Los Angeles and New York agency contracts, the terms to check first

What to take away

Why Los Angeles and New York City contracts fail in different ways

Los Angeles runs on the studio and adult-industry contract tradition. Deals are long, option-heavy and built around footage that may be resold for years. California also gives creators a statutory publicity right, so an agency in Los Angeles that wants to use your likeness in its own marketing needs your written consent.

New York City runs on media, advertising and platform headquarters. Contracts are shorter, more brand-driven and often drafted as vendor agreements. New York's protections for name, image and likeness grew out of its civil rights law rather than a dedicated publicity statute, which changes how a dispute is argued.

A Los Angeles agency will usually push for broad rights in the raw footage and the finished edits. A New York City agency will usually push for broad rights in the campaign assets. Both end up claiming your image.

The practical difference shows up at exit. California contracts often include residuals, holdbacks and audit rights. New York contracts often include kill fees, reversion schedules and net-30 payment terms. Read the remedies, not just the grant.

Contracts drafted in Los Angeles and New York City also fail differently because of the forums. California courts hear publicity claims often. New York courts hear advertising and trade uses.

If you have already moved between agencies, the records problem is familiar from this platform image rights checklist, where missing paperwork outlived the relationship.

Perpetual and irrevocable license clauses to strike before signing

A perpetual license clause grants rights for the life of copyright, which for a solo creator means your lifetime plus decades. Irrevocable means you cannot terminate even if the agency stops representing you.

Three words do the damage: perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide. Any clause containing all three deserves a hard look. Any clause containing them plus "sublicensable" means the agency can resell your image to parties you never meet.

A term license is the alternative. Ask for a defined number of years, a defined territory and a defined list of media. Renewal should require your written approval, not automatic rollover.

Typical wording to strike:

The Artist grants the Agency a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free and sublicensable license. The license covers the Artist's name, image and likeness and all content delivered under this Agreement. It runs for the life of copyright and cannot be terminated by the Artist.

The same grant rewritten:

The Artist grants the Agency a non-exclusive license for 24 months from the Effective Date. The territory is the United States and Canada. The media are named in Schedule A. The Agency may not sublicense without the Artist's written consent. Renewal requires the Artist's written approval.

Watch for licenses buried in the definitions section rather than the grant clause. Drafters hide broad grants where readers do not look.

The same drafting pattern shows up in creator-to-creator deals, as in these perpetual terms and unpaid reuse disputes, so the review habit transfers.

Use this checklist before you sign any grant of rights:

Morality clauses and how they are used against creators

A morality clause lets the other side suspend or terminate if your conduct damages the brand. In practice it is a one-way test with no definition of damage.

Typical triggers include criminal charges, public controversy, or conduct that brings the agency into disrepute. Notice that charges are enough in many drafts. No conviction is required.

For adult creators the exposure is larger. Platform policy changes, a leaked clip or a political campaign against your content can all be framed as brand damage. The clause rarely defines whose brand.

Negotiate three things. First, a cure period so you can respond before termination. Second, a materiality standard, meaning real and demonstrable harm. Third, a carve-out for lawful adult work that the agency knew about when it signed you.

Ask what happens to already-delivered content if the clause is invoked. Without a reversion clause, the agency keeps the license even after it drops you.

Image ownership and work-for-hire terms

Work-for-hire image ownership is the quietest term in the contract. If your content is a work made for hire, the hiring party owns the copyright from creation, and you have no termination right under copyright law.

Agencies use work-for-hire language for content shot on their sets, with their crews and their budgets. That can be reasonable. It becomes a problem when the clause sweeps in content you made alone, on your own equipment, before the deal.

Separate the two categories in the contract. Content the agency commissions and pays for can be work for hire. Content from your own library stays yours, licensed to the agency only for the term.

Watch for clauses about the raw files, often called the negative. Owning the final edit is worth little if the agency holds the unedited footage and can re-cut it.

Get a credit clause too. Ownership without credit means your face can appear in campaigns that never mention you.

These terms overlap with the basics covered in this parties, scope, term, approval checklist, which is worth running before any grant.

California Civil Code 3344 and post-mortem rights under 3344.1

California Civil Code Section 3344 gives a person a civil claim when their name, voice, signature, photograph or likeness is used for commercial purposes without consent. Damages include actual losses plus a statutory award of at least $750, and the prevailing party can recover attorney fees.

The full text sits in the California Code, CIV 3344.

The statute matters to creators because agencies and brands are commercial users. If your agency runs ads featuring you after the contract ends, that use needs consent, not just a contract clause.

California Civil Code Section 3344.1 extends publicity rights for 70 years after death and lets successors enforce them. It applies to personalities whose likeness retains commercial value, which covers many creators. The California Code, CIV 3344.1 sets out the post-mortem term and who may enforce it.

For a living creator, 3344 is the sharper tool. For estate planning, 3344.1 is the reason to name who controls your likeness after you die.

New York likeness and post-mortem publicity rules for creators

New York protects name, image and likeness through its civil rights law rather than a standalone publicity statute. The living-person provisions are New York Civil Rights Law Sections 50 and 51. Section 50 makes unauthorized use of a living person's name, portrait, picture or voice for advertising or trade a misdemeanor.

Section 51 provides the civil remedy, including injunctions and damages.

The post-mortem right sits in New York Civil Rights Law Section 50-f, added in 2021. For a personality who died on or after May 29, 2021, it runs for 40 years after death. The right can be licensed or left to named successors.

New York City courts hear these claims often, because so much advertising is produced there. New York also has strong protections against unauthorized use of a living person's picture in advertising.

The practical difference from California is remedy and scope. New York claims often turn on whether the use was for advertising or trade purposes, a narrower frame than California's commercial use test.

Creators who work between Los Angeles and New York City can face both regimes at once. Say in the contract which state's law governs, and do not assume your home state wins.

For general definitions of publicity and licensing terms, the Wex legal encyclopedia is a useful starting point, and the States index links to New York material. Business and licensing questions sit under the business law category.

The Wex legal encyclopedia covers right of publicity terminology for non-lawyers.

Agency commission, term and exit terms to check first

The commission clause usually reads simply and hides the most money. Check whether commission applies to gross or net, whether it survives termination, and whether it covers deals you bring in yourself.

A common structure is 20 percent of gross on deals the agency sources and 10 percent on deals you source. Typical ranges run from 15 to 20 percent on agency-sourced work and 10 to 15 percent on deals you bring yourself. Some agencies charge full commission on renewals of brand deals you originated. Push back on that.

Term length should match the work, not the agency's revenue plan. One year with a renewal option is standard. Three-year auto-renewals are harder to escape than they look.

Agencies in Los Angeles and New York City both push for long tails. Look for a tail clause, which pays the agency commission on deals signed after termination. A tail of 6 to 12 months, limited to clients the agency introduced, is common and fair. An open-ended tail is not.

Table: terms to compare across the two markets

How to review each agency template on its own terms

Every Los Angeles and New York City agency hands over its own template, so read each one fresh rather than trusting a past deal. The same discipline applies after signing, when usage scope changes turn a narrow campaign into a broad one.

Keep your own copies of every signed version, and track the licenses, reuse, and exit terms in one place.

Common questions