Negotiating revisions, exclusivity and whitelisting
The three add-ons that slip into a collaboration without appearing in the price are unlimited revisions, open-ended exclusivity and whitelisting that nobody names. All three have the same fix: give them a number, a term and a price.
Scope Project criteria. Not legal advice.
What they have in common
All three turn up after the price has been agreed, almost always by email and almost always with the word “just” in front: just a couple of changes, just three months, just running it from your account. None of them is an outrageous request; the problem is that none of them was quoted.
And all three are fixed the same way: turn the informal request into a line with a name, a number and a term. The brand almost always either accepts the line or drops the request, and both outcomes work for you.
Revisions
- What it is
- The work that comes after delivery: changes to the cut, the script, the music or the framing, on footage already shot.
- When it appears
- When the first cut goes over, and again when the material reaches someone who was not in the brief.
- What it adds
- Editing time, and sometimes a whole reshoot if the change affects what was filmed.
- What to ask
- Who approves? One consolidated round of notes or piecemeal? How long do you need to review?
- How to quote it
- One round included and a price for the next. In the calculator, each extra revision is a percentage of the base fee.
Exclusivity
- What it is
- A commitment not to work with competitors for a period. It is not work: it is a restriction on your next few months.
- When it appears
- At the end of the negotiation, once the price is closed and it looks like a minor detail.
- What it adds
- Lost opportunity. It costs you the jobs you will not be able to take, not the hours you will work.
- What to ask
- Which category exactly? Which brands? From when to when? “The sector” is not a category.
- How to quote it
- Its own line, with the category and term written down. In the calculator it is a percentage of the creation fee, and the duration is recorded.
Whitelisting
- What it is
- The brand promotes the content from your account, with your name and your face on it. The ad looks like yours because, to whoever sees it, it is.
- When it appears
- Sometimes it is asked for upfront and sometimes mid-campaign, when the media team sees it performs better from a personal profile.
- What it adds
- Your face attached to an ad campaign you do not control, plus granted access to your account.
- What to ask
- From which account? For how long? What targeting? Can I see the live ads? How is access removed at the end?
- How to quote it
- A separate line from paid ad rights: two different grants, calculated separately on the creation fee.
What the add-ons add
A 90-day licence on a creation fee of 250, with whitelisting at 20% and exclusivity at 10%:
- Creation fee: 250
- Paid advertising, 90 days
- Whitelisting: 20% of creation
- Exclusivity: 10% of creation, 90 days
- Low
- $425.00
- Reference
- $468.75
- High
- $512.50
All three percentages are worked out on the creation fee, never one on top of another. The ones in this example are ours: the tool proposes none.
Why there are no automatic percentages
It would be easy to put a default number in each of the three fields. We do not, because the references we have reviewed do not agree with each other, and picking one would mean presenting a preference as if it were data.
At the end of this guide are the sources we were able to check, along with their limitations. They are there to orient you, not to be copied: what you charge depends on your market, your history and what that grant stops you doing.
Risks of leaving it undefined
- Revisions with no number: the job stretches for weeks and your effective hourly rate collapses.
- Exclusivity with no category: you find out you cannot take a client you never suspected was covered.
- Exclusivity with no end date: the restriction becomes permanent by omission.
- Whitelisting with no term: ads keep running from your profile months after you were paid.
- Whitelisting with no access removal: the brand keeps permissions on your account when there is no campaign left.
- All of it verbal: when the contact at the brand changes, nothing is written down.
How to put limits on them, one sentence each
- Revisions: “Includes one round of changes; further rounds are quoted at X% of the base fee.”
- Exclusivity: “No exclusivity included. If you need it, tell me the category and term and I will quote it.”
- Whitelisting: “The price covers publication. If you are going to promote from my account, that is a separate line.”
- Term: “The licence covers 90 days from first publication; renewal is quoted separately.”
- Access: “Advertising access to my account is removed when the campaign ends.”
The sentence that settles most cases
“I can do that, and here is how it appears in the quote.” It is not a no, and it turns an informal request into a line with a number. One of two things almost always happens: the brand accepts — and you get paid for something that used to be free — or it drops the request, and you find out it was not essential.
To put the number on it, the usage rights calculator keeps the three items separate, and the quoting guide explains where each one fits.
Sources and methodology for this guide
What backs each claim in this guide, with its limitations in plain sight. The data comes from the project's central register: not one figure is copied by hand here.
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Market reports and rate cards
Creator licensing and whitelisting
Open the source Creator licensing and whitelisting
What it backs
- Content licensing surcharge in the region of an additional 15–30%
Limitations Its marketplace's practice. It differs materially from other industry guides, which is why the surcharge is left manual.
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Market reports and rate cards
Usage rights and allowlisting
Open the source Usage rights and allowlisting
What it backs
- Whitelisting surcharge around 30–50% in certain scenarios
Limitations A creator-marketing guide. Its range does not match Insense's: that divergence is why the surcharge is not automated.
Keep reading
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How to charge for UGC usage rights
Usage rights are charged as a percentage on top of your creation fee, not as a separate figure pulled out of the air.
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What to include in a UGC quote
A UGC quote that gets approved quickly always has the same lines: what you deliver, how many pieces, which revisions, which rights, for how long, when you get paid and what is excluded.
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Creating content versus licensing it
Creating is the work of making the video: script, shoot and edit.