The process explained

How talent image approvals work.

A plain-English walkthrough of the cast clearance process for film & TV, from the moment your unit stills arrive to the approved images reaching your distributor. No jargon, no spreadsheets.

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The Image Approvals platform showing talent stills laid out for review and approval

In short

How do talent image approvals work?

Talent image approvals let cast review the unit stills taken of them and “kill” a contracted share of shots before release. The production uploads images, publicists curate the set, each actor approves or vetoes within their contractual percentages, and the approved key selects are packaged and delivered to the distributor.

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What are talent image approvals?

Talent image approvals (also called cast clearances) are contractual rights that let an actor control which photographs of them a production may release. Most cast contracts grant kill rights: the ability to veto (“kill”) a set percentage of their images, protecting their likeness and brand.

Terms vary by actor, but a common arrangement is the right to kill up to 50% of solo shots and 25% of group shots. Managing those percentages by hand, across a full cast and thousands of unit stills, is where productions get into trouble. The approval process exists to make it fair, auditable and fast.

Read the talent image approvals guide →

An actor's set of unit stills laid out for review, with some images marked as killed

The talent approval process, step by step

Six stages take a production from raw unit stills to an approved, distributor-ready set. This is the workflow whether you run it yourself or hand it to our team.

1

Setup & onboarding

The production is set up with each actor's contracted approval percentages recorded up front, and the photographer briefed on how to deliver. Getting this right early is what keeps the rest of the process fair and fast.
2

Image processing

Incoming unit stills are received, audited for missing or corrupt files, then organised, renamed and tagged by the actors who appear in them, so every shot is ready to review and traceable back to its RAW.
3

Producer & publicist review

Before cast see anything, producers and publicists review the full set and exclude shots they don't want shared, protecting trust by making sure actors only ever review a clean, considered selection.
4

Talent approvals

Each actor (or their representative) reviews only the images they appear in and kills the shots they want vetoed. Kills are tracked live against their contracted percentages for solo and group images, so no one exceeds their allowance.
5

Key selects

With cast-approved images in, the production and distributor mark their preferred shots (the key selects) that will form the final deliverables. Selections update in real time so every stakeholder sees the same picture.
6

Delivery

The approved images are packaged to the distributor's specification, organised by format and approval status, with contact sheets and a full audit trail, and delivered securely for release.

Six steps, none of them yours

Hand the whole process to us.

We run the approvals end to end (image processing, cast kills, key selects and distributor delivery) so your team never touches a spreadsheet.

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Who's involved in the approval process

A stills clearance touches several people. Knowing who does what keeps the process moving.

Producers & publicists

Run the process from a production account: curate the set, open approvals to cast, mark key selects and manage deadlines across the shoot.

Talent & their reps

Review only the images they appear in and kill shots within their contracted allowance. Reps can act on an actor's behalf, and no personal data is required from cast.

Distributor & network

Set the delivery specification and collaborate on the final key selects, so the approved images arrive exactly as their release needs them.

The photo lab

Behind the process, an editorial team handles the technical side (file auditing, RAW conversion, captioning, metadata and quality control) so nothing slips through.

How long does the approval process take?

A typical talent approval process runs over a few weeks, though it depends on how many images are submitted, the size of the cast, and how quickly actors complete their reviews. We've cleared productions in as little as five days, but we advise leaving at least a month before any release deadline.

Cast contracts often give actors a window of three to seven working days to complete their approvals. The biggest time-saver is starting early: get the production set up before the shoot wraps so images can flow in and be reviewed from day one, in time for First Look and Start of Production releases.

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A production dashboard tracking each actor's approval progress and deadlines across a review window

Run this process on the Image Approvals platform

The workflow above is built into a purpose-made platform with automatic kill tracking, or plan the shoot itself with ShootBuddy.

Explore the approvals platform Meet ShootBuddy →

Key terms, explained

The approval process comes with its own vocabulary. Here are the terms that matter most. Each links to a fuller definition in our glossary.

Kill rights

A contractual right letting an actor veto (“kill”) a set percentage of their images. Often 50% of solo shots and 25% of group shots, but it varies per contract.

Solo vs group percentages

Actors are usually given different allowances for images they appear in alone versus shots with other cast, so kills have to be tracked separately for each.

Key selects

The preferred shots producers, publicists and the distributor mark from the approved set, the images that become the final deliverables for release.

First look & start of production

Two common release milestones. Approvals are usually scheduled around these dates so cleared stills are ready when publicity needs them.

Contact sheet

A single-page thumbnail overview of a set with each image's approval status, the quick reference stakeholders use to see what's been cleared.

Kill & exclude

Killing is the actor's veto; excluding is the production removing a shot before cast ever see it. Both keep unwanted images out of the live set.

Browse the full glossary· Read the kill rights guide

Frequently asked questions

How do talent image approvals work? +

The production uploads its unit stills, publicists curate the set and open approvals to cast, and each actor reviews only the images they appear in, killing shots within their contracted percentages. Once approvals and key selects are complete, the approved images are packaged to the distributor's specification and delivered.

What are kill rights? +

Kill rights are the contractual right that lets an actor veto (“kill”) a set percentage of the images taken of them. Percentages are usually different for solo and group shots (for example 50% of solo images and 25% of group images), and they vary from one actor's contract to another.

What's the difference between solo and group approvals? +

Actors are typically given separate allowances for images they appear in alone versus images shared with other cast. Because a group shot can involve several people's rights at once, kills have to be tracked separately for solo and group images so everyone stays within their contract.

Who decides which images talent see? +

Producers and publicists do. Before cast are given access, they review the full set and exclude any shots they don't want shared. Cast then only ever review a clean, considered selection of the images they personally appear in.

What happens after cast approve their images? +

The production and distributor mark their key selects from the approved images, and those become the final deliverables. Everything is then organised by format and approval status, accompanied by contact sheets and a full audit trail, and delivered securely for release.

Do actors have to approve every photo? +

No. Actors only review the images they appear in, and they only need to complete enough approvals to meet their contractual requirements. The process is designed to be quick, and most only spend a short session reviewing their shots from a phone or laptop.

What are key selects? +

Key selects are the preferred shots that producers, publicists and the distributor choose from the cast-approved set. They're the images that go on to form the final marketing and press deliverables. Selections are shared, so every stakeholder sees the same choices update in real time.

Can we start approvals before the shoot has finished? +

Yes, and we recommend it. Setting the production up early means images can be processed and reviewed as filming progresses, which supports First Look deadlines, lets you feed coverage notes back to the photographer, and keeps costs predictable.

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