Consent declaration

With the consent declaration you allow a production to process your personal data for specified purposes. On a shoot that covers more than the finished video: raw footage, sound, ID data, contact details and confirmation of your tests belong there too.

Four features without which it does not hold

The General Data Protection Regulation sets requirements for a consent that can be reduced to four points. Informed: you know in advance who processes which data for which purpose and who they go to. Voluntary: you decide without pressure and without a disadvantage for what you refuse. Specific: the purposes are named one by one, not as a lump. Demonstrable: the declaration is documented, dated and provable for both sides.

Two formal points belong with that. The declaration has to be written in understandable language and set apart from other agreements, so it remains clear what you are allowing for what. And refusing a point that is not required for the shoot must have no consequences: anyone who does not want a clip used in ads must not drop out of the cast for that reason.

Information about health and sex life is treated by the Regulation as special categories. That needs an express consent, not a tacit one. In practice that means: the result of your STI-Panel must not simply sit in the production folder because that is how it happened to be filed.

Consent and the grant of rights are two levels

The most common mistake among newcomers is to put both in one pot. The model contract and the Model Release grant the production usage rights in the material, against a fee. That is contract law with performance and consideration. The consent is the data-protection permission beside it.

Both often sit in one document, but they follow different rules. That becomes relevant at the latest with the right of withdrawal, because you can take the consent back and, as a rule, you cannot take granted usage rights back. Anyone who knows that split reads the contract differently.

Why a permission for everything is worth nothing

Formulations such as “all media, worldwide, for all purposes, unlimited in time” look convenient and are poor for two reasons. Legally they lack specificity, because nobody can still say what exactly was consented to. Practically you lose every measure against which you could judge a later use.

A list is better. Which channels are meant — own website, partner sites, fan platforms, ads. Which territories. Which duration. Is material passed on, and if so to which circle. Is a clip used for marketing. What a good contract says on these points is walked through in the article the model contract clause by clause.

Before you sign

Have the declaration sent in advance, not only on the shoot day with a waiting crew. Strike what you do not want and have the strike initialled. Take a signed copy with you, with a date. A production that will not hand over a copy does not want you to be able to read it later.

This text places the basics in context and is not a substitute for legal advice.