Glossary
What is a buyout in video production?
A buyout in video production is the transfer of broader usage rights, or of outright ownership, from the production company to the client, for a fee agreed separately from production costs.
The word is used loosely and covers at least three different arrangements. Establishing which one is on the table matters more than negotiating the number, because two of the three do not give a client what they usually assume they are buying.
Under Dutch and broader European copyright, the creator holds copyright unless it is transferred in writing. In a commissioned production that means the production company, not the client who paid for it. What the client receives by default is a licence: permission to use the delivered film in defined ways, for a defined period, in defined places.
The three types of buyout
| Type | What transfers | Typically wanted when |
|---|---|---|
| Usage buyout | Wider channels, territories or a longer term for the finished film | A campaign expands into new markets or formats |
| Asset buyout | Raw footage and project files, so another editor can work with the material | An in-house team or new agency needs to build on the work |
| Full IP transfer | Copyright itself moves to the client | Rare, expensive, and often not what the client actually needs |
When you need to ask about it
- Before signing, not afterwards. A buyout negotiated at briefing costs a fraction of one negotiated when you already have a deadline.
- When a campaign might travel. A licence covering the Netherlands does not cover a German rollout.
- When you might change agency. Project files are almost never included by default.
- When the film has a long life. Three-year licences expire on films that are still performing.
- When third-party rights are involved. Music, talent and stock each carry their own terms, and a buyout from the production company does not extend them.
In practice
Third-party rights are where most buyout conversations come unstuck. Licensed music, professional talent and stock footage all carry separate terms that expire on their own schedules. Original score is the exception: where music is composed for the film rather than licensed, that recurring problem largely disappears.
Read the full guide to footage ownership and buyouts, or see DOT’s terms in the Q&A.
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