Contracts
Goal: draft, save, and send a pre-shoot service contract to a client, then collect their e-signature and export a PDF.
Prerequisites
- Contracts is off by default for new companies. An admin must turn it on first — go to Settings → Company Info → Contracts and check Enable Contracts. This adds Contracts to the sidebar and a Contracts tab on client and project pages.
- Only users with the admin role can access Contracts.
- A client must exist — contracts are always saved against a client. See Add, edit & delete clients.
How it works
A contract is the agreement you and your client sign before a shoot — it covers what you'll shoot, the fee and deposit, cancellation, what you'll deliver, and who owns the work. This is different from the licence builder on Tools, which governs what a client can do with media after you've delivered it.
Every contract you save gets its own permanent e-signing link automatically. Fill in the form, save, then share the signing link or its QR code — the client reviews the contract in their browser and signs it with a typed name and a drawn signature, the same way model releases work.
Create a contract
- Go to Contracts in the sidebar and click New Contract — or click New contract from a client's Contracts tab (pre-fills that client), or from a project's Contracts tab (pre-fills the client and project).
- Choose a Client — this can't be changed once the contract is saved.
- Optionally choose a Project to link the contract to, and override the client's name, address, or email for this contract only.
- Fill in the Title, Contract type (Photo, Video, or Both), and a Shoot type — the list adapts to the contract type; choose Other to type a custom description.
- Enter the Shoot date, Location / venue, and a US state for the governing-law clause.
- Enter Total fee and Deposit / retainer (as an amount or a percent) — the balance owing is calculated for you automatically.
- Describe Deliverables, the Delivery timeline, and the Scope of services.
- Toggle optional clauses: Cancellation & rescheduling, Copyright & usage, and Model / property release.
- Optionally add free-form Additional terms.
- Click Save Contract.
MILO Assist
Instead of filling in each field by hand, click Describe your shoot to MILO and type a plain-English description — e.g. "Wedding for Sarah & Tom on June 15 at The Grand Estate, Austin TX. $3500 total, $1000 deposit, deliver ~600 photos within 8 weeks." MILO fills in the matching fields for you; it never overwrites a field you've already typed into. If the contract is linked to a project, MILO can draft its starting description from that project's own AI summary.
Templates
Save time on repeat contract types:
- Click Save as template on the edit form, give it a name, and save — it captures every field currently filled in (except the client).
- On a new contract, use the Start from a template dropdown at the top of the form to apply a saved template, then review and adjust before saving.
Signing link & QR code
Once a contract is saved, a Signing link card appears on its edit page:
- Click the link token to copy the signing URL to your clipboard.
- Click Show QR to open a scannable QR code, with a Download button to save the PNG.
- Click the regenerate button to issue a new link — the old link and QR code stop working immediately. Use this if a link was shared with the wrong person.
The client opens the link, reviews the contract text under your branding, and signs with a typed legal name plus a drawn signature. Signing automatically marks the contract Signed and freezes the exact wording they agreed to — if you edit the contract's fields afterward, the signed copy on file never changes.
Editing wording by hand
The Preview panel on a saved contract shows the exact document text generated from the form fields. Click Edit wording by hand to override it with your own text in a plain-text box — useful for one-off clauses the form doesn't cover. Once overridden, changes to the form fields no longer update the document; click Revert to generated wording to discard the hand edits and go back to the auto-generated text.
Exporting
From a contract's edit page, the Contracts hub, or a client/project's Contracts tab, click the PDF or .txt icon to download that contract in either format.
Statuses
Every contract has a status: Draft (just created), Sent (you've shared it with the client), Signed (set automatically once the client signs), or Void (no longer active; its signing link stops working). Change a contract's status from the dropdown in its row on the Contracts list.
The Contracts hub
The main Contracts page lists every contract for your company.
- Search by title or client, and filter by status or client using the dropdowns.
- Each row shows the client, linked project (if any), status, shoot date, fee, and last-updated date.
- Duplicate a contract to start a new one from its saved fields.
- Delete a contract permanently — you'll be asked to type DELETE to confirm.
Contracts on clients & projects
A client's page and (if Projects is enabled) a project's page each get a Contracts tab listing the contracts saved against them. From a project's Contracts tab you can also attach an existing contract for that client that isn't linked to any project yet, or start a new contract already scoped to that project.
Related
- Add, edit & delete clients
- Model releases
- Tools — the licence builder, for terms governing delivered media
- Company settings
- What are Projects