My So-Called Freelance Life - Michelle Goodman [50]
No-Frills Contract Checklist
Freelance contracts vary widely depending on the type of work you’re doing and the size of the project. A contract doesn’t have to be a ten-pound paperweight riddled with incomprehensible legalese. An informal one- or two-page letter often does the trick, as long as all the project contingencies are covered and you and the client both sign on the dotted line.
You can view sample contracts on KeepYourCopyrights.org and the websites of many professional organizations for creative freelancers (see the Resource Guide for a few of my favorites). And you can find contract templates for just about every type of freelance project in the books and e-books sold on Nolo.com. But since I don’t want to keep you in suspense, here’s a checklist of items your freelance contracts should include:
• Full name and contact info for you and the client (including company names)
• The date the contract will take effect—and expire
• A detailed description of the work you will do on the project, broken down by task
• The number of revisions you will do, meetings you will attend, status reports you will submit, and any other moving targets you can think of
• Dates you will deliver each milestone, draft, or version of the project
• A detailed description of the materials the client will provide and tasks they will do to keep the project on track (when they will get you the text they’re hiring you to translate, give you feedback on deliverables, and so on)
• A list of any supplies, equipment, or office space the client will provide for you to complete the project, if applicable
• The fact that all tasks not mentioned in the contract will be considered outside the scope of the project and will require a new agreement between you and the client
• How much, in what manner, and when the client will pay you (by the hour or in bulk? at the start of the project, the end of it, in stages, or all at once? by check, direct deposit, or PayPal? and on what dates?)
• Which expenses the client will cover, if applicable
• Who owns the copyrights to the work you’re creating (more on this later in the chapter)
• How you’ll be credited for your work, if applicable (byline? bio? credit line?)
• Assurance that the client will run by you any changes made to your bylined or credited work before sending it to production
• How many copies you’ll receive of the completed product
• The conditions under which you or the client can end the agreement (thirty days written notice required? client forfeits their project deposit if they cancel? client pays you for all hours worked prior to your receipt of the termination letter?)
• How disputes will be resolved if you and the client come to blows (arbitration? mediation? the state court system?)
• If you and your client live in different states,which state’s laws will govern the contract
• A space at the end of the document for you and your client to sign and date
If you’re the one creating the contract, send two signed copies for the client to sign too and have them return one to you. If your client initiates the contract, you may also see the following clauses, which are pretty standard:
• You’re not an employee of the company (but an independent contractor), meaning you buy your own benefits and pay your own taxes
• The work you do for the client was created by you (as opposed to a subcontractor) and isn’t owned by anyone else (say, another client you already sold the copyright to, or someone you decided to plagiarize)
• Any top-secret info your client tells you about their business dealings that you couldn’t have learned from, say, Googling them is confidential and you pinky-swear to not blab it to anyone else while under contract with the client (what’s known as a confidentiality agreement)
If your project start-date is rapidly approaching and you have yet to see a contract from the client, send them