In short
- A signature in the Service is a simple electronic signature under Georgian law, and the parties agree that between them it has the force of a handwritten one wherever the law allows.
- Each signature is recorded with the signing Account, the time, the version and a digital fingerprint of the text, and the Service lets nobody edit or delete that record.
- Engagement Terms are a short terms sheet. Contracts the law requires in written form, such as employment for more than one month or a transfer of rights, are signed outside the Service; you can add a copy to the Project as section 5 explains.
- For a Minor, a Guardian takes part: a User aged 16 or 17 signs with the Guardian's signed consent, and the Guardian signs for a child under 16.
- Sphere Cinema keeps the records and can give copies to both parties. It is never a party to agreements between Users.
1. What this document covers
This document covers:
- Engagement Terms that a Producer and Talent sign through an Offer (Casting and Hiring Terms, section 9 "Offers and Engagements");
- contract files that Producers upload to a Project and the signed copies that Team Members return;
- your acceptance of the Legal Documents (section 9);
- consents the Service asks you to confirm with a click. Festival submissions are not yet open in the Service. Once they open, the consents that Festivals request will follow this document and the Festival Submission Terms, section 7 "Rights requests from Festivals".
Sphere Cinema provides tools for casting, Offers and signing. The Producer and the Talent are the only parties to their Engagement. Sphere Cinema is neither an employer, an agency nor a party to it, and it does not guarantee work, selection or payment. We provide the signing tool and keep the record.
This document applies together with the Terms of Service, whose section 2 "Definitions" gives the meaning of capitalised words.
2. Agreement to sign electronically
When you send, accept or sign an agreement in the Service, you agree to do so electronically, with an Electronic Signature. An Electronic Signature is a simple electronic signature under the Law of Georgia on Electronic Documents and Electronic Trust Services, which allows parties to agree how the electronic signatures they use count between them. The parties to every agreement signed in the Service therefore agree that:
- each Electronic Signature has, between them, the same force as a handwritten signature, wherever the law allows the parties to agree this;
- neither of them will dispute the agreement or its Signature Record only because it was made or signed electronically.
An Electronic Signature cannot meet a form that the law itself prescribes, such as a handwritten or qualified electronic signature, notarisation or registration; section 5 explains what to do then. Nothing in this document limits the rights a Consumer has under mandatory law. The governing law and the courts are set out in the Terms of Service, section 14 "Complaints, disputes and governing law".
3. How signing works
You sign while signed in to your own Account. The Service shows the full text and its version number; you review it and confirm. The Producer usually signs by sending the Offer, and the Talent signs by accepting it.
For each signature the Service stores a Signature Record: the Account that signed and the side it signed for, the date and time, the version number, and a SHA-256 fingerprint of the exact text, with a copy of that text and of the structured terms as signed. The records sit in storage that only accepts new entries, and the Service lets nobody change or delete them.
In the Service, an agreement is made when two different Accounts have signed the same version with the same fingerprint. If the Producer changes the text before both have signed, the Service creates a new version, the earlier signatures lapse, and both must sign again.
The Service sends no one-time code to confirm a signature and records no IP address or device data with it, so the evidence of who signed rests on control of the signed-in Account. Keep your password secret, as the Terms of Service, section 4 "Your Account" requires.
4. What the signed record contains
The Engagement Terms are a short terms sheet, generated in English or Russian. The signed text holds:
- a title naming the request, such as the role or the Project;
- the parties as named in the Service (the Producer's side may appear only as "requester");
- the amount and currency, a note that the amount is to be agreed, or zero for unpaid work;
- project pay or pay by the hour or shift, and the number of days of work;
- any revenue share;
- the start and end dates, where set;
- the tasks and any extra information.
The Engagement Terms hold no legal names, addresses or identification numbers of the parties, no governing law, and no clauses on rights in the work, releases, use of image or voice, confidentiality, liability or ending the Engagement. If you need any of these, agree them in a separate contract (section 5).
Pay for work is agreed and paid directly between the parties, outside the Service, under the Payment Policy, section 12 "Payments between Producers and Talent".
5. When an Electronic Signature in the Service is not enough
Sign outside the Service, by hand or with a qualified electronic signature, when the law requires written form or a particular kind of signature, or when the parties have agreed on one. Under Georgian law this applies in particular to:
- employment for more than one month, which needs a written contract under the Labour Code of Georgia;
- transfers and licences of copyright and related rights, and performers' consents, which need written form under the Law of Georgia on Copyright and Related Rights;
- the separate consents for image, voice, digital replicas and AI uses that the Casting and Hiring Terms, section 9 "Offers and Engagements" requires in writing;
- anything that must be notarised or registered.
Under the Law of Georgia on Electronic Documents and Electronic Trust Services, a qualified electronic signature has the same legal force as a handwritten one.
To add a signed contract to the Project, the Producer uploads the contract file for the Team Member, who downloads it, signs it and uploads the signed copy. A new contract file clears the earlier signed copy, and the new file needs signing. Until contract files are stored privately, keep signed contracts outside the Service, or upload only copies with identity numbers, addresses and bank details covered. If you also keep Engagement Terms in the Service, make sure they match the contract and say in the contract which one prevails.
6. Signing for an Organization or a Minor
Organizations. When you send or sign an agreement for an Organization, you confirm that you are authorised to bind it, and the Organization is bound. If you were not authorised, the other party may hold you responsible.
Representatives. Each Electronic Signature belongs to the Account that gives it, so nobody may sign from another person's Account. An agent or manager who signs a contract outside the Service for someone else needs that person's written authority, kept with the contract.
Users aged 16 or 17 sign Engagement Terms from their own Account only with a Guardian's express consent. The Guardian gives it in a document that names the Engagement (Project, role, pay and dates) and signs it by hand or with a qualified electronic signature. Before work starts, a copy is added to the Project, for example as the signed copy of the contract (section 5); until contract files are stored privately, cover identity numbers, addresses and bank details in that copy. The Service has no separate Guardian signing step.
Children under 16 cannot hold an Account. The Guardian signs in the Service from the Guardian's own Account as the person acting for the child, and names the child in the extra information of the Engagement Terms, stating that the Guardian signs for them.
Age rules and acting for an Organization: Terms of Service, section 3 "Who can use the Service". Casting rules for Minors: Casting and Hiring Terms, section 11 "Minors in casting and production".
7. Copies, storage and evidence
Both parties can see their signed Engagement Terms in the Service; no PDF is produced. For a copy of the signed text and its Signature Record, write to support@sphere.art from the email address of your Account, and we send it there.
The Producer and the Team Member concerned can download uploaded contract files and signed copies. Files you upload (photos, videos, audio, documents and attachments) are stored at web addresses that anyone who has the link can open. Do not upload anything that must stay secret. To have a file removed from storage, write to privacy@sphere.art.
Users cannot edit or delete Signature Records or signed Engagement Terms, also after an Account is closed, because both parties may need them. How long we keep them is set out in the Privacy Policy, section 9 "How long we keep data".
A Signature Record is evidence of which Account signed which text, and when. We give it to the parties, use it to establish or defend legal claims, and disclose it to courts and authorities on lawful request.
8. Changing or ending signed terms
Before both have signed, the Producer may still change the terms (section 3) or withdraw the Offer, and the Talent may decline it.
Once both have signed, the Engagement Terms are fixed. A change needs the agreement and signature of both parties, for example in a new Offer or in a written amendment added to the Project.
Ending an Engagement is a matter for the parties under their agreement and the law. Sphere Cinema does not end Engagements and does not decide whether one was ended lawfully.
If a Team Member is removed from a Project, or either party closes their Account, the signed Engagement Terms and Signature Records stay unchanged, and both parties can still get a copy (section 7).
9. Accepting the Legal Documents
Creating an Account. To create an Account, you tick a box that is not ticked in advance, confirming that you are 16 or older, that a Guardian agrees if you are under 18, and that you accept the Terms of Service and have read the Privacy Policy. Ticking the box is your electronic agreement to the Terms of Service, and we record which version you accepted and when. Accounts created before the box existed will be asked to accept at a later sign-in; this step is planned.
Other boxes. Where the Service asks you to tick a box to accept a Legal Document, for example at checkout once paid features open, ticking it is your electronic agreement to the documents it links; for the Privacy Policy, it confirms that you have read it. Once such boxes exist, we record which versions you accepted and when.
Versions. The box links to the documents, so you can read them before you accept. Each Legal Document shows its version and effective date, and earlier versions are available on request at legal@sphere.art.
10. Changes and contact
We may update this document. We tell you about material changes by email and in the Service at least 14 days before they take effect, and at least 30 days before for changes to Seller fees, Payouts or selling rules, as set out in the Terms of Service, section 15 "Changes to the Service and the Legal Documents".
Formal notices and legal questions about this document go to legal@sphere.art; requests for copies of signed records go to support@sphere.art.
Sphere Cinema is a service operated by SPHERE.ART LLC, a limited liability company registered in Georgia under identification code 416396983, with its legal address at 14 Megobroba Avenue, 8th floor, apartment 27, Rustavi, Georgia. Other ways to reach us are listed in Company Details.