Usage Rights
Usage rights are the granted scope of use — the list of things the client is allowed to do.
What this is about
German copyright practice grants rights of use rather than transferring authorship, so a contract lists what the client may do instead of handing over the work as an object. In production that list gets concrete: online, social, broadcast, trade fair, internal use, territory, duration, exclusive or not, and whether editing or sublicensing is included. Wider grants cost more because they remove future options from everyone else. Producers who leave the clause vague usually learn its meaning when a cinema version is requested. Have the wording reviewed by a qualified lawyer before it is signed.
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:
- Rights are granted per channel, market and period; the combination drives the price, not the film length
- Editing and sublicensing are separate questions that vague clauses tend to swallow silently
- Music, stock and talent bring their own rights chains, which must reach at least as far
With TillyGen
TillyGen raises the usage question while the offer is still being built, so the rights scope matches the film being planned.
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.
Frequently asked
Do usage rights pass automatically to the paying client?
No. Payment and rights are separate agreements in German practice; what the client may do follows the contract text, which is worth a binding legal check before signature.
How long does it take to get started with TillyGen?
A first project takes under an hour to set up. There is no configuration phase in which templates and fields have to be defined before the tool produces anything.
Can the results be exported?
Yes — as PDF for the crew, CSV for downstream systems and through the API for anything automated. The plan stays the source; the exports are views of it.