# The terms

> How video work with Declan Gale runs: what you get, who owns the footage, revisions, cancellation and delivery. Every clause in plain English first.

Source: https://declangale.com/terms

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Terms and conditions

Version 1.1

Effective September 2026

19 clauses · 7 min

Every clause below is written twice. The large line is what it actually means. The smaller paragraph underneath is the wording that applies. Nothing is hidden in the second one. Where a summary line and its clause ever read differently, the clause is the one that applies. If you spot a difference, tell me, because it means I have drafted it badly.

If a clause does not suit how your organisation works, say so before the job rather than after. Most of this is negotiable in writing. The friendlier reading of the same document, promise by promise, is on [what you get in writing](https://declangale.com/guarantees). The full Client Agreement, which adds the clauses that only apply to certain jobs, goes out with every quote, and I can send it over before you book. If more than one document covers your job, the order is: your quote first, then the Client Agreement that went out with it, then these terms.

Quote Free, in writing, and it is the spec

Booking A deposit is what holds the date

Payment As quoted, in NZD, no GST added

Changes Two rounds included

Ownership Licence to use on full payment

Insurance $2m public liability, certificate on request

Contents

01 Who this is between 02 Quotes 03 Booking 04 Payment 05 Changes, cancellation and postponement 06 On the day 07 Overtime 08 Delivery 09 Changes to the edit 10 Copyright and your licence 11 Raw footage and project files 12 Portfolio use 13 Music and stock 14 People on camera 15 Insurance and liability 16 Things outside anyone's control 17 If something goes wrong18Consumer law19Health and safety

01

## Who this is between

You, the person or organisation booking the work, and me, Declan Gale, trading as Declan Gale Videography, Auckland, New Zealand.

These terms apply to every job unless we have signed something else that says otherwise. Accepting a quote, paying a deposit or confirming a shoot date in writing means these terms apply. If your organisation has its own supplier terms, send them before the job starts and I will tell you which parts I can work to.

02

## Quotes

Every quote is free, in writing, and valid for 30 days.

A quote covers the shoot time, the deliverables and the turnaround written on it, and nothing beyond that. Anything added later is quoted as its own line rather than absorbed. Quotes are in New Zealand dollars. I am not GST registered, so no GST is added and none is charged. Where the quote says something different to these terms, the quote wins. The version of these terms in force at the date of your quote is the version that applies to that job.

03

## Booking

A date is only yours once you have confirmed it in writing.

Dates go to whoever confirms first. Until then I may quote the same date to someone else. If another client is about to confirm a date you are considering, I will tell you and give you the chance to confirm it first. A 50% deposit holds the date. It is named on the quote, and the date is not held until it is received.

04

## Payment

Invoices are due within 14 days of the invoice date.

Payment by bank transfer to the account on the invoice. On jobs where a deposit applies, the balance is invoiced on delivery. Extra time on the day is charged at the rate named on the quote. Invoices unpaid 14 days past the due date carry interest at 1.5% per month on the outstanding balance, along with reasonable recovery costs including debt collection and legal fees. For repeat non-payment, work stops until the account is clear.

05

## Changes, cancellation and postponement

Move a date and I will do my best to move with you. Cancel late and the day is already gone.

Postponing with more than 14 days notice: the deposit moves to the new date, subject to availability. Cancelling with more than 14 days notice: any deposit is refunded, less costs already committed. Between 14 days and 48 hours: 50% of the quoted fee is payable. Inside 48 hours, or on the day: the full quoted fee is payable, along with any third-party costs already committed. These figures reflect a genuine estimate of the loss, since a date held and then released at short notice cannot realistically be filled. Where a postponed date cannot be accommodated, the booking is treated as a cancellation as at the date the postponement was requested, and the notice periods above apply. If I have to cancel, which would take something serious, you get everything you have paid back in full and help finding someone else.

06

## On the day

I turn up early, work quietly and stay out of the way.

What I need from you: access at the agreed call time, a contact on site who can make decisions, and anything you have promised in the brief such as a run sheet, an AV feed or a room to work from. If the shoot cannot start on time for a reason on your side, the finish time does not move with it. If something is not made available on the day it cannot appear in the finished work, and the quote stands.

07

## Overtime

Past the quoted hours, overtime is charged at a rate stated on the quote.

It is a number on the page before the day rather than a conversation at eleven at night. Nothing gets charged without being agreed first, and if a day is going to run over I will say so while there is still time to decide. Where the quote does not state an overtime rate, overtime is charged at NZD $90 per hour or part hour.

08

## Delivery

You get a delivery date in writing before the shoot, and the files land on it.

Delivery is by private Smash link, or your own Drive or hard drive if you prefer. Standard turnaround is one to two weeks for a full edit and about a week for short-form, with faster quoted as its own line. The link is live for the window named on the quote, starting the moment the upload finishes. Links will not normally be extended, and a re-upload after expiry is quoted as its own line, so download and back up promptly. Raw footage and project files are held for 90 days after delivery, after which they may be deleted. Where archive storage is named on the quote, the material is held for the period stated instead.

09

## Changes to the edit

Two rounds of changes are included. A round is one consolidated list.

Two rounds of changes are included. A round is one written list, from the person named on the quote, sent within ten working days of delivery. If nothing arrives in that window the cut is treated as approved. A round covers trims and timing, swapping a shot for another from the same footage, text and caption corrections, colour and sound adjustments, and music changes from the tracks already discussed. The following are a fresh deliverable rather than a change, and are quoted before any work starts: a different structure or running order, a different runtime or aspect ratio, new footage, a new music direction, and notes from anyone not involved in the project up to that point. Each round moves the delivery date by the time it takes. Changes to an approved cut are chargeable.

10

## Copyright and your licence

I keep the copyright. You get a licence to use the finished videos, and it becomes permanent once the invoice is paid.

New Zealand law, section 21(3) of the Copyright Act 1994, makes the commissioning client the first owner of copyright by default. These terms deliberately agree otherwise, as that section allows: I retain copyright in all footage shot, including raw material, and in the project files, and you receive a worldwide, royalty-free licence to use the delivered videos for the purpose and media we agreed. That licence starts on delivery and becomes irrevocable on payment. If you need the copyright assigned to you outright, say so before the job starts and it is agreed in writing as its own thing. Unless the quote says otherwise, the licence covers use of the delivered videos on your own website and social channels, for internal use, and for paid promotion of your own business, worldwide, with no time limit. Broadcast television, cinema and placement within a streaming service are not included, as the music and stock licensing behind the deliverables does not extend to them, and are quoted and cleared separately. While an invoice is overdue the licence may be suspended. A credit is requested where the format allows it, and is not required where it would not suit the finished piece.

11

## Raw footage and project files

Not standard, but it can be written into the quote.

The deliverables are the finished videos. Raw footage, project files and unused takes are not standard, but they can go on the quote as their own line at $400 if you need them. They are held for 90 days after delivery, or for the period stated where archive storage is on the quote. Ask before the shoot rather than after it, since once a job is closed the material may no longer be available. Raw footage is unsorted clips in their original ungraded state, so it will not resemble the finished video: all the colour comes from the edit. It is supplied once, no grading notes or LUTs are included, and buying it is a licence to use it rather than a transfer of copyright.

12

## Portfolio use

I show finished work in my portfolio unless you ask me not to.

Delivered videos, stills and short cuts may appear on this site, on social and in pitches. If a job is confidential, embargoed until a launch date, or internal only, tell me and it stays off. On request, delivered work is removed from my own website and social channels within ten working days. Material already distributed, embedded or included in documents sent to third parties cannot always be recalled.

13

## Music and stock

Licensed for the deliverables we agreed, and not beyond them.

Music and any stock footage, images or fonts are licensed for the specific videos delivered and the platforms discussed. Using the music separately, or re-cutting the material into something new, may need its own licence. If you supply your own music or material, you confirm you hold the rights to it and cover me against any claim arising from it. The music and stock behind your deliverables is licensed for use on your own website and social channels, including paid social. It does not extend to broadcast television, radio, cinema, or placement within a streaming or video-on-demand service. Those need their own licence, which is quoted separately and is far cheaper to arrange before the edit than after it.

14

## People on camera

Anyone recognisable needs to know what the footage is for.

You are responsible for telling participants what is being filmed and where it will be used, for obtaining releases where your own policies require them, and for permission to film at the venue unless the quote says otherwise. I will supply release forms on request and use them as standard where anyone vulnerable is on camera. You confirm that participants have been told the footage may also be used in my portfolio. Where someone withdraws consent before delivery they are removed from the edit at no charge. After delivery, removal is quoted as a re-edit and depends on the footage and project files still being held.

15

## Insurance and liability

$2m public liability insured, kit insured separately, certificates the same day you ask.

I take reasonable care on site and carry public liability cover; a certificate goes out on request for venues and corporate floors. Equipment fails and cards occasionally fail with it. In that situation the remedy is a reshoot at my cost, or a refund of the fees for the affected work, at my option. Total liability is limited to the fees paid, and I am not liable for indirect or consequential loss such as lost revenue. You insure your own venue, property and equipment, and any equipment you supply is used at your risk. I may bring in a second shooter, assistant or editor where a job calls for it.

16

## Things outside anyone's control

Weather, illness, closures and the genuinely unforeseeable.

If a shoot cannot happen for reasons outside either of our control, we reschedule to the next date that works and no cancellation fee applies. Where the event itself cannot move, any deposit is retained. Neither party is liable for delays outside their reasonable control, which includes delivery as well as filming, so illness or equipment failure moves the delivery date rather than breaching it. For an outdoor shoot, a postponement for weather carries any deposit to the new date, subject to availability. Costs already committed to third parties, such as travel or hire, still need covering. Where I am genuinely unavailable at short notice I will help find a replacement operator of a similar standard.

17

## If something goes wrong

Email me. It gets sorted faster than anything else will.

Tell me what is wrong and what would make it right. You will hear back the same working day, and a full response within three working days. Most problems are a misread brief and are fixed in an afternoon. Anything that cannot be sorted directly goes to mediation before anything formal. Personal information is handled under the Privacy Act 2020, and running a job involves ordinary business software including email, calendars, invoicing, file transfer, and the tools I use to write, organise and deliver the work, some of it based overseas and used only to run the job. Your footage goes no further than the editing software and the delivery service named on your quote, and your details are not passed to anyone else. New Zealand law applies, in the New Zealand courts.

18

## Consumer law

Business clients and private clients are not the same, and the law treats them differently.

If you are acquiring these services for the purposes of a business, both parties agree in writing that the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 does not apply and that it is fair and reasonable to be bound by that. Where both parties are in trade, both agree that sections 9, 12A, 13 and 14(1) of the Fair Trading Act 1986 do not apply, on the same basis. Where you are not acquiring these services for the purposes of a business, nothing in these terms limits your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act.

19

## Health and safety

Tell me about the hazards on your site and I will work to them.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 we each carry duties, and on your site those duties overlap. You will tell me about hazards, access restrictions and any induction required before the day. I work to your site rules, keep cables and equipment clear of walkways, and will stop and raise it with your named contact rather than work around something unsafe. A hazard identification sheet is available on request.

## Some jobs add a clause

A plain job fires none of these. Where one applies it is named on your quote and written into the agreement that comes with it, so you never find out about a term after the fact.

Travel beyond 50 km Rush turnaround More than one shoot day Outdoor weather cover Specialist crew Booked through another producer Ongoing arrangement Editing supplied footage Raw footage included

Declan Gale Videography · Auckland, New Zealand Prices in NZD · no GST added Governed by New Zealand law