Key Takeaways
- The scope definition clause is the most important clause in any production contract — it determines what is included and what triggers a change order
- Force majeure clauses written before 2020 often do not cover pandemic-related cancellation — check whether communicable disease is included
- The payment schedule should be milestone-based, not calendar-based — tie payments to confirmed deliverables, not to arbitrary dates
- Intellectual property ownership of event content (photography, video, design assets) must be explicitly stated — the default assumption differs between production companies
- Liability caps should be symmetrical — if the production company's liability is capped at the contract value, the client's liability should also be defined
The scope definition clause
The most important single clause in an event production contract is the scope definition — the explicit list of what the production company will deliver. Without a comprehensive scope definition, every addition to the event's requirements becomes a potential dispute about whether it was "included." A good scope definition lists: production management (pre-event and show-day), AV supply (PA, LED/projection, lighting, video playback), staging (structure, surface, rigging), crew (show-caller, audio engineer, LD, stage manager, assistants), content integration (loading client content, testing, playback during event), and post-event (load-out, documentation, vendor settlement). Any item not in the scope definition is a change order.
Payment structure
Standard payment schedule for Indian event production: 40% at contract signature (allows the production company to begin procurement and vendor booking); 40% at load-in start (confirms the event is proceeding and releases the remaining advance obligation to suppliers); 20% within 7 days of event close (retention against defect claims). Variations from this structure: a 50/30/20 split is common for high-value events where early supplier commitments are larger; a 33/33/34 split is used by some production companies and is commercially acceptable. Variations to be wary of: requiring more than 60% upfront before load-in begins from a first-time client, or deferred final payment terms beyond 14 days post-event (which creates financing risk for the production company's supplier settlement obligations).
IP ownership
Photography and videography created at an event — whether commissioned separately or included in the production scope — has intellectual property ownership that must be explicitly stated. Three options: the client owns all event content outright; the production company retains rights to use content for portfolio purposes with the client's approval; or the content is jointly owned. No option is universally correct — but the absence of explicit ownership creates disputes when the production company uses event imagery in their portfolio and the client has not approved it, or when the client uses content created by a production company's contracted photographer without the agreed attribution. State it in the contract.