01ARTICLE
A creative director's guide to CGI delivery: revisions, formats, rights
Published on
In CGI projects, disputes grow from vagueness, not from budgets. It is enough for "delivery" to mean different things to each side. If you sit on the agency side, this is the pre signature checklist, in four parts.
1. Revisions: scope, not count
"Two revision rounds" means nothing on its own; what a round covers is the point. A light and colour pass is not the same round as rebuilding a scene. A healthy contract states that structural change after storyboard approval counts as new work. That protects the agency's calendar as much as the studio.
2. The format package, listed upfront
Master film, vertical and square cuts, silent version, subtitled version, stills. Which are included? "Turns out we also need a 6 second bumper" on launch night is the most expensive sentence in the business. Why, we explain in the pricing piece.
3. Who keeps the source files?
The rendered film and the project source files are separate assets. If you want the source, it must be written into the contract; the industry default is that source stays with the studio and future adaptations are done together. Both models are legitimate; the undefined one is not.
4. Usage rights: channel, duration, geography
Running a social first film on TV means extending rights. Channel list, usage period and country scope belong in the contract as three separate lines.
We open every project with a framework that has these four in writing; we do not like surprises and we do not produce them. To discuss the project on your desk, write via our partnership page. To harden the brief side first, the 10 questions piece is a good start.