Contract template for animators

Animation disputes cluster around late changes and characters. A client approves the animatic and then rewrites the dialogue, which means new lip sync and new timing. Or a client assumes that because they paid for a short, they own the character and can produce a series with another studio.

Characters you designed are worth more than one job. If the client is buying the character outright, that is a different price from a licence to use it in one film. A contract that separates the film from the character avoids an argument when the second film comes up.

Clauses specific to animators

• Stage approvals. The client approves the storyboard and the animatic in writing. Changes after approval, including script or voice changes that alter timing, are billed as additional work.
• Characters. Rights in original characters designed by the animator stay with the animator unless the quote lists a transfer. The client receives a licence to use them in the delivered animation.
• Rigs and source files. Rigs, project files and model sheets are not part of the delivery unless the quote lists them. If handed over, they are for the client's internal use on this production.
• Client-supplied audio. The client supplies final voice recordings by the agreed date. Late or changed audio moves the delivery date and may be billed as re-animation.
• Credit. The animator is credited in the end credits or video description where the format allows.

The clauses every freelance contract needs

• Parties. Who the agreement is between: your legal name or business, the client's legal entity, and the addresses of both.
• Scope of work. What you will deliver, in what form, and what is explicitly not included. Refer to the quote or proposal by number if it lists the details.
• Fees and payment terms. The total fee or rate, the currency, any deposit, when invoices are issued and how many days the client has to pay.
• Late payment. What happens when an invoice is late: interest or a fixed fee if you want one, and your right to pause work until the account is settled.
• Changes and revisions. How many revision rounds are included, what counts as a change of scope, and how extra work is priced and approved.
• Timeline and client delays. Key dates, and that deadlines move when the client is late with feedback, content or approvals.
• Ownership and licence. Who owns the finished work and when (usually on full payment), what the client may use it for, and what you keep, such as your tools, templates and know-how.
• Confidentiality. Both sides keep the other's non-public information private, during the project and after it.
• Cancellation. How either side can end the agreement, the notice required, and payment for work done up to that point.
• Liability. A cap on what either side can claim, often the fees paid under the agreement, and no liability for indirect losses.
• Governing law. Which country's law applies and where disputes are heard. Usually where you are based.

A plain-language sample

Copy it, fill in the brackets, and cut what doesn't apply. Shorter is fine as long as the scope, the money and the rights are clear.

Characters, rigs and reuse

The client often owns the characters. The rigs, scripts and tools built to animate them are a separate question. The contract should say whether rigs are delivered and whether the client may hand them to another studio for later episodes.

List the approval steps: storyboard, animatic, blocking, final. Timing notes after blocking is approved mean reanimating, and the contract should say that is billed as new work.

Questions animators ask

Also for animators: invoice template and quote template. Contract templates for related trades: motion designers, 3D artists, illustrators, game developers. Or browse all contract templates.