Video editor agreement template (YouTube, TikTok, short-form)

Video Editor Agreement

Parties: Creator · Editor

1. The project

The Creator engages the Editor to edit videos for the Creator’s channel on the terms of this agreement.

Platform and channel: [[Platform and channel name or address, e.g. YouTube, TikTok or Instagram]]

Format: [[Format and style, e.g. long-form videos, vertical short-form clips or podcast cuts]]

Length: [[Usual length of a finished video]]

Number of videos: [[Number of videos, or the number per month]]

The Editor edits the material the Creator provides and does not shoot new footage unless this agreement says so.

2. Material from the Creator

The Creator provides the raw footage, audio, music, graphics, brand assets and notes that the Editor needs, in a usable form and in good time, through [[a shared folder / download links]]. The Creator states that it owns the material or has the rights it needs to hand it to the Editor for editing and to publish the finished videos, including the permission of the people who appear in it, and that, to its knowledge, the material does not infringe the rights of others. The Editor may rely on this statement and does not have to check where material comes from, but it tells the Creator if some material looks unusable or may cause a rights problem. The source material stays the Creator’s.

3. Editing work and delivery

The Editor edits the videos as set out in this list:

Cuts and pacing: [[included / not included, with notes on style or reference videos]]

Captions and subtitles: [[included, in which languages / not included]]

Thumbnails: [[included, how many per video / not included]]

Colour correction and grading: [[included / not included]]

Sound clean-up and mixing: [[included / not included]]

The Editor delivers a first cut of each video within [[3]] business days of receiving the complete material, and the final video within [[2]] business days of the Creator’s approval or last feedback. A date moves by the time the Creator needs to provide material or feedback. The Editor delivers the final files in [[Format and resolution, e.g. MP4, 1080p or 4K, 16:9 or 9:16]] through [[a shared folder / a download link]].

4. Revisions

Each video includes [[2]] rounds of revisions. The Creator gives the feedback for a round in one consolidated list within [[5]] business days of receiving a cut. Correcting the Editor’s own mistakes does not count as a revision. Further rounds, and changes after the Creator has approved a video, such as a new cut for another platform or a change that needs new material, are charged at [[Rate per hour or per round]].

5. Fees and payment

The Creator pays the fees shown in the price schedule of this contract, charged [[per video / per hour / as a monthly retainer]]. A deposit of [[30]]% is payable before the work starts and is credited against the last invoice. Costs agreed in advance, such as stock footage, plug-ins, fonts or paid music, are charged at cost against receipts once the Creator has approved them in writing or in electronic form. If a payment is late, the Editor may pause the work after notifying the Creator and may claim interest or compensation for late payment as the law that applies provides.

6. Ownership of the videos

When the Creator has paid the fees for a video in full, the Editor assigns to the Creator, as far as the law that applies allows, the rights that arise from the Editor’s work on that video. Where the law that applies does not allow this, the Editor grants the Creator an exclusive, perpetual licence to use the video in the same way. Until payment the Creator may use the video only to review and approve it, unless the Editor agrees otherwise in writing or in electronic form.

The Creator’s source material, such as footage, music and brand assets, stays the Creator’s at all times. The Editor keeps its general tools, presets, templates, techniques and know-how, including those it develops while working on the videos, and may use them for others, but it does not reuse the Creator’s material or brand assets.

7. Credit and portfolio

Credit for the Editor: [[The credit wording, e.g. “Edited by name” in the video description / no credit]]

The Editor may show a finished video, or excerpts of it, in its portfolio, on its website and on social media only with the Creator’s consent. The Creator’s decision: [[no portfolio use / portfolio use after the video is published, without naming the channel / portfolio use after the video is published, naming the channel]]

8. Use of AI tools

Before it uses an AI tool on the Creator’s material, the Editor tells the Creator which tools it uses and for what, for example for transcription, captions, noise removal, upscaling or generated images. Tools the Editor expects to use: [[none / the tools and what for]]

The Editor does not upload the Creator’s unreleased footage, audio, scripts or other material to a tool or service that keeps it, uses it to train a model or lets others see it, unless the Creator has agreed in writing or in electronic form.

The Editor checks AI-made output such as captions before delivery and tells the Creator which parts of a video were created or changed with AI tools, so that the Creator can label them where the law or the rules of the platform require.

9. Access to accounts

The Creator never has to give the Editor a password or a two-step verification code. Files are exchanged through [[a shared folder / download links / upload by the Editor to the Creator’s channel with a limited role]].

If the Creator gives the Editor a role on a channel or in a tool, it gives only the rights the work needs, using the role feature of the platform, and may withdraw the role at any time. The Editor does not share the access, does not change channel, ownership, payment or monetisation settings, and does not publish unless the Creator asks it to in writing or in electronic form. When this agreement ends, the Creator removes the access and the Editor deletes any shared link or means of access it still holds.

10. Music and third-party content

[[The Creator / The Editor]] obtains the licences for music, sound effects, stock footage, fonts and other third-party content used in the videos. Where the Editor obtains it, it names the source and the licence terms and charges the cost only after the Creator has approved it.

The Editor adds no third-party content that the Creator has not approved. The rules of platforms on music, sponsored content and copyright claims differ, and the Creator decides where and how a video is published. If a rights holder objects to an item in a delivered video, the parties tell each other without delay, and the Editor helps to replace the item at [[Rate per hour]].

11. Confidentiality

The Editor keeps the Creator’s unreleased videos, scripts, release dates, sponsor and brand details and account information confidential and uses them only for this agreement, except where the law requires disclosure or the information is already public. The Editor does not publish or show an unreleased video before the Creator has released it. At the Creator’s request, or [[90]] days after this agreement ends, the Editor deletes the Creator’s material, apart from what the law requires it to keep. This duty lasts [[3]] years after this agreement ends.

12. Results and liability

The Editor works with reasonable care and skill but does not promise any number of views or subscribers, any income or advertising revenue, any sponsorship or any monetisation. Decisions of the platform, such as age limits, the loss of monetisation or copyright claims, are the platform’s.

Except for intent, gross negligence, personal injury or where the law does not allow a limitation, each party’s total liability under this agreement is limited to [[the fees paid or payable under this agreement / a fixed amount]].

13. Independent contractor

As far as the law that applies allows, the Editor works as an independent contractor and not as an employee of the Creator. The Editor decides how, where and when to work within the agreed dates, uses its own equipment and software, may work for other clients, and is responsible for its own taxes, social contributions and insurance as the law that applies requires.

How the law treats freelancers differs by country. Where mandatory law treats the relationship differently, mandatory law prevails over this clause.

14. Termination

Either party may end this agreement by [[7]] days’ notice in writing or in electronic form. Either party may end it at once by notice if the other party seriously breaches it and does not put this right within [[7]] days of being asked to.

When the agreement ends, the Creator pays the fees for the videos delivered and, for a video in progress, the share of its fee that matches the work done. Amounts already paid are credited and any excess is refunded. The Editor hands over the work in progress after payment, and the rights in what the Creator has paid for pass as stated under Ownership of the videos. The clauses on ownership, AI tools, confidentiality and liability continue after the end.

15. Governing law and disputes

This agreement is governed by the law stated under Governing law. The parties will first try to settle any dispute in good faith. Otherwise the courts stated under Jurisdiction decide, unless mandatory law provides otherwise.

Payment terms

Each invoice is payable within [[14]] days of receiving it, by bank transfer to the account stated on the invoice. The deposit is payable before the work starts. The Editor delivers the final files of a video [[on payment of the invoice for it / with that invoice]].

Governing law

[[Country or state whose law applies]]

Jurisdiction

[[Courts that decide disputes, e.g. the courts of your city]]