A Brand Rejected Your Video. What Are You Owed?

You delivered the cut. Days later the reply says the brand is going in a different direction, or that it doesn't work for them, or nothing at all beyond "we'll pass on this one."

The first question is money, and the honest answer is that it depends on a document you signed weeks ago and probably skimmed. The second question is what to say next, and that one has a better answer, because how you respond in the first day materially changes the outcome.

This is practical guidance rather than legal advice. If the amount is significant and the conversation stalls, that's the point to get actual help.

If the work was approved or published and the invoice is simply overdue, follow the separate late-payment escalation plan.

First, work out which of the three this is

They get called "rejection" interchangeably and they're not the same event.

A revision request. They want changes. The deliverable isn't dead, and you're inside the normal process. Payment isn't in question, timing might be.

A rejection of the delivered cut. They want this specific video replaced, and either the brief was missed or the brief was ambiguous. Whether you're owed anything depends on which of those it was, and on your contract.

A cancellation. They're ending the campaign or the deal, independent of your work. This is the one where a kill fee, if you have one, applies.

Ask directly which one it is, because brands frequently blur them. "This doesn't work for us" could be any of the three, and the answer determines what you do next. A polite "just to confirm, are you asking for a revision, or is the deliverable being cancelled?" is a fair question and gets a straight answer surprisingly often.

The contract terms that decide it

Four clauses carry almost all of the outcome. Find them in the agreement you signed.

When payment is triggered. On delivery of an approved video, or on publication? This is the single most consequential line. If payment triggers on publication and the brand never publishes, a rejection can mean no fee at all unless something else in the contract says otherwise.

Revision cap. "Up to two rounds of revisions" is standard and protects both sides. Past the cap, additional changes are new work and can be invoiced as such. Without a cap, you've agreed to unlimited rounds, and some brands will use them.

Kill fee. A percentage payable if the brand walks away, typically 25% to 50%, sometimes 100% if you've already delivered. If your contract has one, this is the clause the conversation is about.

Approval standard. Look at whether approval is "in the brand's sole discretion" or tied to conformance with the brief. Sole discretion means a rejection on taste is contractually permitted, however unfair it feels. Tied to the brief means you have a concrete argument if the cut met the brief as written.

Rejected on the brief, or rejected on taste?

This is the distinction that decides whether the reshoot is your obligation or theirs to pay for.

Failed the brief. The brief said the disclosure had to be in the first five seconds and yours is at eight. The brief banned a competitor in frame and there's one on the counter. That's a fix, it's within the revision rounds you agreed to, and the fair move is to do it quickly. Most first-round notes are this, and most of them are avoidable by self-reviewing against the brief before delivering.

Failed something unwritten. The brief said nothing about lighting, or tone, or that the founder dislikes that phrasing. You delivered what was specified and the specification wasn't what they wanted. That's a brief failure on their side, and while you'll often still do the reshoot to keep the relationship, it's reasonable to say plainly that the requirement was new and to hold the line at the revision cap.

The test is simple: could you have known from the brief? If a line in the brief covers it, it's on you. If the note introduces a requirement that wasn't written down, it's a change request, and change requests are chargeable once you're past the agreed rounds. This is the same ambiguity that generates round after round on the brand's side, and naming it early is not aggressive, it's the conversation both sides need.

What to do in the next 24 hours

Order matters here.

1. Get the reason in writing, tied to a brief line. "Which section of the brief does this fall under?" is neutral, professional, and does two jobs: it gets you specifics you can act on, and it establishes on the record whether the requirement existed before you shot.

2. Don't reshoot yet. A fast unpaid reshoot against verbal notes is the most common way creators end up doing three versions for one fee. Confirm the scope first.

3. Confirm which round this is. "This is round two of the two in our agreement, so let's make sure these notes are complete" is a reasonable sentence and often produces a more thorough set of notes in one go.

4. Offer a defined next step. "I can re-edit the opening to move the disclosure and re-deliver Thursday" is much stronger than waiting for direction. It keeps you as the person solving the problem.

5. Ask about usage. If they're not publishing it, are they still licensing it? If a rejected video ends up in use anywhere, the usage clause governs it and you should be paid on those terms.

6. Keep the thread. The brief version, the delivered file, the timestamps, the notes. If this becomes a payment dispute, the record is your entire position.

What to negotiate before the next deal

Every item above is easier if the contract anticipated it. Four asks, in order of how much they're worth and how readily they're granted.

• Payment on delivery and approval, not on publication. If publication has to be the trigger, add a deemed-approval window so the brand can't hold the trigger indefinitely.
• A revision cap, with additional rounds billed at a stated rate.
• A kill fee, at 50% if the deal ends before delivery and 100% after.
• Approval tied to the brief, rather than sole discretion.

You will not get all four, especially early on. The payment trigger is the one to fight for, because it's the clause that decides whether "we're passing on this" costs you a reshoot or your entire fee.

The takeaway

Separate revision, rejection, and cancellation before discussing money, because each has a different answer. Your payment trigger, revision cap, kill fee, and approval standard decide the outcome, so find them before replying. Ask which brief line the rejection rests on: if it's written, fix it fast, and if it isn't, it's a change request and you can say so. Get the notes in writing before you reshoot, and negotiate the payment trigger on your next contract, since that's the clause doing the most work here.