Mutual consent

Mutual consent means that every sexual act is carried by the recognisable will of everyone involved — and in the moment in which it takes place. The term is the German, legally anchored counterpart of what production practice calls Consent.

The difference between the two is not word-splitting. Consent describes how people communicate on set. Mutual consent describes the measure against which, in a dispute, what happened there is judged. One is a working attitude; the other is a question of proof.

The measure of German sexual criminal law

Since the reform of sexual criminal law, German criminal law turns on the recognisable contrary will. What matters is therefore not whether someone resisted, but whether it was recognisable that they did not want the act. A yes from yesterday does not carry an act today.

For the shoot something uncomfortable and at the same time relieving follows: a signed contract does not make an act mutually consensual that was not wanted in the moment of shooting. No model contract in the world can grant consent in advance for everything.

What documentation then actually does

If the signature does not replace the will in the moment: what is the paper for? Because documentation does not create the consent; it shows what was discussed. It answers the question of what was agreed before anyone stood in front of the camera.

Three documents interlock: the consent to recording and publication, the model contract with performance and fee, and the signed limits list. The third is what many productions lack.

Why the limits list serves both sides

A signed list protects you because it turns a claim into an agreement. Without it, in a conflict your memory stands against that of the set. With it there is a document dated before the shoot and countersigned by both sides.

It also protects the production, and that is why serious houses insist on it. A production that can show that limits were asked in writing beforehand, documented and observed stands differently against a later allegation than one that relies on oral arrangements.

That is exactly why the list is not an accessory with us, but part of the contract. How it is filled in is in the article setting limits.

What you watch for when you sign

Require that changes on the shoot day are also recorded in writing, even if only by hand on the printout with date and both signatures. Oral promises on set are not worthless, but they are hard to prove later.

Formulations that try to take every further act from you in a lump should make you wary — for example a consent to everything in the frame of the production. Such clauses are rarely helpful and do not carry mutual consent anyway.

This entry places the terms in context and is not a substitute for legal advice. If it is about a concrete contract or a concrete incident, the case belongs with a lawyer.