Scope Creep Examples — SEO & marketing
The same content, requested again in a different format
A set of blog articles was delivered and published. The client separately asks for the same material repackaged as a video script series.
The retainer's deliverable is written blog content, and a set of articles has been delivered and published. The client asks for "the same content" turned into a video script series for their YouTube channel, treating it as a light editing task since the research and information already exist. Scripting for video means restructuring for a spoken, visual medium — pacing, hooks, on-screen cues — which is its own writing discipline, not a reformat of existing prose.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Deliverables clause→ — The retainer's deliverable is written blog content specifically — video scripting is a different medium with its own production requirements.
Suggested change-order wording
Suggested change-order wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
The published articles are a great research base for this, but video scripting is its own format — different pacing, structure, and hooks than written content — rather than a straightforward adaptation. I can scope video scripts as an add-on to the retainer at [X]/script, or as a separate project if you'd like a batch. Which would work better?
How this usually resolves
This is often a genuine upsell opportunity once framed correctly — most clients asking for this are happy to pay for a new format when they understand it's real production work, since they're getting a second content channel out of research they've already paid for once.
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