A model release is a permission slip. It says that the person in the photographs agrees to their likeness being used in the ways the document describes. It is not a contract about money, it is not a safety document, and it is not a substitute for a booking agreement. Knowing which document does what prevents most of the disputes that end up in a solicitor's inbox.
This is a plain-English walkthrough, not legal advice. If a release is attached to serious money, have somebody qualified read it.
What a release is for
In most jurisdictions a person has rights over the commercial use of their image. A release is the photographer's or the client's evidence that they were given permission. It protects them, not you. That is not sinister, it is simply what the document is, and it is why the interesting part is the scope.
The six clauses worth reading twice
1. Scope of use
What the images may be used for. "Any and all purposes" is the broadest possible grant and it is extremely common in template releases. Narrower and more specific is better for you: the client's own website and social channels, or a named campaign, or a named product line.
2. Territory
Where. Templates default to worldwide because it costs the client nothing to ask. A national campaign does not need worldwide rights, and if it later becomes international that is a new conversation and a new fee.
3. Term
For how long. Perpetuity is the default in most templates and it means forever, including uses nobody has thought of yet. A defined term, one year or three, keeps a future negotiation possible.
4. Exclusivity
Whether you agree not to work for competing brands, and for how long. This clause takes money out of your pocket in the future, so it belongs in the fee conversation. Reading a print rate covers how it is normally priced.
5. Alteration and context
Whether the images may be altered, composited or used in a context that could be embarrassing. Many releases contain a clause waiving any claim about alteration or "any distortion". Where the subject matter is sensitive, ask for a limitation on context, in writing.
6. Assignment and revocation
Whether the client can transfer the rights to somebody else, such as a parent company or a stock library, and whether you can withdraw permission. Most releases are irrevocable and non-revocable is normal. What is not normal, and worth pushing back on, is a broad right to sell the images on to a stock library when you were booked for one brand.
The things a release does not do
- It does not set your fee. That belongs in the booking confirmation or the quote.
- It does not set the payment term. Agree that separately, in writing, before the day.
- It does not make anybody safe on set. A call sheet, a named production company and somebody who knows where you are do that. See trust and safety.
- It does not transfer copyright in the photographs. That normally sits with the photographer, which is why publishing a photographer's images on your own profile needs their permission.
Practical rules
- Read it before the shoot day, not on it. A release pushed at you while the crew is waiting is a pressure tactic, whether or not anyone intended it that way.
- Keep a signed copy, with the date and the name of the shoot. Two years later this is the only way to answer "did I agree to that".
- If the scope in the release is broader than what you quoted for, say so before signing. The fix is usually a sentence, and it is always easier before the images exist.
- Never sign a release with blanks in it.
18+ work has extra paperwork
Adult-rated work carries record-keeping obligations in most jurisdictions, and the producer is responsible for them. On Maxgirls, 18+ is one of the nine categories rather than the identity of the site, photographs marked 18+ are blurred at file level until a viewer confirms their age for that photograph, and you decide photo by photo what is marked. That is a publishing control, not a substitute for the release and the record-keeping the production itself has to do.
Related: quoting a day rate with usage attached and what a Maxgirls profile publishes.
Where this applies on Maxgirls
Your day-rate range, your categories, your city and your availability sit on your own profile, visible to a brand before they contact you, and Maxgirls takes no share of anything you book.