Terms & Conditions

The German version is legally binding.

Last updated: November 11, 2026

1. Scope and definitions

These terms apply to all services and deliveries by Luca Scheuvens, Berlin (“Contractor”), to whoever engages him (“Client”), in particular photography, camera operation (including drone flights), lighting and grip, camera and sound assistance, sound recording, video engineering, post-production and consulting, and to all related offers. They apply to businesses, legal entities under public law and special funds under public law within the meaning of § 310 (1) BGB. Terms of the Client that deviate from or conflict with these terms do not apply, even if the Contractor does not expressly object to them or begins the work, unless he expressly agrees to them in text form. Individual agreements take precedence over these terms.

2. Offers and conclusion of contract

Offers are valid for 30 days from the offer date. A contract is concluded when the Client accepts the offer in text form or the Contractor confirms the booking in text form (email suffices), at the latest when the work begins. If the Client books on behalf of an end client, the Client names that end client when booking. Changes and additions require text form.

3. Services and types of service

(1) Scope, date, location, duration, team size and deliverables are set out in the offer or the booking confirmation. The creative and technical means of execution (including style, composition, lighting, equipment and editing) are chosen by the Contractor at his discretion within the agreed brief. Unless agreed otherwise, the Contractor provides his own equipment. He works independently and is not bound by instructions regarding time, place and manner of work, unless the agreed production requires otherwise. He may use suitable subcontractors or substitutes if this serves performance of the contract.

(2) The Contractor provides services either as a video production or as a footage service. For a video production, he owes a finished video. Raw footage, project files and interim versions are not part of the delivery, and all rights to them remain with the Contractor. The Client may use the video within the agreed purpose of use (§ 8). For a footage service, the Contractor owes the footage in the scope named in the offer (raw material) or his work without a specific result. Both together (video and raw footage) are possible, are agreed separately and are charged separately.

4. Client’s duty to cooperate

The Client provides all information, access, permits (e.g. shooting and location permits), approvals and a safe working environment in good time. The Client is responsible for obtaining the consents of persons appearing in the production as well as the rights to locations, objects, artworks, brands and music, unless the Contractor has expressly assumed this in text form. Delays caused by the Client’s failure to cooperate are at the Client’s expense.

5. Fees, expenses and payment

(1) Fees are stated in euros net. VAT is shown where required by law; under reverse charge (e.g. for services to businesses elsewhere in the EU), the recipient owes the tax. Day rates cover up to 10 hours including breaks. Further hours are charged on the basis of the hourly rate (day rate ÷ 10): the 11th and 12th hour at 125 %, from the 13th hour at 200 %, in each case per started hour. Travel and accommodation costs, per diems, parking fees, equipment transport, permits, rental equipment and other expenses are charged separately and reimbursed against proof, unless a flat rate was agreed.

(2) Invoices are due within 30 days of receipt without deduction. The Contractor may require a down payment of up to 35 % on booking, in particular for larger projects. In case of default, statutory default interest and the flat fee under § 288 BGB apply; reminder and collection costs actually incurred are reimbursed by the Client. In case of late payment, the Contractor may withhold further services and delivery until payment is made. The Client may only offset undisputed or legally established claims.

6. Cancellation, postponement, weather, drone flights, force majeure, illness

(1) If the Client cancels a confirmed booking, the Contractor may charge the following share of the agreed fee: nothing if cancelled 5 or more days before the start; up to 50 % if cancelled less than 5 days before; up to 100 % from 12:00 noon on the calendar day before the start or on the day itself, regardless of the start time. The Client remains free to prove a lower loss. Costs already incurred (e.g. rental equipment or non-refundable travel costs) are charged in full.

(2) If the date is postponed at the Client’s request, the Contractor is not obliged to be available on the new date. A postponement requested less than 5 days before the start counts as a cancellation under paragraph 1.

(3) Weather for outdoor shoots: If the Client cancels an outdoor shoot because of bad weather up to 24 hours before the start, the parties agree a replacement date free of charge. For later cancellations, the cancellation rules of paragraphs 1 and 2 apply. If the shoot is stopped or interrupted on site because of weather, the fee for the booked time remains due.

(4) Drone flights: The Contractor may postpone or cancel drone flights at any time for weather, safety or legal reasons without liability. If this happens more than 24 hours before the start, the parties agree a replacement date free of charge; if none is agreed, the share of the fee attributable to the flight lapses. If the flight is postponed or cancelled on the day or less than 24 hours before the start, for example because wind or weather change at short notice, 50 % of the share of the fee attributable to the flight remains due (preparation, holding available pilot and equipment). If the flight is made up on a replacement date, this 50 % is credited against the fee for the flight. If the reason lies in a permit or cooperation for which the Client is responsible, the full fee remains due. If the flight is not shown separately in the offer, a reasonable share of the day rate applies.

(5) Force majeure: Events of force majeure (e.g. natural events, epidemics, official orders, strikes, failure of transport or venues) that make performance impossible or unreasonable release both parties from their obligations for the duration of the disruption. The parties agree a replacement date. If none is agreed, either party may withdraw from the contract; services already rendered and expenses incurred are to be paid, with down payments credited against them. No further claims exist.

(6) Illness of the Contractor: If the Contractor is unavailable due to illness, accident or another reason he is not responsible for, he informs the Client without delay. He offers a replacement date or, with the Client’s consent, an equivalent substitute. In this case the Client may withdraw free of charge; down payments made are refunded. Claims for damages are excluded unless § 12 provides otherwise.

7. Delivery, acceptance and defects

(1) Delivery is digital (download link or data carrier). Delivery dates are binding only if expressly confirmed as binding in text form. If delivery depends on the cooperation of the Client or third parties, deadlines are extended accordingly.

(2) For photographs, the Contractor selects and edits the final images; unedited raw files are part of the delivery only if agreed in text form. For videos, § 3 (2) applies.

(3) The Client must inspect the deliverables without delay and report defects in text form within 7 days of delivery. If it does not report them in time, the service is deemed accepted. Corrections within the agreed scope are made within a reasonable period. If the Contractor performs a service as a service without a specific result (e.g. as a team member or as a footage service), acceptance does not apply.

(4) The Contractor owes the agreed service with professional care according to the state of the art. Requests for changes based on taste do not constitute a defect. Commercial success (e.g. reach, number of applications) is not owed.

8. Copyright, rights of use and AI

(1) The Contractor holds the copyright in all works created under the contract (photographs, footage, sound recordings, LUTs and other results) under the German Copyright Act (UrhG).

(2) After full payment, the Client receives a simple, non-exclusive right of use for the purpose, medium, territory and duration agreed in the offer or the booking confirmation. If no purpose is stated, the right is limited to the use arising from the purpose of the contract. Until full payment, the Client may use the works only provisionally and subject to revocation.

(3) The Client may pass the works on to the end client named to the Contractor at booking or otherwise known to him, for that end client’s agreed purpose. Any further transfer, assignment or sublicensing requires the Contractor’s consent. The Client remains obliged to pay and ensures that its end client complies with these terms.

(4) Any use beyond this, in particular in other media or for products or services not named, requires the Contractor’s consent and additional remuneration. Exclusive rights, buy-outs and rights to edit the works beyond customary technical adjustments must be agreed in text form and are remunerated separately. Changes, crops or distortions that substantially alter the character of the work require the Contractor’s consent (§ 14 UrhG).

(5) Without the Contractor’s express consent in text form, the Client is in particular prohibited from using the works to train or improve AI systems, feeding them into AI systems to generate new works, or synthetically recreating recognizable persons or voices from them.

9. Credit, self-promotion and further use

(1) When photographs are published, the Contractor must be credited as author in a suitable place (e.g. “Photo: Luca Scheuvens”), unless the offer, the booking confirmation or another agreement in text form provides otherwise. If the credit is omitted, the Contractor may claim lump-sum damages of 100 % of the licence fee agreed for the use, or failing that the customary licence fee (e.g. under the MFM photo fee guidelines). Further claims remain reserved; the Client remains free to prove a lower loss. For videos, credit is given where customary in the industry (e.g. in the end credits or the video description).

(2) The Contractor may use the works, in whole or in part, for self-promotion (website, portfolio, social media, competitions) and name the Client, unless the Client objects in text form before the project begins or the parties have agreed confidentiality in text form. The Contractor uses works showing recognizable persons only if their consent has been given or is not required.

(3) The Contractor may use footage without recognizable persons, brands and confidential content in other projects, at the earliest after publication by the Client. If no publication is planned, this is permitted only with the Client’s consent. Personality rights remain protected. Confidential works are not disclosed.

10. Releases and persons depicted

Where persons are recognizable in the works, the Client is responsible for the consents required for the intended use (personality rights, § 22 KUG, GDPR), unless the Contractor has undertaken in text form to obtain the releases. The Contractor is not liable for third-party claims arising from the Client’s use if the required rights or consents were the Client’s responsibility. The Client indemnifies the Contractor against such claims, unless they are based on a breach of duty by the Contractor.

11. Data, archiving and equipment

(1) The Contractor is not obliged to archive project data. He generally keeps it for 3 months from the invoice date; this gives rise to no entitlement to hand-over, restoration, changes or corrections. If the Client requests restoration, changes or corrections from the archive, the effort is charged separately. Longer archiving can be agreed per project and is charged separately. Defect claims and the corrections agreed in the offer under § 7 remain unaffected. Statutory retention obligations remain unaffected. The Client is responsible for backing up and storing the delivered data in the long term.

(2) The Contractor handles material and equipment provided by the Client with care; he is liable for damage only in accordance with § 12. The Client insures items of considerable value that it leaves with the Contractor.

(3) The Client ensures that the Contractor’s equipment on site is protected against theft, damage and unauthorized access. The Client is liable for damage to the Contractor’s equipment caused by it, its staff, its guests or other persons for whom it is responsible, in the amount of the repair costs or, in the case of a total loss, the replacement value.

12. Liability

(1) The Contractor is liable without limitation in cases of intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the Product Liability Act and for guarantees given.

(2) In cases of simple negligence, the Contractor is liable only for breach of an essential contractual obligation, meaning an obligation whose fulfilment is necessary for the proper performance of the contract and on whose observance the Client may regularly rely. Liability is then limited to the foreseeable damage typical for this type of contract, but no more than the coverage amount of the liability insurance under § 13.

(3) Until delivery, the Contractor backs up the project data with due care (e.g. by keeping backup copies). After delivery, the Client is responsible for backups; for later data loss, liability is limited to the typical restoration effort that would have arisen with regular and proper data backups.

(4) If recordings are unusable due to a technical defect or failure of equipment or a storage medium, or are lost before delivery, the Contractor will offer a retake where possible. Further claims in cases of simple negligence are limited to the agreed fee. For non-repeatable productions, the Client is advised to insure such risks.

(5) The limitations of liability also apply to subcontractors and vicarious agents of the Contractor.

13. Insurance

The Contractor is insured under a pecuniary loss liability, general liability and product liability insurance, with coverage amounts of EUR 5,000,000 for personal injury and property damage and EUR 500,000 for financial losses per insured event. Drone flights by the Contractor as a registered remote pilot with drones up to 5 kg total weight are covered. Proof is available on request. Additional insurance for the production (e.g. equipment, production and cancellation insurance) is the Client’s responsibility, unless agreed otherwise.

14. Drone flights

(1) The Contractor carries out drone flights as a registered operator and remote pilot in compliance with the regulations applicable at the place of operation (in the EU in particular Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947 and the respective national law).

(2) The Client provides the necessary information on the flight location in good time and, where required, obtains permissions from the property owner or authorities, unless the Contractor has assumed this in text form.

(3) The remote pilot decides whether a flight takes place, is postponed or is aborted, and may refuse or abort it at any time for safety or legal reasons. The consequences for the fee are governed by § 6 (4).

15. Confidentiality

Both parties treat confidential information that becomes known to them in connection with the contract as confidential and use it only for the purposes of the contract. This also applies to information marked as confidential or confidential by its nature, and beyond the end of the contract for as long as it is not publicly known. This does not apply to information that is publicly known, was already known to the recipient or must be disclosed under statutory requirements. The Contractor may disclose confidential information to subcontractors, representatives and advisers bound by professional secrecy (e.g. tax advisers, insurers) where necessary for performing the contract.

16. Final provisions

(1) The laws of the Federal Republic of Germany apply, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG).

(2) If the Client is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction is Berlin.

(3) Changes and additions to these terms require text form.

(4) If a provision of these terms is or becomes invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions is unaffected. The parties replace the invalid provision with a valid one that comes closest to its economic purpose.

(5) The German version of these terms is authoritative; the English version is provided for information only.