Primer & Refresher: Terms & Conditions: TERM 2

Term #2: "2. FEES, CHARGES AND ADVANCES: Client and Client’s representatives are jointly and severally responsible for full payment of all fees, charges and advances. The rights licensed, fees, charges and advances set forth in this Agreement apply only to the original specification of the Services. Additional fees and charges shall be paid by Client for any subsequent changes, additions or variations requested by Client. All advance payments are due prior to production."

"FEES" - Fees are typically your photographic fees, your pre- and post-production fees, travel fees, and so on.

"CHARGES" - Just another way of specifying what your client is paying for, but could include monies owed for services rendered in production of props, shopping, and so on.

"ADVANCES" - You want money up front, you say? Damn straight! There are countless times where a client you're working for must advance you monies, and you should do so. Large travel expenses, charges to secure expensive props or services, and so on. There are countless different types of expenses that the client should be paying for, up front. You ARE NOT their lender or bank, and should not be floating major expenses on their behalf.

"Client and Client’s representatives" - This means that if your client is an ad agency, PR firm, or is otherwise a representative or agent of their end client, that not only is the firm/agency responsible, but so too is their end client.

"jointly and severally responsible" - This is a legal phrase, which specifies that a multiple parties have the responsibility to share the liability and obligation together, and that no party may put off the obligations or responsibilities on any other.

" for full payment of all fees, charges and advances." - This means that after paying you just a portion, they have not absolved themselves of responsibility for the other amounts due. Further, that one party (where there are two) may not pay just 50% and say "I paid you my half, so I don't owe you anymore and I can use your photos..." or any other similar claim. The emphasis is on the word "full", and that it applies to "all" of the different monies owed.

"The rights licensed, fees, charges and advances set forth in this Agreement apply only to the original specification of the Services." - This means that when the client specifies that they want three setups instead of two, or a portion of the work done the next day, that these items thus fall outside of the "original specification" that is "set forth in this Agreement" (note the capitalization of "Agreement", that's important, as it refers to this document in total, and not some seperate or partial or other agreement that is unnamed or unspecified.


"Additional fees and charges shall be paid by Client for any subsequent changes, additions or variations requested by Client." - This specifies that you'll have to pay more for "changes, additions or variations" which can be as major as "we're shooting in Cancun instead of the local beach", or as simple as "we're not photographing two people in a group, it's now a group of four." When these changes take place, you should have on hand a "change order" to accomidate the "variations requested by Client."

"All advance payments are due prior to production." - In other words, advance payments must be made before you're to start any work -- which of course seems obvious, but, it could be said that an advance is due before final delivery, before travel commences but after pre-production, and so on. If there's a way to parse a term in an Agreement to the client's favor, you can be assured that they will exercise that opportunity. As such, it's important to set forth as many things as possible.

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