Booking terms designed to keep projects clear, fair and professionally protected.

Booking & Delivery

How work is scoped, confirmed and carried through to delivery.

All bookings are based on an agreed brief, quote or written discussion covering the service, likely deliverables, known dates, key locations and any practical requirements. A booking is only treated as confirmed once Stand-By Studios has accepted the project and, where requested, the required booking fee has been paid.

Quoted prices apply to the scope of work agreed at the time of booking. If a client later asks for additional filming time, extra edits, extra shoot days, extra locations, additional outputs, significant reworking of an approved direction or anything else outside the original scope, updated pricing and timings may be issued before the additional work is carried out.

Stand-By Studios will provide services with reasonable skill and care and will aim to meet any timetable discussed in advance. Timings are estimates unless a fixed delivery date has been explicitly agreed in writing. Delivery may be affected by client response times, third-party delays, venue restrictions, weather, access problems, technical issues outside reasonable control or necessary changes to the original brief.

Where client approval, footage access, branding assets, location permissions, schedules, contributor availability or other key materials are needed from the client, delays in providing them may delay production or delivery. Stand-By Studios is not responsible for missed timings caused by missing or late client information.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, final edited files, galleries or deliverables will be supplied only once any outstanding balance has been paid. Stand-By Studios may archive project files after delivery, but long-term storage is not guaranteed unless separately agreed.

Payments, Deposits & Cancellations

Booking fees reserve time, pre-production and production capacity.

Stand-By Studios may request a booking fee before confirming a project. For larger projects, this may be up to 20% of the quoted price. For smaller projects, this may be up to 50% of the quoted price. The percentage requested depends on the size of the booking, how much time is being reserved, how much preparation is needed and how difficult it would be to refill that time if the project were cancelled.

Booking fees are not intended to operate as automatic penalties. If a client cancels, any amount retained by Stand-By Studios will reflect reasonable losses, time reserved, planning completed, costs already committed and work already carried out. Where a project has not yet reached that level of loss, an appropriate partial refund may be considered. Where consumer law gives the client cancellation rights or a right to a fuller refund, those legal rights will apply.

If a client asks to reschedule rather than cancel, Stand-By Studios will try to move the booking to a new mutually agreed date where practical. However, rescheduling is subject to availability and any costs, losses or pre-production already incurred. A moved booking does not guarantee the original quote will remain unchanged if the scope, timing or requirements materially change.

Invoices should be paid within the agreed payment period stated on the invoice or quote. If no other period has been agreed, payment is due within 30 days of the invoice date or receipt of the service, whichever is later. Late payment may delay delivery and may lead to work being paused until the account is brought up to date. Stand-By Studios reserves the right to charge statutory interest and recovery costs on qualifying overdue invoices where permitted by law.

If a client fails to attend a booked session, fails to provide access, fails to make required decisions in time or otherwise causes booked time to be lost, Stand-By Studios may treat that lost time as chargeable because production capacity has still been reserved.

Risk, Responsibility & Cover

Projects are carried out professionally, but safety, legality and practical risk still matter.

Stand-By Studios will take reasonable care with equipment, captured media and project files and will work in a professional and safety-conscious way. However, the client is responsible for making sure that any location, venue, property or shoot environment under their control is safe, lawful and reasonably suitable for the agreed work.

Where licences, releases, permits, permissions, venue approvals, landowner approvals, music rights, contributor permissions or commercial clearances are needed, the client remains responsible for obtaining them unless Stand-By Studios has expressly agreed in writing to handle them. Stand-By Studios is not liable for losses caused by missing permissions, unlawful use, restricted access or the client providing materials they do not have the right to use.

Stand-By Studios may stop, refuse, pause or reschedule work if conditions are unsafe, abusive, unlawful, misleading or otherwise create an unreasonable risk to people, equipment, public safety or project integrity. This includes hazardous locations, dangerous weather, unsafe access, threatening conduct, illegal activity or circumstances where the agreed service can no longer be delivered responsibly.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Stand-By Studios' liability for any claim connected to a booking will be limited to the amount paid for the specific service giving rise to the claim. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability where it cannot legally be excluded, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or any other liability that the law does not allow to be limited.

Stand-By Studios is not responsible for indirect or consequential losses such as loss of profit, lost opportunity, reputational loss, missed business advantage or third-party claims arising from how a client later uses the deliverables, unless the law requires otherwise. Insurance may be maintained where appropriate to the type of work being undertaken, but insurance is not a substitute for the client's own duty to provide safe conditions and proper permissions.

Working Standards & Communication

Clear, respectful communication helps projects stay efficient and aligned.

Clients are expected to provide accurate information, realistic expectations, timely responses and respectful communication throughout the project. Good outcomes depend on both parties being clear about the brief, changes, approvals, deadlines and any practical restrictions affecting the work.

Stand-By Studios will always aim to communicate professionally and constructively, and expects the same in return. Abusive, threatening, discriminatory, manipulative or persistently unreasonable behaviour may result in the booking being paused, rescheduled or ended. Where work is ended for this reason, Stand-By Studios may retain sums reflecting work already completed, time reserved and reasonable losses suffered.

Revision requests should stay within the agreed scope wherever possible. If the requested changes move the project beyond the original brief, additional charges or an amended timeline may be required. Approval of drafts, edits, galleries or deliverables may be treated as sign-off on that stage of the project unless concerns are raised promptly and clearly.

These terms are intended to support fair, practical working relationships rather than create unnecessary friction. If any part of a booking needs to be clarified, Stand-By Studios will always try to deal with it sensibly and in writing before it becomes a larger problem.