site, each deliverable, travel and turnaround set out as their own lines. You can see exactly what you are buying and drop anything you do not need. No charge, no obligation, and it holds for 30 days.
I aim to get it back to you the same day.
Most go out within a few hours. If I am on a shoot and it is going to take longer than that, you will hear it from me the same day rather than sitting there wondering.
I will tell you if I am the wrong person for it.
I do not shoot weddings and I do not fly a drone. If a job needs either of those, or it needs a crew and a producer rather than one person, I will say so and point you at someone better. That conversation is free too.
Booking and money
A deposit holds your date.
If I am holding a shoot date for you, a deposit is what holds it, and the amount is on your quote before you agree to anything. It comes off the final invoice, so it is not extra money, it is earlier money. Edit-only work has no date to hold, so there is no deposit on it. Dates go to whoever confirms first, and if someone else is about to take a date you are considering I will give you the chance to confirm it first.
Prices are in New Zealand dollars and no GST is added.
I am not currently GST registered, so the number on the quote is the number you pay.
Invoices are due within 14 days.
Anything still unpaid 14 days past that may carry interest at 1.5% a month, along with reasonable recovery costs. It is written on the quote before you agree to anything, not raised afterwards.
Overtime is a number on the page, not a conversation at eleven at night.
Past the quoted hours it is $90 an hour. If a day is going to run over I will tell you while there is still time to decide what you want to do about it.
Travel beyond 50 km goes in as its own line.
Auckland-wide is covered in the quote. Anything further, including flights and accommodation, is priced separately and visibly.
On the day
I turn up early and stay out of the way.
I find the room myself, work out power and sight lines before anything starts, and work with your AV team rather than around them. Nobody on your side should be managing me.
I carry $2,000,000 of public liability cover.
My equipment is insured separately. Most venues and corporate floors want a certificate on file before you are allowed on site, and it goes out on request.
What I need from you.
Access at the agreed call time, one named person on site who can make decisions, and anything promised in the brief such as a run sheet or a feed off the AV desk. If something is not made available on the day it cannot appear in the finished work, and the quote stands.
The edit
You get a delivery date in writing before the shoot.
A date, agreed up front, not an estimate offered afterwards. Standard turnaround is one to two weeks for a full edit and about a week for social cuts. Priority is next working day to three working days, arranged when the job is booked rather than asked for on the night.
Two rounds of changes are included.
Most jobs never use the second one. A round is one written list, from the person named on the quote, sent within ten working days of the cut landing with you.
Trims and timing, swapping a shot for another from the same footage, text and caption fixes, colour and sound adjustments, and music changes from the tracks already discussed.
A different structure, a different runtime or aspect ratio, new footage, a new music direction, or notes from someone who has not been involved up to that point.
Anything in the right-hand column is quoted before a minute of work happens, so nothing gets charged without you agreeing to it first. Each round moves the delivery date by the time it takes.
A recap is a selection, not a record.
It is built to give someone who was not there a feel for what it was, which means it will not contain every speaker, session or award. If specific people or moments have to be in the finished film, list them before the shoot rather than after it.
Delivery
Graded, ready to post, no watermarks.
A 16:9 master, plus vertical and square versions where they are part of the job. Captions burned in or as a separate file, whichever suits where it is going.
Files come by private link.
Live for the window named on your quote, starting the moment the upload finishes. Download them and keep your own copy, because the link will not normally be extended and a later re-supply is chargeable.
Your footage and your rights
You can use what I deliver, permanently, once the invoice is paid.
I hold the copyright and you get a licence. Unless your quote says otherwise, that licence covers your own website, your social channels, internal use, and paid promotion of your own business, worldwide, with no time limit.
Broadcast television, cinema and placements inside streaming services need clearing separately, because of how the music is licensed. Say so at the quote stage and it gets built in properly.
Under section 21(3) of the Copyright Act 1994 a client who commissions a video owns the copyright by default. This is a deliberate written agreement to the contrary, which that section allows. If you need outright ownership, that is an assignment rather than a licence, and it can be agreed before the job starts.
Raw footage is not part of the delivery.
It goes on the quote as its own line if you want it, and it is worth asking before the shoot rather than after. It is unsorted, ungraded clips straight off the card, so it will not resemble the finished video. All the colour comes from the edit.
I hold the raw footage for 90 days after delivery.
After that it may be cleared off the drives. If you want it held longer than that, say so at the quote stage and it can be arranged. If there is any chance you will want more out of the shoot later, it is much easier sorted early than late.
A credit where the format allows it.
Not on everything, and never at the cost of the piece working.
I show finished work in my portfolio unless you ask me not to.
If a job is confidential, embargoed until a launch, or internal only, tell me and it stays off. Ask at any time and it comes off my own site and channels within ten working days. Anything already sent out or embedded elsewhere cannot always be recalled, and I will be straight with you about which is which.
People on camera
Anyone recognisable should know what the footage is for.
I supply release forms on request and use them as standard where anyone vulnerable is on camera. Telling participants what is being filmed and where it will be used is yours to arrange, along with permission to film at the venue, unless the quote says otherwise.
Anyone can change their mind.
Before delivery they come out of the edit and there is no charge for it. After delivery it is quoted as a re-edit, and it depends on the footage and project files still existing, which is another reason the 90 days above is worth knowing about.
What happens to your information.
Names, emails and job details go no further than running your job. Personal information is handled under the Privacy Act 2020, and there is more detail on the privacy page.
If something goes wrong
Equipment fails sometimes, and cards occasionally fail with it.
If that happens the remedy is a reshoot at my cost, or a refund of the fees for the affected work.
Email me and you will hear back the same working day.
Tell me what is wrong and what would make it right. A full response comes back within three working days. Most problems turn out to be a misread brief and get sorted in an afternoon. Anything that cannot be sorted directly goes to mediation before anything formal.
If I have to cancel, you get everything back.
It would take something serious. If it happens, every payment you have made is refunded in full and I will help you find someone else for the date.