Journey

All great content starts with the development process. Skipping proper development is like putting up the walls of a house without building the foundation to support them. Knowing your project deliverables and guidelines and having the right resources in place before you begin will help ensure a successful end product.

Now you've gotten the green light. Awesome! Time to start prepping in the pre-production stage. This is where the real planning for the shoot begins. You'll break down scripts or editorial briefs and create your production schedule and detailed budget, which includes all the necessary resources for production. Once you've got it all approved, you can pencil in the resources and begin the contract negotiations.

With the planning and production elements in place, time for the fun to begin. You're ready to continue to the Production stage! Also known as principal photography, the production stage is where you put all the hard work of planning into action. But, there are lots of details to keep organized: producing and distributing production schedules, risk assessments, call sheets and tracking those costs to make sure you're on budget. And don't forget the legal requirements. We've got all the details for you right here.

Sensational! You've made it through production and are ready to send everything to post. This is the stage of the journey when the audio and visual materials are handed over to the editor. Assembling footage shot-by-shot, adding music and incorporating other sound and visual effects happens here, and your final vision becomes realized. There are still lots of details to consider to ensure on-time delivery, most importantly, communicating with all relevant parties about any delays, verifying that all rights and permissions have been obtained and relevant paperwork logged, and double-checking you've met all contractual obligations. Everything you need to know is in the links here.

Congratulations! You've made it all the way to the end of the journey: final delivery. Just a few last details before you call it a wrap. This is where you'll tally all costs and deliver the final master, any additional footage and production binder (including legal binder and finance binder). You'll need to make sure everything is delivered on time to the agreed specs. And, hopefully, no delays. But things can happen, so communicating any snags to the relevant parties is essential.