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Commissioned Creative Work Agreement — Word & PDF Template
An agreement for commissioning an illustration, design, artwork or piece of writing, with stages, revisions, kill fee, and a choice of copyright assignment or licence.
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This agreement is for one commission of a creative work from an independent creator, where the commissioner is an individual or a business. It is not for an employee, and it is not a stand-alone assignment of existing copyright. It is drafted for England and Wales.
Who is this template for?
Suited to people and businesses commissioning an illustrator, designer, artist or writer, and to creators who want the brief, payments, revisions and rights in the finished work agreed in writing.
What does the template include?
The document is made up of numbered sections:
- Parties — commissioner and creator, with a tick box for a consumer or a business commissioner.
- The Work and the Brief — tick the type of work (illustration, design, artwork, writing including ghostwriting, other), working title, format, delivery date and brief.
- Stages and Revisions — concept, draft and final stages, response times, included rounds of changes and an hourly rate for extras.
- Fee, Payment and Cancellation — total fee, deposit, second and final payments, expenses, VAT tick option and a kill fee scale by stage reached.
- Delivery and Acceptance — how the work is delivered and when it is accepted.
- Copyright — tick assignment or licence; for a licence, tick personal or commercial use and whether it is exclusive.
- Moral Rights and Credit — tick waived, credit required or anonymous (ghostwriting).
- Portfolio Use and Confidentiality — the creator’s portfolio use, with a delay in months or a bar on public showing, and mutual confidentiality.
- Originality and Third-Party Material — the creator’s originality promise, listing of third-party material, who pays for licences, and notice before using generative AI tools for a substantial part of the work.
- Liability and General — reasonable care and skill, whole agreement, England and Wales law and courts.
- Signatures — commissioner and creator.
Easy to customise
The template opens in Microsoft Word, Google Docs and LibreOffice. Fill in the highlighted fields, tick the relevant options and edit any clause to suit your arrangement.
Format and scope
Download instantly as an editable Word (.docx) file and a PDF, formatted to A4. Written in plain British English for use in England and Wales.
How to edit the template
- Download the DOCX file after purchase
- Open it in Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice or another DOCX editor
- Fill in the parties' details in the marked fields
- Edit the terms and text to match what has been agreed
- Print it for signing or send it digitally
