What a kill fee is
A kill fee is a payment a brand owes a creator when it cancels commissioned work after the agreement is signed, usually a fixed share of the full fee. It compensates the creator for time already spent and for other work turned down. The term comes from journalism, where publications paid writers a kill fee for articles they decided not to run.
A deposit works differently. It is paid up front whatever happens and counts toward the total; a kill fee is triggered only by cancellation. Some agreements use both, keeping the deposit and topping it up if the brand pulls out late. It is also separate from the licensing fee, which pays for usage, not labour.
How it works in creator deals
The usual structure is staged. Cancel before the creator has scripted or filmed, and the fee is small or nothing. Cancel after filming, and the share rises. Cancel after delivery, and most agreements treat the work as complete and owed in full, minus any usage the brand now chooses not to buy.
Killing a project normally means the brand gets no rights to whatever was made. If you want to keep the half-finished footage, that is a purchase, not a cancellation, and should be priced as one. The UGC contract template lets you set the stages next to the payment schedule.
A worked example
A supplement brand commissions three videos for 1,500 dollars in total. The agreement says: cancel before product ships, nothing owed; after product arrives but before filming, 25 percent; after filming, 50 percent; after delivery, the full fee. Two weeks in, a formula change forces the brand to stop the campaign after the creator has filmed.
The brand pays 750 dollars, the creator keeps the product, and the footage stays with the creator unless the brand later licenses it. Nobody has to negotiate in a bad moment, because the number was agreed when both sides were still on good terms.
Common mistakes
Leaving it out entirely. Without a cancellation term, a brand that stops a project halfway is in an argument about effort and value with someone who now has every reason to complain publicly. Experienced creators expect the clause, and its absence can read as a warning sign.
The opposite error is a kill fee so high it works as a penalty, which makes the brand reluctant to cancel even when the product has changed. Tie each stage to work the creator has demonstrably done, and agree the trigger in writing, such as the date footage is uploaded.
How it's used
We're pausing the launch, so check the contracts: anyone who has already filmed is owed the 50 percent kill fee.
Cancellation: if the brand cancels after filming, it pays a kill fee of 50 percent of the total and acquires no rights in the footage.