Kill fees for creators: getting paid if it's cancelled

Short answer: a kill fee pays you when a brand cancels after you have already started work. Standard is 25 to 50% if cancelled after production begins and 100% after final delivery. Most creator contracts contain no kill fee at all, which means that if the brand pulls the campaign the day after your shoot, you are owed nothing.

Why the absence is the problem

Most risky contract terms are risky because of what they say. Kill fees are the opposite: the damage comes from silence. There is no clause to spot, no aggressive wording to react to, just a missing protection that only becomes visible at the exact moment you need it. That is why it is one of the most commonly skipped items when a creator skims a contract before signing.

The underlying economics are simple. Your cost lands at production time. The shoot day, the props, the edit, the location: all spent before anything is published. A contract that only pays on publication puts the entire risk of the brand changing its mind onto you.

What a fair cancellation structure looks like

Cancelled at this stage	Typical kill fee
Before production starts	0 to 25%, often nothing, and that is reasonable
After production has begun	25 to 50%
After final delivery or approval	100%

What to send back

Could we add a short cancellation clause? As it reads now, if the campaign is cancelled after I've filmed there's no payment due. I'd suggest 50% if it's cancelled after production has started and 100% after final delivery. It just makes sure the shoot day is covered if plans change on your side, and it costs nothing if the campaign runs as planned.

The related protections worth checking at the same time

Payment terms. Net-30 is standard, net-60 is common with large brands, and anything beyond that is worth pushing back on. Adding a late fee of around 1.5% per month gives the deadline teeth.
Approval as a payment gate. If payment depends on the brand approving the content and approval is defined subjectively, a brand can delay payment indefinitely just by not approving. Ask for approval to be deemed given after a set number of business days.
Deposit up front. For larger productions, 50% on signature removes most of the cancellation risk before a kill fee ever has to be argued about.

Frequently asked questions

What is a kill fee?

A kill fee is an agreed payment you receive if the brand cancels the project after you have already started work. It exists because your cost is incurred at production time, not at publication time: once you have filmed, that day is spent whether or not the video ever goes live.

What is a standard kill fee percentage?

Typical market standard is 25 to 50 percent of the agreed fee if cancellation happens after production has begun, and 100 percent if cancellation happens after final delivery and approval. The exact split is negotiable, but the principle that filmed work is paid work is not unusual to ask for.

What happens if my contract has no kill fee clause?

In most creator contracts, if there is no kill fee and the brand cancels before publication, you are owed nothing. This is one of the most common gaps in UGC agreements: it is not that the clause is written badly, it is that it is simply absent, so nothing triggers payment. That silence is easy to miss when reading a contract quickly.

How do I ask for a kill fee without sounding difficult?

Frame it as protecting the schedule rather than distrusting the brand. Something like 'could we add a cancellation clause so the shoot day is covered if plans change on your side' is a routine, low-friction request. It also costs the brand nothing unless they actually cancel, which makes it one of the easier terms to get agreed.

What else protects me if a brand goes quiet after I deliver?

Payment terms and approval gates do most of that work. Push for net-30 rather than net-60 or longer, add a late fee such as 1.5 percent per month, and watch for clauses that make payment conditional on the brand's subjective approval, because those let a brand withhold payment indefinitely by simply never approving the content.

Last updated 2026-08-12. Not legal advice, a data informed second opinion.