A free UGC contract template for creators and brands: fill in the deal and get a plain-English agreement to print, save as PDF or copy. It's a starting point, not legal advice.
A starting template, not legal advice. Laws on contracts, copyright and advertising differ by country and state, and nothing here has been checked against your situation. Use it to agree the terms in plain English, then have a lawyer where you live review it before anyone signs.
UGC content agreement
Starting template, not legal advice. Laws differ by country and state, and this has not been reviewed for your situation. Have a lawyer where you live review it before either party signs.
This agreement, made on [date], is between [Creator's full legal name] (“the Creator”) and [Brand's legal company name] (“the Brand”). It sets out the content the Creator will make, what the Brand pays, and how the Brand may use it.
1. What the Creator will make
1 × 30-second vertical (9:16) video with captions.
Raw, unedited footage is not included unless both parties agree to it, and a fee for it, in writing.
Everything listed above is called “the Content” in this agreement. The Brand will send a written brief, and the Content will follow it. Anything outside the brief or this list is new work, quoted separately.
The Creator will not post the Content on the Creator's own accounts unless both parties agree to it in writing.
2. Dates, approval and revisions
The Brand will send the product and the brief by [date].
The Creator will deliver the first draft of the Content by [draft due date]. If the product or brief arrives late, this date moves back by the same number of days.
The price includes 1 round of revisions. The Brand will send all of its changes for a round together, in writing, and the Creator will deliver the revised Content within 3 business days.
A revision is a change to the delivered Content (an edit, a trim, re-recording a line). A new concept, script, location or product is new work, quoted separately.
Further revision rounds cost [fee per extra round] USD each.
If the Brand hasn't replied within 5 business days of a delivery, the Content counts as approved.
3. Payment
The fee for the Content and the usage rights below is [fee] USD.
The Brand pays 50% of the fee when this agreement is signed, and the other 50% when the final Content is delivered.
The up-front payment is non-refundable once the Creator has received the product or the brief.
Each invoice is due within 14 days. Payment is by bank transfer.
If an invoice is more than 14 days overdue, the Brand's right to use the Content pauses until it is paid.
The Creator keeps the product sent for the shoot, in addition to the fee.
The Creator is an independent contractor, not an employee, and is responsible for the Creator's own taxes.
4. How the Brand may use the Content (usage rights)
After the Brand has paid in full, it may use the Content in: the Brand's own social media accounts (organic posts); the Brand's website and product pages.
This right lasts for 3 months from the date the Brand approves the final Content. Territory: worldwide.
Paid use is not included: the Brand may not run the Content as paid ads, or boost it, without a new written agreement and fee.
When the right ends, the Brand stops running the Content as ads, won't publish it anywhere new, and removes its organic posts of the Content within 14 days. Extending the right needs a written extension and fee.
The Brand may trim the Content and add its logo, captions, prices and calls to action. It won't change the meaning of what the Creator says, or use the Creator's name or face to endorse a different product, without the Creator's written OK.
The Brand won't use the Content, or the Creator's face, voice, name or likeness, to train AI models or to make new or altered content (including synthetic voice or video, AI avatars and AI-dubbed versions) without a separate written agreement and fee. The edits allowed in the item above are not affected.
Anything not listed here (for example TV, print, billboards or other brands) needs the Creator's written agreement first.
5. Honest content and ad disclosure
The Creator will only say what reflects the Creator's honest opinion and real experience of the product, and won't claim to have used it in ways the Creator hasn't.
The Brand will tell the Creator in writing which product claims may and may not be made, and is responsible for having proof for any claim it asks the Creator to make.
If the Creator ever posts the Content, the Creator will disclose the paid relationship clearly in the post itself, by saying and showing words like “ad”, as well as using the platform's paid-partnership label.
When the Brand runs the Content as its own ads, it is responsible for the ads following advertising law, including not presenting the Creator as an unpaid customer where that would mislead viewers.
Each party will follow the advertising and disclosure rules where the Content runs (in the US, the FTC's Endorsement Guides).
6. Who owns the Content
The Creator owns the copyright in the Content. The Brand gets the usage rights above (a license), not ownership. The Creator won't license this Content to anyone else while those rights last.
The Creator may show the final Content in the Creator's portfolio and pitches, but only after the Brand has published it or 90 days after delivery, whichever comes first.
The Brand confirms it has the right to any logos, music, product images or other material it supplies. The Creator won't use music or footage the Creator doesn't have the rights to.
7. Cancelling and ending the agreement
If the Brand cancels before the Creator has started work, it owes nothing more. The up-front payment is refunded unless it has already become non-refundable under the Payment section.
If the Brand cancels after work has started (the product or brief has arrived, or filming has begun) but before delivery, the Creator is owed a kill fee of 50% of the main fee. Payments already made count towards it: the Brand pays any shortfall, and the Creator refunds any excess except a payment that is non-refundable under the Payment section.
If the Brand cancels after the first draft is delivered, it pays the full fee. In every case, the Brand may only use Content it has paid for in full.
Either party may end this agreement if the other breaks it and doesn't fix the problem within 7 days of written notice.
Sections on payment owed, ownership and honest content keep applying after the agreement ends.
8. Everything else
Both parties keep the terms of this agreement, and anything confidential they learn about each other's business, private, unless the law requires otherwise. The Creator won't share unreleased product details before launch.
Neither party is responsible for the other's indirect losses (such as lost profits).
If someone makes a legal claim about a product claim, script line, logo, music or other material the Brand supplied or approved, the Brand covers the Creator's reasonable costs of that claim. If the claim is about something the Creator added without the Brand's approval, the Creator covers the Brand's reasonable costs.
Notices under this agreement (including cancellation and breach notices) are sent by email to the Creator at [Creator's email] and to the Brand at [Brand's email], or to a new address a party gives by notice. A notice counts as received the next business day after it is sent.
This agreement is governed by the law of [state or country]. Before going to court, the parties will try for 14 days to settle a dispute by talking to each other. After that, either party may bring the dispute in [the courts that will hear disputes, e.g. the state courts in Kings County, New York].
If a court finds any part of this agreement unenforceable, the rest of it still applies.
Each person signing confirms they are allowed to sign for the party they sign for.
The parties may sign separate copies, and may sign electronically (for example with an e-signature service or a signed PDF). Together the signed copies make one agreement.
This is the whole agreement. Changes must be in writing and agreed by both parties; email counts.
Signed
Creator: [Creator's full legal name]SignatureName and titleDate
Brand: [Brand's legal company name]SignatureName and titleDate
Nothing is uploaded: the agreement is built in your browser and saved only there. Blanks in [square brackets] are filled from the form, or by hand before signing. In the print window, choose Save as PDF.
What a UGC contract must cover
A UGC contract (or UGC agreement) is the written deal between a creator and a brand for content the brand will post or run as ads. It fixes how many videos you make, how many changes are included, when you're paid, and where and for how long the brand can use your face and your work. These are the parts the template above fills in.
Who it's between
Both parties' legal names. If you invoice through a business, the contract should name the business.
Deliverables
How many videos or photos, their length and format, extra hooks, and whether raw footage is included. Anything not listed is extra work.
Deadlines
When the product and brief arrive and when the draft is due, with dates that move back if the brand is late.
Revisions
How many rounds are included, how fast each is turned around, and what a round costs after that. Say what counts as a revision and what's a new concept.
Payment terms
The fee, the currency, a deposit and the point it stops being refundable, when invoices are due, what happens when one is late, how you're paid, and whether you keep the product.
Usage rights
Where the brand may use the content (its own posts, its website, paid ads), for how long, where in the world, and whether its organic posts come down when the term ends.
AI, face and voice
Whether the brand may train AI on your videos or make new versions with a synthetic copy of your face or voice. The template says no without a separate deal and fee.
Whitelisting
Whether the brand may run ads from your account, such as TikTok Spark Ads or Meta partnership ads, for how long and for what fee.
Exclusivity
Whether you'll turn down competitors, in which narrow category and for how long. It costs you work, so it should be paid.
Disclosure and honesty
Who discloses the paid relationship and how, and a promise that claims are honest and the brand supplies the claims you may make.
Ownership
Whether you keep the copyright and license it, or sell it outright in a buyout, and whether you can show the work in your portfolio.
Kill fee and termination
What you're paid if the brand cancels after you've started, and how either side can end the agreement.
Notices and disputes
The email addresses that formal notices go to, which state's or country's law applies, and which courts hear a dispute. These matter most when you and the brand are in different places.
Signing
That the person signing for the brand is allowed to, that an e-signature or signed PDF counts, and that one bad clause doesn't sink the rest.
Usage rights, paid ads and whitelisting
Usage rights can cost as much as the video itself. SideShift's usage-rights guide (June 25, 2026, checked October 14, 2026) prices paid ads at 25 to 50% of the base rate for a 30 to 90 day window, and a perpetual license at 100 to 200%. On those numbers, a brand that wants your video forever pays one to two times the video fee again for the rights alone. So spell out the channels, the time and the territory, and price paid use and whitelisting as their own lines. The rate calculator works out each line.
Kinds of usage rights in a UGC contract
Right
What it means
How it's usually priced
Organic usage
The brand posts your video on its own accounts, unpaid.
Usually included in the base fee for a set period.
Paid usage
The brand runs your video as ads from its own accounts.
Usually charged on top of the base fee, and more for longer terms.
Whitelisting
The brand runs ads from your account, under your name (Spark Ads, partnership ads).
Its own fee and its own time limit, with access you can withdraw.
Perpetual or buyout
The brand may use the video forever, or owns the copyright outright.
Priced highest: you can never charge for that use again.
FTC disclosure for UGC and influencer content
In the US, the Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides apply to paid and gifted content. From the FTC's own guidance for influencers and its answers to common questions (checked October 14, 2026):
Disclose any material connection
Payment, a free or discounted product, or a personal or family tie with the brand all count, even if you think the review is unbiased.
Put it in the content itself
In a video, the FTC says the disclosure should be in the video itself and not just in the description, and that viewers are more likely to notice one made in both audio and video. So say it and show it on screen.
Use plain words
“Ad”, “sponsored” or “thanks to [brand] for the free product” work. The FTC lists “sp”, “spon” and “collab” as vague terms to avoid, and calls “#ambassador” on its own ambiguous.
Platform labels help, but aren't enough alone
The FTC says it's best to add your own disclosure even when a platform offers its own tool. Turn on the paid-partnership label and say “ad” in the video as well.
Only honest opinions
Don't talk about experiences you haven't had, or make claims (such as health benefits) the brand can't back up.
Brands share the responsibility
The FTC expects brands to run reasonable training and monitoring programs and to make a reasonable effort to know what the creators they pay are saying.
Other countries have their own rules (for example the UK's CAP Code and the EU's consumer protection laws), so check the rules where the content will run.
Who owns a UGC video?
Unless the contract says otherwise, the creator who films a video usually owns its copyright. A brand gets to use it through a license (permission on stated terms) or by having the copyright transferred to it in a buyout. In the US, a freelancer's video only counts as a “work made for hire” owned by the brand if it falls in one of the categories the law lists and both parties sign a written agreement saying so, according to the US Copyright Office's Circular 30 (checked October 14, 2026). A brand that wants to own your work should pay for it, and the contract should say so in plain words.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Contract, copyright and advertising law vary by country and state. Have a lawyer where you live review your agreement, especially for buyouts, perpetual rights, exclusivity and anything you're unsure about.
What the template leaves out
It has no cap on how much either side can owe, and no full indemnity (a promise to cover every cost of every claim). The right cap depends on the fee and the law where you sign, and a broad indemnity is the kind of clause a lawyer should write for your deal. What it has instead is a plain split: the brand covers claims about material it supplied or approved, and you cover claims about anything you added without approval. If a brand sends its own contract instead, look for its liability and indemnity clauses and go through them with a lawyer before you sign.
The contract sets the deal, and the brief sets the video: section 1 of the agreement says the content follows a written brief. To write one, or to send one back to a brand that hasn't, use the brief template.
Red flags before you sign
“Perpetual, all media, worldwide” for the base fee
That's the most valuable right a brand can ask for. Price it, or narrow it to a term and channels.
Unlimited revisions
Agree a number of rounds and a price for each extra one. JoinBrands' rate guide (August 15, 2026, checked October 14, 2026) says most creators include 1 to 2 rounds and charge $50 to $200 for each one after that.
Exclusivity with no end date or category
A wide non-compete can stop you working for months. Keep it to one category and a fixed number of days, and get paid for it.
Payment “on posting” or “net 90”
You don't control when the brand posts. Tie payment to delivery or approval, with a deadline, and keep the template's late-payment line: the brand's rights pause while an invoice is more than 14 days overdue.
No kill fee
If the brand cancels after you've filmed, you should still be paid for the work you've done.
Claims you can't stand behind
Don't agree to say things you haven't experienced, or health and results claims the brand can't prove.
Once the deal is signed, plan the video with the UGC script template, and keep your samples current in a portfolio.
Add the creator's and brand's legal names, then list each video or photo with its length and format, extra hooks and whether raw footage is included.
2
Set dates, revisions and payment
Pick the draft date, the number of revision rounds and the price of extra ones, then the fee, a deposit and when it stops being refundable, when invoices are due, late-payment interest and how you're paid.
3
Choose usage rights and extras
Tick where the brand may use the content, for how long and whether its posts come down after, then add whitelisting, exclusivity, a kill fee, who owns the video, notice emails and the courts for disputes.
4
Print, save or copy, then get it reviewed
Save the agreement as a PDF through the print window, copy the text or download a .txt file, fill any [blanks], and have a lawyer review it before anyone signs.
FAQ
UGC contract template FAQ
What should a UGC contract include?
The parties, the deliverables, deadlines, revision rounds, the fee and payment terms (including when a deposit stops being refundable and what happens when an invoice is late), usage rights (where, how long, organic or paid, and what comes down when the term ends), whitelisting, exclusivity, AI and likeness limits, disclosure, ownership, a kill fee, notices, governing law and the courts for disputes.
Is this UGC contract template legally binding?
A signed agreement can be binding, but whether this one protects you depends on the law where you and the brand are. It's a starting template, not legal advice, and it hasn't been reviewed for your situation. Have a lawyer where you live check it before signing.
What are usage rights in a UGC contract?
Usage rights say where the brand may use your content (its own posts, its website, paid ads), for how long and where in the world. Organic use is often part of the base fee, while paid ads, longer terms and perpetual rights are usually priced on top.
What is whitelisting in a UGC agreement?
Whitelisting means the brand runs ads from your account, under your name, using tools like TikTok Spark Ads or Meta partnership ads. Because it uses your account and audience, it should have its own fee, a fixed time and a way for you to withdraw access.
What is a kill fee?
A kill fee is what the brand pays if it cancels after you've started work. This template defaults to 50% of the fee once the product or brief has arrived or filming has begun, and the full fee once the first draft is delivered. Change it to suit the deal.
Can I use it as an influencer contract template?
Partly. It covers content the brand posts or runs as ads, plus posting on your own account if you tick that box. Influencer deals often add posting dates, how long posts stay up and performance reports, so add those terms and have the agreement reviewed.
The UGCLive app records with a teleprompter camera, then AI edit cuts the pauses and retakes, captions every word and writes extra hooks for the brand to test.
