This AMAZING Clause is the Most Important Part of My Photography Contract / The Spielberg Clause

i'm not a lawyer this is not legal advice hey everyone if you're new here welcome if you're a professional photographer or aspiring professional be sure to subscribe and turn on the notifications so you don't miss any of my helpful videos i i think they're helpful um videos on photography and running a photography business i'm kevin patrick-robbins a commercial editorial and portrait photographer based in canada the only advice i'm prepared to give in this video is to always always always the love of god use a contract for every single session that you do even if you're shooting for free contracts set expectations that both parties agreed to prior to 2013 i used to run a comedy company and after i shut down that company and decided that i wanted to be a professional photographer i watched a ton of creative live courses at that time i was still unsure where i wanted to focus my business even though i had a portfolio full of acting headshots i watched courses on everything from headshot photography to family photography architecture boudoir and even wedding photography it was during a course on wedding photography taught by joe busync that he told the story about the most important clause in his wedding contract that has become the most important clause in all of my contracts he photographed the wedding of steven spielberg's daughter and he sent the contract off for review he got a note back from spielberg's lawyer that read something along the lines of steven wants you to add the following clause to your contract once you add this clause he's ready to sign it then joe read the clause to the class now i'm going to read it to you as well i'm going to put it up on the screen i'm going to write it out in the description of this video and i'm even gonna put a link to the text on studio builder website where you can access it copy it do whatever you want with it get it approved by a lawyer so here's the clause artistic style on its own behalf and on behalf of the subject client acknowledges that it is familiar with the company's portfolio and is requesting services with the knowledge of the company's style that company's work is constantly evolving that company's services are of unique and artistic nature and that the photos may be different from photographs taken by the company in the past and that in creating the photos the company shall use its artistic judgment to create images consistent with its personal vision of the event which vision may be different than the clients and or the subjects vision of the event accordingly the client acknowledges that the photo shall not be subject to rejection on the basis of taste or aesthetic criteria final post production and editing styles effects and overall look of the images are left to the discretion of the company that's it that's the whole clause now i want to break this clause down and look at its pieces but before i do that i want to reiterate again that i'm not a lawyer this is not legal advice this is just something that i use in my contracts but you should do what's best for your business such as consulting an actual lawyer again talk to a lawyer so there are two things happening here an acknowledgement and an expectation so let's break this down client is familiar with the company's portfolio this is just acknowledging that they are familiar with your work it's an important first step two client is requesting services with the knowledge of the company's dial so not only have they seen your work but they are familiar with your style three the company's work is constantly evolving so they're familiar with their work they know your style but they agree and acknowledge that your style in your work as an artist continues to evolve over time including the period in which you are doing work for them four the company services are of unique and artistic nature they're hiring you for you they are acknowledging that you what you do is unique to you and that you are an artist and a creative five photos may be different from photographs taken by the company in the past so they can't reject photos based on taste or aesthetic style because they know that your work evolves and that they've agreed and acknowledged that the photographs that you are taking for them may be different from the work that you've done in the past six in creating the photos the company shall use its artistic judgment they are acknowledging that you are the expert in this case and that when it comes to creating the images you are an artist and you are using your artistic judgment and your your creative experience in this medium seven and you are doing so to create images consistent with your personal vision of the event your vision whether it's family session in a field or at a beach or it's a food photography for a restaurant and and you're photographing those recipes with your vision in mind and eight that vision may be different than what the client or the subject of the photo has in mind your results may be different than their expectations they're acknowledging that that is a is a very good possibility and the second part of the clause deals with uh rejection criteria and it says that photos shall not be subject to rejection on the basis of the client's taste or aesthetic criteria and that is because they have acknowledged and agreed already previously that you are creating these images based on your artistic vision and your sense of style and so that they cannot reject photos because it's not in alignment with their artistic taste or their aesthetic criteria because they've hired you to bring that uniqueness of you to the work and and the secondary part of that is that they are agreeing that post-production editing and the overall look of the images is completely at your discretion as the artist who is creating the photos now in the commercial world there's there's got to be a lot more collaboration or you don't continue to get work but when you're shooting a wedding or boudoir session or portraits people are hiring you because they like your work already if they haven't seen your work i mean i don't know why they're hiring you when they do hire you they are saying i've seen your work and i like it and i like what you do and i expect that that's what you're going to bring to the table you should not use this as a reason to just completely ignore your client's intentions when they hired you to do whatever it is that you just want to do that's not how this should work it allows you to create a flexibility to explore to evolve adapt and grow as an artist and a creative so for a practical real world example let's stick with food photography let's say you shoot all of your work top down tabletop on dark slate and that's your style and that's what your portfolio is that's what you're known for but then a restaurant hires you and you go in and and you shoot their recipes you shoot that work and and then they say well we were expecting that the photos were going to have a solid white background because that's what we need to take the images to do cutouts of them and put them on our menu it's completely different than what your work represents what your portfolio consists of and to say that this is what they were expecting and you didn't deliver i mean there's a communication breakdown if it ever gets to that but it doesn't allow them to say they're not going to pay you because you didn't deliver what they were expecting if they failed to communicate those expectations to you if you found this video helpful hit that like button it cost you nothing and it's a simple way to show your appreciation for this video speaking of appreciation i do just want to acknowledge and thank creative live joe biewsing steven spielberg and steven spielberg's lawyer whoever you are for this excellent clause i'm very glad to have it what an amazing gift spielberg gave to a fellow artist and a creative and that joe and creative live gave to the rest of us that's it thanks much bye