Reading a brand deal contract takes about twenty minutes when you know where to look. This checklist walks the eight sections that decide what a deal is really worth: deliverables, money, usage, exclusivity, approval, ownership, liability and the boilerplate at the back. Most of the problem clauses you find are commonly negotiable.
Do not read a contract front to back like a book. Read it twice: once for what you must do (deliverables, dates, approvals), and once for what you give up (usage, exclusivity, ownership, liability). The second read is where the money hides. Here is the checklist, in the order that catches the most.
1. Deliverables and dates
Check that the deliverables list is specific: formats, counts, lengths and posting dates, not "content as reasonably requested by Brand". Open-ended deliverables wording turns a two-video deal into an ongoing obligation. Confirm who the counterparty actually is, the brand or an agency signing on its behalf, because that is who owes you the fee. If raw footage is mentioned anywhere, treat it as a separate deliverable with its own price and its own usage terms.
2. The money
Find the fee, stated in £, and check VAT treatment if you are registered. Then find the two settings that decide when it arrives: the trigger (invoice on delivery versus on approval) and the term (net 30, net 60, net 90). The term sets how long the brand can hold your money; the trigger sets when that clock starts. An approval trigger with no deadline leaves the start date open. While you are in this section, look for a kill fee, which decides whether a cancelled campaign pays anything for work already done: the kill fee guide covers the usual structure.
3. Usage and licence
Show: Find the section headed "Usage Rights", "Licence" or "Grant of Rights". The wording to watch: "perpetual", "irrevocable", "worldwide", and "in all media now known or later devised".
Decode: A perpetual licence means the brand can keep running your face, voice, or content as part of their marketing for years after your relationship ends. They do not pay you again, and the licence is typically written so consent cannot be withdrawn. The licence, not the fee, decides what the deal costs you long-term.
Fix: Offer a defined window. Say: "I offer 12 months of organic usage and 90 days of paid usage, with paid extensions available at an agreed rate." The perpetual usage guide and the usage period guide show the common drafting patterns.
4. Exclusivity
Category exclusivity means you cannot work with competing brands for a defined period. The damage depends on three things: how broadly the category is defined, how long the restriction lasts, and whether you are being paid extra for the lock-out. Check the category definition first: "beverages" locks out far more future work than three named competitors. The category exclusivity guide includes say-it-aloud wording for narrowing it.
5. Approval and revisions
Look for how many revision rounds the brand gets and what happens if it goes quiet. Two rounds is a common cap. Ask for a deemed-approval line, for example: "Content is deemed approved five working days after delivery unless written changes are requested." That keeps the brand's review rights intact while ending the wait that has no end date, and it pairs directly with the payment trigger in section 2.
6. Ownership
A licence lets the brand use your content; an assignment transfers ownership of it. Show: the wording to watch is "Creator hereby assigns all right, title and interest" or "work made for hire". Decode: if you assign copyright, the brand owns the content outright, including your ability to repost it, and the grant typically survives the end of the deal. Fix: offer a licence instead, and say so plainly: "I retain ownership and grant you a licence for the agreed usage window." The copyright assignment guide and content ownership vs licensing cover the difference in depth.
7. Liability and indemnity
Show: Find "Indemnification", "Liability" or "Limitation of Liability". Watch for indemnity wording with no financial cap, and check whether a limitation-of-liability section exists at all.
Decode: Uncapped liability removes the single most important commercial protection a service provider has, certainty about worst-case exposure. Where you have indemnification or damages obligations, the amount payable is not bounded by the engagement fee. A £900 deal can carry exposure far beyond £900.
Fix: Ask for a cap and for the exclusions professionals typically use. Say: "Could we cap aggregate liability at the engagement fee, or twice it, and exclude consequential and indirect damages?" The uncapped liability guide and the consequential damages guide explain both halves of that ask.
8. The boilerplate at the back
The last two pages carry three clauses worth a slow read. Governing law and jurisdiction: for UK creators, English law and the courts of England and Wales are the familiar setting, so a contract routed through another country's courts changes what enforcing it would involve. Mandatory arbitration moves disputes into a private process with its own fees. And a one-way legal costs clause can leave you covering the brand's legal costs in a dispute, even one about your own unpaid invoice.
The twenty-minute routine
Deliverables, money, usage, exclusivity, approval, ownership, liability, boilerplate. Read for what you must do, then for what you give up. Write down the three clauses that bothered you most and raise them in one email rather than a drip of messages; brands respond better to a single organised ask, and most template problems get fixed without drama.