Collaboration agreement, The Long Way Round
Collaboration agreement template with an even ownership split
Two people starting something together agree on everything except the day one of them wants to stop. This four page collaboration agreement for a podcast splits ownership and money evenly, then spends its last section on the part that actually gets tested: 60 days notice, $2,500 for the name, and an archive both people keep a copy of for seven years.
The document, page by page
Every page as it renders and as it prints, with nothing summarised. Read the wording before you reuse it.
Section by section
What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.
- Parties and headline terms
- Two named co-creators, no company formed, and a stats strip with episodes, split and budget.
- 1. What each of us does
- A seven row task table with lead and second, and what each promises to deliver.
- 2. Money in, money out
- The $9,600 budget table, the order revenue is paid in, and work invoiced at a third party rate.
- 3. Who owns what
- Equal undivided shares, what each keeps personally, and releases from contributors.
- 4. Credits
- Both credited as co-creators, the order alternating by season, and solo and outside work.
- 5. Decisions and disagreements
- Which calls belong to the lead, which need both, and the meeting then mediation route.
- 6. Leaving, and what happens to the work
- The review, 60 days notice, $2,500 for the name, the seven year archive and a dormancy callout.
- Signatures
- A block each, naming the two clauses both confirm reading.
How to adapt this document
For three or more collaborators, change the equal shares in clause 3.1 to a named percentage against each person and add a rule for what happens to a departing share, because an offer to the other on the same terms only works when there is one other. For a one off project such as a film or a book, replace the dormancy callout with a completion date and say what happens if the work is never finished, since a project with no release schedule has no way to become dormant. For a collaboration where one person brings an existing audience or an existing brand, carve that asset out of clause 3.1 by name and licence it in for the term, or the person who built it will find they gave half of it away.
What makes this document work
The contribution table is separated from the money
Seven tasks with a lead and a second against each, from research and field recording to publishing and press. Clause 1.1 then says in terms that it is a division of responsibility, not a measure of value, and that nothing in the money or ownership clauses changes if the hours turn out uneven.
Revenue has an order, not just a percentage
Clause 2.2 pays direct costs first, then repays each co-creator their $4,800, then splits what is left evenly and pays quarterly. A bare fifty fifty split with no order is how one person ends up funding the editing and waiting a year to see it back.
Leaving has a price and a date on it
Sixty days written notice. Released episodes stay up and the leaver keeps 50 per cent of net revenue from them for 24 months. The one who stays may keep making the series and pays $2,500 for the name and the format. The archive stays on the shared drive for seven years and both keep a full copy.
Questions people ask
Who owns a podcast made by two people?
Whoever the agreement says, which is why one is worth writing before the first episode. Here the name, format, artwork, feed, website and finished episodes are owned in equal undivided shares, and neither may sell or license a share without first offering it to the other. Each keeps copyright in their own narration.
Does a collaboration agreement create a partnership or a company?
This one does not, and the parties paragraph says so. It is a contract between two individuals with a joint account for the series. If you want limited liability, shared tax treatment or outside investment, form a company and write a shareholders agreement instead, because a collaboration agreement cannot give you any of those three.
How should collaborators split revenue when one spends more time?
Deal with the time in a different clause. Ownership and profit stay even here, while clause 2.3 lets a co-creator who does work the series would otherwise have paid for, such as a full mix, invoice the joint account at the quoted rate, agreed in writing first. That pays for effort without reopening the split.
What happens to the back catalogue if one person leaves?
Released episodes stay published, and the leaver keeps half the net revenue from them for 24 months. The remaining co-creator may keep making the series and pays $2,500 for the name and the format. Raw tapes, project files, transcripts and release forms stay on the shared drive for seven years and both keep a copy.
Do interviewees and contributors need to sign anything?
Yes. Clause 3.3 requires every interviewee to sign the series release before their recording is used, and makes an assignment of work a condition of a paid contributor being paid. Chasing a release two years later, when an episode is being licensed, is the single most common clearance problem in narrative audio.
How do two co-creators break a deadlock?
By deciding in advance which decisions are shared. Editorial calls inside an episode belong to the lead under the contribution table. The name, a sponsor, a platform deal or a price need both in writing. If they cannot agree they meet within seven days, then mediate at the joint account's cost, and after 30 days either may start the exit.
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