SAMPLE LIGHTING DESIGNERS CONTRACT

It is important to stress that this sample Designers agreement is not

designed for any specific set of circumstances and hence if it is being used
by a Theatre Forum member it may have to be adapted in an appropriate
manner, based on professional legal advice if necessary.
What follows is a list of the terms and conditions that represent current
industry norms. These terms and conditions may need to be amended,
however, depending on the particular artistic and financial circumstances
of the production and the companys size and level of funding. Theatre
Forum has indicated alternative clauses or provisions that also represent
current practice in particular circumstances. These are listed as notes at
the end of the contract and are indicated in red where appropriate. A
number of possible additional clauses is also included at the end of the
contract.
THIS AGREEMENT is made on the [*] day of [*] 200[*]
BETWEEN
(1)

[PRODUCER] of [address] (the Producer which expression shall

include its successors in title and assigns); and

(2)

[NAME OF LIGHTING DESIGNER] of [address] (the Lighting

Designer).

WHEREAS:
The Producer wishes to engage the Lighting Designer to render his/her
services to design the lighting for the Producers production (the
Production) of the dramatic work entitled * (the Play) by * (the
Author) to be performed at [venue] from [date] to [date], on the terms
and subject to the conditions set out in this Agreement.
NOW IT IS HEREBY AGREED as follows:
1.

ENGAGEMENT

The Producer hereby engages the Lighting Designer and The Lighting
Designers engagement hereunder shall commence upon the start of preproduction and shall continue until the end of the week including the
official opening night according to the following schedule:
Pre-production from: [date]
Rehearsals from: [date]
Production week from: [date]
Previews from: [date]
Opening Night: [date]
Final Performance: [date]
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The Producer will have the exclusive services of the Lighting Designer
during the Production week, Previews and Opening Night as outlined
above. Furthermore the Lighting Designer will be available to attend at
scheduled production meetings and rehearsals as necessary during the
Pre-production and Rehearsal periods.
2.

GUARANTEED COMPENSATION

Subject to the Lighting Designer providing his/her services as required by

this Agreement and to the performance by the Lighting Designer of all
his/her other obligations under this Agreement, the Producer shall pay to
the Lighting Designer a fee of [*] subject to VAT if appropriate [See Note 1
below] according to the following schedule: One third on signing this
contract, one third on the first day of rehearsals and one third on the day
of the official opening night.
[See note 2 below regarding additional payments where applicable]
3.

LIGHTING DESIGNERS SERVICES

The Lighting Designer undertakes that he/she will perform his/her services
as the Lighting Designer for a production of the play (the Production).
The Lighting Designer will render his/her services willingly and to the best
of the Lighting Designer's skill and ability and with due regard to the
efficient production of the Play and will render all such other services as
are usually rendered by theatre Designers of first class repute.
The Lighting Designer hereby warrants that the design and any products
of his/her services in connection with the design shall be original and shall
not infringe on the copyright or any other right of any third party.
4.

DELIVERY

The Lighting Designer will provide detailed accurate lighting plans and all
other materials covering all aspects of the lighting design to a standard
metric scale by [Date]. [See note 3 below]
5.

ABANDONMENT

If for whatever reason the Production is abandoned by the Producer after

the signing of this contract, no monies paid to the Lighting Designer under
Clause 2 of this contract shall be deemed to be refundable and the
Lighting Designer shall be paid up to and including the next stage of
payment due. [See note 4 below]
6.

CREDIT

The Lighting Designer will supply the Producer with biographical material
in accordance with the Producers standard format and a photograph by
[date]. The Lighting Designer hereby consents to the use by the Producer
of his/her name, likeness and biographical material in connection with the
promotion and publicity campaign for the Play.
The Producer will negotiate appropriate billing with The Lighting Designer
according to standard company practice.

7.

PUBLICITY AND PHOTOCALLS

The Lighting Designer agrees to use his/her best efforts to assist the
Producer in all publicity activities including press interviews and
photocalls. Interviews and photocalls will be scheduled in consultation
with the Lighting Designer, whose agreement will not be unreasonably
withheld. The Lighting Designer hereby grants the company the right to
record the Production for archival purposes. Furthermore the Lighting
Designer acknowledges the Producers right to photograph the Production
for publicity purposes and for general company publicity and to arrange
television, radio or webcast performances of excerpts of the Play for
publicity purposes, provided the excerpts are limited to not more than
fifteen minutes.
8.

PRODUCTION BUDGET

The Lighting Designer will work with the Producer, Director and Production
Manager to deliver the Production within a design budget to be
determined by the Producer and agreed in advance between the Producer
and the Lighting Designer [See note 5 below]. It is hereby agreed that the
Lighting Designer can reclaim vouched expenses associated with model
making and other costs as agreed in advance with the Producer. [See note
6 below]
9.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

The Producer hereby acknowledges that the Lighting Designer is

responsible for the visual aspects of the production only. Notwithstanding
the above the Lighting Designer hereby agrees to fulfil his/her services
with due regard to the health and safety of the public and all production
personnel and to all relevant Health and Safety legislation and to
Corporation Bye Laws for places of public resort [amend as appropriate]
and to the Producers Health and Safety Statement which will be made
available to the Lighting Designer in advance of the commencement of
rehearsals. [See note 7 below]
10.

COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS

The Lighting Designer is entitled to 2 complimentary tickets for the official

opening performance.
11.

COPYRIGHT

All rights in and to the lighting design of the Production as conceived by

the Lighting Designer in the course of the rendition of his/her services as
outlined in this contract shall be, upon its creation, and will remain, the
sole and exclusive property of the Lighting Designer, it being understood,
however, that the Producer and its licensee(s) shall have a perpetual,
irrevocable and exclusive license to use such design in any future
presentation of the production, including extensions, tours, transfers and
revivals of the Play on terms and conditions to be negotiated in good faith
as provided for in Clause 12 of this contract.
In return for the fee outlined in Clause 2 of this contract the Lighting
Designer hereby grants to the Producer a license for his/her design for the
initial run of the production according to the schedule as outlined in Clause
1 of this contract. [See note 8 below]
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Subject to the Lighting Designer providing his/her services as required by

this Agreement and to the performance by the Lighting Designer of all
his/her other obligations under this Agreement, the Producer hereby
warrants that no changes in the design of the play will be made without
the Lighting Designers consent unless in the case of a technical
emergency where the Lighting Designer cannot be contacted. [See note 9
below]
12.

EXTENSIONS, TOURS, TRANSFERS OR REVIVALS

The Producer shall have the sole and exclusive right to extend, revive, tour
or transfer the production as it may determine.
If the run of the production is extended or revived to tour or transfer
beyond the schedule outlined in Clause 1 of this contract the Producer will
negotiate a re-license of the Lighting Designers copyright in good faith
and according to standard industry practice. [See note 10 below]
If the Producer revives, extends, tours or transfers the production using
the Lighting Designers original design and if the Producer determines that
additional work is required, the Lighting Designer shall be afforded the first
option to perform such additional work. The Producer and the Lighting
Designer shall negotiate in good faith compensation therefor. To the extent
that the Lighting Designer is unable or unwilling to perform the additional
work, the Producer, after consultation with the Lighting Designer, may
employ, at its own cost, another person to perform the additional work.
13.

ASSIGNMENT

The Producer may assign the rights and options outlined in this contract to
another company or Producer provided that the Producer's obligations to
the Lighting Designer herein shall be retained and the Producer informs
the Lighting Designer in writing within 14 days of any such agreement.
14.

CONSENTS

In the event that the Producer shall make any recording of the Production
for commercial exploitation by any means, whether now known or
hereafter to be devised including all forms of audio visual products for
retail sale or hire based on the Production, the Lighting Designer hereby
agrees and undertakes to enter into negotiations for a contract with the
Producer or such other party as may be nominated by the Producer, in
respect of commercial exploitation of videogram rights, and to conclude
and agree such negotiations on reasonable terms and in accordance with
current industry practice.
15.

JURISDICTION

This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with

the laws of Ireland the courts of which shall be courts of competent
jurisdiction.
16.

ENTIRE AGREEMENT

This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding between the parties

and replaces all prior understandings and agreements between the parties
in respect of the subject matter of this Agreement and may not be
modified orally.
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SIGNED BY

WITNESSED BY

Lighting Designer

Date:

Date:

Producer

Date:

Date:

NOTES:
1. Not all designers are VAT registered. Those who are VAT registered are
legally obliged to charge VAT at 21%. It is the case that some companies
negotiate a fee which is inclusive of VAT and all other taxes. As the
Lighting Designer will then be responsible for discharging any VAT liability
it would be expected that this would be reflected in the level of fee paid.
2. Subsistence payments (either daily or weekly) are sometimes
negotiated where a Lighting Designer is not resident in the town or city
where the rehearsals and production are taking place. A Lighting Designer
might also expect travel expenses, including flights, to be covered by the
company as well as agreed out of pocket expenses and this should be
indicated in the contract where appropriate. Where the Lighting Designer
is expected to travel to attend at production meetings in advance of
rehearsals or to see the show after opening night, it should also be
indicated whether these costs are to be borne by the Producer or the
Lighting Designer. Delete this clause in its entirety if not applicable.
3. Normally the delivery of a Lighting Designers services is negotiated in
advance and included in the contract. Delivery schedules obviously vary
but industry practice indicates that lighting and sound plans are usually
provided later in the production process and in response to the set model,
costume drawings and the staging of the show in the rehearsal room.
4. An alternative arrangement in the event of Abandonment is a sliding
scale whereby the amount of the fee paid will depend on the number of
weeks remaining before rehearsals were due to begin (e.g. more than ten
weeks 25%, between five and ten weeks 33%, less than five weeks
50%).
5. If known in advance the production budget can be included in the
contract from the outset.
6. These costs are sometimes considered to be included in the agreed
design budget, which would then be indicated in the contract.
7. All companies are legally obliged to prepare a Health and Safety
Statement which amongst other things usually indicates the companys
position on risk assessment, fire proofing etc. The Health and Safety
Statement is often included as an appendix to a Lighting Designers
contract.
8. It is regarded as standard industry practice that Designers retain all
rights to their work on a production. Under certain circumstances (most
usually pertaining to commercial productions) some companies negotiate
a complete buy out of the Designers work. As the Designer will then
receive no further gain from revivals or extensions, this is usually reflected
in the level of fee paid. An example of such an alternative clause is as
follows:
The Lighting Designer grants to the Producer all copyright in, and any
lending or rental rights resulting from, the products of the Lighting
Designers services under this agreement throughout the world in all
media, whether now known or hereafter to be devised, for the full period
of copyright including extensions, renewals and revivals thereof, and to
the extent possible in perpetuity and throughout the universe.
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The Lighting Designer gives all necessary consents to the contribution of

the Lighting Designers services to the Production being exploited and/or
recorded for the purposes of Part III of the Copyright and Related Rights
Act, 2000 (or any amendment or re-enactment thereof) and for the
purposes of any similar legislation in any other jurisdiction.
9. Where this clause is not agreed, the following clause is sometimes used
to allow the Designer to remove his/her name from the production if
he/she disagrees with the changes proposed by the Producer:
Where the Producer makes substantial changes to the Production without
the Lighting Designers written consent, or if the Producer requires
substantial changes which the Lighting Designer is not willing to
implement, then the Lighting Designer shall have the right to withdraw
his/her name from the Production. The Producer shall use his/her
reasonable endeavours to ensure that the Lighting Designers name is
removed from publicity material and from the official show programme.
10. Standard industry practice with regard to immediate extensions of
the original run of the show at the same venue ranges from no additional
payment to a percentage of the original fee for each weeks extension,
proportionate to the length of the original run and accepting that a large
proportion of the original fee was in recognition of the exclusive services
granted to the company during the period of engagement. If it is agreed
between the Producer and the Lighting Designer that additional work is
required to facilitate the extension, the Lighting Designer is usually offered
first refusal on this work and additional payment is usually negotiated. An
extension of the licence in the Lighting Designers copyright is obviously
unnecessary if the Producer has bought out the copyright as in note 8
above. Additional payments may be required, however, if the Lighting
Designer is requested to do further work on the production to facilitate the
extension.
Standard industry practice with regard to revivals of the show at some
time in the future after the original run has come to a close (either at the
original venue or to facilitate tours or transfers) ranges from a payment of
between 25% and 33% of the Lighting Designers original fee. This
payment may or may not include additional work that may be required on
the part of the Lighting Designer. Different arrangements often apply for
commercial transfers or tours, particularly to the West End or Broadway,
where additional payments, including royalties, often apply. As above, a relicence of the Lighting Designers copyright is unnecessary if the Producer
has bought out the copyright as in note 8 above. Additional payments
may sill be required, however, if the Lighting Designer is requested to do
further work on the production to facilitate the revival or tour.
ADDITIONAL CLAUSES:
Assistant Designers:
Some designers contracts also make provision for the hiring of Assistant
Designers and indicate if the cost of such assistants will be borne by the
Producer, the Designer or is considered part of the production budget as
outlined.
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ENDS
Theatre Forum February 2006