Model Release

What this is about

Everyone recognisable in a film — employees, customers, passers-by, actors — has to agree to the footage being used, and a spoken yes on the shoot day tends to evaporate when someone changes jobs or changes their mind. A written release records who consented to what: which production, which channels, which period, and how withdrawal is handled. Collect the signatures on set while people are standing there, not by email three weeks later. Consent for children runs through the legal guardians. Have the form itself reviewed by a qualified lawyer before it goes into circulation.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

In planning terms, that means:

• A release covers people; permission for places and objects is a separate property release
• Collect signatures on set — chasing them after wrap is the slowest task in post
• Consent needs a defined scope: production, channels, period; blanket wording invites disputes
• For minors the consent runs through the legal guardians and belongs in the call sheet planning

With TillyGen

TillyGen flags scenes with recognisable people while the shot plan is built, so releases are ready before the crew arrives.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.