Put the co-production deal in writing before the project moves

The biggest problems in joint creative projects usually appear after people have already contributed time, money or content. A co production agreement records who is responsible for what, who can approve key decisions, who owns the finished material and how revenue or costs are shared. That matters whether the project is a branded campaign, live event, film, podcast or digital series. Without that written framework, parties can end up arguing about usage rights, credits, delivery expectations or who can exploit the work after launch.

It will usually cover the parties' contributions, production responsibilities, budget or cost allocation, approval processes, ownership of existing and newly created IP, permitted use of the final content, revenue splits, credits, confidentiality, liability positions and exit or termination rights. Some projects also need clauses dealing with distribution, sublicensing, insurance responsibilities or what happens if one party misses a milestone. The exact wording depends on the structure of the collaboration, but the goal is to capture the commercial deal in a document that can actually be used during the project.

The drafting often turns on who is bringing what to the table. For example, one party may fund the project while another supplies talent, crew, equipment, studio access, audience reach or pre-existing IP. We also look at where the content will appear, who can approve edits, whether either side can reuse footage or assets, and how income is expected to flow. A short-form social campaign and a longer production with multiple contributors can need very different risk allocation, control and licensing clauses.

A precedent can be a starting reference, but tailored drafting is usually safer where the document affects customers, staff, suppliers or regulators. However, co production deals often break down on the details templates gloss over. Shared ownership, licence back rights, approval thresholds, recoupment of costs, credits and exploitation rights are rarely one-size-fits-all. A generic form may also assume a simple two-party arrangement when your project involves agencies, talent, producers or investors with different roles. Tailored drafting is usually more useful where the project has meaningful IP value, multiple funding sources or any uncertainty about who can do what with the finished work.

Once you engage, we gather the practical details of the project and the commercial points already agreed between the parties. Your lawyer then drafts the agreement or reviews the version you already have, highlighting issues that may need clearer wording before signature. Timing depends on how complex the production structure is and how quickly instructions are confirmed. If the arrangement also needs external approvals, If approval steps are relevant, we will explain what needs to be prepared and what sits outside the legal work.. Ongoing representation, regulator approval and third-party decisions are not included in the fixed-fee.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Co Production Agreement service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.