Terms of service

These terms cover the creative production services Host Outside sells and the use of this website. Host Outside is a sole proprietorship based in California. Questions about them go to hello@hostoutside.com.

The short version

• You pay the full fee upfront, when you place an order.
• The fee is non-refundable, except when we fail to deliver. Then we redo the work at our cost, and if that also fails, we refund the part of the fee for what we could not deliver.
• You can cancel at any time, but cancelling does not trigger a refund.
• We send the brief within 4 days of your onboarding form and deliver within 14 days of the last thing we need from you.
• Each video includes one consolidated round of revisions, requested within 10 days of delivery.
• You own the finished videos once they are fully paid for. We may show them in our portfolio unless you tell us in writing not to.
• We do not guarantee ad results.

This summary is here for convenience. The full terms below are what apply.

1. Agreement structure

1.1 These Standard Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern all creative production services provided by Host Outside, a sole proprietorship based in California (the “Agency”, “we”, “us”), to the client identified in an executed offer, statement of work or order form (the “SOW”) (the “Client”, “you”).

1.2 The SOW and these Terms together form the entire agreement (the “Agreement”). If the SOW conflicts with these Terms, the SOW controls for that engagement.

1.3 No work begins until (a) the SOW is executed and (b) the Initial Payment under Section 3 is received.

1.4 Acceptance. Client accepts these Terms by executing an SOW that references or attaches them, or by placing an order or paying an invoice under such an SOW. Any of these constitutes agreement to these Terms in full, and no separate signature on these Terms is required. The “Effective Date” is the date the SOW is executed or, if earlier, the date Client’s Initial Payment is received.

2. Services

2.1 The Agency produces scripted and unscripted street-interview style video content (“Services”), delivering edited video files as specified in the SOW (the “Deliverables”).

2.2 Unless the SOW says otherwise, the Agency controls production logistics in its reasonable discretion: casting of hosts, interviewers and participants; selection of shoot locations; scheduling of videographers and crew; and editorial execution consistent with the approved Brief.

2.3 Performance review. Each engagement includes one performance review meeting between the Agency and Client, held approximately one (1) week after final delivery, at a mutually agreed time (movable by either party on reasonable notice).

3. Payment

3.1 Full payment upfront. The full fee stated in the SOW (the “Fee”) is due upon execution of the SOW. Receipt of the Fee is the “Initial Payment” and the project start date.

3.2 The Fee is non-refundable except as expressly provided in Section 7 (Failure to Deliver).

3.3 Any costs outside the SOW scope (for example Client-requested reshoots, added deliverables or rush requests) are quoted separately and due before the additional work begins.

4. Project timeline and client dependencies

4.1 Phase 1: Onboarding and Brief. Each engagement begins as follows:

• (a) Onboarding (Client). Upon the order being placed and Initial Payment received, Client completes the Agency’s short onboarding form or provides its own brief, so that strategy and goals are aligned (the “Onboarding Input”).
• (b) Brief (Agency). Within four (4) days after receiving the Onboarding Input, the Agency shares a production brief with Client (the “Brief”) setting out the questions for the interviewer(s), the value propositions to be mentioned, and the wording for the hosts and/or actors, together with any topics, claims or statements Client wants avoided (the “Avoid List”).
• (c) Brief review (Client). Client has the opportunity to review the Brief and request changes before filming. The Agency shares revised versions promptly. Filming does not begin until Client confirms the Brief in writing.
• (d) Product shipping (Client), if applicable. If the engagement requires physical product (a “Physical Product Engagement”), Client ships product to the set locations the Agency designates. Engagements for digital products (for example apps, software or services) have no shipping dependency.

Apart from the Agency’s four (4) day Brief turnaround in Section 4.1(b), the overall duration of Phase 1 depends on Client actions and is a target, not a commitment by the Agency.

4.2 Client Dependencies. The following are “Client Dependencies”: (a) Client’s delivery of the Onboarding Input; (b) Client’s written confirmation of the final Brief; (c) for Physical Product Engagements only, confirmed delivery of Client product to all designated set locations; and (d) any other Client approvals, materials or access identified in the SOW.

4.3 Production Window. The Agency will complete production and deliver the Deliverables within fourteen (14) calendar days after the date the last Client Dependency is satisfied (the “Production Window”). The Production Window covers shoot scheduling (actors, videographers, host(s)), the shoot itself, and editing.

4.4 Excusable Delays. The Brief turnaround (Section 4.1(b)), the Production Window and the revision delivery period (Section 6.4) are each extended day-for-day for delays caused by: (a) illness, injury or no-show of scheduled talent, host or crew; (b) severe weather or unsafe conditions at a shoot location; (c) loss of location access or permitting issues; (d) equipment failure, or loss or corruption of footage requiring a reshoot; (e) Client-requested changes to the confirmed Brief, schedule or scope; (f) for Physical Product Engagements, removal, recall or unavailability of Client product at set locations; (g) any Force Majeure Event (Section 18.5). The Agency will notify Client of any extension and the revised expected delivery date.

4.5 Dates in the SOW or communications are good-faith estimates unless expressly labeled a guaranteed deadline in the SOW.

5. Client cooperation and abandonment

5.1 Client will respond to the Agency’s requests for approvals, feedback and materials within a reasonable time (target: five (5) business days).

5.2 Abandonment. If the Client Dependencies are not all satisfied within ninety (90) days of the Initial Payment (including because Client is unresponsive), the project is deemed abandoned, the Agency’s obligations end, and the Fee is forfeited. The Agency may, in its sole discretion, agree in writing to reactivate an abandoned project, and may condition reactivation on a reactivation fee reflecting re-mobilization costs.

5.3 The same 90-day abandonment rule applies if, after delivery of any draft Deliverable, Client provides no feedback or approval for 90 consecutive days (without prejudice to deemed acceptance under Section 6.6, which will normally occur first).

6. Revisions and acceptance

6.1 One (1) revision round is included per Deliverable unless the SOW states otherwise. A “revision round” is one set of consolidated written comments, which Client may provide for any or all of the Deliverables. Revisions are edits to footage already captured: recuts, trims, music, text, color and similar post-production changes.

6.2 Revision window. Client may submit its consolidated comments within ten (10) days after delivery of the Deliverables. Comments submitted after that window, and any further rounds beyond the included round, are out of scope and quoted separately.

6.3 Consolidated comments. Comments must be submitted as a single consolidated set per Deliverable. Piecemeal or successive rounds of comments count as separate revision rounds.

6.4 Revision delivery. The Agency delivers the revised videos within ten (10) days after receiving Client’s consolidated comments.

6.5 Reshoots are not revisions. New footage, new locations, new participants, or changes departing from the confirmed Brief are out of scope and separately quoted, unless the reshoot is required because the Agency failed to capture usable footage consistent with the confirmed Brief, in which case the reshoot is at the Agency’s cost.

6.6 Deemed acceptance. Each Deliverable is deemed accepted upon the earlier of (a) Client’s written approval, (b) Client’s public posting or commercial use of it, or (c) expiry of the ten (10) day revision window in Section 6.2 without written comments. Each revised Deliverable is deemed accepted ten (10) days after delivery of the revised version.

7. Cancellation, refunds and failure to deliver

7.1 No refunds for cancellation. Client may cancel at any time, but the Fee is non-refundable. Cancellation after a shoot is scheduled does not create any additional charge; committed third-party costs are absorbed by the Fee.

7.2 Failure to deliver: redo first. If the Agency fails to deliver a Deliverable materially conforming to the confirmed Brief within the Production Window (as extended under Section 4.4), Client’s first and primary remedy is that the Agency will, at its own cost, re-perform the deficient work (including a reshoot if needed) within a reasonable additional period.

7.3 Refund as backstop. If the Agency’s re-performance also fails to produce a materially conforming Deliverable, or the Agency determines it cannot deliver at all, the Agency will refund the portion of the Fee allocable to the undelivered or non-conforming Deliverables. This refund is Client’s sole and exclusive remedy for failure to deliver.

7.4 Not failures to deliver. None of the following is a failure to deliver or grounds for refund: (a) subjective dissatisfaction with participants’ opinions, statements, reactions, appearance or delivery; (b) the performance of the Deliverables (views, engagement, conversions, sales, ad metrics); (c) rejection, restriction or removal of content by any advertising platform or social network, including for product-category or claims-policy reasons (see Section 9); (d) delays caused by Client Dependencies, Excusable Delays or Force Majeure; (e) abandonment under Section 5.2.

8. Nature of the content; no guarantees

8.1 Where Deliverables feature unscripted participants, their statements, opinions and reactions are their own. The Agency does not control what an unscripted participant says, and does not guarantee any particular sentiment, claim or portrayal will be captured in unscripted footage. Editorial selection of which captured footage appears in the Deliverables rests with the Agency, consistent with the confirmed Brief.

8.2 No performance guarantees. Any examples, case studies, past results or metrics shared by the Agency are illustrative only. THE AGENCY MAKES NO GUARANTEE OF ANY BUSINESS OUTCOME, INCLUDING VIEWS, ENGAGEMENT, FOLLOWERS, CONVERSIONS, REVENUE, RETURN ON AD SPEND, OR PLATFORM APPROVAL.

9. Client product, claims and platform compliance

9.1 Client warranties. Client represents and warrants that: (a) it has all rights to the product, branding and materials it provides; (b) its product is lawful to sell and distribute in the relevant markets; (c) all product claims Client asks the Agency to include, elicit or feature are truthful, substantiated and compliant with applicable law (including FDA and FTC requirements for supplements and health-related claims); and (d) Client’s intended use of the Deliverables will comply with the policies of any platform where Client runs or posts them.

9.2 Regulated categories. Client acknowledges that its product category (for example supplements and botanicals, CBD or hemp products, telehealth, alcohol or financial products) may be restricted or prohibited by advertising platforms (for example Meta or TikTok) and subject to heightened regulatory scrutiny. Platform rejection, restriction, account action or content removal is Client’s risk and does not constitute a failure to deliver by the Agency. Client may use the Avoid List in the Brief (Section 4.1) to identify topics, claims or statements that must not appear in the Deliverables (including for regulatory or platform-policy reasons), and the Agency will exclude Avoid List content from final Deliverables. If Avoid List content appears in a draft cut (for example raised spontaneously by an unscripted participant), it is removed in editing; its appearance in a draft is corrected through the revision process and is not a failure to deliver.

9.3 Right to decline. The Agency may decline to include specific claims or statements in Deliverables that the Agency reasonably believes are unlawful, unsubstantiated, or materially likely to violate platform policy. Such declination is not a breach.

9.4 Disclosures. After delivery, Client is solely responsible for all required disclosures on published content (for example FTC endorsement disclosures, or #ad and paid-partnership labels) and for how and where the content is used.

10. Product shipment and handling (physical product engagements only)

10.1 This Section 10 applies only to Physical Product Engagements. It does not apply where the Client’s product is digital (for example an app or online service) or where no product shipment is required.

10.2 Client ships product to designated set locations at Client’s cost and risk, using trackable methods.

10.3 Product used in production is consumed or disposed of and is not returned unless the SOW says otherwise.

10.4 The Agency’s liability for Client product lost or damaged in the Agency’s possession is capped at the product’s replacement cost.

11. Intellectual property

11.1 Client materials. Client retains all rights in its trademarks, product designs and materials it provides. Client grants the Agency a license to use them solely to perform the Services and as permitted by Section 11.4.

11.2 Deliverables. Upon the Agency’s receipt of full payment, ownership of the final Deliverables assigns to Client. Until full payment, the Agency retains all rights and Client has no license to use the Deliverables.

11.3 Agency retained IP. The Agency retains all rights in: raw and unused footage; project files; its pre-existing IP, methodologies, formats and production techniques; and anything not included in the final Deliverables. Client may purchase raw footage rights only if and as stated in the SOW.

11.4 Portfolio rights. The Agency may use the Deliverables and excerpts of them (including Client’s name and marks as they appear in the content) in the Agency’s portfolio, showreel, website, social channels and sales materials, unless Client opts out in writing. This license survives termination.

11.5 Participant consent. The Agency films participants openly, with visible cameras, and does not use hidden-camera footage. The Agency uses commercially reasonable efforts to obtain each featured participant’s consent to the commercial use of their likeness, voice and statements in the Deliverables; consent is typically captured verbally as part of the recording rather than through signed release forms. Participant consent does not authorize use of participant likenesses to train, fine-tune or generate content with AI or machine learning systems, and Client will not use the Deliverables for such purposes without the Agency’s prior written consent.

12. Confidentiality

Each party will keep the other’s non-public business information confidential, use it only to perform this Agreement, and not disclose it except to representatives who need it (bound to confidentiality) or as required by law. Standard exclusions apply (publicly available; already known; independently developed; lawfully received from a third party). This obligation survives for three (3) years after termination; trade secrets remain protected as long as they qualify as such.

13. Indemnification

13.1 By Client. Client will defend and indemnify the Agency and its personnel against third-party claims arising from: (a) Client’s product, including product liability, safety, labeling and regulatory claims; (b) product claims or materials Client provided or directed; (c) Client’s use or publication of the Deliverables, including platform-policy and advertising-law violations; or (d) Client’s breach of this Agreement.

13.2 By the Agency. The Agency will defend and indemnify Client against third-party claims that the Deliverables, as delivered and excluding Client-provided materials and Client-directed claims, (a) infringe the third party’s intellectual property rights, or (b) feature a participant whose consent the Agency failed to seek in accordance with Section 11.5.

13.3 The indemnified party must give prompt notice, allow the indemnifying party to control the defense, and reasonably cooperate.

14. Disclaimers

EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED IN THIS AGREEMENT, THE SERVICES AND DELIVERABLES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS,” AND THE AGENCY DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.

15. Limitation of liability

15.1 NEITHER PARTY IS LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, OR DATA, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY.

15.2 THE AGENCY’S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT IS CAPPED AT THE FEES ACTUALLY PAID BY CLIENT UNDER THE APPLICABLE SOW.

15.3 The caps in this Section do not apply to Client’s indemnification obligations under Section 13.1 or either party’s breach of Section 12.

16. Term and termination

16.1 This Agreement runs per engagement from SOW execution until the Deliverables are accepted (or deemed accepted) or the project is abandoned or terminated.

16.2 Either party may terminate for the other’s material breach not cured within fifteen (15) days of written notice. Termination does not entitle Client to any refund except as provided in Section 7.

16.3 Sections 7, 8, 9 and 11 through 18 survive termination.

17. Governing law and dispute resolution

17.1 Governing law. This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. This choice of law governs the Agreement itself; on-the-ground production activities remain subject to the applicable local laws of each shoot location (for example permits and recording-consent rules), which the Agency manages as part of production.

17.2 Arbitration. Any dispute arising out of or relating to this Agreement will be resolved by binding arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Commercial Arbitration Rules, before a single arbitrator, seated in California. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

17.3 Class waiver. Claims may be brought only in the parties’ individual capacities, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class or representative proceeding.

17.4 Equitable relief carve-out. Either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction for actual or threatened breach of Sections 11 (IP) or 12 (Confidentiality), without posting bond.

18. Miscellaneous

18.1 Independent contractor. The Agency is an independent contractor; nothing creates a partnership, joint venture or employment relationship.

18.2 Assignment. Neither party may assign this Agreement without the other’s written consent, except that the Agency may use subcontractors (videographers, editors, talent) in performing the Services and remains responsible for them, and either party may assign to a successor in a merger or sale of substantially all assets.

18.3 Severability; waiver. Invalid provisions are severed; the rest remains in effect. A waiver applies only to the instance given in writing.

18.4 Notices. Legal notices go in writing to the addresses in the SOW, with email permitted for operational communications (Brief confirmations, feedback, approvals).

18.5 Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control (natural disasters, epidemics, government action, labor disputes, utility or internet failures, civil unrest), except Client’s payment obligations.

18.6 Entire agreement. The SOW and these Terms are the entire agreement and supersede prior discussions. Amendments must be in writing and signed by both parties.

18.7 Counterparts; electronic signatures. This Agreement may be executed in counterparts, including by electronic signature, each of which is deemed an original and all of which together form one agreement.

19. Using this website

19.1 The content of hostoutside.com, including text, graphics, the Host Outside name and logo, and videos, belongs to Host Outside or is used with permission. You may view and share pages for personal or business evaluation, but you may not copy or reuse the content for other purposes without our written permission.

19.2 Brand names and products that appear on this website belong to their owners. Their appearance does not imply endorsement by, or affiliation with, those owners.

19.3 Do not use the website or its contact form to send spam, unlawful content or anything that could harm the site or its visitors.

19.4 The website is provided “as is.” We may change or remove any part of it, and we may update these Terms. The date at the top shows the latest version. Changes do not affect an SOW already executed unless both parties agree.

20. Contact

Host Outside, California. Email hello@hostoutside.com.