Why we put the scope in writing before anything is made

What our scope documents contain

Each engagement is issued with a document covering: the objective in one sentence, the audience, the specific deliverables with formats and quantities, what is explicitly not included, the review points and who attends them, the client's responsibilities, ownership and licensing of the final material, the fee and the payment schedule, and the conditions under which any of the above changes.

None of it is unusual. What matters is that it exists before the first frame or the first layout, and that both parties have read the exclusions rather than just the deliverables.

The document is not there to protect the studio from the client. It is there to protect the work from everybody.

Exclusions are a courtesy, not a defence

Listing what a project does not include reads as defensive until the first time it saves someone a difficult conversation. A photography engagement that excludes model casting is not being stingy; it is telling a client to budget and plan for casting somewhere, with enough notice to do it well.

When a client wants an excluded item added, we quote it in writing and it becomes part of the scope. Nothing is refused on principle — it is simply priced rather than absorbed silently and resented later.

Revisions, honestly described

We scope revisions as rounds inside the agreed direction. Refining a colour, a crop, a line of copy — expected, included, unremarkable. Replacing the agreed direction after it was signed off is different work, and we say so plainly rather than absorbing it into unpaid weekends and calling it service.

Clients almost never object to this once it is written down at the start. They object when it appears for the first time in an invoice.