Property Release Forms Template for the United States

Often not. Copyright law at 17 U.S.C. 120(a) permits pictures of a completed building that is located in, or ordinarily visible from, a public place, so the constraint is usually a client or stock agency contract rather than the law. A release still matters where you need to go onto the property to take the shot. It matters again where the subject is not the architecture at all: a garden, an interior, a boat or an animal is not a building, and the exemption does not reach it. Read the agency's submission rules before assuming a release is optional.

The person with authority over the property, which may be the owner, a managing agent, or a tenant in control of the space. For a leased commercial unit both landlord and tenant may need to sign, so establish who controls access before the shoot. Ask what the signer's authority actually rests on, since a site manager or a marketing contact often cannot bind the owner. Where the property belongs to a company, a trust or an association, the release should name the entity and the signer's position in it, because a personal signature on a corporate asset is the defect an agency spots later.

A property release does not cover them. Recognizable individuals are dealt with by a separate model release, because the right at stake there belongs to them rather than to the property owner. The same holds for artwork, murals, signage and displays inside a space, each of which can carry its own rights held by someone who never appears on your property release. Plan for it on the day rather than in the edit: a face or a mural noticed at the point of shooting can be cleared or avoided, while one noticed at publication has to be removed.

Not if the release is drafted as an irrevocable grant for the uses it lists, which is why scope and duration have to be written down rather than assumed. Say whether the grant extends to later editions, other media, and use by your own clients. Address what happens if the property is sold, since a new owner who never signed will read the release as somebody else's arrangement. Where the shoot is for one campaign only, say so plainly, because a narrow grant honestly described is easier to obtain than a broad one the owner later regrets.

It can. Rights of publicity, trespass rules and permits for filming are state and city matters, and shooting on public land often needs a permit from whoever manages it. Check local filming rules as well as obtaining the owner's release. Drone work adds a further layer, because operating rules, state overflight and privacy statutes and local park ordinances can each apply to the same flight. Where a shoot crosses a municipal boundary, permits are issued by each authority separately, so establish who administers the location before booking a crew. A location scouted months earlier is worth rechecking, since permit conditions change.