Legal
ProjectCollab Terms of Service
These Terms of Service (the Terms) are the master agreement between you and Creators Hub LLC, a California limited liability company, doing business as Project Collab (ProjectCollab, we, us, or our). Contact us at info@projectcollab.io.
1. The agreement
1.1 These Terms govern your account and use of ProjectCollab's websites, applications, and marketplace services (the Platform).
1.2 The following documents are part of these Terms when they apply to you:
- the Creator Supplemental Terms, if you offer services, lead or staff a job, or receive money;
- the Client Supplemental Terms, if you post work, hire someone, or pay;
- the Payment Terms, for every payment, allocation, refund, cancellation, or payment dispute;
- the Acceptable Use Policy; and
- the DMCA and Intellectual Property Policy.
The Privacy Policy explains our data practices but is not incorporated as a contractual promise except where applicable law requires otherwise.
1.3 If documents conflict, the applicable Supplemental Terms control for that user's role, the Payment Terms control for money, and these Terms control otherwise.
1.4 You accept the applicable terms when the Platform presents them and records the version, content hash, date, account, IP address, and user agent. Merely viewing a public page does not create a paid-service relationship.
2. Who may use ProjectCollab
2.1 You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract. An organization may use the Platform only through an authorized individual.
2.2 ProjectCollab uses one account type. The same account may post work, apply for work, hire people, staff a crew, or receive money as the user becomes eligible for those actions.
2.3 You must give accurate, current information, keep your login secure, and promptly update information that affects a transaction. You are responsible for activity carried out through your account unless you promptly report unauthorized access.
2.4 An organization member may act only within permissions the organization's owner grants. An organization member may send paid offers using the organization's saved payment method. Only an organization owner may add or remove a payment method or withdraw organization funds. An offer cannot bind an organization after its sender loses authority; it must be sent again by an authorized member.
3. What ProjectCollab is—and is not
3.1 ProjectCollab provides tools to discover people and jobs, plan shoots, exchange offers, record attendance, collect payments, allocate funds, and release payments.
3.2 The client and the lead creator—not ProjectCollab—are the parties to the contract for film, video, production, or other services arranged through the Platform (the Service Contract). Crew members may also have service obligations to a lead or client under an offer or separate agreement. ProjectCollab does not perform the production work and is not a party to any Service Contract.
3.3 ProjectCollab does not employ, engage, supervise, direct, or control users. Users decide whether to propose or accept work, negotiate their own rates, decide how to perform it, and remain responsible for their own equipment, assistants, licenses, insurance, taxes, and legal compliance. ProjectCollab never suggests a rate and does not display rates on profiles.
3.4 Nothing in these Terms creates an employment, agency, partnership, joint venture, fiduciary, franchise, or exclusive relationship between ProjectCollab and any user.
3.5 We may decide whether agreed work happened for Platform payment administration. We do not decide whether creative work was good, commercially successful, or satisfactory as a matter of taste. Our payment decision does not adjudicate legal claims under the Service Contract.
4. Verification has a limited meaning
4.1 ProjectCollab has two independent gates:
- Portfolio Reviewed means we reviewed submitted work for whether it appears real, appears to be the submitter's work, and reasonably matches the roles claimed. It gates applying and appearing in Discover.
- Payment Ready means Stripe reports that its connected-account onboarding and identity requirements needed to receive transfers are satisfied.
4.2 A person may receive crew pay after becoming Payment Ready without being Portfolio Reviewed. Payment details are requested when needed for a transaction, not as a condition of opening an account.
4.3 We use the unqualified term Verified only when both gates are satisfied. Verified does not mean that we have assessed competence, quality, honesty, safety, criminal history, insurance, licensing, financial condition, or suitability for a particular job.
4.4 Portfolio review is not an endorsement. Stripe, not ProjectCollab, performs the payment identity process. Stripe may impose, change, or repeat its own checks.
5. Jobs, offers, and Service Contracts
5.1 A job post is an invitation to discuss work, not an offer ProjectCollab makes. Public job budgets are shown as ranges while a job is open. The owner, client, lead, and original applicants may retain the immutable posting snapshot; downstream crew see only their own accepted or pending terms.
5.2 A versioned offer states the proposed parties, role, dates, location detail appropriate to the stage, amount, and other terms. A counteroffer creates a new version. Acceptance is effective only through the Platform's acceptance flow and is subject to successful payment authorization under the Payment Terms.
5.3 Before acceptance, a prospective participant receives only city and neighborhood location information. Exact address, parking, access notes, and call-sheet details become available only after acceptance. A participant removed before the shoot loses that access. A participant recorded as having worked keeps access needed for records and disputes.
5.4 Users may add a separate written contract. ProjectCollab may provide signing tools or links, including access without an account. Unless a Platform screen expressly says otherwise, ProjectCollab does not draft, interpret, or become a party to that contract.
5.5 Before acceptance, the contracting parties should record the service scope, dates, deliverables, included revisions where relevant, necessary approvals, cancellation terms and rights to use the resulting materials. Changes require the affected parties' agreement. A lead/client agreement cannot surrender a crew member's separate payment rights. Hosting a contract or facilitating its payment does not make ProjectCollab responsible for producing the work or guaranteeing a creative outcome. Mandatory rights and ProjectCollab's own payment obligations remain unaffected.
6. Payments
6.1 All Platform payments are governed by the Payment Terms. In summary:
- payment is captured at acceptance and held as a Platform balance;
- this is not escrow, a trust account, or a bank account;
- processing fees are added to the client's charge as a visible line and are never deducted from the creator's agreed allocation;
- allocations are frozen before release and paid directly to each participant through separate transfers;
- crew who attended are paid despite a dispute between the client and lead; and
- a client's refund is net of amounts owed to crew who attended.
Release is the point of no return for the Platform payment process. A dispute must be opened before release. After release, unresolved claims belong to the Service Contract parties; ProjectCollab provides the available transaction record but does not reverse participant transfers through its dispute process.
6.2 Stripe provides payment processing, connected-account onboarding, and transfers. A person receiving money must accept Stripe's applicable agreement and authorize ProjectCollab to initiate the payment activity described in the Creator Supplemental Terms and Payment Terms.
7. User content and intellectual property
7.1 You keep ownership of content you submit, including profile text, portfolio media, messages, job materials, contracts, and reviews (User Content).
7.2 You must have all rights and permissions needed to upload, display, share, and use User Content through the Platform. That includes permissions from clients, production companies, performers, crew, music owners, and other rights holders when their material appears in portfolio work.
7.3 You grant ProjectCollab a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, transcode, display, and distribute User Content only as needed to operate, secure, improve, and promote the Platform according to your visibility settings. The license ends when the content is deleted, except for reasonable backups, transaction records, dispute evidence, legal retention, and content others lawfully retained.
7.4 Feedback about the Platform may be used without restriction or payment.
7.5 The Platform software, brand, and content we provide are owned by ProjectCollab or its licensors. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-transferable license to use the Platform for its intended purpose while these Terms apply.
7.6 Copyright complaints and counter-notices follow the DMCA and Intellectual Property Policy.
8. Acceptable use and safety
8.1 You must follow the Acceptable Use Policy and all applicable laws. You may not use ProjectCollab for unlawful, fraudulent, discriminatory, abusive, dangerous, or infringing activity.
8.2 Users—not ProjectCollab—are responsible for location safety, permits, releases, working conditions, labor compliance, equipment, transport, insurance, and safeguarding minors or vulnerable people involved in a production.
8.3 Renting is always explicit. Selecting a gear requirement means the participant already has or controls the gear; it does not silently create a rental agreement or fee.
9. Reviews and communications
9.1 Reviews are double-blind: neither side sees the other's review until both submit or the 14-day review period ends. Reviews must describe a genuine transaction and comply with the Acceptable Use Policy.
9.2 We may send transactional messages about account security, offers, jobs, payment, payout setup, disputes, and legal changes. Payout-setup notices never mean that money expires; an unpaid allocation remains payable until the recipient completes setup or the funds are otherwise lawfully claimed.
9.3 User-facing dates are shown in the recipient's recorded local time zone where the date affects an action or deadline. Users should keep that preference current when they travel.
10. Suspension and termination
10.1 You may stop using the Platform and request account closure, subject to completing open transactions and records we must retain.
10.2 We may restrict, suspend, or close an account for a material or repeated breach, fraud, safety risk, infringement, legal requirement, payment risk, or conduct that harms the Platform or its users. When practical and safe, we will explain the reason and provide a way to respond.
10.3 Account action does not erase payment obligations, accepted terms, dispute evidence, licenses needed to preserve transaction records, or provisions that by their nature survive.
11. Disclaimers
11.1 To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Platform is provided “as is” and “as available.” ProjectCollab disclaims all express, implied, and statutory warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, quiet enjoyment, and any warranty arising from course of dealing or usage of trade.
11.2 We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or accurate; that any user will perform, pay, attend, or deliver satisfactory work; or that a job, applicant, review, portfolio, identity result, contract, insurance, tax treatment, or legal classification is reliable or suitable.
11.3 Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers. These disclaimers apply only to the extent lawful.
12. Limitation of liability
12.1 To the maximum extent permitted by law, ProjectCollab and its officers, directors, employees, contractors, affiliates, and agents will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages; lost profits, revenue, data, goodwill, work, or opportunity; production delays; personal injury or property damage caused by users; or the conduct of any client, creator, crew member, or third party.
12.2 To the extent permitted by law, ProjectCollab's aggregate liability for claims arising from the same transaction or related events will not exceed the greater of $100 or the Platform fees ProjectCollab actually earned from you on that transaction. Payment-processing amounts passed through to a provider are not Platform fees. This limitation does not reduce amounts properly payable or refundable under the Payment Terms.
12.3 Nothing excludes or limits liability for fraud, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or any liability or remedy that applicable law does not permit to be excluded or limited. Mandatory consumer, worker, privacy and payment rights remain available.
13. Indemnification
13.1 You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless ProjectCollab and its officers, directors, employees, contractors, affiliates, and agents from third-party claims, damages, losses, judgments, penalties, and reasonable legal costs arising from: (a) your User Content; (b) your services, job, production, conduct, or Service Contract; (c) your breach of these Terms; (d) your violation of law or another person's rights; or (e) taxes, employment claims, injury, property damage, permits, releases, or insurance for which you are responsible.
13.2 ProjectCollab will control the defense and settlement, may require your cooperation, and will not settle a claim in a way that admits your fault or creates a non-monetary obligation for you without consent.
14. Disputes with ProjectCollab; arbitration and class waiver
14.1 This section covers disputes between you and ProjectCollab. It does not make ProjectCollab a party to disputes between users under their Service Contract.
14.2 Each side should first send written notice describing the dispute and requested relief and allow 30 days for good-faith resolution. Notice to ProjectCollab goes to info@projectcollab.io, with subject "Legal notice"; we send notice to your account email. This process does not prevent timely filing to preserve a limitation period, urgent relief, a regulator complaint, or eligible small-claims proceedings, and is not a substitute for legally required service of process.
14.3 Unless you opt out under Section 14.5, disputes with ProjectCollab will be resolved by one neutral arbitrator administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA). AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules and protections apply when applicable; otherwise its Commercial Arbitration Rules apply. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this arbitration agreement to the extent applicable. Hearings may be remote by agreement; an in-person consumer hearing must be reasonably accessible in the user's county of residence. For other cases, the seat is a mutually agreed California location, or a location determined by AAA under its rules. ProjectCollab pays fees assigned to the business by applicable rules and law; this clause does not shift those fees to a consumer. A court, not an arbitrator, decides formation, enforceability and scope of this arbitration agreement. Either party may pursue eligible small-claims proceedings, and either may seek urgent provisional court relief. Claims or remedies that cannot lawfully be arbitrated are excluded. If AAA declines administration because this clause or ProjectCollab fails its requirements, either party may proceed in a court with jurisdiction. Judgment on an award may be entered by a court with jurisdiction.
14.4 To the extent lawful, arbitrated claims proceed individually rather than as class or representative proceedings. This does not prohibit coordinated representation or administration allowed by AAA rules, regulator complaints, or non-waivable public injunctive relief. If a court finds this restriction unenforceable for a claim or remedy, that claim or remedy proceeds in court rather than class arbitration; the remaining provisions apply only to the extent lawful. No mandatory statutory right is waived.
14.5 You may opt out of Sections 14.3–14.4 by emailing info@projectcollab.io within 30 days after first accepting these provisions. Include your name, account email and a clear statement that you opt out; a typed name is sufficient. Opting out does not affect access or the other Terms. A material future change to this arbitration agreement must be separately presented with a new 30-day opt-out opportunity and will not retroactively govern an existing dispute.
15. Narrow anti-circumvention rule
15.1 If a client and creator first identify one another through a specific ProjectCollab job or introduction, they may not deliberately move that same job—or substantially the same continuation of that job—off Platform to avoid an applicable, disclosed ProjectCollab fee or payment obligation for 12 months after the introduction.
15.2 This restriction does not cover relationships that existed and can be documented before the Platform introduction, unrelated later work, work the Platform cannot legally or technically support, or off-Platform participation ProjectCollab expressly permits for contracts, invoices, and portfolio or production-kit access.
15.3 The remedy is recovery of only the disclosed Platform fees that would have applied to the circumvented transaction, plus reasonable account restrictions. There is no punitive multiplier or ownership claim over the relationship.
16. General terms
16.1 These Terms and the incorporated documents are the entire agreement about the Platform and replace earlier Platform terms, but do not replace a Service Contract between users.
16.3 You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign them in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets.
16.4 Delay in enforcing a term is not a waiver. Headings are for convenience. “Including” means “including without limitation.” Electronic records and notices satisfy writing requirements where lawful.
16.5 California law governs these Terms, except that applicable federal law and non-waivable protections of the user's jurisdiction remain controlling. Court proceedings permitted by Section 14 may be brought in a court with subject-matter and personal jurisdiction and proper venue under applicable law. These Terms do not designate an exclusive county or require a consumer to waive a mandatory local forum.
16.6 We may update these Terms prospectively. Material changes will be presented for acceptance when required; an already accepted transaction remains governed by its snapshotted terms unless law requires otherwise.
17. Contact
Legal notices, support, privacy requests and copyright complaints: info@projectcollab.io. Identify the type of request in the subject line. Copyright complaints remain subject to the DMCA and Intellectual Property Policy; see the Copyright page for the designated agent.