A model release form isn’t a service contract — it’s a one-way consent instrument. The Subject grants the Company the right to use their image and likeness; there’s no fee, deliverable or termination clause to negotiate. Download the ready-to-fill template below, or read the field-by-field checklist first.
A complete, ready-to-fill PDF — 10 clauses, blanks for every detail, and a signature block for both parties. Free, no email, no account. Read it and adapt it before you use it; the cover page explains what it can and cannot do for you.
Need the other party to sign it too? Send it for signature with a full audit trail and a tamper-evident seal on the finished file — they never need an account. See pricing.
This document is a general-purpose template provided for information only. It is not legal advice, it does not create a lawyer–client relationship, and nobody has reviewed it against your situation.
Laws differ by country, state and province, and they change. A clause that is standard in one place can be unenforceable — or illegal — in another. Terms that are ordinary between two businesses can be void in a consumer or employment context.
Read every clause before you use it, fill in every blank, and delete anything that does not apply. For anything high-value, unusual, or that you could not afford to lose a dispute over, have a qualified lawyer in your jurisdiction review it before it is signed.
These are the fields and clauses a model release needs. Leaving one out doesn’t necessarily void the release, but each gap is a spot where the scope of what was actually granted becomes a matter of argument later.
Company & Subject names
The full legal name and address of the photographer or company obtaining the release, and of the Subject granting it.
Session details
The date(s) and location of the shoot that produced the Images this Release covers.
Grant of rights
The Subject's permission for the Company to use the Subject's image, likeness, voice and name — this is the operative grant, not a service being performed.
Scope of use
Which media the Images may be used in — advertising, editorial, commercial, social, print — and whether any use is excluded.
Consideration
What the Subject receives in exchange for the grant, even if nominal or non-cash (a copy of the edited Images). A grant with no stated consideration is easier to challenge later.
Waiver of approval rights
Confirms the Subject will not review or approve the finished Images, or any copy that uses them, before the Company's first use.
Duration of the grant
Whether the right to use the Images runs in perpetuity or for a stated term, and what happens to uses already made when a term ends.
Release from claims
The Subject's release of the Company from claims — invasion of privacy, right of publicity — connected with a use that stays inside the scope granted.
Irrevocability
States plainly that the grant, once given, cannot be withdrawn, and that the Company has no duty to recall Images already published.
Minor consent & signatures
If the Subject is under the age of majority, a parent or guardian signs in the Subject's place. Not binding until signed and dated.
Every other document in this template library is a service agreement: one party does work, the other pays for it, and both sides can end the arrangement. A model release is structurally different. The Subject isn’t delivering anything and isn’t owed a fee for ongoing work — the Subject is granting a right, once, and the document exists to record exactly what was granted and to release the Company from claims connected with using it.
That’s why there’s no payment schedule (consideration can be a flat sum, a copy of the images, or simply stated and left nominal — see clause 3), no deliverables clause (there is nothing being delivered besides the consent itself), and no termination clause. A signed release is meant to be irrevocable: the Company needs certainty that an ad campaign built around an approved image won’t be pulled six months later because the subject changed their mind. What the release does instead is bound the grant — which media it covers, for how long, and what claims the Subject is releasing — so the scope is explicit rather than assumed.
The one addition a services contract never needs: a parent-or-guardian consent clause, for when the Subject is a minor. The template above builds it in as a substitute signature line rather than a bolt-on form, so a single document works whether the Subject signs for themselves or a guardian signs on their behalf.
Fill in the template above and send it to your subject for signature with a free Evenseal account — 3 documents a month, no card required. Only need your own copy signed? Self-sign for free with no account at /sign-pdf.
Not legal advice — for major campaigns, public figures, or releases involving a minor, have a local attorney review your release.